Epilogue
NAOMI
Many years later
Pregnancy is no freaking walk in the park. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this might be one of the hardest things I have ever done. Women do not get enough credit for this. How did my mom do it four times?
I rub my hand down my belly. I’m thankful, though.
The first few years I hadn’t thought much of pregnancy.
It was in the back of my mind. Paxton and I have sex almost every day.
It has become impossible for me to fall asleep without an orgasm.
No clue how I managed that before. I swear my body finds ways to make sure I’m dependent on my husband.
All parts of me are obsessed with that man.
On some level, I thought I would get pregnant without actually trying.
I believed it would occur unintentionally, but it wouldn’t truly be an accident if it lingered in the back of my mind.
I didn’t want to have to verbalize my feelings about it.
Motherhood was intimidating, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready for it. So if it just happened, then so be it.
Except it didn’t.
Then when presented with the possibility that maybe it wasn’t in the cards for me, I had to face the fact that I did want to be a mother.
I wanted to see a child that Paxton and I made together.
To have the bond with them that I share with my own parents.
I also wanted Paxton to be a father. I knew without a doubt that he would be an incredible one.
I still had lingering doubts about what kind of mother I would be. I adore all my nieces and nephews. Mac frequently made subtle remarks suggesting that I could both take the lead and have a child. If men can do it, then I can too. That all of us are a team, and she’s correct.
I knew I would be far from alone, and a child would never go without anything in the Marino family. Plus, I have one of the most incredible mothers, and I know she would be super hands-on. I also started to think the sooner the better at this point.
I haven’t fully taken over my role, and honestly, I don’t foresee me completely doing so for a while. Right now, I stand beside my father. We look to each other about everything when it comes to discussions. With him still staying involved, it would be wise to get pregnant now.
I’d discussed this with Paxton, and I knew he was trying to hide his excitement. I wanted to give him this. I know he is fully enmeshed in the family. Everyone treats him as one of us, but he still wants a family of his own, and so do I.
We’d booked an appointment for me to see a specialist and found out it was a simple hormone imbalance that was easily fixed. In no time, Paxton had me pregnant. If I had ever doubted that I could have an array of emotions, pregnancy has beat the hell out of it.
Those first few months, I was all over the place. My emotions were up and down. Thankfully it settled when I hit my second trimester. I managed to get through it without murdering anyone unnecessarily, which is a positive. I thought about it a few times, but it passed pretty quickly.
Now I am at the end of my third trimester, and we are counting down the days until our baby girl makes her appearance. When Nix found out I was having a girl, she was so damn excited.
At least now she’ll have someone else to focus on when it comes to trying to make them girly. I’ve done my time with her constantly trying to do my hair and put makeup on me. Though I’m sure she’ll still try. Even though I have found my own style.
I have read and reread those pregnancy books. My focus lately has been on going into labor. I’m ready to get this show on the road. I’m already a few days late.
They give all kinds of tips on how to encourage the labor along. I have done them all, but there is one I favor more than the others. When Paxton steps into our bedroom and sees me, he gives me a warm, loving smile.
He’d gone up to the main house to spar with my father. We’d built our own home a few years back to the east of my parents’. If they’d had a say, we would have just taken over one of the wings, but I enjoy our space.
During those first years, we hadn’t worried much about it because we were busy traveling and cleaning up after the chaos we had caused, but now things have calmed down, and everything is in its place. Paxton’s plan is coming to full fruition.
I’m thankful for how well Paxton and my father get along. It might be a strange thing to admit, but I see parts of my mother’s personality in Paxton, and I’m sure that’s part of why my father gets along so well with him. They both have a way of calming the people around them.
“Come have sex with me,” I order. His hair is wet, having likely showered at the gym over there. I swear the man gets sexier with each year that passes.
“Are you handing out orders in the bedroom now?” he teases.
Paxton leads more when we’re home. I let go and know everything will be handled and he’ll take care of me. It’s a trust and bond I never thought I’d share with anyone. Now that I have it, I don’t know how I ever lived without it.
“Fine, you don’t have to then.” I drop my robe and lie down on the side of the bed, my legs dangling over the edge.
“You can do as you like. I’ll take a nap.
” A deep, sexy chuckle comes from him, making my nipples harden.
“I mean, you did this to me,” I mutter, making him laugh hard.
I can’t fight my smile. I love that sound coming from him, especially when I’m the one to make him do it. He comes to stand over me.
“You know I can’t refuse you.” His eyes rake over my body. “You remind me of a goddess.” Paxton spreads my legs, stepping between them on the side of the bed. I rest my heels on the edge of the bed frame.
I turn my head, glancing at the painting that’s over our bed that he’d gotten me all those years ago.
Paxton has always seen me in ways I never could.
I know I’m strong and can do most things, but he gives me strength in areas I hadn’t known I needed.
Not until he was there lifting the weight of them off me.
“Eyes on me,” he orders. Paxton’s hands slide up my thighs and to my stomach as he drops to his knees, his warm breath already teasing me before he sucks in a deep breath. “Peaches,” I hear him say before his mouth covers my sex.
