21. Chandler
21
CHANDLER
For the next month, I spend all of my time with Sophia and Tanya in Willow Creek, living with them in their little cabin. After Tanya admitted her fears to me on the rooftop of the penthouse, I made it my life’s mission to make sure she never has them again. I don’t want her to ever have to sacrifice anything again. Almost losing her the first time should have woken me up but hearing that I was so close to it happening again gave me the kick in the ass that I needed.
We’ve been spending all our free time planning for the baby, the wedding, and the rest of our lives. I didn’t want them to have to give up the place that has been their home for so long, so I made some changes to make sure that wouldn’t happen.
I gave Jillian a raise and a promotion so that she could be me while I’m in Willow Creek. Tanya and I have decided that during the school year we will all live here in Willow Creek, I will travel to the city for important meetings that I can’t schedule over Zoom, and Jillian will handle anything that needs to be done in person when I can’t be there. During the summers, we will live in the penthouse in the city so that Sophia and the baby can have exposure to both worlds.
I was able to convince Tanya that she didn’t have to work during the summers, but she wanted to keep working at the Cozy Corner Café while we are in Willow Creek. I have more than enough money for her to never have to work, but she’s determined to keep a job. At this point, I think she knows that she can get anything she wants from me. I will never be dumb enough to push her away again.
I made a promise to her on that roof a month ago that I would do everything in my power to make sure she and our children were happy, and I’m going to do that. Sophia has been ecstatic that I’m living with them permanently, and we’ve developed a routine as a family.
So far, I’ve been able to handle working less. I don’t think it would have happened without Jillian, and both Tanya and I are grateful for everything she has done. She has proven that she can handle the company well, and sometimes, I think she gives me a run for my money. Tanya likes to joke that Jillian is going to take over the company one day and run it for me. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind it. My focus is my family, like it should have been from the beginning.
I’ve been able to be there for all of Sophia’s school events and go to all of Tanya’s doctor’s appointments for the baby, and I don’t know how I ever could have let myself miss all of this.
It’s November, and the house is decorated for Thanksgiving; it’s the first time in many years that I haven’t worked the holiday season. Sophia is off for the week, and I’m currently sitting outside on the porch of the cabin, drinking a hot cup of tea while I wait for Tanya to get home from a night out with Kayla. Sophia is already in bed, and I have plans for my fiancé when she gets home.
We’ve been taking things slow again. Trying to work on our relationship for real this time before we add more intimate things into the mix, but tonight I want my girl in my arms all night. I miss feeling her naked body against mine, and I know she’s been missing it too. All week I’ve been catching her checking me out, and the heated look in her eyes tells me exactly what she’s thinking.
Her beautiful form appears at the edge of the trees that lead to the center of town, and I watch her as she walks up to the house and up the stairs. My eyes track up and down her body, lingering on the small bump that is starting to show under her shirt. She smiles at me, and when she sees the look on my face, her smile drops and her eyes heat.
“And what exactly are you doing out here?”
She walks right up to me and steps between my legs, placing her hands on my shoulders before placing her legs on either side of me and straddling my lap on the loveseat we have set up at the end of the porch.
I put my tea down on the railing next to me and grip her hips in my hands, squeezing and pulling her center tight against me. She sighs and wraps her arms around my neck, pulling herself even closer, until there is no room left between us.
“I’ve been out here thinking about how I can’t wait for my fiancé to get home so that I can take her upstairs and worship every inch of her perfect body.”
Her breathing picks up, and I lean in to run my lips up and down her neck, making her moan and squirm on my lap, creating a friction that has me hard in an instant.
“Is Soph asleep?”
I nod and bite down on the swell of her breast that is peeking out of her shirt.
“She’s been out for half an hour.”
Tanya stands and takes my hand in hers, walking backward a few steps and pulling me to stand and follow her.
“I want you.” Her voice is low with desire, and heat spreads through my body.
I lift her into my arms, her legs wrapping around my hips, and walk us into the house. Her little bump where she carries our baby boy presses into my stomach, and it makes me smile. I love seeing her pregnant with our child. I stop at the bottom of the stairs and cup the back of her head, pulling her face to mine and kissing her hard until she has to pull back to breathe. I set her down on her feet, making sure her body slides against mine the whole time, then turn her and push her gently to start walking up the stairs. I don’t want to risk tripping and falling with her in my arms.
On the way to our room, she stops to check on Sophia and make sure she’s still sound asleep while I stand in the doorway and watch as she tucks our baby girl in and softly kisses her head. Seeing my girls always makes me realize how lucky I am to have them. It makes me emotional at times to see them together.
