by Terese Ramin
No matter what you did, there was always something, wasn’t there?
Reflecting, Hank pitched the hunk of hair into the basket and looked once more at his wife. Kate stroked a finger down Halla’s arm, looked up at him and smiled. The infant’s name meant “unexpected gift” and she certainly was. Annoyance fled. Hank touched the baby’s cheek where she suckled at her mother’s breast. Even after six months he couldn’t get over how beautiful she was.
She was also a handful, her personality developing by the day. As though to illustrate precisely how much individuality she’d gained today, she grinned slyly up at her father, letting milk dribble out the corner of her mouth while she pretended to consider being finished with her meal. Hank made a move to take her from Kate and the baby laughed at him, then latched firmly onto her mother’s breast once more. The game lasted a couple more rounds until Kate, not Halla, decided she was done playing it and hoisted the silly infant to her shoulder for a burp. Halla noisily obliged, then promptly fell asleep before Kate could get the spit diaper out from under the baby’s chin. She sighed and rolled her eyes when some of the baby spit dripped off the diaper before it could be absorbed and onto her nightshirt.
Hank chuckled and felt his hair-in-the-drain irritation fade, suitably avenged by the shortest member of the family. He lifted the plump infant into his arms and cradled her a moment before placing her on her stomach in the crib. He couldn’t say marriage with Kate was the most convenient thing he’d ever done, but living without her had definitely been inconvenient. And living with her did have its advantages.
Like the one displayed before him now.
Breast exposed, Kate scrubbed at her shirt. “Remind me to order rubber clothes the next time we have a baby,” she said, exasperated.
“Are we having another baby?” he asked, mightily interested.
Kate glared at him. “Bite your tongue.” She thought about it for a moment. “Although, I don’t think I’d mind in, oh. say a year?”
Hank leered at her, eyes lingering on her milk-plush breasts. “I think that could be arranged.”
Kate saw where he was looking and huffed at him in mock indignation, covering up. He squatted next to her and drew the shirt away from her breasts.
“Don’t hide,” he said softly. “I like looking at you.”
“I know,” she agreed, running her fingers lightly down his chest to find the towel’s tuck. She flicked the terry cloth aside. “You like the body very much.”
“Oh, and you don’t?”
“Well,” Kate hedged. “I like your mind, too.” She glanced up at him and grinned. “Well, no, I take that back. Actually I love your mind—and everything else—but your mind...is just as devious as mine.”
He grinned back at her. “I’ll take that as a compliment since that’s exactly what I like best about yours, my love.” He leaned in toward her, forcing her backward in her chair. “Yes, indeed, no doubt about it. Your mind and what you do with it to make me crazy in the middle of the night is definitely one of my favorite things.”
“Flatterer,” she whispered. Then he slid a palm up her thigh, took her mouth and stole her breath and she said nothing at all.
And for the foreseeable future, that was exactly what they both wanted.
Because after all, happily ever after was merely a matter of moments and expressions, more than the words at the end of a fairy tale. It was the unconditional love that allowed two people to create a family and to weave the joys and sorrows, the angers and fears into fabric to last a lifetime.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-7233-0
AN UNEXPECTED ADDITION
Copyright © 1997 by Terese daly Ramin
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