After her shudders ended, I rolled to my side and pulled her body close to mine. “I love you so fucking much, sweetheart.”
“You do?” she gasped, tilting her head back to stare up at me.
My love for her was so damn obvious to me that it took me a moment to realize why she was so shocked. “Shit, I can’t believe you moved in with me when I left out that as one of the reasons I wanted you here with me.”
“I guess I loved you so much that I didn’t need to hear the words to know I belonged with you.”
“Your faith means everything to me”—I stretched an arm out to grab the jewelry box I’d stowed in the bedside table a few days ago to slip the engagement ring on Mia’s finger—“but be prepared to hear how much I love you every single day for the rest of your life.”
“That was so beautiful.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “But I think you forgot the question part of the proposal.”
“You’re already mine, sweetheart.” Even before she gave me her virginity, she had been. “I’m just making it official.”
“I’ll answer you anyway.” The smile she beamed at me was more brilliant than any other she’d given me. “Yes! A million times, yes!”
Epilogue
Mia
As I walked across the stage during graduation, I heard my husband and our friends cheering me on. After I shook the dean's hand, I lifted my diploma up high and beamed a smile in Tyler's direction. One of his hands was in the air as he celebrated my success, but the other was pressed against our baby girl’s back. Bridget was strapped to his chest, her tiny fists waving around.
As happy as I was when I found out I was pregnant, I’d also been more than a little freaked out. I still had two semesters of college to finish, and I hadn’t been sure if I was ready to be a mom yet. But Tyler had been my rock, soothing my fears and helping me come up with a plan.
It had been easier than I expected to push back one of my semesters. The timing had actually turned out to be kind of ideal because I gave birth to Bridget toward the end of the summer. I was able to spend several months at home with her before I started back at school for the spring semester, and then I had another three months off before I finished my degree. Even better, Jaelyn opted to stay home with the kids after she had Kacie, so we had someone to care for Bridget on the days when I had class or clinicals and Tyler was at the station.
Bridget was my only blood relative in the audience, but I didn’t feel the lack when I joined my friends and family after the ceremony. I’d found where I belonged when I met Tyler.
His cousin, Vi, was there, along with his sister and mom. I’d gotten to know them well over the past two years and was as close with them as I was Jaelyn and Kaia, who were there with their husbands and kids.
“Congratulations!” the women cried, surging forward to give me a big group hug.
Tyler broke the embrace up about thirty seconds later, twirling me around and pulling me close. Bridget was sandwiched between us, which was exactly where she wanted to be. Our little girl loved her mommy and daddy, and she was as territorial with our time as Tyler had always been with me.
“I'm so proud of you, sweetheart,” Tyler said as he leaned close to kiss my cheek.
“Mama,” Bridget squealed, smacking her lips for a kiss of her own. I bent down and trailed kisses over her chubby cheeks, making her laugh. She puckered her lips and gave me kisses back when I pressed my cheek against her mouth.
“Thank you, baby girl.”
“Mama,” she squealed again, reaching for me.
I gently pulled her from the baby carrier and snuggled her into my side. Her fist went straight for the top of my gown, reaching down to burrow into my cleavage. “I swear, she loves my boobs even more than you do.”
“Impossible. I live and breathe for your tits, right along with every other part of your delectable body.”
“Tyler Jennings! Your baby girl is listening,” his mom chided with a grin. When she took Bridget from my arms and walked away, I knew she was just using our conversation as an excuse to hold her granddaughter.
I laughed and shook my head, turning back to Tyler. “It’s official. I’m a nurse!”
He wagged his brows at me. “Does that mean we can’t play doctor anymore?”
“That depends.” I shifted closer and lowered my voice as I added, “Do you want to be the doctor, and I’ll be your naughty nurse?”
“Fuck, yeah,” he groaned, tugging me close enough that I could feel his hard-on press against my belly. “It’s a good thing my mom volunteered to watch Bridget tonight so we could go out and celebrate your graduation.”
“Why don’t we skip the going out part and celebrate at home, just the two of us?” I suggested.
“I love the way you think, Mrs. Jennings.”
It also turned out that he loved how we celebrated my graduation so much that we made a pact to always set aside time for just the two of us to celebrate each of life’s successes together in bed. Repeatedly. We had to make the most of our alone time, after all.