Tanya softly closes her door and takes me by the hands again, dragging me into our room and closing the door behind us, making sure it’s locked. She pushes me back onto it and starts kissing and sucking at my neck. I groan and pull her hips flush with mine, grinding into her.
“It’s been way too long since you’ve been inside of me, Chandler Bishop. I want you.”
“Fuck, baby. I want you too.”
I spin us so that her back is to the door and kiss my way down her body until I’m kneeling in front of her. I lift her shirt up and let her take over taking it off as I place a kiss on her stomach before undoing her jeans and sliding them down her thick thighs, reaching around to squeeze her perfect ass in my hands. I can hear how breathless she is as I lean in and kiss the top of her mound through her panties.
She slides her hands into my hair that’s much longer than I usually have it and tugs gently, making me moan into her. I grip the sides of her panties and slide them down her legs, not bothering to wait for them to hit the floor before I lean in and lick her slit from bottom to top, sliding my tongue in and circling her clit.
“Chandler.” Her voice is needy and whiny, and I love that I make her sound like that.
I don’t have the willpower I need to tease her tonight. She was right when she said it’s been too long. I devour her center until her legs start to shake, and as she starts to come undone, I pull her closer to my face and suck on her until she breaks apart and shoves my head away from her.
“Chandler! Oh god.”
I pin her hands to the door behind her and put my mouth back on her, sucking her clit into my mouth and flicking it with my tongue.
“Chandler, stop. God, I can’t take any more.”
She’s squirming against me, and I smile against her heat before standing and lifting her again, taking her to the bed and setting her down before I start to take my clothes off. Her eyes trailing every inch of my skin that is exposed to her. She leans back on her hands and my eyes can’t help but trail down her gorgeous body.
“You’re perfect, Tanya.”
She smiles cheekily at me, and I gently push her back and crawl over her body. I lay my body along hers, every inch of us touching, and look deep into her eyes.
“I love you. I love you so much that sometimes I can’t breathe. I almost lost you; I did lose you for nine years, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that never happens again. The only thing I want in life is to keep you and our children happy and safe. I don’t care about anything else.”
Tears well up in her eyes as she cups my face in her hands.
“I love you too. So much. I’ve never been happier in my life, and I know you are going to be an amazing father to our children for the rest of our lives. Now, stop talking and make love to me.”
I laugh and lean down to take her lips with mine in what starts off as a soft, loving kiss. It quickly heats up, and as I slide my tongue against hers, she grinds up into me, showing me with her body that she wants me. I roll us until she is on top of me, straddling me as I stare up at her perfect face and body.
“Ride me, baby. I want to watch you.”
She smirks down at me and leans forward to rest her hands on my chest and lifts up so that I can line my length up with her center before she slowly lowers herself onto me. It feels so good to be inside of her after so long. I tilt my head back at the sensation of her wet heat sliding down over me, and once I’m fully inside of her, she stops.
“I thought you wanted to watch me.” Her voice is breathless and raspy with desire.
I lower my chin back down and focus all of my attention on her. She starts rocking back and forth, and I spread my hands up her thighs, over her hips, and up her sides until I reach her perfect breasts and move my hands to cup them. I take note of the small changes that are already happening in her body. Her curves are becoming more obvious, her breasts are becoming heavier.
I squeeze them and roll her nipples between my fingers, making her moan and tilt her head back.
“That’s it; feel how good I make your body feel, baby.”
She moans and grinds down on me before lifting and starting to ride me at a pace that has us both gasping and moaning.
We make love for the rest of the night. I watch her as she rides me until she comes apart with my name on her lips.
I take her as she is on all fours on the bed. Then later, after we had fallen asleep, I wake her up with my mouth before sliding into her from behind while we lay on our sides.
I love how connected I feel to her when we are making love. It gets more and more amazing every time we’re together, and I hope that it’s this way for the rest of our lives.
As we lay together, her back to my front, catching our breaths, I can’t help but think about how I just want her to be my wife already. I bury my face into her hair and breathe in her scent.
“I can’t wait to be married to you already and call you my wife.”
I see her cheek lift as she smiles, and it makes me smile in return.
“I want you to know that the ring on your finger is the one that I bought before the accident.”
She turns her head to look at me, and there’s wonder on her face.
“Really?”
I nod. “Really, I wanted you to be mine for the rest of our lives the moment I met you. I bought the ring months before the accident and had been trying to figure out the right time to propose before everything happened.”
