“How’d you know my size?”
“One day when you were taking a nap I sized your finger,” he admits with a slight tinge of blush to his cheeks.
I choke back a laugh and can just picture him trying to be stealthy. Though I’m a little concerned by how out of it I am while napping. “You did?”
“Once I got that ring on your finger, and a yes out of your mouth, I only want to see it on, never off, so I wanted to make sure it fit.”
“I love you so much, Mr. Simpson.”
He grins his wide grin, the one that reaches his eyes and makes them sparkle. His tongue snakes out and he licks his bottom lip, and it makes me want to devour him. “I love you so much, almost-Mrs. Simpson.”
Grasshoppers jump in my stomach like it’s the first sign of summer. “I like the sound of that.”
“It’ll sound a whole lot better without the almost included.” His voice is husky and deep.
“I agree.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow what?”
“Want to get married tomorrow?”
A laugh bubbles up out of me. I don’t care about a big wedding. We’ve both been there and done that, and we’ve learned that a wedding doesn’t make a marriage. I meant it when I said I would marry him in the court house.
“Well soon, yes. But not tomorrow. I doubt Bri can be home, and I won’t do this without her.”
“I don’t like the word soon, remember?” He looks so vulnerable, and hearing him remind me of it makes me hate his ex-wife even more. Every time he asked when she would give him the divorce her answer was “soon.”
“Right. Well, how about… two weeks? I’m sure we can convince Bri to be home then, and it will give the girls a chance to find something to wear because you know Lauren will make me let her be a bridesmaid. That better?”
“Better.” And he kisses me soundly to seal the deal. “In two weeks. I’m gonna marry the shit out of you,” he mumbles around my lips.
“Mmm.” I can’t form any coherent words because at the moment his hands have me distracted, running up and down my sides, sliding under my shirt and up to cup my breasts, squeezing just lightly. They’re still tender, and he knows this.
Mercy, he’s so sexy. My body melts beneath his. I wrap my arms around his neck, keeping him close. Our tongues tangle, our breaths intermingle, and our bodies crash together. He lowers his center, grinding himself against mine, and the sensation sends bottle rockets through my body, causing me to moan deeply. He lifts his head and moves his mouth, kissing me on the cheek, my jaw, my neck.
I pull at his shirt and he lifts slightly, yanking his shirt off in one swift movement. He tosses it to the floor, and once again his mouth is on me. Our tongues tangle with each other, his lips soft and punishing at the same time. I can taste the cinnamon of his gum that he’s always chewing. My hands graze the smooth contours of his chest, down to the ridges of his abs and up his back. I grip his shoulders, digging my nails into his skin. He moans and shifts, pressing his hardness against my center when I wrap my legs around his waist, locking my ankles together.
He lifts up and looks down at me, breathing heavily.
“I love you. You said yes, right?”
“Why would you question that? Andy, I think I’ve loved you since you took me to the cabin.”
He smiles and leans down, lifts my shirt and kisses my belly, moving higher with each graze of his lips. Just as he’s about to remove my shirt, we hear a pounding on the door.
“Let us in! The girls want to see the ring then you can get back to having all the sex!” Barrett’s voice booms loudly through the closed door.
“Shit,” Andy mumbles. “Why is he such a pain in the ass?” His voice raises through the last words.
“Heard that!”
“Meant for you to!”
“Don’t let Andy put his shirt back on!” Lauren shouts. “What? Dang, Josh, you don’t have to growl at me!”
“Stop staring at him!”
“I can’t help it!”
“Are they watching?” I whisper shout, horrified at what our friends could have seen. I thought they had left!
Andy looks over his shoulder, I lean up on my elbows and sure enough, through the windows off my front porch stand six of our best friends staring in, completely unashamed at their Peeping Tom tactics.
Carly waves like a maniac, smiling widely, James’s arm around her, who leans down and kisses her on top of the head. Tess and Lauren have their faces and palms planted against the window like one of those old stuffed Garfield cats. Josh and Barrett both have their phones up and aimed at us.
