Branna(19)

“Oh my God,” I breathed and looked down at my stomach.

I had a bigger bump than most women for being fifteen weeks pregnant, and I did already pack on twenty pounds in just a few short weeks, but I felt like I was the only person to get stretch marks so early on because it wasn’t the mirror in the cabin that was flawed, it was me. By the base of my stomach and under my boobs, dark purple streaks appeared that I had never seen before. Thanks to the mirror, I could see the dark marks had destroyed the inside and outside of my thighs too.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

My eyes welled with hot tears as my eyes roamed over every disgusting mark.

“Branna?”

I gasped when the handle of the bathroom door suddenly lowered.

“No!” I shouted, and grabbed for a towel on a rack next to me. “Don’t come in here!”

Don’t see me.

“What the hell?” Ryder said, then opened the door and quickly stepped into the room.

He looked at me then around the room then back at me.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, frowning.

“Nothin’,” I replied. “I’m just... naked.”

Ryder blinked. “I’ve seen you naked... hundreds of times.”

I felt my cheeks flush with heat.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “but that was before—” I cut myself off and quickly clamped my mouth shut.

“Before what?”

Tell him.

“Nothin’.” I swallowed.

“Bran,” he said, his voice firm. “You’re crying. What’s wrong? Tell me.”

I swallowed and looked away from him.

“I have stretch marks,” I whispered. “Lots of them. They’re on me thighs, me stomach, and even on me boobs. They’re dark purple and just appeared out of nowhere. I’m sure they weren’t there when I showered yesterday, and if they were, I didn’t notice them.”

I’ve seen women of all different shapes and sizes throughout different stages of their pregnancies, and the majority of them had stretch marks. Aideen even got them, but I never thought for a second how they would make me feel about my changing body. It turned out they made me feel bad.

Really bad.

“Look at me, baby,” Ryder murmured.

I did, but it was during that moment that big fat tears fell from my eyes and splashed onto my cheeks.

“I love how you look, but do you think I married you because of your body?” he asked as he placed his hands on my cheeks and used his thumbs to wipe away my fallen tears.

“No,” I sniffled.

My husband leaned down until his forehead touched mine. “I love your body, but I married you because your soul matches mine... and because I love you more than life itself. Our looks will change over time, but our souls won’t. I will always love you, and I will always want you no matter what you look like. Do you want to know why?”

I didn’t want to know… I needed to know.

He reached out and gripped my towel, and I closed my eyes when he tugged on it. I released my grip and felt it fall away from my body and for cool air to quickly replace it. I gasped when I felt a fingertip gently run over my left nipple. I opened my eyes and found Ryder’s gazed locked on my breasts, his hunger for me evident in his grey eyes.

“These breasts are going to feed my child,” he murmured, then dropped his hand down to my thighs before slowly sliding it up to my stomach. “This body is growing my baby, and I’ll be damned if you don’t know how sexy that is or how stunningly beautiful each mark is. We created a life together, but you are the one who single-handedly brings that life into our world, and I will forever be in awe of you for that.”

“Ryder,” I rasped as more tears fell.

“They aren’t stretch marks.” He smiled affectionately. “They’re service strips because you’ll earn every single one of them growing our baby and bringing him into the world.”

I laughed through my tears and threw myself at my husband, and he chuckled as he wrapped his arms tightly around me.

“I love you so much,” I said into his chest.

I felt him kiss the top of my head. “I love you too, darling.”

I gave him a big squeeze.

“You have made me feel so much better,” I admitted.

“I’m glad,” Ryder replied. “You should feel as beautiful as you are.”

I hugged him tighter.

“You know,” he murmured into my hair. “I have stretch marks too.”

I pulled back with a gasp. “You lie.”

“I do not.” Ryder chuckled. “I have loads of them; they’re just faded.”

“Where are they?”

“Behind my knees, on my biceps, and on my inner thighs. I used to be really skinny when I was a kid, Bran, so when I started working out and gaining muscle, my skin stretched and I got stretch marks. It happens to everyone, not just pregnant women or people who are overweight.”