Chapter 24 #2
“You can have this whenever you want,” I murmur to her.
My pace stays steady until I feel her convulsing enough to make a vice around me.
That starts to make me pulse and see stars as my hips stutter.
She detonates with a scream of my name, and I’m right behind her.
When we’ve come down, I have to hold her up because of how boneless she is.
I turn off the water once we rinse off all of the mess and wrap her up snuggly in a towel.
Once I get one wrapped around my waist, I haul her into my arms to carry her to bed.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell her when I gently lay her down, kissing her forehead. Going down to the kitchen, I get a glass of water to bring up for her. She’s sprawled on the bed, barely awake when I walk in, but props herself up when she sees me.
“That was the most incredible experience of my life,” she slurs sleepily. I crawl into bed next to her and bring her into my side to snuggle her close.
“For me too. Here, drink some water. Between the drinks tonight and what we did in the shower you need to hydrate.” She takes the glass with a soft thanks and drinks up, leaning into me to stay upright.
I honestly don’t know how either of us still have an ounce of energy, and I have a feeling we are about to crash hard.
When she’s done drinking, I put the glass on the bedside table and lie us both down with me spooning her.
We’re out instantly and sleep for about 10 hours.
We wake up refreshed and less jet lagged in the morning.
Since we only have two more full days here, we want to try and make the most of them.
The bed gets delivered early enough, thank goodness.
We quickly make it up to have it ready for tonight.
Then back to Barcelona on the train it is, to see more of the city and get a little more shopping done for the house.
For breakfast we go to the famous Boqueria and sit at the breakfast bar called Quim.
To no one’s surprise, my shrimp loving woman immediately orders their eggs fried in olive oil with garlicky prawns.
I decide on the same fried eggs with squid.
It’s absolutely incredible, with perfect cups of coffee to wash it all down.
We wander around the rest of the market more, looking at the vendor stands and getting some pastries to snack on.
Tania finds a couple of more pretty pieces to add to the house, and we also pick out some little trinkets to bring home to my family.
Then it’s time to be complete tourists and check out the Sagrada Familia with Gaudi’s incredible architecture on full display, even though it’s the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world.
We marvel at all of the stained glass and how the spires seem to pierce the clouds.
The entire city is so alive with a buzzing energy that I love.
Music is everywhere, people sit outside to truly enjoy their meals, vendors talk animatedly about what they’re selling, and the smell of delicious food permeates every particle of air.
After a full day of exploring, we hop on the train back to Alella and quickly find ourselves walking the beach again near the house.
It’s pretty deserted, except for a small family of parents with two small children.
The mom is chasing the kids and laughing while the dad looks on proudly, snapping a whole bunch of pictures and videos.
“That’s something we haven’t discussed with all of our talk of growing old together,” I murmur softly to Tania. She follows my sightline and sucks in a breath.
“You want to be a dad,” she says like it’s a foregone conclusion.
“I want to talk about our stances on having kids,” I correct her.
She watches the family, a small smile playing on her lips.
“I haven’t been around them enough to know whether I’d be a good mom.
You may think I’m weird, but I do know pregnancy and babies scare me a lot.
There are so many complications with pregnancy that I’d be a wreck the entire 9 months.
Babies are adorable, of course. The thought of how fragile they are, how newborns need to be fed all through the night, and how they can’t tell you what they need is terrifying, though.
I’d be completely lost. I’ve seen women I’m connected to on social media talk about almost dying from preeclampsia, having severe postpartum depression, or collapsing from exhaustion.
It’s so daunting. The world is also pretty scary.
I don’t know how I feel about adding to the population.
” I nod in understanding, encouraging her to go on.
“I think I’d like to be a mom, when it comes down to it.
A foster mom who helps kids that find themselves in the system, like me and Celeste were.
I’d like to pay it forward and make a loving home for older kids who need it.
We could adopt, maybe?” She looks to me for my reaction, almost wincing with worry about whether I think less of her or whatever. I hug her fiercely.
“I absolutely love that idea,” I say into her hair.
“See, once again we’re on the same page.
” My love for her just amped up even more with her stance.
It’s thoughtful and honest and so completely her, without either of us having to compromise what we want out of life. She pulls back to search my face.
“Really? You’d be ok with not having biological children?” Her voice is so uncertain, so I give her a reassuring smile and a kiss to her temple.
“Of course. As long as I get to be a dad with the best dad jokes, I’m good.
I will make any future children of ours groan in embarrassment, that’s a promise.
Opening our home to kids who need it is a stellar idea, sweetheart.
” She shakes her head, giggles escaping her, her eyes so warm and full of amusement.
“You are going to be the corniest, most adorable dad,” she declares, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“You’ll be a great mom, I know that in my bones just from how you are about the furballs,” I tell her, leaning down to kiss her.
We eventually sit closely snuggled together on the beach to watch the sunset.
I pull my sketchbook out of the messenger bag I’m carrying and try to capture the way the sun plays off of the water, and the way the waves kiss the shore.
Gulls are diving all over the place, and I can’t move my pencil fast enough.
The rest of the trip goes by in a blur of wine at local vineyards, fun with Yolanda and her family, exploring Alella, and making the villa feel more and more like our second home.
It seems too soon, but we find ourselves promising Yolanda to keep in touch, and that we’ll see her and her family in about a year.
Arriving back in the states, we walk into the apartment to love on the cats, and think about our future together.