“Were you recording us?” I screech.
“Not the sexy time. Just the proposal part. But we can do that, too, if you want!” Barrett shouts. “Come on! Let us in!”
“You guys left through the same door you’re standing on the other side of, it’s not locked, you dumbasses!” Andy shouts.
He barely gets the words out and the door flies open, Josh and Barrett tripping over each other through the doorway, Josh landing on the floor first.
“Dammit! That’s the second time I’ve fallen today!” Josh grumbles. He pops up with a jump, smiling as though nothing happened. “Congratulations! Ha!” He points to Barrett then around the room. “I said it first, suckers!”
Andy pinches the bridge of his nose and moves to get off me. He stands first, giving me his hand to help me up before he reaches down to swipe his black t-shirt off the floor.
“Please. By all means. Come in. We weren’t in the middle of anything.” He wraps an arm around my waist and kisses my temple.
“Oh please, y’all can get back to it. We just wanted to make sure you guys were good, and we’re glad we did, otherwise we would have missed the proposal!” Carly claps her hands.
“Ever occur to you that it was a private moment?”
“Nope.” Barrett looks at us and raises his phone to take a quick picture.
“I’ll take a copy of that,” Lauren says.
“Would you stop! I’m right here!”
Lauren looks over at Josh and shrugs before mumbling an apology.
“For real, y’all. We’re so dang excited for you guys!” Tess bounces over and hugs us both.
“Woman! Hands off shirtless Andy! Andy, my man, do us a favor and cover that up? You’re making us look bad.”
“Speak for yourself, brother. I didn’t get the nickname Captain for nothing.”
“Oh, shut it.”
“Just sayin’.” James shrugs his shoulders.
“He’s not lyin’, either,” Carly agrees quickly, but blushes and bites her lip.
“Mine! How many times do I have to tell you that?” James says oddly as he reaches over and removes her lip with his thumb. Those two are so weird.
Andy grins at everyone and slides his shirt on, and I sigh. It really is a shame. He’s incredibly good looking with a shirt on but without? They could put him on a billboard and it would stop traffic.
“All honesty, now that we don’t have the distraction of Andy’s bare chest.”
“And abs,” Tess adds in helpfully, making Barrett sigh and shake his head, rolling his eyes.
“Yes, that. Congratulations again, you two. We couldn’t be happier for you. Between the baby and the engagement, you two deserve all the happiness in the world, and we are all so excited for you.”
“Thank you. It means a lot to us to have you guys by our side.”
I look over at Andy and he looks back at me; the love I feel radiating off him is overwhelming at times. He fixed a part of me I didn’t know was broken. When Todd turned to someone else rather than me when he was at his lowest, I didn’t realize how deeply it affected me. I had always brushed it off that it was just something he did because he was going through a hard time. Looking back, I realize that yeah, that was the reason. But it doesn’t excuse it or make it right.
And I know, without a doubt in my mind, that Andy will never do the same to me.
That he’ll fight for us, no matter what we’re going through. I was meant to be his forever, and I feel ready to accept that gift.
Epilogue
Christine
“This was a horrible idea. A stupid, ridiculous, horrible idea that you got us into. Why did I listen to you?”
“Me? How is this my fault?”
I look pointedly down at his crotch, and he guffaws.
“Oh, yes. Blame him. Makes sense.”
“I thought so. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be he… aggghhh!”
“Breathe, baby, breathe. You got this.” Andy is by my side in a flash, crooning words of encouragement into my ear.
“She’s trying to kill me, Andy. I know it. There’s no other explanation. Bri was never this mean,” I scream/grunt/groan through another contraction as I squeeze Andy’s hand.
“So, now you think it’s a girl?” he teases, trying to lighten the mood.
“Oh, please,” I grumble, annoyed.
“You’re the strongest woman I know, sweetheart. And I’m so proud of you. You’re doing so amazing.”
