At the end of the night, when everybody came on stage to bow to the audience and accept the applause they deserved, Chris presented Amy with a bunch of wild flowers, kissing her cheek and congratulating her on a job well-done.
As they drove home that night, after dropping off a giddy Mrs. Davis and a tired but happy Julia, Chris watched the moon loom overhead while they made their way down the dark street.
“You know, everything happens for a reason,” she stated in a wistful voice, watching the face on the moon change slightly as they whizzed past a few trees.
Andrew put his hand over hers, his thumb grazing her knuckles. “I’m just glad it all brought me back to you.”
Chapter 15
Epilogue - Two years later
“I talked to Cathy yesterday,” Julia told Chris and Mrs. Davis. The three of them were preparing a large basket of sunflowers and wild daisies, meant to be delivered to a women’s only meeting being held at the local marina. In the last few years, business had boomed for Daisy’s Flowers, making Mrs. Davis a pretty proud pseudo-momma bear.
“Oh, how’s Amy?” Chris asked excitedly. After graduating, Amy followed her heart and her dream all the way to the East Coast where she attended art school. As opposed to her original plans, she decided to major in Interior Design. Her love for flower arranging, set and costume designing, and house decorating, led her toward that field and now two years in, she loved it.
“Amy is great. Cathy had to talk her through a rough patch last week, though. Poor thing broke it off with that boy she was seeing, Riley, Kyle, something.” She waved her hand around dismissively. “Nathan showed up on campus and declared his love for her, and she just went for it.”
Ah, yes, the frantic whirlwind romance that had been Amy’s high school love life came to a screeching halt when Nathan decided to stay in Seattle to attend music school, while Amy schlepped herself to New York. Chris remembered how sad Amy had been before leaving. The demure little beauty hadn’t suffered for long, though; finding the city offered many amenities, some of which in tall, dark and handsome packages.
“When it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be,” Mrs. Davis chimed in, ever the romantic at heart.
“Yes, well, Cathy is hoping for the best. Apparently, Nathan was miserable, too.” Julia shrugged, cutting off the end of a stem and placing it delicately inside the bouquet.
“I guess time will tell. Hey, look at Andrew and me; we didn’t see each other for almost twenty years, and bam.” Chris clapped her hands together, emphasizing her words. “Seeing each other for the first time felt as though we hadn’t missed a single second.”
“And how is your handsome husband?” Mrs. Davis asked, hoping for some juicy gossip. She only worked a few hours a week these days, being retired kept her relatively busy. She loved working with flowers, though, and vowed to do it until she could no longer hold a pair of scissors.
Chris giggled. “He's the same as always, oh and, he should be home tonight.”
“I still can’t believe it was your one year anniversary last week already.” Julia sighed. “It feels like it happened yesterday.”
“I know.” Chris subconsciously ran a hand over her flat belly. “You two looked so good together, Julia. You’ve come a long way.” Chris smiled as she remembered watching Andrew dance with his mother at their wedding. She was dancing with her father at the time. Her smile was wide watching her mother-in-law twirl around the dance floor with ease; the pain Julia had gone through long forgotten as she smiled at her handsome son.
“Yeah—” Julia stomped her foot “—these old hips have still got it.”
Mrs. Davis started laughing, her mind fully immersed in the proverbial gutter. “That’s what he said.”
Chris laughed, rolling her eyes. Some things never change.
. . .
Chris entered her house, the fresh scent of roses filling her lungs as she closed the door behind her. Even after a long day surrounded by flowers, she couldn’t help but bring her work home with her sometimes. As an occupational hazard, she hated seeing nice flowers not being enjoyed and took the ones bound to wilt in a day or so home with her.
She looked at the bouquet in her hands and smiled. As opposed to the withering ones in the vase on the coffee table, these ones were fresh. A simple bouquet of alstroemeria, roses and daisies was held together with a pretty pink ribbon, every flower having its own significance, something Andrew would surely know and understand.
Chris set the flowers on the kitchen table and went about the tasks she needed to do, before Andrew came home from one of the few business trip he was required to attend once in a while.
