Epilogue
It was now mid fall, and Lucrezia shrugged off her silky robe, rubbing her burgeoning belly beneath her maternity gown.
She inspected her reflection in the mirror and placed her hands above and below her belly. It was heavier every day, but she buzzed with anticipation of the impending event.
Romero was stretched out on the bed with a hand behind his head.
“Any day now,” she mused.
“I can hardly wait.” He hummed and crooked his finger.
Lucrezia waddled to the bed, taking Romero’s hand to steady herself as she climbed in.
“You aren’t sick of me being miserable yet? I think I get crankier every day.” She moaned as she laid back, wincing at some back pain that would never quite go away.
Her lips made an, “O” as she tried breathing through the pain.
Romero, ever vigilant, sat up and felt for the sore spot.
“Don’t say that, perla. I know I can’t understand what you’re going through, but I’m here for you. Every day.”
He smiled the kind of smile that made little wrinkles appear in the corners of his entrancing eyes and bent his neck to kiss her.
“Every day?” Lucrezia asked through the kiss.
“Every. Single. Day.” Romero punctuated with a kiss in between each word, drawing laughter from her lips.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything, my girl.”
“Everything will change when the babies come. It will all be different. And it scares me. What if our…dynamic changes? What if we have no time for each other, and we lose that part of ourselves? What if it means I can’t be your little girl anymore?” Lucrezia bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut.
Romero moved her hair away from her face.
“Oh, baby, what makes you think that you won’t be my little girl anymore?”
“Well, for one, I’m not physically little anymore. I look and feel like I swallowed a blimp. And, secondly, because I’ll be a mother. Will you…see me differently?” Lucrezia held her breath, waiting for Romero to respond.
She heard a low rumble coming from deep in his chest as he slowly rolled atop her.
Her belly kept him a considerable distance away, but he felt close all the same.
“Perla, you are and always will be my little girl. You were the moment you stepped foot in this house, when we were married, when I gave you these babies-” he stopped to give her belly a kiss- “and you’ll still be my little girl as a mother, even when we”re old and decrepit, sitting in our rocking chairs. That is one thing that will never change.”
Lucrezia felt small tears form at the corners of her eyes, happy beyond happy that she had found someone who loved and wanted her in every stage of life.
“That also means that I’ll be your Daddy until the day we die.” Romero picked up her hand that housed her wedding ring, kissing her palm.
“It’s you and me, perla. Forever.
Lucrezia smiled brightly, pulling him in for another kiss.
“Forever.”
The End