by Claire Adams
Eric groaned. “You've just made it impossible for me to focus on anything but you for the rest of the evening,” he said. “Not that I was doing a very good job of that anyway.”
I grinned at him. “Well, let's go to dinner then,” I said. “The sooner we eat, the sooner we can be back here.”
Eric grinned. “I like that logic,” he said, nodding at me. He linked his fingers with mine and tugged me out of the suite.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Eric
I watched Olivia's face as I led her into the restaurant. It was one of the fanciest places in Chicago, and I hoped she was okay with that. She looked positively amazing in that black evening dress of hers, and the way it played low around her breasts and the small of her back turned me on.
Almost as much as the flash of red lace that I'd caught peeking out at one point during the walk to the elevator.
I grinned, mind already going wild as I imagined what the night might hold. But I knew that when I finally got to strip her down, it was going to be better than any fantasy I could possibly come up with. The fact remained that she was the sexiest woman I had ever met. I could hardly wait to see her spread out on the bed beneath me, at the end of the night.
But first, I wanted to have a nice meal with her.
“Eric, this place is incredible,” Olivia said quietly as her eyes scanned the place. She gave a small laugh. “I hate to say it, but I'm glad we didn't stay in and get room service.”
I grinned at her and gestured for her to lead the way to our table behind the maître d'.
“God, everything on this menu looks good,” she said when we had been seated.
“If I can interest you in our wine menu as well,” the man said, holding that out to her.
Olivia looked surprised and then shook her head. “I'm not drinking,” she said, sounding regretful.
The maître d' raised an eyebrow at her, no doubt sussing out the reason for it, but tactfully retreated, murmuring that someone would be along to take our orders shortly.
“I'll have to take you back here once the baby's out,” I promised her. “But for tonight, we can stick to water. Or I can see if they can rustle up some sparkling grape juice.”
“You don't have to do that,” Olivia said shyly. “Take me back here, I mean. You don't have to worry about sparkling grape juice, either. I'll just stick with water. I'm probably a little dehydrated after walking around all day, anyway.”
“I want to take you back here,” I said simply. “Especially if you keep dressing like that.”
Olivia gave me a small smile, but she looked almost worried. “You realize I'm probably not going to look this good in a sexy dress after I have the baby,” she said. “Besides, I'm sure we'll have our hands full once she's here. What with two little ones at home.”
“You're always going to look sexy to me, even if you had hips a mile wide and work a burlap sack,” I told her, winking. “As for having our hands full, sure we will,” I agreed. “But we can get a sitter, eventually at least. I'll have to take you out on your birthday if nothing else.”
Olivia smiled over at me. “Well, if you insist,” she said.
Olivia ordered an Alfredo dish, and I got chicken parmesan. It didn't take long before our food came out, and I was impressed at how tasty it looked. Good portion sizes too, despite this being a fancy restaurant. We both tucked into our dishes as soon as they arrived, and the look on Olivia's face after her first bite was pure bliss. “My God, I'm going to gain a hundred pounds during this pregnancy if you keep feeding me like this!”
“I'll still love you even if you do,” I said magnanimously, and she giggled, whacking me with her napkin.
“You'd better,” she said. “Since it's your fault that I'm in this situation to begin with.”
“It takes two to tango,” I reminded her with a smirk.
“Is that what they're telling you in med school these days?”
I snorted but didn't respond. “Want to try my chicken?” I asked her.
Olivia nodded, and I cut off a bite, leaning across the table and letting her eat it straight off my fork. Her eyes sparkled heatedly as she stared at me. “Mm, that's good,” she said, her voice gone slightly husky.
I grinned, pleased with that little victory. With the mystery lingerie beneath that dress, it had been starting to feel like she had the upper hand. Not that I minded, but it felt good to level the playing field a little.
We both cleared our plates, and then I held out the dessert menu to her. “I'm too stuffed to eat a dessert on my own, but I could take a few bites of yours, if you'll let me,” I told her.
“How does chocolate fudge brownie sound?” Olivia asked.
“Positively sinful,” I said. “But then again, this whole night is about indulging you.”
Olivia smiled as I put in the order. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she said as the waiter retreated to the kitchen. “You make me feel special, you know.”
“Good,” I said warmly. “You deserve to feel special.”
Olivia got a soft, glowing smile on her face, and that alone made it worth bringing her here. I wish I had a camera, so that I could capture that look forever, or that I had some way of bottling it up and saving it for another time. But then again, I supposed I'd just have to spend the rest of my life trying to get her to smile like that again.
And I did mean the rest of my life. I tapped my left pants pocket, thinking of what I had in there. Soon, it would be time to show her just how much I wanted to make her feel special.
“So you know,” I said to her as I took a bite of the brownie. “I didn't bring you here solely to spoil you. I mean, it might look that way, but it’s not the truth. There’s more to the moment than what you’re thinking there is.”
“Oh really?” Olivia asked. She looked confused, and her fork hovered between the dessert plate and her mouth, forgotten. I could tell that she was nervous, and I wondered what she thought I was about to say. She couldn't possibly think that I had taken her out on a nice date like this just to dump her, could she?
