Swoon (27 page)

I smirked. “That’s not exactly the answer I was looking for, queenie. Yes, really.”

“You’re asking me to marry you while we’re naked in a pond?”

I shrugged. “The mood seemed right.” Though honestly, it had just popped out of my mouth. I’d had a whole other plan in mind earlier.

“What will we tell our kids someday?” She started to laugh.

“Is that a yes?”

She pushed away from me, swimming backward and pointing to shore.

“No! Get your ass out of this pond, get down on one knee, and do it properly.”

I shook my head and swam away, laughing to myself. When my feet could touch the bottom, I slowly walked toward our picnic area, freezing my ass off. I dug around in the basket and pulled out a black velvet box. Lowering myself to one knee, I turned to face Steph, who was still lingering in the middle of the pond, treading water.

“You want it, you better come get it.” I popped open the box, sunshine reflecting off the diamond.

“I don’t want to touch!” She whined and smacked the water. “This is the worst proposal I’ve ever seen!”

“How many proposals have you actually seen?”

“Lawrence!” she yelled.

“Come on, queenie. Sometimes we have to do the things that scare us to get the things we really want.”

She rolled her eyes but swam closer. I could see the moment her feet touched the bottom by her wince, and I tried to hide my laughter. Once she could run, she darted out of the water as fast as I’ve ever seen her move.

“Holy shit, it’s cold!” She rubbed her hands over her arms and stood in front of me. “Are we really doing this naked?”

I nodded. “No sense getting dressed when I’m just going to take everything off you anyway.”

“I’m freezing.”

“Then say yes so I can warm you up.”

“Ask me again.”

I grinned up at her and spoke clearly, enunciating every word. “Will you marry me?”

She smiled back and stepped closer to stand over me. I dropped to both knees and she lowered herself to straddle my lap.

“Would it need to be a big wedding?”

I shook my head, trying to concentrate on her words, but her skin on mine was making it really difficult.

“What if I want to elope?”

I searched her eyes. “Does that mean we do it soon? Like, courthouse soon?”

She shrugged.

“My parents will probably throw a fit, but I’m in.”

“I’ll make a terrible wife.”

“I know. I can’t wait.”

Unshed tears made her eyes shine even as she laughed. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

“Finally,” I said against her lips before crashing mine into them.

Epilogue

Lawrence

“I
’m sorry, what?” I spoke carefully to Dr. Spencer, who was staring at a screen and rubbing an ultrasound wand around Steph’s abdomen. Steph was suspiciously silent.

“Yep, there’s the heartbeat. And there’s the other heartbeat.” The tech across the room was grinning widely, and I looked back at the doctor, who also had a bright smile lighting her face.

Steph and I looked at each other, blinking rapidly. She looked really shocked. I imagine I did too.

“Twins,” I said in wonder.

“Identical twins—you can see where they share a placenta.” The doctor nodded and pointed at the screen.

She tapped on a few keys as she scrolled around and took some measurements on the screen. I heard the printer across the room start doing its thing.

Dr. Spencer continued. “I’m not sure how it was missed in the original ultrasound. But it happens sometimes. It obviously doesn’t change your actual due date; however, you’ll be monitored closely, and depending on how things are going, we usually deliver twins at around thirty-five weeks to be safe.”

“Whoa.” I held up a hand as her words sank in. “How much danger is she in? And the babies?”

Dr. Spencer smiled kindly. “Anytime there are multiple babies, we take precautions and consider the case high risk.” She turned her attention to Steph, who was still silent. “But you’re healthy and young, and at this point, I don’t foresee any major complications. And you’ll be seeing an awful lot of me over the next several months, so we’ll keep good tabs on you here.”

Steph nodded and the doctor patted her shoulder as she stood, passing over a towel to wipe the lube off her stomach. I grimaced inwardly as I watched. I really was trying not to be juvenile. But… it was lube.

I helped Steph upright and wordlessly sat beside her on the exam table, linking our hands together. Dr. Spencer went over some appointment times and handed over a few pamphlets and two pictures of our babies.

Babies.

Suddenly we were alone in the room. In the silence.

“We rolled a double.” I shook my head slowly.

Steph started to giggle, then snorted as hysteria took over. She let her body collapse over her knees and I patted her back like an idiot. When she finally straightened, she looked at me, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

“You know when we found out I was pregnant and I said I was content and relaxed and that everything would work out?”

I nodded.

She swallowed hard. “I’m not sure I feel that way anymore.” She stood and started pacing, giving her hands a little shake. “This is a lot. Like, a lot. Of all the things I expected when we came here today, this was not it. How do we do this? I didn’t plan for this.”

Her craziness oddly settled me. I’d always been good at talking her down, and it was about the only thing I could do. It was my place.

I shrugged my shoulders. “No way to plan for this. You just roll with it.”

“Roll with it?” Her eyes were wide. Really wide.

“Yeah. Roll with it. I mean, shit. A few months ago I was kind of worried there was some sort of problem and we wouldn’t even be able to have a baby.” It had taken longer than I thought to knock my wife up. “Now we’re having two. It’s awesome.”

“Awesome,” she repeated.

I stood and grabbed one of her hands as she passed me, swinging her around to face me. “Awesome.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead. I felt her melt against me as she exhaled. “My biggest concern is telling them apart. How do you feel about infant tattoos?”