A moan of pleasure falls past my lips as my husband consumes me, unleashing one orgasm and then another before he finally stands, ripping his pants open and thrusting inside of me.
“Pax.” I gasp at the fullness, loving every second of it. It always makes me feel like we’re connected as one. His hands slide under my ass, lifting me as he works his cock in and out of me. My eyes never leave his handsome face as he comes, pulling me with him.
He groans my name a moment before leaning down and taking my mouth in a deep kiss. My whole body relaxes into the bed. We stay that way for a few minutes, simply enjoying being connected to each other.
“It didn’t work. Those books are bullshit.”
“Starting to think you’re using them as an excuse to have more sex with me.” He slowly pulls out of me. I hold my hands out, and he helps me sit up.
“They said orgasms and possibly semen could start labor.”
“She’ll come when she’s ready.” He kisses the top of my head before picking up my robe off the floor. I take it, slide it on, and stand. The second I do, I feel a small pop and release. We both look down.
“Is that—?” Paxton doesn’t fully finish his question.
“My water broke, or I peed myself.”
“Sunshine?”
“It’s time,” I tell him, my hand flying out to grab his bicep as a contraction hits me. I breathe through it. Holy crap, it was like a punch to the gut. I would know, I’ve taken enough of them sparring with my cousins and brothers over the years.
“Was that—” Again, he doesn’t finish, and his face appears whiter. “Did that hurt?”
“It was okay.” I shrug. I don’t want to alarm him. “Get the bag,” I tell him.
“Right, the bag.” He stands there, not moving an inch.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
I punch his arm.
“Okay, I might be freaking out.” He can’t control or predict what will happen next. I realize that’s what’s flooding his mind right now. “My girls—”
“You are going to be okay.”
His hands cup my face. “I love you,” I say before he can.
“I love you, too.” He takes a deep breath and then kisses me before bolting to get the bag he put together months ago before helping me get dressed.
When we make it downstairs, my parents are standing there. “We’ll drive,” my dad says. Paxton must have texted them.
Another contraction hits me when we get into the car. “Are you having one right now?” Paxton asks. I nod.
“Really?” Mom turns to peer back at me. I simply nod again. “You didn’t make a sound.”
“I didn’t need to.” Did they want me to scream? I suppose I can. “Would you like me to do so next time?” I could fake it. Sure, it hurt, but I can take it.
“No, honey, you do what feels right for you.”
This is actually the least scary part to me about the whole pregnancy and having a baby. I know what my body is capable of, and I will bring my little girl into this world.
Mom laughs, while my father and Paxton keep straight faces, unreadable to everyone else, but I know Paxton is freaking out on the inside. It’s interesting. He never freaks out. I have never known a more calm and calculated person in my life, but that’s the thing; this really can’t be calculated.
Paxton takes my hand into his. I give it a small squeeze each time I have a contraction knowing he wants to be aware of them.
When we get to the hospital, everything is already set up so that we have privacy and security in place. Paxton made sure of this. It might be overkill, but it was what he wanted. From a man that gives me anything I ask for, whenever I get the chance to return that, I do.
The doctor comes in and starts to check me over. “I think it’s time,” I tell her as a contraction hits me again. This one is hard. I grunt and squeeze Paxton’s hand.
“They’re almost on top of each other,” Paxton tells her as I breathe through it.
“Legs up, I’m checking.” I lie back and get into position.
“Wait for me!” I can hear Nix coming down the hallway. A second later, she’s bursting into the room. “I made it! You can have her now,” she tells me. Bonte comes in behind her, rolling her eyes, while Mac is just shaking her head.
“Anyone else that wants to join us?” the doctor jokes as she puts her gloves on.
“The girls are all here,” Paxton tells her. My mom comes to stand on the other side of me.
“We were joking,” the doctor says. “You can push on the next one.”
“Oh, I am.” I barely get the words out as the contraction hits me. I grip Paxton’s hand, and his eyes stay locked on me as I push with everything I’ve got.
“Oh, she’s here,” my mom whispers before a scream rings out through the room.
“Sunshine.” Paxton is still focused on me and making sure I’m okay. I nod, unable to speak because of the emotions squeezing my throat tight. A second later I’m handed our baby girl wrapped in a blanket.
“She’s so tiny.” Her little finger wraps around mine. A love that I never knew was possible fills me in this moment. I feel a tear slip free as I look at our daughter.
“God knows that won’t hold her back,” Paxton says, sounding proud.
Soon the room is filled with family. Everyone is here, from aunts and uncles to cousins with nieces and nephews. I don’t know how we all fit in one room, but we figure it out. We always do.
“Did you decide on a name?” Bonte asks.
“Yes, Paxton picked it. Sunniva,” I tell them. A gift from the sun.
Paxton presses his forehead to mine, our baby girl tucked between us. “Thank you,” I tell him.
“Don’t be thanking me. It was all you.”
He’s wrong, and he’d fight me on that, but the truth is it was all of us.
The Marinos.
I hope you enjoyed Naomi and Paxton’s story!