Sighing against Molly’s lips, I withdrew my head a fraction. “Looks like our friends are here early,” I announced with mock-disappointment. A pair of black cowboy boots landed next to our heads, and Cass looked down at the two of us, grinding her hips and biting her lip. “Still fuckin’ like rabbits, I see! ‘Yeah, Rome, yeahhhhh!!!’“
“Hey, Cass,” Molly said, slumping back in frustration, ignoring Cass’s usual inappropriate jokes. I began getting to my feet, smirking at Cass and hoisting Mol off the floor as I did so.
“Hey, Molls! I’ve missed you, honey!” Cass screamed, holding out her hands and pulling Molly to her huge chest, the impact robbing her of her breath.
A hand slapped on my back, and when I turned around, Jimmy-Don was holding out his arms. “Bullet, get the hell here, boy!”
I couldn’t help but laugh as he jerked me in for a full-body hug, only withdrawing to say, “Everyone’s here, guys. The adults are already inside drinking beer.”
“Fuck, Yeah! We’re gonna get wasted!” Cass hollered and, eying me with affection, proceeded to bear hug me too.
“Where are all the kids?” I heard Molly ask, waving to Lexi, Austin, Ally, and her husband inside the house. Ally’s husband. Shit. I still struggled with who that was.
“Playing ball behind the trees. They’re all having a blast, don’t worry!” Cass said and, with a wink and a slap on my ass, walked ahead to take Jimmy-Don’s proffered arm and set off toward the house.
I walked over to my wife, hooking an arm around her neck, and laid a soft kiss on her head, whispering, “God, I fuckin’ love you, baby. We’ll be finishing what we started later.”
“I fucking love you too. And I can’t bloody wait,” Mol whispered back, squeezing both of her arms around my stomach, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at that proper English accent cussing.
She was so fucking cute.
Laughter from all our best friends spilled out from inside of our house, echoes of our children’s laughter carried on the summer breeze, and I held on tight to the most perfect gal in the world.
All was how it should be, how it was meant to be. We had happiness, we had a family, we always had each other, and as I tucked my amazing wife under the protection of my arm, I felt like the luckiest bastard in the world.
Molly Juliet Prince is, and always will be, my home.
The End
Bonus Chapter
Molly
Aged Twenty-Six
Seattle, Washington
“Molly… Molly… Wake up for me, darling… Come on now…”
I was floating weightlessly in some transient dream, but a distant voice had me slamming back to my body with a jolt, and my eyes rolled open to fix on a blurry white ceiling.
“Welcome back, Mrs. Prince.” A blond woman wearing peach scrubs was above me, coaxing me back to consciousness. I glanced around the room with heavy eyes and noted we were alone.
Where’s Romeo?
“What…?” I tried to clear my dry throat. “W-where am I?”
“Shh… drink first.” A blue beaker with a long straw met my lips. I took the offered drink and after a huge gulp of water, the liquid moistening my dry throat, I tried next to clear the thick fog from my mind.
No!
Stiffening, my hand flew to my stomach and I winced in pain. I felt like I’d been sawed wide open. Fear hit me in the chest. Not again… This can not be happening again…
The nurse’s knowing blue eyes met mine, and rubbing a hand on my arm, she said, “We had to give you an emergency caesarean, due to your preeclampsia. The baby was in distress and your blood pressure was getting to a dangerous level.”
Flashes of memory came back to me. Me on bed rest for the last three months, then hazy, scattered recounts of Romeo carrying me into the hospital in his arms, frantic, terrified, desperate even, and Ally… Ally drove us here to the hospital? That’s right. Ally was staying with us here in Seattle. She’d secured a co-curating commission at the Burke Museum on The University of Washington’s campus not too long ago and was in our spare room until she left again for her regular position at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.
I forced my groggy mind to refocus… The baby… Our baby!
I opened my mouth, about to speak in guttering panic, when the nurse smiled down at me. “It was a successful delivery, Molly. Your baby is fine, absolutely beautiful.” She lowered down farther to whisper, “And eager to meet Mommy.”
A feeling of nervous excitement burst in my chest, but a hint of fear was evident too. My emotions were off the chart, and the nurse squeezed my hand in support.
My God… I was a mammy.