Epilogue
Reiana
two years later…
The first test came out positive, and I still took two more.
All three sat on the bathroom counter while I stared at them, trying to let it register.
The last time I found out I was carrying Lennox’s baby, everything around it had been complicated.
This time, there was no wondering where I stood with him or whether I would have to figure everything out alone.
The smile came before I could stop it, and I stood there for another minute before putting the tests in the drawer when I heard the garage door open downstairs.
I put the tests in the drawer and headed down just as Lennox walked into the house. He dropped his keys on the island and came straight to me, wrapping an arm around my waist before kissing me.
“How was your day?” he asked.
“Interesting.” I smiled.
He looked at me. “Interesting how?”
I smiled and took his hand. “Come upstairs with me.”
Lennox followed without arguing, although I could tell he was trying to figure me out. Once we were in our room, I went into the bathroom, grabbed the tests and came back out with all three in my hand.
His eyes dropped to the tests before coming back to mine. “You’re pregnant?” He asked.
“Yes,” I responded nervous as hell.
He took them from me and looked again, like three positives somehow needed more confirmation. When the smile finally came across his face, mine did too.
His smile came slowly as he looked down at the tests again. “Damn, Ree. We’re really having another baby.”
“We really are,” I confirmed.
He set the tests down and pulled me against him, holding me tighter than usual before kissing my forehead.
“Damn, Ree. We really having another baby,” he repeated.
“We really are,” I simpered.
He smiled and kissed me, and I could feel how happy he was without him having to say much more. When he pulled back, his hand stayed at my waist while he looked at me for a second.
“You know what’s crazy?” He asked.
“What?”
“The timing,” he stated.
Instead of answering, Lennox reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box.
My mouth fell open as my eyes moved from the box to his face. “Lennox…” I breathed out.
“I had a whole speech for this shit too.” He smiled as he opened the box.
I stared at him through the tears already filling my eyes. “You were going to ask me tonight?”
“Yeah.” He glanced toward the pregnancy tests before looking back at me. “I’ve been carrying this ring around all day trying to make sure I said everything the way I wanted to. Then you hit me with this.”
A laugh slipped out as I wiped beneath my eye. “So now what?”
“Now I’on see the point in giving you some rehearsed-ass speech.” Lennox took my hand, his expression turning serious. “You standing here telling me we’re having another baby says more about where we are than anything I had planned to say,” he admitted.
He held my eyes as he lowered onto one knee.
“We lost eight years, Ree. Eight years we should’ve had together and seven years I should’ve been there raising my son with you.
I can’t change that shit, no matter how many times I’ve wished I could.
” His thumb moved across my knuckles. “But I got you back. I got Rhyse. We got our family, and now we got another baby coming.”
My throat tightened, and I pressed my lips together as the tears started falling.
“I spent enough years without you to know I’on want to spend another one wondering what my life would look like if you weren’t in it.
I loved you before we lost all that time, and I never stopped loving you while we were apart.
” His grip tightened around my hand. “I’on need the speech I had planned anymore.
I just need you to know I want every year we got left together.
” He looked up at me, and I could barely see him through my tears. “Marry me, Ree.”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation. “Yes, Lennox. I’ll marry you,” I cried.
His smile broke across his face as he slid the ring onto my finger. The second he stood, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him, crying and laughing at the same time while he held me against him.
When we pulled apart, I looked down at the ring before meeting his eyes again. “You really had a whole speech?”
“Had the whole damn thing figured out.”
“And I’on get to hear it?”
Lennox shook his head. “Nah. That one don’t fit no more.”
I smiled. “Why not?”
His hand slid over my stomach before he looked back at me. “Because this made the timing perfect.”
The End.