Epilogue
Tyler
“Mommy, can I listen to your hawtbeat?” Bridget, who’d turned four a few months ago, asked as she toddled over to the couch. Mia was curled up in the corner, watching her play.
“Sure, baby girl.” Leaning over to lift the toy stethoscope off Bridget's neck, Mia showed her how to use it. “You pop these into your ears, and then you take this end and put it right here over Mommy's heart.”
Our daughter listened intently to my wife, just as she always did. She was a miniature version of Mia but with my blue eyes. She’d wrapped me around her finger the moment she was born, just like I expected her baby brother to do in about a month.
Noticing that Mia’s bottle of water was empty, I grabbed another one from the fridge and poured a sippy cup of juice for Bridget. Then I carried them over to my girls and dropped onto the couch next to my beautiful wife. “Do you want to listen to Daddy's heartbeat, too?”
“Yes!” Bridget scrambled onto my lap and pressed the stethoscope to the middle of my chest.
“Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump,” I mimicked the sound of my heart beating.
Mia giggled when Bridget pressed her tiny hand against my mouth and shushed me. “Quiet, Daddy. I can’t hear your hawt when you make all dat noise.”
I licked her hand, making her squeal and yank it away. “Sorry, sweetie. Daddy will try to do better.”
Mia shook her head sadly and reached over to tickle Bridget’s side, making her giggle. “Silly Daddy. He doesn't understand how your toy works.”
“Hey!” I complained. “I use the stethoscope at work every day.”
Bridget shook her head. “No, Daddy. You drive the ambuwance, and Mommy uses the sketcherskype.”
“I do a whole lot more than drive the ambulance, sweetie,” I corrected my baby girl.
“Daddy knows how to use a real stethoscope, but he wasn’t home when we got your special one. He didn’t get the chance to read the instructions, so he doesn’t know how it works yet,” Mia explained.
“Okay.” Bridget beamed a smile at us before dropping her stethoscope on the couch. Then she climbed down from my lap to run over to her pink princess tent in the corner of the room.
I chuckled, remembering how I’d complained about those pink pillows when Mia moved in with me. Times had definitely changed. Bridget’s bedroom was painted pale pink, and there were pink and purple toys and clothes scattered throughout the house.
Mia picked up Bridget’s toy and handed it to me. “Go ahead. Give it a try.”
I popped the eartips into my ears and bent low to press the bell end against Mia’s chest, but she stopped me. “It isn’t strong enough to hear my heart through these”—she pointed at her tits, which had gone up another cup size during her pregnancy—“but it’ll probably work on you. I was surprised when I was able to hear Bridget’s heartbeat with it.”
I placed the diaphragm over my heart and listene
d for a moment. “Wow. You’re right. It really does work.”
“Toys today are so different than when we were kids,” she sighed, rubbing her hand over her rounded belly. “There are only a little more than four years separating these two, and so many things have already changed. Just the other day, Vi was telling me about this new formula milk maker that’s even better than the one we used with Bridget. You’ll be able to make a bottle in seconds in the middle of the night, without having to worry about the formula clumping up in the machine.”
That explained the mystery of the blue-wrapped present my cousin dropped off at the station today. When I’d asked what was inside, she told me to wait and open it with Mia because she’d be excited. That was all I needed to curb my curiosity until I got home. Anything that made my wife happy was a priority for me. “It sounds like you’d like to get a new one.”
“Yeah,” she sighed after taking a sip of her water. “You know how often I got frustrated with the clump of formula where the water dispensed with the machine we used for Bridget.”
I laid my hand over her belly, waiting for my baby boy to kick it. “Remind me to grab the present out of my truck later because I’m pretty sure Vi already got us one.”
“Yay!” Mia clapped her hands together. “I’m such a lucky woman.”
“I know what you mean, sweetheart.” I brushed my lips over hers. “The best thing anyone has ever done for me was to fix me up with you.”
Have you read our other Me, Myself & I Collection? It’s Baby Daddy themed!
About the Author
The writing duo of Elle Christensen and Rochelle Paige team up under the Fiona Davenport pen name to bring you sexy, insta-love stories filled with alpha males. If you want a quick & dirty read with a guaranteed happily ever after, then give Fiona Davenport a try!
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Alpha Heroes Page 16