“Whatever. Tomorrow we’re going to force a watermelon out of your pee hole and see how it works out for you.”
“Gee, I think I’ll pass, but thank you for the sweet offer.”
I relax between contractions, wishing like hell I had come in earlier and not tried to be tough and labor at home for so long.
“Andy. I think I need a do over on today. And don’t you dare say I told you so, but I think you may be right — I should have come to the hospital earlier. This no drugs thing is bullshit.”
“There’s literally nothing in the world you could threaten me with that would get me to admit I was right.”
“Why did you let me stay home for so long?”
“I’m not answering that either.”
“Aghhhh! Andy!” I pull him close as another contraction hits.
I may have underestimated how quickly I would move through labor. I mean, it was nineteen years ago the last time I went through this. Nineteen! I figured my body wouldn’t be jumping back on the labor bandwagon. Not to mention that I’m old as the hills.
I stayed at home, minding my own business, fighting through the pain of each contraction, not really paying attention to how quickly they were coming. My water hadn’t even broken yet! No worries. Andy, the caged animal that he was, pacing around the house, finally stepped in, demanding I let him bring me to the hospital.
Once we were settled in the pickup, I called to let them know I was coming, and they asked me how far apart the contractions were, to which I moaned, considering a contraction hit at just that moment.
“Okay, is there any chance your husband can maybe get you here a little… quicker?” the kind nurse asked.
“Uhhhh,” I groaned, looking over at Andy. He was sweating, breathing heavily, and leaning over the steering wheel cursing like a mad man at anyone who got in his way.
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” I assured the nurse, who then told me they’d have someone waiting for me by the ER to escort me back to OB.
“Oh, that’s not necess… aggghhhh!”
“Let’s just pretend that you need him to make him feel useful, shall we?”
“Yeah, okay. Maybe that’s good.”
“Let’s also maybe have your husband step on it? Unless he’s in the mood to deliver your baby in the car?”
She was clearly not the most reassuring person to have on the other end of the line while I was freaking out and trying to keep Andy calm.
We came sliding into the ER parking lot, Andy slamming the pickup into park before it fully came to a stop, causing it to rock back and forth. He ran around to my side, opened the door, and helped me out.
When we got to the ER entrance, there was an orderly waiting for us with a wheel chair.
“Mrs. Simpson?”
“That’s me. I got this, though. No need for the wheel chair.”
And then I peed on the floor. Well, not pee. My water broke, gushing all over the floor beneath me.
The orderly looked down at the pool of fluids, up to me, back down, and up again.
“Humor me?” He tried for a smile. Didn’t work.
“Fine. But I can totally walk on my own.”
“We know you can, baby, but let the man do his job. I’m sure he lives for this. Pushing cranky pregnant ladies through the halls.”
“Dude. Did you just…” the orderly said just as I finished his thought.
“Did you just call me cranky?”
“Nope.”
“I’m gonna kick Carly’s ass. Like she better watch her back,” I growl.
“She knows boxing moves.” Andy raises his eyebrows at me, looking thoroughly amused by my current state of miserable and dying.
I wave him off. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not gonna know what hit her when I get to her. Do yoga, she said. It will help with the labor, she said. It will help you move things along, she said. She’s such a bitch.”
Andy laughs loudly. Carly is the furthest thing from a bitch, but right now I kind of hate her for getting me healthy during my pregnancy, thus causing this baby to come so quickly that I got to the hospital at nine centimeters dilated, thus no drugs! No happy juice. No blissfully pushing a baby out my vagina and not feeling a thing.
“Knock, knock,” a sweet voice calls out.
“Well, speak of the devil!” I yell.
Carly’s face appears in the doorway, her wide smile dies almost immediately when she sees me.
“Oh, shit. What happened to you?”
“Seriously?” I screech, pointing to my stomach.
“But...”
“We got here, and she was at a nine,” Andy answers her unasked question.
“Already?”
