Epilogue
Lacey
Three months later
If it were up to Crew, we would’ve been married the following week after we met. And while he slipped a ring on two weeks after we met, we didn’t officially tie the knot until three months later.
There were a lot of details to plan, and some of our family needed to make arrangements to come, like my mother and Crew’s parents.
With running the spa, Crew working on the security guard business with Zach, and planning the wedding, there was little time for anything else.
And for some reason, that seemed to include my period. I didn’t pay much attention to it while life kept me busy, but reality set back in quickly after the wedding was done.
Shortly after our honeymoon in Hawaii, where we spent two blissful weeks basking on the beach without a care in the world, I realized my period hadn’t come in weeks. When the two pink lines appeared, I freaked out. It was too soon. It was all too soon.
But wasn’t that the way everything seemed to be with Crew?
I racked my brain, thinking we’d been careful, always remembering to use a condom, and then it hit me.
One night, we had a bit too much to drink at the diner with Zach and Camille, and I vaguely remembered drunken, clumsy sex. I doubt a condom made it on successfully that night, if at all.
A baby? A BABY?!
Sometimes I wondered if I knew how to take care of myself, never mind a little human whose entire existence would depend on me.
I picked up my phone and thought about calling my mom. But Crew deserved to hear the news first, no matter how freaked out I was.
After finishing in the bathroom, I wrapped up the pregnancy test in tissue paper and placed it inside a box. I’d surprise him with it tonight.
As I finished paperwork in my office, there was a sharp knock on the door. I looked up to find a young woman standing in the doorway, clutching a folder to her chest. I wanted to reach out and comfort her and let her know she had nothing to be anxious about.
I waved her inside. “Hi, Sadie, come in, please. Make yourself at home. I’m so excited to have you join the team.” I pulled her folder out and skimmed her info quickly. She was my new massage therapist and had just moved to town.
The young woman nodded. “Thank you for the opportunity to work here. I brought in a copy of my license and the other documents you requested. Am I able to start tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow? Ambitious are we?” I smiled warmly. “I don’t see why not. I’ll show you your room. Feel free to decorate however you’d like. You’ll take walk-ins for now as you build your client base. If you have clients already, they’re more than welcome to see you here as well.”
Sadie looked around anxiously. Her legs jiggled, and her hands were tucked underneath her thighs. “Um, I don’t have any of my own clients. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Not at all. We’ll help you grow. C’mon, I’ll show you around.”
“Great.”
After a tour, I walked back into my office to find my husband sprawled out on the couch, snoozing lightly. I chuckled to myself as I shut the door and flicked the lock.
I gently crawled on top of him, and he immediately stirred and wrapped his arms around me, one hand planted firmly on my ass.
“Hi, baby,” I kissed his lips and took my time tasting him.
“Hi, my wife. My hot, sexy wife, to be exact.”
“How was your day?”
“Better now that you’re in my arms. You?”
“Good. A new massage therapist is starting tomorrow. Seems nervous, but I’m sure she’ll be great.”
“She will be. Especially with you as her mentor.”
“Mentor?” I snickered. “You give me too much credit. She has the massage license, not me.”
“Believe me, I know you give damn good massages. Now, where do you want to eat tonight? I was thinking of trying out that new Mexican place in the next town over, Apple Falls. You in the mood for some tacos?”
The thought of Mexican food turned my stomach. In fact, I hadn’t had much appetite all day.
“What’s wrong? Your face looks like I suggested we go eat mud.”
I laughed. “Mud? No. But I’m not really feeling Mexican. Maybe this will explain why.” I wiggled out of his grasp and got to my feet. I grabbed the box I wrapped the test in and handed it to him. “Open it.”
“A gift? What for?” Crew asked.
“Just open it.”
He pulled out the tissue paper, and I waited with bated breath until he saw the test.
Crew tossed the paper to the side, and when he was left with the test, his mouth dropped open. He looked at me, then the test, then back at me. “Wait…does this…does this mean you’re pregnant, Lacey?”
I nodded as tears streamed down my face, emotions hitting me out of nowhere.
Crew jumped up off the couch and began dancing around the room. He took me by the hands and spun me around. “Are you serious? Are you serious? Oh my God! I’m gonna be a daddy?!”
I laughed and cried and cried some more. “I’m so scared, though, Crew. A baby? How? What? Are we ready?”
“We’re gonna have to be. But I know we will be. You’re going to be a great mother. And I’ll be here with you every single step of the way.”
“Don’t forget, you’re going to be a great father, too.”
“Thanks, but I already knew that,” Crew said with a laugh. “I’m kidding. What I do know is this—this baby will have the best mother he could ever have.”
“And the best father.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
THE END