And now... she has my rings on her finger. My last name. And my baby is in her belly.
Yeah, life wasn’t good.
It was goddamned perfect.
“I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.”
– Paul Coelho
Epilogue
Carter
Three Months Later
I felt tears prick my eyes; a man wasn’t a man at all if he didn’t allow the woman who was his world to see him at his most vulnerable.
I placed my lips on Harlee’s damp, slicked, sweat-covered forehead and whispered, “Thank you.”
She smiled up at me and then grimaced as another contraction started.
I held her hand, whispering, encouraging, doing anything and everything I could to help her get through this.
Hours and hours this had gone on.
Everyone told me that the first one was always the hardest.
And I vowed right then and there that I wasn’t going to be putting her through this ever again.
That was when another contraction hit, and the doctor said, “Okay, Harlee, I want you to bear down and push as hard as you can.”
She nodded, and then she pushed.
Crying out with her strength.
I heard words like I see the head.
It’s out.
Another contraction.
Rest.
One more.
One more.
Then, with one final push, my woman fell back into my embrace, exhausted.
Our baby’s cries filled the room.
I pressed a kiss on her lips and whispered, “I love you.”
She smiled, tiredly, and whispered, “I love you too.”
Then the doctor held our baby up and said, “Congratulations, you have a handsome and healthy son.”
He was cleaned up, checked out, and then brought to Harlee.
