Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Not that I’m trying to let her go.
I grab my phone when I get a break in the constant flow of patrons and orders and mayhem.
I hope it’s going well. XXXX
I smile.
Smile.
Not smirk or near-smile.
My days of wondering if I’ll ever feel what other people do are long behind me.
I know I have more than any man could wish for now.
Danielle’s workplace has offered her a full-time position because she did such excellent work with my restaurant. But she’s considering going out on her own.
“Whatever you choose,” I told her last night, cradling my fiancée in my arms. “I’ll support you.”
It is, I reply now. I’d say I wish you were, and I do…but we both know I wouldn’t be getting any work done.
A moment later, I see read.
Then she responds.
Are you still thinking you’ll be home in the early hours?
Yes. Don’t wait up for me. XXXX
Hmm…I might. XXXX
I want to keep texting with her. It always reminds me of how we started. We’re much bigger than that now.
It seems impossible that this was us, once, all we were, letters on a screen.
But it’s also good to remember where we came from.
It reminds us of how badly we needed each other… and always will need each other.
I open the door quietly, not wanting to wake Danielle.
She moved in the same day I proposed. When Max offered to help carry some of her stuff inside – grinning as he said it – I knew we were going to be okay.
I knew that pain and anxiety was behind us.
Our future, bright and beautiful, was just beginning.
Walking down the hallway quietly, I think about the moment when I open the bedroom door and find her sleeping.
She was at the restaurant earlier, when it first officially opened its doors, but, of course, she didn’t hang around all night. It’s one of my favorite things, watching her sleep, the peaceful smile on her face, the happiness blazing out of every part of her.
But when I push open the bedroom door, Danielle is in bed, her knees pulled up to her chest.
She springs up when she sees me enter.
She’s wearing nothing but her silk bathrobe, the purple material shifting around her irresistible body. As the weeks have passed, my desire hasn’t waned even a little bit.
It’s never-ending, this hunger I feel. I know it will never go away.
Then I look into her eyes and see the light there, new light, excitement bubbling up through her.
My heart starts beating fast as she approaches.
Something’s different about her.
She’s glowing.
Please.
Please, God, say this is what I think it is.
She smiles as I take her in my arms, leaning down for a kiss.
“Why do I feel like there’s something you want to tell me?” I ask.
She hugs closer to me. “Is it that obvious?”
“Tell me, Danielle.”
“I did the test this evening. I’m pregnant, Damien. I wanted to stay up so I didn’t have to tell you in the morning.”
I hug her so close to me, kissing the top of her head and inhaling the scent of her. I squeeze her like I’m never going to let go, and I’m not.
Physically, sometimes we’ll have to be apart for work and life. But there’s always going to be something tying us together, something so filled with love I feel a tear sliding down my cheek.
“A family,” I whisper, kissing her again. “A future. I love you so much, Danielle.”
“I love you too,” she replies, squeezing right up against me.
FIVE MONTHS LATER
Danielle
I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, my hand resting on my growing bump. My heart hasn’t slowed down all night, ever since I said goodbye to Anna and tried to settle down.
It’s my wedding tomorrow…no, today, I realize when I check my phone.
It’s just gone past midnight.
A smile turns my lips upward when I think about the past six months.
That’s how long it’s been since he proposed, right down to the day, and so much happiness has filled me up it’s difficult to imagine my former life.
I’ve started working part-time at the marketing company, rising from intern, and one day I hope to strike out on my own.
Damien’s restaurant is going as amazingly as I knew it would.
And, most awesome of all, Dad and Damien are still really good friends. They still laugh and joke and hang out together.
My phone buzzes, and my smile gets even wider.
Why did we say we’d do this traditionally? XXXXXX
I know!! Sleeping apart is torture. XXXX
I hit send and watch as the three dots appear.
Those dots used to make me feel nervous, as though he was going to write some cruel thing.
But now, with the love of our child growing inside of me and with the commitment of our marriage bolstering me, every little moment we’ve shared infusing me, I can’t feel anything but love, closeness, more want.