“I wanted some privacy.” She entered the toilet, and made sure that they were alone before handing him the white stick. Her heart was pounding, and she was so nervous. They had talked about their life together, their future. Did that mean children? She didn’t know if he wanted them this soon, but then that was taken out of their hands. “I took this today, and we’re going to have a little bundle of joy.” She touched her stomach and waited.
“We’re going to have a baby.”
“Yes. We’re going to have a baby.”
He cried out in obvious delight and picked her up, swirling her around in the air before placing her on her feet.
“You’re happy?”
“How can you doubt if I’m happy or not? This is the best news since having you as my wife.” He bent down and pressed a kiss to her stomach. “You hear that, little darling? you’re going to be much loved.” He stood up and kissed her on the lips. “As are you, my love. My darling, my wife.”
He kissed her, and Elena couldn’t think of a time that she had been this happy.
“You can keep that if you want,” she said. The happiness she felt so profound, so true. They were going to have a family.
Epilogue
Ten years later
“Mom’s not allowed to help. She keeps cutting herself, and Daddy says that he’ll be going to the hospital and not fixing the treehouse,” Madeline said, rushing outside. She was a little tomboy. Her long hair was in two plaits, looking as adorable as ever.
“Dad, Mom said she’s getting a saw and coming to help. Stop her.” This was from his eldest boy, Tom.
Cole stood up from where he’d been screwing some wood together, and wiped his hands on a cloth. He watched as his beautiful but pregnant wife was coming toward him. She had a saw in one hand, and also a chisel. The determined look on her face let him know he had a fight on his hands.
Their four kids paused as Elena tripped up, but she regained her footing. It was, of course, a long running joke among all of them that their mother was one of the biggest klutzes around. She cut herself every other week, so Madeline had said she was going to be a doctor. Rory and Lemon sat on the garden floor laughing and clapping their mother. This was his life. He had a wife, and four wonderful monsters that he loved so dearly.
“What are you doing?” he asked, capturing her wrist, and pulling her back against him. She didn’t fight him, and he saw the twinkle in her eyes. “You’re not helping with this treehouse. You somehow stabbed a nail through your hand last week, and I’m not going to risk it.”
“Yeah, Mom, the nail was really gross.”
Cole had become used to his wife’s klutzy ways. He didn’t know how she did it, but the longest she had gone without a hospital trip had been just over a year, and they had celebrated that when she’d cut her thigh on some barbed wire that she hadn’t been paying attention to as she passed.#p#分页标题#e#
He was tempted to wrap her up in bubble wrap, and keep her secured to a bed.
“Are they all behind us?” she asked, whispering against his ear.
Cole noticed that she was wearing a large jacket, and she had moved it so it didn’t show off her body. He frowned, and then she opened up to reveal the water balloons she had attached to her.
“Come on, Tom told us the other day that we were too old to have fun. Let’s show him?” She winked at him, and he couldn’t help it. He loved this woman, his kids, his life. Everything. Taking one of the water balloons, he pulled her in for a hug, fooling their kids.
“They’re looking away. We have our shot.”
“Take it, Cole.”
He pulled his arm back, and threw the balloon. The first one hit the back of Tom’s head, covering him in water. Screams, giggles, and everything erupted into chaos as Cole and his wife took control, and completely covered the kids with water balloons. Madeline and Tom rushed toward the water can, and started to fill up their guns with water.
Taking cover behind the shed, Cole held his wife’s hand. “I love you, Elena.”
“I know you do, baby.” They kissed, and that was how their kids found them, stopping any kissing with water.
This was what he had always wanted, and with a little patience, it was exactly what he had gotten.
The End