Oh, now it’s her turn to screech.
“Wow, yoga actually works,” she mumbles.
“Helpful!”
“Sorry! But… wow. I didn’t realize it would actually help THAT much!”
“Come here, Carly. I wanna tell you something.” I crook my finger at her, but she’s shaking her head, stepping behind Andy.
“I’ll just…” She starts making her way out the door, pointing behind her.
“No! Don’t!” Andy shouts, obviously not wanting to be left alone with me and my grouchiness.
Another contraction hits, and I fold over. “Aghhhh! Holy hell! I think my insides just split into a million pieces. Check, Andy. Make sure that nothing just fell out.”
“Okay, yeah. I think I’ll just… get Bri. Or… someone, anyone else. Good luck!” Carly babbles.
“Traitor!” Andy hollers at her, as she bolts out the door like the hounds of hell are chasing her. And I’m pretty sure the luck she was wishing was to Andy rather than me.
“Make it stop. There’s so much pressure. So. Much.”
“I’ll call the nurse. Maybe it’s time?” he asks, rushing toward the door.
He opens the door, peeks his head out, and in a moment of his own panic yells, “Someone get your ass in here! Now! I think she’s ready!”
He walks back in, calm as ever, like he didn’t just scream into the hallway.
“Someone will be right in, baby.” He leans down and kisses my forehead. “We’re almost to the end, I’m sure of it.”
“Mm hmm. You know this because…”
“Because I can’t take anymore, and if she’s not gonna come out on her own now I’m going in after her.”
“Let’s take a look, shall we?” Dr. Matthews’s voice cuts in.
“Yeah! Let’s do that!” My voice is sunshine and rainbows.
“Oh, you’re nice to him?”
I shoot Andy a dirty look.
His eyebrows kiss his hairline.
“Feeling a bit uncomfortable, are we?”
“A bit, yes.”
“I was asking your wife, Andy.”
“Oh,” he says sheepishly.
“I’m great! Just ready to get
this show on the road!” I say in my most pleasant voice, not wanting to anger the guy who will be staring at my most private area for the next however long. I’m thinking ten minutes, tops. I’ve been doing this labor thing for long enough now.
Dr. Matthews chuckles. “Right.” He pulls on a pair of gloves and takes a seat while the nurse who walked in with him comes to my side, directing Andy to hold the leg she’s not holding. She looks like she’s about my age, in fact, I think it’s one of Grady’s friends’ moms. Blake maybe? I can’t be sure.
“You’re doing amazing, Christine. Seriously.”
“I don’t feel like it.”
“I promise.” She smiles.
“Blake’s mom, right?”
“Yup! Lisa.”
“Right. I knew you looked fam… aghhh! Holy mother! This can’t be… nor… gahhh!”
“Breathe, honey. Breathe. You’re doing great.” Lisa pats a damp washcloth on my forehead while Andy leans in close, allowing me to grip his hand with hulk-like strength.
“Good, Christine. Nice breathing. I’m going to check you now, see how we’re coming along.”
He presses one hand to my inner thigh and the other, well, he just gets all close and personal. “Little bit of pressure here,” he says in warning.
“Mm hmm.” I grit my teeth as Andy brushes the hair from my forehead, kissing me on the temple.
“Christine? Andy? You ready? You’re at ten centimeters.”
“Thank God. Get her out,” Andy growls, his forehead resting against the place he just kissed.
Beside me, Lisa giggles, and I roll my eyes.
“It’s been a little while since you’ve done this, Christine, but nothing has changed. Remember to breathe through the contractions like you’ve been doing, bear down, curl your body into a C. Lisa and Andy will help hold your legs, and things will go smoothly.”
“Smooth. Right.”
“We got this. She’s coming, and you’re amazing and beautiful and I love you more than I ever thought possible and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look sexier than you are in this moment, your eyes are blazing and skin flushed, you’re determined and sweaty and…”
“Now’s not the time, Andy!”
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