“Well, it's mostly for that reason,” I told her. “But I just wanted you to know how important you are to me. How I don't need there to be an occasion for me to show you how much I love you and how much I want to show you off to this whole city.” I chewed thoughtfully. “Of course, getting to hear the baby's heartbeat today is something to celebrate, though.”
Olivia giggled. “You don't have to take me to places like this and show me off,” she said. “I would have been perfectly happy to stay in a grungy motel room watching bad sitcoms tonight if it meant that I got to spend time with you.”
“I know you would have been happy with that,” I said patiently. “But you deserve the world. And then some. I want to be the man who gives that to you. It’s all I want, baby. Don’t deny me.”
I reached into my pocket, taking a deep breath as I did so. Then, as I pulled out the small box that I had carefully put in there, I knelt down next to our table. “Olivia Sable, I hope you know how much you mean to me. And I only hope that I continue to prove myself worthy of your affection. There's no one else that I would rather spend the rest of my life with than you, and I hate the thought of ever being parted from you again. Nor do I ever want to do anything that would cause your trust in me to waiver. So I hope you'll do me the honor of being my wife and letting me love you for the rest of our lives.”
Olivia started to cry, her hands creeping up to cover her mouth. She looked shocked by my question, and I gave myself a mental pat on the back for orchestrating things so well. Picking up the ring had been my task for the afternoon when I'd sent her out shopping. I'd banked on the fact that she would be so caught up in her activity that she wouldn't think twice about what it was that I had done with my afternoon.
Sure enough, it seemed to have worked. Thank God. I was rather unsure for a few moments as I watched her. My eyes widened as my heart sped up. Surely she was going to say yes. She had to.
I smiled at her and slid the ring onto her finger, noting how perfectly it fit, despite the fact that I'd had to guess at her size. The whole restaurant started to applaud as I got to my feet and swept Olivia up into my arms. We kissed passionately, my fingers skimming across her back as we did so.
“I love you,” I told her as we broke apart.
She laughed, hugging me tightly. “I love you too,” she said.
I felt happiness surge inside of me. I'd had many great moments in my life: the night Emily had agreed to be my wife, the night I'd graduated from medical school, the night that Emma was born. This night ranked right up there with all of those nights, one of the best nights of my life.
I already couldn't wait to start planning my future with Olivia, everything from Anne's birth to our wedding and honeymoon, all the way up to our eventual retirement.
I smiled down at her, and I could tell that she was thinking the same thing.
Epilogue
Olivia
As I leaned down into the car to arrange the car seats, my hat was knocked askew, the broad brim too much for the small space to take. I grinned and tossed it onto the front seat. I'd put it back on when we got to our destination. For now, I had some bigger issues on my hands, like getting the three car seats to fit together in the back seat of the car. You would think that with as many times as I arranged them back there, the practice would have made me an expert at it by now. But I still struggled every time. Finally, I managed to get them, though.
“All right, hop in,” I said to Emma. She did so, buckling her seat belt. They were hyped up on excitement simply from going somewhere.
Meanwhile, Eric came out of the house with little 6-month-old Davey and handed the boy over to me. “Just changed his diaper, so knock on wood, we should be okay for a while,” he said, smirking at me, because we both knew how reliable that was.
Still, there was nothing that could bring down my mood today. It was one of the warmest days of summer, the perfect day for a picnic with my family. I couldn't wait.
Finally, all three kids were strapped in, and Eric had loaded everything into the trunk.
“Phew,” I said under my breath as we buckled ourselves in and he backed carefully out of the driveway. Getting all of the kids ready to go, dressed in appropriate clothing and wearing sunblock, and then actually herding them out of the house and into the car, was never an easy feat. Every time we made it, I sent up a small thanks to whatever bit of universe might be listening in.
Eric smiled over at me, but I could see a question in his eyes. I knew that there were some moments where we both wondered whether we had taken on too much, with three kids between us now. But this wasn't one of those moments.
I reached over and caught his hand where it rested on the gearshift, squeezing it lightly. Eric's smile broadened. He was far too cute for his own good.
The cemetery was quiet when we got there, and it was cool in the shade of the copious, leafy trees. Some people might consider it a strange place to have a picnic, but it was peaceful there, and a good place for reflection. We tried to come back at least a few times a year as a family, to visit Emily's grave as well as Mom's.
Well, it was quiet until the kids got there, anyway. I smiled over at Emma and Anne, as Emma chased the younger girl around. Emma might have the height advantage, but Anne was agile as a little colt. And, I suspected that Emma was letting her get away. She was a great big sister, and I loved watching the two of them play together: it reminded me of everything that I'd always wanted when I was growing up.
Eric helped me spread out the picnic blanket beneath one of the larger trees and then called over to the girls. “Remember to watch out for the gravestones!”
“We will, Daddy!” Emma called back.
“We will, Daddy!” Anne echoed.
I smiled at them and started unpacking the lunch. The beauty of my situation washed over me and gave me pause. I’d lost a lot in my life, but I’d gained a lot as well. I was grateful for just being me for a few minutes as I watched them.
“Do you want me to help you out or go see if I can catch the girls?” Eric asked, his voice pulling me from my reverie.
