Reeve comforts me as I retch and cry until I’m physically and emotionally drained. He passes me a toothbrush to use while propping me up before he carries me back out to the living room and plies me with water. He cradles me protectively in his arms as I cling to him like a limpet. I’m all cried out and no closer to knowing what I’m going to do with my love life. Reeve doesn’t pressure me to talk. He just holds me for an indeterminable amount of time.
After a while, he helps me into my underwear while he pulls on his boxers. He carries me outside to the balcony, placing my feet on the ground. Pulling me back against his chest, we hold one another as we stare at the placid ocean. His arm bands around my bare breasts, shielding me. He dots kisses along my neck, and I arch my head back, both loving and hating how much his arms feel like home. Like I belong here and this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
“I know you’re upset, and I can guess why. I’m not going to lie and say I’m happy you love this Irish guy, but it’s my fault you were even there in the first place, so I’ve got to man up and accept the situation.” He spins me around, hauling me in close as his lips brush softly against mine. “He’s not here, Viv. I am. And I’m all yours in every sense of the word. I won’t be making any decisions about my career without your involvement. Everything I do from here on out will be done placing your needs above mine. I know you need time, and I’ll give you that, but please say you’ll give us another chance. If we try and you say it’s not working for you, it will kill me, but I’ll walk away. I will do whatever it takes to make you happy, because that is the only thing that matters to me anymore. You are my entire world, Viv, and I won’t stop until I have proven that to you.”
63
Five+ Years Later
Staring out the window of my home-office-slash-library, I smile as I watch Easton’s brown head bob excitedly when his dad lifts him up onto the top of the slide. Pure exhilaration is etched upon his handsome little face as he shoots down the slide. He grows more and more like Reeve with every passing day. I can’t believe he will be five in May.
Smoothing my hand over my small bump, I hum to my little princess, awash with happiness. Family life with Reeve is everything I had hoped it would be and more. Being married to the man who has been my significant other, in so many ways, from my earliest memory, is equally fulfilling.
Reeve and Easton are my world, and I know my daughter will be too. Okay, we don’t know if it’s a girl yet, but I have a sixth sense. I just feel it in my bones. We have our sixteen-week ultrasound in three weeks, and Reeve is more excited than a kid on Christmas morning.
I stare adoringly at my husband as he chases our son around the playground, more in love with Reeve now than I’ve ever been. As a dad, Reeve is everything his father isn’t, and I know he never wants Easton to doubt he is wanted, loved, and cherished. Easton is the apple of his father’s eye, and Reeve is the most amazing dad, showering Easton with love and being there for all the important moments, unlike his own absent father.
Watching them together is beautiful, and I’m so grateful for the love we share. I will never take it for granted.
My cell vibrates with an incoming call, and I rush around my desk, swiping the screen to accept Audrey’s video call. I’ve been calling her all week since I discovered the news, needing my bestie’s advice.
Alex and Audrey got married two years ago, and they live in Boston where Alex is the head football coach at a local high school. I’m hoping they might return to L.A. once Audrey graduates next year because I miss her a lot. She is in her last year of med school and snowed under with hospital rotations, classes, and assignments. With the time difference and our busy schedules, it is murder trying to find time to talk, let alone meet up.
“Squee. I see a bump! Look how cute you are,” she says. Her gorgeous face looms large as she peers in close to the screen.
I run my hand along my slightly enlarged stomach. “It’s only barely noticeable, but I’m definitely bigger than I was when I was pregnant with E.”
Audrey snorts. “That wouldn’t be hard. No one even knew you were pregnant until the very end. You were tiny carrying him.”
It’s true. I was able to remain at UCLA until March of my junior year, disguising my growing bump with baggy tops until I woke one morning and my belly seemed to have ballooned overnight. I moved in with my parents then and switched to online classes.
Easton Jonathon Lancaster was born at three thirty a.m. on May fifth weighing a teeny six pounds five ounces. You’d never know it looking at him now. He’s tall and a healthy weight for his age.