I’m still getting used to the sight of Forrest smiling, not smirking, not grinning like a beast. He smiles at me, beams as though all the love in him is trying to burst out through his lips.
“What’s what?” I ask.
He chuckles and his hands slide down my body, tickling my sides.
I squirm against him, giggling.
“Okay, okay,” I pant. “But I’m scared, Forrest.”
“Scared, why?” he asks, concern shimmering in his voice.
“Maybe the fantasy is better than reality. Maybe you don’t want me to get even curvier when we’re just starting to explore our sex life.”
“Wait.”
He steps back, holding onto my hips as though he wants to drink in all of me.
“Don’t play games with me, Fiona. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
I reach over to the table and push the laptop aside, revealing the pregnancy test.
“It’s positive,” I murmur.
“Yes, yes, yes,” he roars, darting forward and lifting me off the ground.
We laugh together as he spins me around and around, giving me slices of Paris and then our hotel suite, over and over until my head feels like it’s going to helicopter away from my neck.
“Okay,” I giggle. “You’re making me woozy.”
He puts me down and cradles my face in his hands, and I turn toward him in the way he loves so much.
“I love you,” he growls. “I love you so much, Fiona.”
“I love you too,” I whisper.
“I can’t wait to have a family with you,” he breathes huskily. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
I collapse against him, holding firmly onto his back, digging my fingernails into the taut, protective muscles.
There’s no place I could ever feel safer and more cared-for than the arms of my husband-to-be.
Extended Epilogue
One Year Later
Forrest
I cradle Kaleigh to my chest and rock her softly as I gaze down from the balcony. I chose the balcony seating because it means I can easily dart out if Kaleigh starts to cry, and because it means all the attention will be on my woman for her novel reading.
I don’t want anybody getting distracted by me. This is her day. She’s earned this.
Anna and Kelly sit beside me, Anna gazing adoringly at her granddaughter as we wait for the lights to dim and for Fiona to walk out.
“Do you want to hold her?” I whisper.
“I don’t want to wake her,” Anna says, biting her lip.
I smile, shaking my head. “She loves sleeping in your arms, Anna. It’s okay.”
“Only if you’re sure…”
I softly hold my daughter out to her.
I remember how terrified I was the first time I held her, sitting next to the birthing bed, tears in my eyes as the nurse handed her to me. I was so proud of Fiona, of how she struggled and fought to bring our daughter into this world. And then there she was, this little fragile bundle, and I was sure I was going to hurt her.
“She’s so small,” I whispered. “Fiona, I can’t.”
Fiona smiled, tears glistening in her eyes, her cheeks sweaty and flushed. Her hair was sweaty and spiraled around her face. She’d never looked more beautiful.
She glowed in that birthing bed, and she’s glowed every day since.
I never would’ve believed Fiona could be more attractive to me, but that’s what Kaleigh’s birth has proven. She struts around the house in her loose-fitting PJs and her nightgowns, and I have to fight down carnal urges each time my gaze comes to rest on her.
“I can’t believe you find me attractive like this,” she said to me last night when I moved up behind her in the kitchen and slid my hands over her belly and up to her milk-heavy tits.
She shivered against me as I rubbed, letting out a moaning noise.
“You’re beautiful,” I whispered in her ear. “You’re sexy. You’re strong. You’re curvy. You’re everything I could ever wish for, and I love you so damn much.”
“Forrest,” Anna murmurs, calling me back to the present.
“Sorry,” I grin, letting go of Kaleigh so that Anna can take her into her arms.
“I was thinking about Fiona,” I tell them.
Kelly smiles across her mother and her niece at me. It’s been a long road completely winning Kelly’s trust, but now we’ve reached a place where we both agree we want what’s best for Fiona, always.
I’m so damn happy that Fiona – and now Kaleigh – and now me, have such supportive family members.
“You know you’re making it really hard for me to hate you, right, bro?” she laughs quietly.
I grin and shrug. “Don’t worry,” I joke. “I’ll think of something soon.”
Anna rocks Kaleigh softly up and down, her tears glistening in the theatre’s lights. And then the lights fade and the spotlight illuminates the stage, coming to rest on the curtain.
I lean forward eagerly, my heart hammering with the heat of a thousand suns in my chest.
I always knew Fiona would make a name for herself in her writing career.