Epilogue
epilogue
MAY
“I think you should move in.”
Rafael pauses what he’s doing at the stovetop and whirls around to look at me. “You think I should what?”
“Move in.” I lean against the counter. “You pretty much live here, anyway. Plus, you’re using up all my electricity with all this cooking you’ve been doing lately, and I could really use some help with the rent.”
The corner of his mouth tugs up in a smirk. “The rent, huh?”
I nod as he moves around the island until he’s in front of me. He picks me up by my waist and plonks me down on the countertop. “Do you not like all the new meals I’ve been making you?”
“Of course I do.” I run my hands through his hair. “I just didn’t know how expensive it is to run an oven.”
He chuckles, and it reverberates through my palms. It’s been over eight months since I uttered those once dreaded three words to Rafael at our fishing spot, and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.
Rafael has finally had the inspiration to try out some new recipes for Olive&Vine and he’s been at it for months, making me taste test every new thing that he comes up with and I have given him a gold star rating for every single one .
He presses a soft kiss to my lips. “Are you feeling alright?”
In all honesty? No, no I am not. I am a ball of nerves right now, and I am just building up the courage to tell him exactly what I’m nervous about.
“I think we should adopt a dog.”
He frowns. “A dog?”
“Well, a puppy.”
He smiles, running his hands along my thighs. “We can get a puppy one day.”
“How about today?”
“Why today?”
“There’s an adoption day today. Down at the park. I just think we should go have a look, you know? See what the options are. We can always come home without one.”
He tilts his head, his eyebrow quirking. “We all know there is no way we are going and coming back empty-handed. There is no way you would let me walk away from those poor little puppies without adopting one.”
“So that’s a yes?”
He sighs. “So you want me to move in and adopt a puppy with you? That’s a bit fast paced for you, Whitley. Anything you need to tell me?”
Oh, if you only knew.
“Please move in and get a puppy with me,” I say, dragging my hand down his chest until I reach the waistline of his pants. I slip my hand beneath it. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
He leans into my touch. “I was going to say yes anyway,” he says, using one hand to cradle my neck. “But you can try to convince me a little more.”
He presses his mouth to mine, enveloping me in a searing kiss. One that I can’t pull away from. His touch is addictive, and that’s what got me in this certain little predicament.
“You know they’re all going to be in little cages, right?”
I nod, my eyes watering at the thought. God, stop it, Whitley . Could you be more obvious?
“Yup. I know, but we can help one get out of his cage.”
“We’re getting a boy now, are we?” Rafael threads his fingers through mine as we walk towards the park. The sound of dogs barking intensifies the closer we get.
I shrug. “Don’t you feel like we’d be better boy dog parents?”
He chuckles in my favorite way before pressing a kiss to my hair. “Sure, baby.”
When we reach the park, an official adoption lady walks up to greet us. “Hi there! I’m Lina. How can I help you today?”
“Hi Lina,” I say. “We are here to adopt a dog.”
Rafael shakes his head, smiling down at the ground. I just squeeze his hand as Lina leads us towards the puppies.
“So much for just having a look, huh?” he whispers.
“Don’t act like you believed that for a second.” He nudges me in the side in response, and I smile before I notice the pen of gorgeous golden puppies running around in front of us.
“Awww! Oh hi!” My animal voice is out in full force as I crouch down to pet the head of a little golden retriever puppy. I don’t miss the irony of the fact that I told Isla I would never do marriage, kids, and a golden retriever, yet here I am. “Aren’t you gorgeous?”
“What’s its name?” Rafael asks Lina.
“His name is Clifford.”
“Oh hello, Clifford!” I say, scratching the top of his head. “Do you want to come home with me?”
Little Clifford sticks his tongue out, his little tail wagging around behind him. “I think you do,” I whisper to him.
I turn around to look at Rafael, and as soon as he sees the look in my eyes, he turns to Lina. “We’ll take him.”
After picking up the essentials for Clifford, we brought him straight to our fishing spot so that he could go for a big run. Rafael has been throwing a stick for him for the last twenty minutes, and our little puppy is happily splashing through the river chasing it.
I sit on a blanket I’ve laid out in the truck bed, watching them with a smile on my face. Rafael is such a good dog dad already.
God, I need to tell him, but every bone in my body is hesitating, not sure how he will react, not sure if he will want the same thing that I do.