As the minutes ticked by on the clock, Chris became nervous about what she was planning. Numerous questions popped into her head as the possibilities of tonight’s outcome played on her mind.
What if he doesn’t want it?
What if it’s too soon?
Wait, we wanted this, so this is a good thing.
“God, Nana, I’m so nervous,” she said out loud as she paced a hole in the living room floor. “That man is my life, you know?”
She looked around the small space and spotted a picture of her Nana Laurence. Smiling, she walked over to the fireplace and picked up the decorative frame. “Funny how things change,” she whispered; her voice full of emotion.
“Are you talking to yourself again, sweetheart?” Andrew asked, chuckling as he watched his wife’s face break out into a huge smile, her eyes lighting up, her features morphing beautifully.
Chris squeaked, grabbing the frame and pulling it to her chest as she spun around to face Andrew. “You’re home!”
Andrew closed the distance between them and pulled her into a hug. “I missed you.” He buried his nose in her hair and took a deep breath, relishing her familiar floral scent. “How was your day?”
Chris closed her eyes and held the picture frame between them with one arm as she wrapped her other arm around his neck. “It was too long. I was waiting for you to get home.”
“I’ve only been gone two days.” Andrew pulled back just enough to press a chaste kiss to her lips. “I thought having a break from me would be good.” He chuckled.
Chris rolled her eyes. “It was, but I still missed you.” She licked her lips, remembering what she had to do before anything else. “Which reminds me, I have something for you,” she told him, putting away Nana’s picture.
“Oh, a present.” Andrew’s eyes lit up as he grinned excitedly.
Chris tickled his stomach. “I swear you’re a twelve-year-old in a man’s body.”
“I’m all man, and you know it, baby,” Andrew teased. “Now, where’s my present.”
Chris nodded toward the kitchen. “It’s in there.” Giddy, yet tired from his trip, Andrew led the way through the kitchen door, only to be met with the regular looking decor. “On the table.”
Following Chris’s instructions, Andrew picked up the bouquet of flowers lying on the table. “Uh, well, thank you, honey.” He frowned, looking at the fresh flowers in his hands. “Friendship, love and fidelity.” He smiled, giving the blooms the once over. He had learned to appreciate the beauty and significance of flowers through the years and, even as a man, always enjoyed how pretty and delicate they were. “They’re beautiful, Chris.” He pulled her in his arms and kissed her lips.
Chris pulled back from the kiss before it got heated, her emotions all over the place. “Look at it more closely,” she whispered, her voice wavering slightly.
Andrew turned the pretty bundle around in his hand and noticed a white stick popping out between the stems. “What’s this?” His eyebrows pulled together as he slipped the plastic stick out of its scented cocoon. “Chris?” His eyes bulged out of their sockets as he examined the purple plus sign clearly marked in the window on the stick.
“Surprise?” Chris gave a half-hearted smile as she tried to discern his reaction to the news. Her period was two weeks late already and even with just one test, she knew
she was pregnant.
Andrew tore his eyes away from the pregnancy test and brought Chris into a heated embrace, his tongue pushing into her mouth possessively as he groaned and whimpered. “Are you serious?” he asked between kisses, completely overcome by lust, love, and excitement.
Chris kissed him back just as frantically, the tension she felt throughout the day leaving her body as Andrew’s kisses filled her with many other emotions. “Yes...I just know it.” She heaved, her breathing labored, giggles and tears all threatening to come at the same time.
“Oh, baby...” Andrew pulled her into a bone crushing hug and buried his face in the crook of her neck, which happened to be his favorite place. “This is—” he sniffed “—this is wonderful. Perfect.”
Tears ran down Chris’s cheeks as she smiled and held onto Andrew for dear life. “You think so?”
He nodded, still sniffling, his cheeks warm and his heart full. “God, yes, Chris.” He pulled back from their embrace and palmed her cheeks delicately. “You’re...pregnant.” Chris smiled, sniffing, and nodded. “You’re pregnant,” he repeated. “You’re going to have my baby.”
