“Yup.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
She squealed as she threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, honey, this is the best surprise ever!”
He squeezed her back and flopped into bed next to her. “I’m glad you approve.”
She lay back down and smiled widely at him, then sighed a happy little sigh.
“Okay,” she said. “I got a surprise, now you get a surprise. Go to the dresser and get the box out of the top drawer. I’d get it for you, but if I try to stand up, I’ll probably puke again.”
He did as he was told, then snuggled back up against her. She continued to grin at him, clutching the frame to her chest while she watched him intently as he opened the box.
He pulled out a coffee mug and spun it around to see the design on the front. It read “WORLD’S GREATEST DAD” in big bold letters.
He smirked as his heart ached slightly.
Now that’s a pretty cruel jo—
Suddenly, a few puzzle pieces fell together and he whipped his head around to face her wide grin and teary eyes.
“Are you fucking serious?”
“Nick!” she scolded as she laughed, wiping an eye and swatting his shoulder. “Such a potty mouth.”
He gaped at her, suddenly dumbfounded. “How did this happen?”
She threw a hand over her face and laughed hysterically, then cupped his chin. “Well, honey when a man and woman love each other very much, they—”
He cut off her words with his lips and then leaped from his spot on the bed to the floor, and threw his arms in the air triumphantly. “Yes! I did it!”
She burst into laughter again and clutched her stomach. “You have to stop before I puke again.”
He paced back and forth a few times, chuckling to himself, then kneeled down next to the bed and rested his head next to her stomach. He gingerly placed a hand on it as he beamed at her.
She smiled back as she stroked his hair.
“So,” she murmured with a smirk. “Are you going to cry?”
He scoffed. “I don’t cry.”
She lifted an eyebrow at him. “We’ll see about that.”
And as it turned out, Sammie was right.
Before he realized what had happened, thirty-two weeks had zipped by as if they were thirty-two seconds. Sammie was once again smiling at him while he stood next to her hospital bed, cradling the most perfect little thing he’d ever laid eyes on.
Arianna Elizabeth Chapman. She had his eyes and her mother’s hair, and Nick fell hopelessly in love for the second time in his life.
He glanced back over at Sammie, feeling like there was something he should say, but he couldn’t seem to find any words that were appropriate for such a sacred moment. He didn’t quite know what to do with himself. The experience was overwhelming to say the least, and his wife—themotherof hisdaughter—seemed to understand exactly how he felt.
She beckoned to him so he sat on the bed next to her. She pulled his face into the crook of her neck and whispered. “We’re a family, Nick. It’s okay to cry.”
So—for the first time in his adult life—he did.
Chapter Seventeen