I glanced over to where Davey was happy lying, staring wide-eyed up at the leaves. He was being no trouble at the moment, so I smiled at Eric. “Go catch the girls, if you can,” I told him. “We'll be fine here.”
“All right,” Eric said, bending over to give me a quick kiss. Then, he raced off after our two girls. I grinned, listening to them screech with laughter.
My heart swelled with love for all three of them, plus Davey. To this day, several years after our wedding, I was still so glad that we'd been able to put aside our differences and build all of this. I had never been this happy in my life, and I didn't know if such happiness would have been possible without the four of them in my life.
Eric returned not too long afterward, one girl slung over each shoulder even though I knew Emma was probably getting a little too big for that to be comfortable. It was hard to believe that she would be seven soon. Then again, it was equally hard to believe that Anne would be starting preschool in the fall.
I felt a little pang of sadness at the thought of her not being home to keep me company for much longer, but then again, I now had Davey to keep me occupied. And keep me occupied, he certainly had! He was a lot fussier than Anne had ever been, and as if on cue, he started to make unhappy noises right them.
“Right, I'll feed the girls, you take care of the little one,” Eric suggested, already started to scoop potato salad onto each of the plates.
I smiled gratefully at him as I scooped up Davey into the crook of my arm. I still didn't know what I would have done if I hadn't had him there beside me every step of the way. Anne hadn't been anywhere near as fussy as Davey was, but that didn't mean that she'd been without her challenges. One of these days, I was going to have to find a special way to show Eric how much I appreciated his help.
Not that we don't already show that to one another every single day, I thought as he happened to look up and smile over at me.
“Eww, you guys are being gross again,” Emma said, covering her eyes, and her younger sister followed her lead. Davey started giggling, probably thinking that we were about to play a game of peekaboo, and I had to roll my eyes fondly at the girls.
“Eat your lunch,” I said.
“Yes, Mom,” Emma sighed.
We ate our lunches, Eric taking over bottle duty midway through so that I could get a few bites in as well. Then, the girls were off again.
I shook my head. “You'd think that running around like that so soon after eating would make both of them sick,” I commented. Eric laughed as he lay Davey down gently into his chair. The baby, for all his usual fussiness, yawned and drifted off to sleep after a moment. “You're a miracle worker,” I said, nodding toward the boy.
“Is that what they're calling the boys these days?” Eric teased. Then, his face turned serious. “Come on, let me work one more miracle on you,” he coaxed. “Turn around.”
I did so and groaned as he dug his talented fingers into the knotted muscles of my shoulders. “Fuck, that feels good,” I said, glad the kids were running around so that I didn't have to worry about my choice of language.
“When we get home, I'm going to watch after the kids for a little while, and you're going to go upstairs to take a nice bubble bath,” he said.
“Mm,” I hummed, letting my head drop forward as he continued working. “I can't let you do that, though. Three kids on your own is a lot.”
“Well, good thing Emma and Anne are going to be exhausted and will probably fall asleep watching a movie,” Eric said, smirking, and I laughed at how well-thought-out his plan was.
“That would be nice,” I said.
“There's a nice bottle of wine in the cabinet with your name on it, too,” Eric continued. “I'll bring you a gl
ass.”
“God, I don't know how I got this lucky,” I sighed as his fingers worked at a particularly tough knot.
“I don't know how I got this lucky,” Eric retorted. “Three beautiful, healthy kids, and a beautiful, talented wife as well? I must have won the lottery.” He leaned in and kissed my neck, and I shivered, feeling a surge of pleasure go through me. We hadn't had the chance to take much time to ourselves lately, what with Davey being as prone to crying as he was, but I was hoping that we'd get the chance to spend some quality time together soon. For now, though, it just felt honestly amazing to have his fingers working the kinks out of my shoulders.
All too soon, the girls were running back over to us, faces flushed with exertion.
Anne climbed into my lap, cuddling close, and I let her do that even though it was fiendishly warm. “Mommy, can we get ice cream on the way home?” she asked.
I looked over at Eric, raising an eyebrow at him. “That's up to Daddy,” I told her.
“Why is it up to me?” Eric asked before giving me a look. It was almost humorous how he wanted me to make the decisions regarding the kiddos. It was good cop/bad cop of course, but it was his turn to play bad cop. As if.
“Because you'll be the one driving the car,” I said sweetly.
He laughed. “It has been a while since we had ice cream, hasn't it?” he asked.
“Yes!” Emma said. “Like, ages and ages and ages and ages. I don't even remember the last time.”
“I highly doubt that,” Eric said mildly, but I could see the grin tugging at the corners of his lips. “If we can all agree on a flavor, I don't see why not,” he said. The girls cheered, unfortunately waking up their brother, who started to howl.
I smiled at Eric and reached over to scoop up the boy. “I'm going to take a little walk,” I told him, getting to my feet with the boy still in my arms.
“All right,” Eric said. I could see from his look that he was concerned and wanted to check that I was all right, but whatever he saw in my answering expression must have reassured him, because his frown lines soon smoothed out. “We'll be right here when you get back.”