Epilogue
Three Months Later
“B aby, the food’s here!” I hear called from the dining room. I’m at Marissa’s townhouse for the third night this week. We actually spend more of our time here than my apartment and I’m hoping that she’ll finally just let me buy it for us so we can live here together. I walk into the dining room to find Marissa and her sister taking the Chinese food we ordered for tonight’s ‘sibling dinner’ out of the bags and setting the table. Shane comes in with Megan and their two kids trailing behind them.
“Did you guys figure out what game I’m spanking you all at tonight?” Shane asks and Marissa rolls her eyes.
“Because you cheat at everything!” Autumn says as she opens up the containers. “I refuse to play any more games with you.”
“Sore loser.” He says
“Cheater!” She shrieks.
“Okay, can we not do this here?” Marissa chimes in. “Argue at your houses. I would like peace and solitude here please.”
“So, that rules out Uno,” Shane jokes as he takes a sip of his wine.
“And spades,” Eric says.
“And after the catastrophe caused by the last time we played Pictionary, I don’t even want to do that. This is why we can’t have nice things,” Marissa jokes.
It didn’t take long for everyone to get on board with me and Marissa after I got her parents’ conditional approval. Marissa told me that her mom told her how impressed she was by me coming to talk to them, and that I’m still her most handsome future son-in-law. I’m holding onto that for if I ever need it.
I know I am nowhere near out of the woods with them but, I am getting somewhere and I know as soon as we reveal our news, I’ll be in the clear.
I follow Marissa into the kitchen and see her on a step stool reaching for glasses and I’m behind her in an instant, pulling her down gently into my arms. “None of this.”
“This is going to be a long nine months if you’re going to be following me around like this. I can climb on a step stool.”
“No need when I’m around,” I tell her as I wrap my arms around her. We haven’t told anyone yet that Marissa is pregnant and I plan to have my ring on her finger when we do. For now, it’s our little secret.
“You’re always around and up under me!” She laughs. The one perk of us working together is that she can typically come with me whenever I have to travel and vice versa. I hate being away from her for longer than a few days, and I’m unashamed to admit that I’ve been known to show up in her hotel room when it’s been longer than that. I cup her cheeks and press my lips to hers.
“And will continue to be for the rest of my life. I told you before, you need to get used to me being around.”
She giggles. “I like the idea of that.”
One Year Later
“I’ll have what the bride is having.” I turn to see my husband as of two hours ago staring at me, giving me his usual devastatingly handsome smile as he leans against the bar, reminiscent of the way he did at the first wedding we were ever at together. He takes a few steps closer to me and grabs one of the shots the bartender poured and hands me the other. “You know what’s going to happen tonight if we start taking shots?”
“I have a pretty good idea.”
“You’re probably going to get pregnant again.” He raises an eyebrow and my eyes widen because we have not talked about trying for a second baby already.
“We have a three month old. How about we not put that in the universe just yet?” I blink at him as I think about our baby boy who is upstairs sleeping in a hotel room with Autumn who is pregnant with her first baby and very over any kind of party scene right now. Even if it is her baby sister’s wedding.
“I’m just saying, pretty sure we got pregnant at your cousin’s wedding.” He taps his shot against mine and downs his drink. “I like that liquor makes my wife a little nasty.”
“Oh, and it does nothing to you?” I say as I put a hand on my hip.
“No. That’s all you . You make me a little nasty.” He grabs my hand and presses his lips to my fingers. “You look so beautiful baby; I can’t wait to get you out of this dress.” He licks his lips as he runs his gaze down my body. I lean into him and pull his face down to kiss me. “Come dance with me.”
Everyone cheers as we make our way onto the dance floor. People begin to tap their glasses with their silverware indicating that they want us to kiss, and just as the first few notes of a familiar song come on, he presses his lips to mine.
“This is the first song we danced to together,” I tell him as he twirls me around the dance floor.
“I remember. I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you dancing to this song,”he says just before he dips me, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over the things this man says or the way he makes me feel. “So, are we going to the after-party?”
“We have to make an appearance, babe.”
“Really? Because I was thinking we could have our own private after-party again.”
The End.