Page 62

Greyson

Five years later

Coming home after weeks on the road is the best feeling ever, but what makes it even better is knowing I’ve got a week off to enjoy it with my beautiful wife.

I proposed to Lilly the year after college, some might say it was too soon, but when you know, you know. And I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, so why wait?

We married last year, choosing to have a small intimate ceremony with only our closest friends and family. The whole day was magical, and if you were to ask Lilly, she’d say it was a fairy tale.

Seeing her walk down the aisle is what dreams were made for, she looked beyond beautiful, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried the second I saw her…and several more times as the day went on.

“Babe?” I call out, throwing my keys into the marbled bowl at the entrance where Lilly insists we keep them so we don’t lose them, something I’ve done countless of times, hence the need for it.

It’s silent.

Furrowing my brows, I drop my bag from my shoulder and walk towa rd the living room where she’s usually laid on the couch with a dozen throws, watching a reality dating show and eating popcorn.

But once I walk in there, I frown. There’re clear signs she’s been in here because the throws are on the floor, and the TV is paused. So, she couldn’t have gone far.

Walking out of the living room, I head toward the kitchen. But once I enter, I see she’s not here either. However, there’s a tray of freshly baked double chocolate chip cookies resting on the counter, and my mouth waters at the sight.

Grabbing a cookie, I shove it into my mouth and peek out the kitchen window to see if she’s in the yard, but nope, not there either.

Where the fuck is she?

Walking out of the kitchen with the cookie nearly demolished, I head toward the stairs and take two at a time. Once I reach the landing, I see her office door ajar, and I grin.

Straight out of college she got an offer to work for a journalism company that specializes in writing sports articles, she was reluctant to take it because she felt like she knew nothing about sports to write about them, but after I’d encouraged her to take it, she did. And now four years later she’s a senior editor, writer, and even a partner for the company.

To say I’m proud is an understatement. No words could describe how proud I was of her.

Pushing her office door open, I glance around and she’s not in here either…what the fuck?

Stepping out of her office, I walk across the hallway to mine. It’s not unus ual for her to want to work in my space when I’m not there, she says it’s because she misses me and being in there feels like I’m there with her.

But once I open my office door, it’s dark, and she’s nowhere to be seen.

Okay, maybe I’m starting to get a little panicked now.

Closing my office door, I walk down the hallway toward our bedroom. The ensuite door is ajar, the lights on, and there’s rustling coming from the other side.

Bingo.

Pushing the door open, I spot my beautiful wife immediately sitting on the edge of the bathtub, one hand shoved into a bag of popcorn, and the other holding a piece of paper.

“Baby?” I say, gaining her attention.

She jumps, the popcorn packet drops to the floor, and she holds a hand to her chest as she looks up at me. “Greyson?” She gasps, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. “W-what are you doing here? I thought your flight didn’t land until eight?”

I grin, walking toward her. “I got an earlier flight,” I confess. “Needed to come home and see my wife.”

She smiles, her cheeks flushing as she fiddles with the paper in hand. Glancing down, my eyebrows scrunch together as I walk closer to her. “What’s that?” I ask, pointing toward it.

“Uh…” glancing around, she bites her lip. “It’s, uh…it’s instructions.”

“Instructions?” I look at her confused. “Instructions for what?”

“To that,” she says, pointing toward a white stick laying beside the sink. “I haven’t looked, I ’m too scared to look, so I’ve been eating my body weight in popcorn and reading this,” lifting the instructions in the air, she flails it around. “For the last five minutes.”

“Is that…” glancing to the stick, I gulp as I look back to her. “Is that a pregnancy test?”

She nods, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Walking closer to her, I palm her cheeks and glance back toward the counter. “You think you might be pregnant?” I ask, my eyes boring into hers.

“I’m late on my period—only by a few days, but it could be from the stress of trying to finalize this article,” huffing out a breath, she laughs softly. “I’m not sure…I’ve been feeling gross recently, and I just want to check.”

We haven’t been trying, but we also haven’t been preventing it…let’s just say, the minute we married condoms were no longer in the picture. I made sure of that when I fucked her in the bathroom at our reception and made her walk back out to our friends and family with my cum dripping down her thighs.

Caressing her cheek with my thumb, I say. “Do you want me to check?”

Inhaling a breath, she nods. “Please.”

“Okay,” I nod, walking toward the counter. My hands shake as I pick it up from the counter, and turn to face her. “What am I looking for?”

“Well, the instructions say that two lines means I’m pregnant, and one line means I’m not.”

Nodding, I grip the stick tightly in my shaking hand and let out a sharp breath as I turn it around to see what it says.

“What does it say?” She asks, standing up and walking toward me.

My eyes glance down, and a so b erupts in my chest. “I’m going to be a fucking dad?” My eyes widen as I stare down at the double pink lines clearly displayed.

“W-what?” She chokes out, grabbing the stick from my hand and looking herself. “Oh my god,” she gasps, her eyes darting from me to the stick. “Greyson…”

“I’m going to be a dad!” I can’t hide the excitement in my voice and face.

“Yeah.” She chokes out.

I can’t believe it.

Me…a dad?

“Lil-Bug,” I whisper the nickname I gave her in college as I lift my hands to cup her cheeks. Looking into her eyes, I blink as a tear falls. “We’re going to be parents, baby. You and me.”

“I know.” Her smile widens as tears stream down her face.

We’re going to be fucking parents.

Mom and dad.

That’s going to be us.

Squeezing her cheeks, I lean in and plant my lips to hers in a soft, delicate, and longing kiss. Fuck. I can’t believe it. We’re going to be parents. Breaking the kiss, my hand rubs over her stomach where our baby is growing… our baby . That feels so surreal to say.

“I love you, little one,” I coo to her stomach, bending down, my lips brush against her skin, and I kiss her stomach multiple times. “I’m going to be the best fucking dad ever, I promise you that now.”

“You’re going to be the most amazing dad.”

I grin, my eyes unleashing more tears. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

“You’re goi ng to be the most amazing mom too,” I delicately rub my hand over her stomach. “This baby is going to be incredibly lucky to have you as a mom.”

“We’re going to be parents…” she laughs, tears streaming down her face.

“I fucking love you Mrs. Montgomery.” Standing up, I grip her hips softly and lift her into the air, twirling us around, making her giggle.

“And I love you too, Mr. Montgomery.”

This is all I’ve ever wanted in life, a family—and because of my gorgeous wife, I’m getting one.

And as I told her once before, I never felt like I had a home…but with her, she was my home. She is my home . And now we’ve got a baby on the way, that home is growing, and that’s all I could’ve wished for in life.

And to the little boy who’d sit alone in bed at night, his heart wishing, dreaming, and praying for a family—for a home, and for love….

We did it, buddy .

The End.