by Jen Talty
Her hands came down hard on his chest, fists clenching his shirt. She pounded a second time as if to push him away, but her tongue swirled in his mouth in perfect harmony with his.
“I love you,” he whispered in her ear. “I love you.” He never wanted to stop saying those words to her, ever.
“What!?” She shoved him. “You did not just say you loved me.”
The elevator doors dinged opened. He smiled, staring at her shocked face. “Come on. I think someone needs glass of wine.”
They stood in front of her apartment as she fumbled for her keys. Her hand shook as she opened the door. A pang of guilt for getting pleasure out of tossing her so off kilter shot through his heart. But only a pang. A dollop of fear, however, raced through his veins.
He pushed back the door and she tossed her purse toward the sofa, but missed and the contents tumbled out to the floor.
“Shit,” she muttered, lurching forward.
He grabbed her by her hips. “I’ve got it. You go pour yourself some wine and then we can discuss the fact that we love each other.”
“Oy,” she whispered as she headed toward the kitchen.
He laughed as he collected her things, which included a small bag with a rectangular box. Just as he was about to stuff it in her bag, he saw these three letters through the clear plastic: EPT.
“You’re pregnant?”
***
“I don’t know,” Jessica said as she poured Nolan a very large glass of wine. The moment her bag hit the floor and he insisted, she knew this conversation was happening tonight whether she was pregnant or not. “But now you know part of why I was avoiding you. I wanted to wait until I knew for sure and had time to prepare whatever the fuck I was going to say if I am and if I wasn’t, then we could just talk about the fact we love each other.”
“Oy,” he repeated her word of a minute ago as he sat at the breakfast bar, taking the wine she offered and chugging half of it. “Guess I’m drinking alone tonight.”
“Not necessarily. My period has never been regular. Just because I’m late doesn’t mean I’m pregnant.” She watched him alternate between sipping his wine and scratching the back of his neck. “But the only way to find out for sure is to pee on the stick.”
He let out a dry chuckle. “Come here.”
Rotating the chair, he waggled his finger.
Impossible not to smile when he had that devilish twinkle in his eye like a little boy about to play in the mud.
Why she’d been so afraid to be around him before taking the test, she had no idea. “I need you to know that my parents were really worried about me after the story broke. I had to go see them and I had to focus on them. When I realized I was late, I panicked and didn’t think I could be around you until I knew for sure.”
He circled his arms around her waist and it felt like she’d come home.
“I understand the first part of that statement, but you love me, which by the way, you have yet to say properly.” He winked. “No matter what that test says won’t change that I love you.”
“I love you too,” she whispered, smiling. “Crazy as it sounds.”
“Not as crazy as what I’m about to do.” His smile turned serious as he dug his hand into his pocket. “This damn thing has been burning a hole in my pants since the night my mother died.”
She cupped his face, kissing his lips. “I love you,” she said again. “I like the way that rolls off my tongue.”
“I like your tongue in my mouth.” But instead of kissing her, he pushed back a tad.
She frowned.
He had the nerve to laugh. “Plenty of time for that later. Close your eyes.”
She did as he asked.
“When I tell you to open them, I dare you to—”
“Don’t dare me. The way I feel right now, I might have sex with you in public this time.”
He laughed. “Open your eyes now and say yes.”
Her stomach filled with butterflies as she blinked a few times. She expected to see him holding the pregnancy test and her saying yes meant she’d go take it. They needed to know one way or the other and she also didn’t know exactly how he felt about the prospects of her having his child. Of them having one together.
Hell, she didn’t really know how she felt about the entire thing either.
She opened her mouth to say yes when her eyes focused on a silver band holding one hell of a diamond.
“What the fuck?”
“That’s not what I dared you to say.”
She grabbed his shaking hand, holding it steady, getting a better look at the ring. “This isn’t a joke.”
He shook his head. “You’re killing me. Say yes.”
“You want to marry me?”
“That’s half the reason I came over her tonight.”
She kept looking between the ring pinched between his thumb and forefinger and his moist eyes. “Holy shit. I did not see this coming.”
“Will you please put me out of my misery and say yes.”
“Only I would get married on a dare.” She nodded. “Yes.”
He groaned as he pushed the ring on her finger. “It’s my mother’s ring.”
Jessica gasped as she covered her mouth.
“She wanted you to have it, but I had to promise to treat you right.”
“I’ll hold you to that promise.” She wrapped her arms around him, tucking her face in the crook of his neck. “Shall we find out if I’m going to be fat when I walk down the aisle?”
Epilogue
Nolan raced through the hospital, getting turned around twice as he tried to find the maternity ward. He nearly knocked over three people as he rounded the corner.
“Daddy!” Heather yelled from her wheelchair. Her surgery had been a success but the recovery time would be close to a year, but the doctors were optimistic that this time she’d no longer need a brace.
