“Why are you awake?” he mumbles, rolling over so that his head lies on my lap. “We don’t have to work today. You should be enjoying that fact.”
“Why would I enjoy a fact when I have you right here?” I ask. We kiss. “Happy five year anniversary.”
“Happy fifth anniversary.” He leans forward and kisses me again. Before I can wrap my arms around him, he pulls away and swings his legs over the bed.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“Well, if I know our household at all,” he says, “there’s going to be crying within the next two minutes.”
As if Christine could hear us, her cries begin, quickly increasing in sound. It’s amazing what a five-month-old’s lungs can do.
I follow Tobias to our daughter’s room. He scoops her into his arms and holds her close against his chest. Her small hand touches his neck and her cries soften. He rocks her by shifting his weight between his feet and I subconsciously copy his movements.
“She’ll be half a year old next month,” he says.
“Yes, she will be,” I say. “She’ll be driving a car before you know it.”
“Now you’re just being mean,” he pouts.
I laugh. I touch the crown of Christine’s head, her hair softer than cashmere.
“I’m so glad you changed your mind,” I say.
There’s a beat of silence and, for a second, I think that I’ve wandered into a topic that he doesn’t want to talk about. He turns around to look at me, but his face is completely void of anger or discomfort. His eyes betray a vulnerability I haven’t seen since Christine was born.
“I know I was hesitant about this until the day we got your first sonogram, but my fears were always about our child,” he says. “I was afraid of what could happen to her, how I could mess her up, how I could misdiagnose a cough and make things ten times worse. But once I saw her, I knew that my life couldn’t be complete without her. It’s not so much that I changed my mind, it’s that she removed all of my doubts…with the help of her mother.”
He kisses my cheek.
"Everything turned out so much better than I could ever dream," he murmurs. "I married you, we have a beautiful, healthy daughter, my father has been sober for six years, and he and my mother are happier than they've ever been."
"Everything is perfect," I agree. I keep my eyes on him as he lays our daughter back down in her crib. Her hands grasp at his fingers as he pulls away.
“I can feel you watching me,” he says, turning around to look at me. “What is it?”
“What do you think about baptism?” I ask, wincing as I say the words. I’ve been purposely avoiding the subject because we haven’t really talked about religion when it comes to Christine. Her name is one thing—the way she’s brought up is another. It’s something I should have asked aloud long before I became pregnant, but it never seemed like the right time to bring it up.
“If that’s what you want,” he says, his face completely blank.
“Really?”
He shrugs. “Yeah. It’s just a ceremony to me, but if it means something to you, we can baptize her. And when she’s older, she can choose her own way. I love our daughter, Lauren, and I love you. Something like your belief in a higher power or your thoughts on the afterlife aren’t going to change that, for you or for her.”
I wrap my arms around his waist, pressing our bodies together. “What if I start believing that all of Christine’s toys come to life when we’re not looking and that all of our world leaders are secretly robots?”
“Then, I would lovingly send you to therapy,” he teases.
We kiss. When you’re married, kissing becomes another language—it’s hello, it’s goodbye, it leaves traces of emotions on my lips. If Tobias is concerned about something at work, I can feel it by the pressure of his lips and exactly where they touch mine. Sometimes I can soothe his mind with my own kiss. But these kisses this morning are only expressions of happiness and love.
“Did you ever think our lives would end up like this?” I ask. “Five years into a marriage with a daughter?”
“Our lives aren’t over yet,” he says. “It’s only going to get better.”
It is said in the Bible that “love covers over a multitude of sins,” and I know this is true because for all my mistakes, for all my flaws, there’s this joy in my chest that I could only compare to what I imagine light would feel like. It’s a miracle—to be alive, to be in love, and to be loved.
Amen.
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About the Author
Charlotte Raine is a best selling romantic suspense author. She lives near Vail, Colorado with her cat Jackson. If she isn’t writing her next novel she is skiing, meditating, gardening or chatting up the locals at her favorite coffee shops. If you are ever in the high country of Colorado look for her at Yeti’s Grind or Loaded Joe’s.
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A Trinity of Death (Romantic Suspense)
Do You Want To Play (Prequel)
Voice of the Spirit
Violence of the Father
Vengeance of the Son
Titanium Blood Series (Paranormal Romance)
Blood Family
Blood Run
Blood Honor
Blood Bound
Blood Oath
Blood Rite
Grace Ellery Series
Teacher Beware - FREE
Disturbed Mind
Grant & Daniels Series
Midnight Sun
Devil’s Dawn
Blood Moon
Complete Series Box Set
The Gun Runner - Short Story Series
Major Threat
Trigger Point
Safe At Last
Complete Series Box Set
Use the links below to find me online…
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ILoveRomanticSuspense
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[email protected]
Vengeance of the Son (A Trinity of Death Romantic Suspense Series Book 3) Page 13
