Epilogue
Rex
Six Months Later
Six months and nothing has changed. Deep down, I truly believed that time would slow my need to watch her. I was wrong. Even now, while I flip celebratory graduation burgers for Hailey and her friends, I can’t look away from her.
I guess it doesn’t help that she’s wearing a bikini and I know what’s waiting for me beneath it.
Once the cooking’s done, we settle down at the table outside. Everyone eats, sharing jokes and cheers for their successes. When eating’s out of the way, Hailey shuffles her way onto my lap, and lifts my hand onto the table.
“I’ve got another announcement,” she says. “Well, two.”
“Two?” I whisper against her neck. Her shoulders stiffen at the sensation, and her giggling tells me that was more ticklish than either of us expected it to be.
“Uh-huh.” Hailey lifts her hand up to my head, stroking the side softly.
“Oh, come on,” Lucy jumps in. “You can’t say you have an announcement and then keep us waiting in suspense.”
Everyone at the table laughs at her outburst. I’ve grown to like Lucy. Though she has a strange over-eager interest in our lives, she’s a great friend to Hailey, and that’s all I could ask for.
“Well, some of you might’ve noticed the first one.
” Hailey lifts our hands and shows the ring I put on her finger.
Picked it out myself, wanting it to encapsulate her perfection.
But realizing I’d never choose anything if that was my criteria, I picked this one out instead.
A nice, big diamond, matching the sparkle in her eyes. Rose gold, like her cheeks.
“What about the second one?” Now I’m the overeager one.
“Well, you see, that one’s just for us.” Hailey leans in close to my ear, sucking the lobe between her lips and biting playfully. And as she moves away, she whispers. “I’m pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” I roar. She giggles at my outburst, and something tells me that was the exact response she was looking for. “I’m gonna be a dad?” Her friends sporadically cheer, applaud and high-five.
“You are,” she goes quieter again, then whispers “And I’m gonna be jealous sharing the title daddy.”
My turn to whisper, because it maybe six months in but that word still does unexplainable things to me. Barely out of her mouth and my manhood’s stirring eagerly.
“If you’re not careful with what you say, I might be putting a second one in you sooner than you think.”
“Gosh, you’re cute,” Hailey says, wriggling her hips over my lap.
“I think you meant to say manly and tough.” I make my voice deeper to add playful flair.
“Too bad we’re inside the house, my big, fluffy teddy-bear,” she snickers. “You know the rules.”
“I thought I was the rule maker.”
“Of course you are,” she looks at me with a cute, devious smirk. “But I’m the rule breaker.”
“Fuck, I love you.” I nuzzle against the back of her neck and wrap my hands over her belly. It’s definitely too soon, but somewhere inside there, my child waits for me.
“I love you, too, handsome,” Hailey says.
And with a final round of congratulations from her friends, Hailey and I say goodbye to them and head inside to discuss our future.
And after the bombshell she dropped, it’s never been brighter.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I must be the luckiest man alive.