He kissed her passionately, breathing in her answer as if it was his last breath of air. Unable to stop himself, Andrew’s hands made their way from her face to her backside as he desperately tried to get as close to her as possible. “A baby.” He grinned, pulling Chris’s T-shirt off her body, her hair falling unceremoniously into a mess all over her face.
Chris giggled and pushed the locks out of the way. “Yes, a baby.” Her fingers made quick work of the buttons on Andrew’s jeans as his hands went to her hair, pushing the rest of the wayward strands away from her pretty visage.
“I can’t believe how lucky I am!” Andrew pushed Chris’s skirt up her thighs, exposing her cute, pink, cotton panties. Kissing her clavicle, Andrew pressed a hand to her mound, feeling her heat through the thin fabric. “So lucky,” he whispered huskily, leaving wet kisses on Chris’s heated skin.
Chris threw her head back, her body reacting to Andrew’s attention. She had missed him and he had clearly missed her, too. “Oh, God, I missed you.”
Slipping his fingers inside Chris’s underwear, Andrew groaned as he felt how ready she was for him. “Oh, baby,” he moaned, pulling her underwear down her legs. “I think this calls for a celebration.”
He grinned as he helped Chris hop up and sit on the edge of the kitchen table. “Well, at least we know this thing’s sturdy.” Chris giggled, spreading her thighs, pulling Andrew in between them.
Andrew let his pants and boxers fall from his hips, his hardness poking Chris’s inner thigh as she pulled him closer to her with the balls of her feet on his ass. “Eager girl,” Andrew admonished, grinning as he looked between them.
The moment they were married, Chris had stopped taking the pill and they forewent all birth control precautions. Andrew loved watching himself enter her; her slick wetness coating him as he pulled out and pushed back in.
Chris’s breathing increased with every thrust of Andrew’s hips as her body spiraled and tightened, climbing higher and higher with each stroke.
“Oh, yeah, that’s it,” she moaned, splintering into a thousand pieces, only to be brought back together again in Andrew’s arms as he quickly followed in her bliss.
Andrew’s labored puffs of air tickled Chris’s skin, the smile on his lips devious as he spoke. “Have you told your father?”
Chris pushed him and looked at his face, her features twisted in a horrified expression. “We defile the kitchen table and you ask about my father?”
Andrew chuckled, pulling her into his arms and relaxing, his body numb and sated. “It popped into my head, all of a sudden, that’s all.”
“I haven’t told anyone except for you, Andrew. I wouldn’t have done that,” she explained, running her hands over his shoulders and down his back.
“I guess it’s a good thing they’re all having dinner here this weekend, then. I think a family celebration is in order,” he announced. “But first, we sleep, pretty girl. You are carrying precious cargo and I want to snuggle with my pregnant wife tonight.”
Chris giggled, pulling her skirt down and picking up her shirt off the floor. “And said wife needs a shower first. Come on, Daddy.”
. . .
Chris watched Andrew’s features in the soft glow of the moonlight. His chiseled jaw marred slightly with age and a couple days’ worth of stubble, still made her knees weak. She had gotten everything her heart desired and more since she had reconnected with him. She smiled as she watched his eyelids flutter lightly, his long lashes moving over his cheeks. He was so beautiful on the inside and out.
Over time, they had met a few obstacles, of course, as other couples do. Fights and screaming matches were few and far between, but they happened. They loved each other passionately and unconditionally, and showed it in their every touch and caress, leaving behind any hurt they might have caused, choosing to stick around for each other instead.
In life, things happened. They weren’t always planned. Some were good, some bad. They left us with scars that could either break us or make us, depending on what we chose to make of them.
As Chris moved the curtain away from the window, she watched the Man in the Moon dance over the night sky and smiled, touching her belly. “Thanks,” she whispered; thinking of Nana and their unfinished conversation from earlier. “Thanks for everything.”
“Come to bed, honey,” Andrew called from across the room. “You need your rest, Mommy.”
Taking a deep breath, Chris turned, smiled wide, and let the curtain drop, before joining him in their forever.
-THE END-
Man in the Moon (Sweet Escapes Book 1) Page 17