She turns and holds her hand out so we can look at the ring on her finger.
“I can’t believe we almost missed out on all of this.”
I don’t like to think about that, so I kiss her on the head and turn to lay on my back, tugging her to turn and lay her head on my chest.
“Your ultrasound appointment is next week. The doctor said we may be able to see the sex of the baby; do you want to confirm it’s a boy then or wait until he’s here?”
She scoffs and hits my chest with the back of her hand, making me laugh.
“It’s up to you if you want to find out what the baby is, boy or girl , I’m fine either way.”
“We are definitely having a boy.”
She laughs; a sound I love hearing and vow to hear forever.
“I kind of want to wait until he gets here.”
She lifts her head and rests her chin on my chest. Her eyes are light and happy.
“Okay, then we’ll wait to see if you’re wrong.”
I smile and slap her butt, making her yelp. I stare into her happy face.
“I want you to know how sorry I am for causing us so much stress. I never should have put you in a position to question how I feel about you.”
Her face softens as she caresses my cheek with the back on her finger.
“There’s nothing for you to apologize for. Things happen, and we’ve made it to the other side. We are stronger for what we went through, and now we have the rest of our lives ahead of us.”
God, I love this woman.
I bring her face to mine and kiss her softly, pulling back to say, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
She lays her head back on my chest, and we hold each other as we drift back to sleep. My thoughts full of her and our children. I don’t know what I did to deserve her or this life, but I’m not going to risk it again. She was made for me, and I know that I was made for her. No matter what has happened or what will happen, as long as she’s next to me, I know I can make it through anything.
We spend Thanksgiving in Willow Creek, my parents come over to spend it with us. I can see why Tanya and Soph love this place so much. It’s right out of a fairy tale book. I haven’t been able to stop smiling the entire day. I love seeing my parents with Tanya and Sophia. Mom has been all over Tanya, doing everything for her and not letting her lift a finger.
The best has been seeing Dad be the best Pop Pops to Sophia. They have been attached at the hip since the night they met at the dinner party. He is the best dad and seeing him be the best grandpa to my daughter warms my heart.
“How are you doing, son?”
Dad sits next to me on the steps of the gazebo in the center of town, and we watch Sophia run around with the other kids of town and sip on some hot chocolate.
“I’m great, Dad. What about you?”
He pats me on the back once and grips my shoulder.
“I just want you to know that I’m proud of you. You’ve become a wonderful man and have done well for yourself and your family.”
My throat tightens with emotion at his words.
“Thanks, Dad.” My voice sounds tight.
He smiles at me and turns back to the view in front of us, saying nothing more. He was never a man of many words, and the fact that he said this to me means so much.
“You know, before the accident and everything happened, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted kids. I never really thought about it, but now that I see Sophia and the new baby is on the way, I want to have as many as she’ll let me.”
Dad laughs loudly, causing the people nearby to turn and look at us.
“That’s usually how it goes. Your mother and I wanted more kids, things didn’t work out that way for us, but I can tell you that if she had wanted a whole baseball team and we could have done it, I would have given them all to her.”
Seeing how much my dad and I are alike makes me laugh, and in this moment, nothing could bring me down.
The holidays over the last nine years have been hard for me. Mom was always so worried about me, but I could never fake it enough to ease her worry, no matter how much I tried.
“I’ve given my assistant a promotion and delegated my work between the two of us.”
I see Dad’s head snap over to look at me. I know he’s surprised without me having to look at him.
“I owe it to all three of them to make sure I’m present in their lives. I need to make sure that I’m there for my family, both physically and emotionally. They deserve that and so much more, Dad. They are my everything.”
He reaches over again to pat me on the shoulder, and I don’t need his words to know that he agrees with me and is proud of my choice. There was a time in my life where the only thing I wanted was to make him proud of me.
Tanya makes her way over to us, and I smile down at her as she climbs the steps, coming to sit on the one just below me so she can lean against my chest. I wrap her in my arms, burying my face into her neck and spreading my hands over her swollen stomach. I haven’t felt any movements yet, and I’m getting anxious for them to start.
Unbeknownst to me, in that moment, my mother was snapping a picture of the two of us like this and another when Sophia runs over and joins us. The two pictures get a place of honor in our two homes and my office after Mom gives them to me as a Christmas gift a month later.
I stare at those pictures every time I’m feeling grateful for my life. They are beautiful pictures of me with my little family that I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.
I just hope that we can get through this next chapter in our lives without losing each other or ourselves. We still have a lot to get through.