Rafael runs back over to me, panting as he plonks himself right next to me before he throws the stick a few yards across the clearing. Clifford goes bounding through the long grass to find it.
“Okay,” he says. “Out with it.”
Nausea rolls through my stomach. “Out with what?”
“You’ve been acting weird the last two days, and I’ve been waiting for you to come to me about whatever it is that I might’ve done wrong or what’s upset you, but my impatience has taken over.”
“No, no, you haven’t upset me, Raf. I just…I have something I need to tell you.” Wow. Yeah, no. I’ve never been so nervous in my life. Not even the first time around.
He grabs my hands, pressing a kiss to the top of each one. “Whatever it is, baby, you can tell me.”
I take a deep breath, steeling my nerves. “I’m pregnant.”
Suddenly it feels like all the air has been sucked out of the universe, because I can’t get a breath in. I don’t even try, not until Rafael lets out a shaky one of his own. He looks out to the river for a moment before meeting my gaze again, and I can’t read what he’s thinking.
“Are you okay?”
I nearly laugh. That’s what he’s asking? If I’m okay? I nod. “I’m okay.”
He nods. “How far along are we?”
We . How far along are we . “Six weeks. ”
His eyes drop to my tummy, but I’m not showing yet. He nods again, as if assuring himself of the facts.
“How?” he asks plainly.
“I have no idea,” I laugh. When I started feeling ill after one of Vanessa’s pastries on the weekend, I knew something was wrong. I never expected this , but when that test came back with two pink lines, all I felt was overwhelming joy. Okay, that’s a lie. I had a tiny panic attack, but knowing that I get to do this with Rafael is the thing that pulled me out of it.
“Okay. What do you…” He shakes his head. “Whatever you want to do, I support you, okay? I don’t want to impact your decision, whatever you want to do.” He laces his fingers with mine. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Not even if I wanted something different from you?”
He shakes his head. “Not even then,”
“I think I want to keep the baby,” I whisper. “If you do?”
He lets out a big breath. “You want to have a baby with me?” His eyes glass over.
I nod. Tears welling in my own eyes. “I really want to have this baby with you. I’ve never been more sure about anything. Is that okay with you?”
“Is that okay with me?” He grabs a hold of me, pulling me into his arms. “You are about to make me the happiest man on the planet and you’re asking if it’s okay with me?” He shakes his head, chuckling as a tear slips down his cheeks. “Yeah, it’s okay with me, May.”
He smashes his lips against mine, sealing his words with a watery kiss. “God, I love you.”
I smile against his mouth. “I love you too.”
A bark comes from beside us and our heads snap to see Clifford beside us, a stick in his mouth and his tail wagging.
“Is this why we got a dog?”
I run a hand over my belly. “He’ll need a friend.”
“He?”
I smile. “I just have a feeling. ”
He shakes his head again in wonder, before his face pulls into a grin. “I can’t wait to see how angry you get when you give birth.”
“Hey!” I smack his arm, but he catches my wrist, planting a kiss to the inside of it.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this? With me, I mean.”
I settle back into his arms with my back to his front, and throw the stick, watching little flashes of gold through the grass as Clifford searches for it.
Rafael brings his arms around me, entwining his fingers with mine over my tummy. “I trust you, and I trust us.” He squeezes me that much tighter.
“I think we’ll make good parents, don’t you?”
I can feel his smile even though I can’t see it. “Yeah, May, I think so. I never thought I was going to be the one who’s going to have to be the good cop, though.”
“What do you mean?”
He chuckles. “You couldn’t do good cop to save yourself, spitfire.”
My mouth pops open. “Yes, I could!”
He makes a sound as if to say, I don’t know about that.
“Are you really picking a fight with a pregnant woman?” I swivel around to face him.
He just smiles, pressing a soft kiss against my temple. “You’ve saved me, you know?” My eyebrows draw together. “I mean, I really hated you.”
I bat his arm and he just chuckles. “I think somewhere deep down I knew why. I think I knew that you might be the one to change everything for me, and at that time, I didn’t want anything to change. I somehow thought my life was fine exactly the way it was.” He shakes his head. “But I don’t think my life was ever fine, not until I met you.”
A tear slips down my face. “God, now you’re trying to make a pregnant woman cry?! ”
He grins, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “I love you so much.”
His lips seal against mine in a kiss, one that feels like forever. “You know you’re kinda stuck with me now. Like forever and ever.”
He rests his forehead against mine. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”