Page 10 of How is This My Life? (Shorts)
Elise’s POV
One year later…
It was hard to believe that three years ago, I found out I was pregnant with Tennley, had just left Trevor, and was such a mess that I swore off love.
I couldn’t believe she was about to turn two soon.
I knew that wouldn’t stick. Especially after I heard the way Adrian took up for Tennley and me when Trevor ambushed us at Denise and Aaron’s wedding.
I couldn’t help it. I think I’d fallen head over heels for him at that moment. We’ve been together ever since. Denise and Aaron had just celebrated a year together, with the little boy, Nathanial King, named after his grandpas.
A lot had changed.
We bought a huge plot of land. Five acres, and we started building shipping container homes on it to create a family compound-homestead type residence.
Denise and Aaron’s was a U-shape, three-bedroom, with the middle of the U set as an all-seasons room, complete with sliding glass walls in the front to open it up during the summer. It was beautiful.
Ours.
Yes, ours, mine, and Adrian’s were three shipping containers stacked on top of each other.
The top one was cut apart for the cathedral roof.
There were patios in the front and back of the second floor with steps down to the ground floor.
On the first floor was a front porch. It was beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to fill it with memories.
Adrian asked me to marry him last night at our family dinner.
Usually, at one of our townhouses, there were only three more months until both homes were finished.
Tonight, I had asked for another family dinner, and I was going to surprise him with my gift.
I’d been waiting for the perfect moment, and tonight, with all the people we considered family there, felt right.
With everyone gathered around our new dining room table that sits ten, food all down the middle, we talked, laughed, and started thinking about wedding ideas for ours.
“We’re going to have to do it soon,” I whispered into his ear.
“How soon? Because it’s already September.” Denise, oh so helpfully pointed out.
“I know. I was thinking next month. Something small, just close friends.” I tried to sound casual, but I could hear my voice squeak ever so slightly.
“That’s…very soon.” She looked at me, confused, but also suspicious, with her eyebrow raised.
“Very soon. Why so soon, babe?” Adrian asked, getting more dumplings for Tennley off the stove.
I pulled the gift from under my chair, setting it next to his beer.
He looked at me, then the bag, raising an eyebrow as he looked back at me.
Pulling out the tissue paper, a little onesie falls out, in olive green.
Adrian opens the onesie, which said, “Tough like Daddy” with dog tags hanging off the ‘y’.
I watched his face as it sank in. His eyes welled with tears, and he looked at me, trying to see if I was telling the truth, knowing that being the best dad in the world had always been his dream.
I nodded my head, and he grabbed my face, kissing me.
Then he spun to pull Tenn out of her booster seat, running around the table with her in his arms, shouting, ‘You’re going to be a big sister!
I’m going to be a daddy again!’ and her giggling along with her silly daddy filled the space between us.
It was peaceful, so tranquil and gentle.
My heart was full. I had never been so happy.
How is this my life?