With that, he releases me and walks out the door, leaving my panties wet and an overwhelming ache between my legs.
As soon as Lucy and I enter the living room, we see candles lit all over the place and we both notice two small boxes wrapped in pink wrapping paper sitting on the table beside the couch.
“Daddy!” Lucy yells.
“I will be right there, princess. Have a seat on the couch with Mommy.”
Lucy takes my hand and we do as we are told. Luke walks in and sits on the couch next to Lucy. He picks her up and puts her on his lap, then reaches down and places one of the gifts in my lap and the other one in Lucy’s.
“Before you both open them, let me tell you something.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
“I love the two of you more than anything, and when I went shopping for something special for Lucy from me the other day, I saw these in the window and had to get one for both of you. If you want to open them now, I can explain to you why I thought they were perfect.”
Lucy rips hers open; however, I try and take my time. The excitement is killing me, but when I finally lift the lid off the black box, I gasp when I see what is inside. Blocking out whatever it is that Lucy is saying to me, I take the silver necklace out of the box and hold it up to get a better look at it. It has a small, round, see-through locket with several stars and the moon inside.
“Luke, this is beautiful.”
“Look at mine, Mommy. It’s just like yours!”
“It looks so pretty on you, Lucy,” I say, admiring it as Luke clasps in in place around her neck.
“Turn around, Mommy and we can put yours on, too. Then Daddy can finish his story.”
Handing the necklace to Luke, I turn around and he places the necklace around my neck. After making sure that it is secure, I turn back around and as we look into each other’s eyes he continues.
“The three of us have been separated by the moon and the stars, but every night we saw the same ones. I want the two of you to know that I love you.”
Lucy turns and gives Luke a big hug.
“I love you, too, Daddy,” she says through a yawn. “This was the best birthday ever.”
Taking his eyes away from mine, he lowers them to Lucy.
“I love you my big girl, and you’re welcome. Go give your Mommy a kiss and a hug and a secret so I can put you to bed, okay?” Lucy does as she is told and thanks me for her birthday as well. Luke picks her up and carries her to bed. I stretch myself out on the couch and place my hand over the necklace. I know exactly what Luke is talking about, because whenever I looked at the moon and the stars all those years we were separated, I always thought of him as well.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The rain has stopped by the time we all get up on Sunday morning and as I stretch before climbing out of bed, I feel extremely sore because after Luke carried me to bed last night, he made good on his promise about bending me over. Luke’s side of the bed is empty so I pull the covers off of me. The morning sickness comes on before my feet hit the floor; I make it to the bathroom just in time to empty my stomach.
After lying on the floor for a few minutes, I force myself to get up and go through my morning routine. Making my way down the stairs to the kitchen, I smell bacon and I have to stop for a moment. The greasy odor is making me sick just like it did when I was pregnant with Lucy. Placing my hand on my stomach, I give myself a little pep talk and make my way to the kitchen. Lucy and Luke are sitting at the table with a feast of blueberry pancakes and bacon. When they notice me approaching, Lucy jumps out of her chair and grabs my hand, guiding me to the table.
“Sit here, Mommy. Daddy and I made you breakfast and then we have a surprise for you.”
Luke gives Lucy a mysterious look and she giggles while I sit there dumbfounded and wondering what is going on.
“Well, thank you so much for breakfast. It looks so good and I am so hungry I could eat for two.”
I turn to look at Luke as he shakes his head while placing a pancake on a plate for Lucy. The three of us eat in silence. I skip eating the bacon but the pancakes are so good and the juice tastes even better. As we are finishing up, I go to get up to start to clean but Luke stops me.
“Leave it and let us clean up, okay?”
“All right you two, what is going on?”
Lucy starts to giggle again and Luke just stands up and shrugs his shoulders as he walks away and starts to clean up. Seeing that I will not get anywhere with the two of them, I tell them I am going to go call Erin.
“Hurry up, Mommy. We won’t be long,” Lucy calls out to me as I walk away.
What in the world has gotten into those two this morning, and what kind of surprise do they have for me?