“Where’s mommy?” He knelt in front of his daughter and ruffled her locks, giving her a kiss on the cheek. It had only been three months since Jessica had officially adopted Heather as her own. He thought it would take longer for Heather to call her mom, if ever, but she started before the adoption came through.
“She’s in a birthing room,” his father said. “Down the hall, second door. Karen is with her, but I’ll warn you, your wife—”
“Mommy’s swearing a lot.” Heather scrunched up her nose.
“Something about back labor.”
He had no idea what that was, and wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. “Guess I better go find my wife.”
He found the room, though as he walked down the hallway he heard all sorts of moaning and yelling, and none of it sounded pleasant.
“Jessica?” He pushed back the door to see his wife on all fours, his sister rubbing something across her back. A nurse looked at some paper coming out of a machine. He had half a mind to turn around and walk right out that door.
“This position is how we got ourselves in this fucking mess to begin with,” Jessica said…more like panted as she did the breathing they’d learn in the birthing classes.
“That’s my cue to leave.” His sister waved him over, showing him how to roll the object over Jessica’s back. “It’s been difficult from the moment her water broke, but the good news is she’s dilating quickly, so it shouldn’t be too long,” Karen whispered, before leaving the room.
Jessica groaned, pounding the hospital bed with her fist.
“Breathe, babe,” Nolan said, conjuring up everything he could remember from the classes. He leaned closer to her face, making eye contact and breathing with her.
“She isn’t getting any break between contractions,” the nurse said, pointing to her paper. “This here shows the peak, then you can see it never subsides. The doctor should be in any minute to check on things.”
Nolan focused on rubbing Jessica’s back, breathing with her, and not taking anything that came out of her mouth personally.
About ten minutes later, the do
ctor arrived. Nolan helped Jessica to her back. Tears burned the corner of his eyes. One broken condom and the woman he loved was in excruciating pain. He knew the end result would be another baby, but still, it broke his heart to see her like this. He took a cool cloth and brushed the perspiration away from her face, which at that moment was turning beat read.
“Doc, I think something is wrong.” Panic squeezed his heart as Jessica stared at him with wide eyes.
“Nothing’s wrong,” the doctor said calmly. “Jessica, keep pushing, the baby’s head is crowning.”
“What!?”
Jessica took in a deep breath, then held it, pulling her legs up.
Nolan honestly, for the first time in his life, had no idea what to do.
“That’s it Jessica. One big long push,” the doctor said. “Dad, if you want to see your baby born, I suggest you look down here.”
Nolan kissed Jessica’s forehead, holding her hand and chose to watch from her angle.
“Oh…my…god,” he whispered as the doctor rotated the baby’s head, shifting one shoulder out and then the other. His baby’s arms and legs twitched as it let out a blood curling whale.
“It’s a boy,” Jessica whispered as she raised her arms, waggling her fingers.
Nolan stepped back in awe as the doctor placed his baby on Jessica’s chest.
The next twenty minutes went by in a haze. Nolan cut the cord. A team of doctors and nurses checked the baby over and attended to his wife, while he sat in a chair next to Jessica, holding her hand, kissing her lips, and crying. Not sobbing, but tears burned down his cheeks.
One of the nurses handed Jessica their son, swaddled tight in a blanket with a little white cap over his head. “Nine pounds, eight ounces and twenty-three inches long.”
“That’s a big boy,” Nolan said with pride.
“Thanks for the reminder, honey.”
Nolan winced.
Jessica laughed. “As if you had any clue what that felt like.”
“I imagine I never really want to know.” He kissed his son’s pudgy cheek. “We need a name for this little guy.”
“Heather and I came up with Hunter Nolan Greer.”
“I like It.” Nolan pressed his lips against hers. Their tongues tangled together with the promise of the kind of love that lasts forever. “I love you,” Nolan whispered. “Thanks for daring to kiss me.”
THE END
Other Kindle Worlds
THE OMEGA TEAM
THE LIGHTHOUSE
NY State Trooper Series
IN TWO WEEKS
DARK WATER
DEADLY SECRETS
MURDER IN PARADISE BAY
TO PROTECT HIS OWN
DEADLY SEDUCTION
WHEN A STRANGER CALLS
Other novels
REKINDLED
JANE DOE’S RETURN
About the Author
Jen Talty is an award-winning author of Romantic Suspense. Dark Water hit #10 in Barnes and Noble and her books have been in the top 50 on Amazon. Jen grew up in Rochester, New York. She recently retired from being a full-time hockey mom as her children hung up their skates. She and her husband still live in Rochester while her children travel globe. Jen is the co-founder of Cool Gus Publishing with NY Times Bestselling Author Bob Mayer. To learn more about Jen Talty please visit her website: jentalty.com
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