She started to laugh again. “I’m actually supportive of it. All babies look alike to me anyway. I can’t imagine two babies who actually do look alike.”

“Do you want to find out if they’re boys or girls, or do you want to be surprised?”

She shook her head. “I never want to be surprised ever again. We’re sure as shit finding out. Plus we have two names to come up with.” Her eyes widened again.

I clapped my hands loudly behind her back. “Okay, that’s enough talk for today. We can only plan for so much, and we have many days ahead of us to hash and rehash and name and rename. I’m pretty sure all they need is milk and diapers for the first while anyway. And car seats. That’s it. For now, my love, let’s just enjoy the fact that we have a twofer in our lives and embrace and enjoy it. Deal?”

She leaned back and smiled at me with watery eyes. “Deal. And can you never refer to our babies as twofers ever again?”

I shook my head. “I never make promises I can’t keep.”

* * * *

A few hours later, we met up with Lissa and Ethan out in the indoor arena of our facility, along with Cosmo, our smallest pony. He was black and white with a bushy mane and tail and came up about to my knee. Steph kneeled down next to three-year-old Thomas, who had been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, and chatted with him about the pony, making introductions. Thomas, of course, had been around a lot of horses in his young life, so he wasn’t afraid or concerned in any way, which was good.

I stood back with Ethan and watched while the girls worked their magic. The look on Ethan’s face was serious as he concentrated on his family, so I kept my mouth shut and tuned in to the session going on. Lissa held Cosmo and encouraged Thomas to listen to Steph, who helped him stroke the pony all over. Thomas kept pulling his hand away and wiping it on his shirt, but Steph would gently guide it back to Cosmo’s coat. She taught Thomas how to pick up the pony’s feet and cradle each one in his hands, with assistance. Then she got him giggling and kissing Cosmo on the nose. The pony was a saint, as usual. You could lie right underneath his belly and he wouldn’t budge. I’d tried it.

We had five therapy horses residing on our property. Two were ponies and three were retired racehorses from my family’s farm in Kentucky. Steph was elated that we could give a new career to the Thoroughbreds, frequently pairing them with wounded veterans, and the ponies were great to work around with their small size, especially if people were intimidated by horses. No one rode Cosmo because he was too small, but it was a two-for-one deal when we bought the ponies, and he was pretty great to have around. He was our first twofer. When Steph finally agreed to add young kids to the program, he’d become invaluable. Although we’d had to scrounge to find a saddle small enough for him.

Lissa secured a helmet on her son, who protested for a moment but she talked him through it. They walked over to a portable mounting block, and Steph held Thomas’s hand while he carefully stepped up. When it wobbled ever so slightly, he hunched forward and grabbed Steph in a death grip with both hands. I could see her whisper to him, encouraging him to straighten and stabilizing the block with her foot. Lissa led Cosmo up alongside them and halted the pony with his back in line with Thomas. The pony stood stock-still while Thomas patted him and leaned over his back. Then Steph asked if Thomas wanted to climb on.

He furrowed his little brows and just looked at her. She wrapped her body around his and guided his arms to the pony’s mane. She held them together in one hand, then helped him lift his right leg over Cosmo’s back and slid Thomas into position.

Thomas hunched forward again, curling his body until his head was almost touching his hands. Steph put her arms around his body once more, straightening and stabilizing him. He started to relax, and Steph moved her hands down to his hips, nodding to Lissa to lead Cosmo in a walk. As soon as the pony moved, Thomas again collapsed his body into the fetal position. Steph gently straightened him, and they all walked together around the perimeter of the arena.

When they looped back near us, Steph helped him slide off and Lissa picked him up, praising and hugging him.

“That was good, huh?” I finally said to Ethan.

He nodded. “Yeah. I think it’s going to be really helpful for him. You can see how scared he still is when anything upsets his balance. It’s crazy. But that pony is unbelievable. How’d you find him?”

“People were selling the larger pony and really couldn’t afford to keep any horses. And he was too good to pass up, so we snagged him too.” I shrugged. “We get calls sometimes like that. Sometimes people want to donate horses, which is nice in theory, but we can’t afford to feed and shoe everything that comes our way. Most are wildly inappropriate horses anyway. Sometimes it works out.” I paused and cleared my throat. “Speaking of twofers…” I nodded toward Steph. “Twins.”

Ethan started laughing. Like really laughing, doubled over and resting his hands on his knees. “I’m sorry. I just can’t… are you serious?”

I laughed despite myself. “Yep. Identical twins.”

Ethan shook his head slowly. “Well congratulations, man. All I can hope is that they aren’t girls.”

“Shit howdy,” I agreed. “So, you gonna knock that wife of yours up again anytime soon?”

“As a matter of fact, I already did.”

“Nice.”

We fist-bumped.

“No shit. You guys are going for another one?” I grinned.

“Yeah, why not?” He shrugged. “Can’t be as rough as the first time, right?”

I just shrugged. What the hell did I know? Though for both of their sakes, I sure hoped not. I gestured to Lissa and Steph, who were jumping around and squealing. I assumed Lissa was telling Steph her news.

“So those two are gonna be pregnant together?” I asked with mild trepidation.

“Lord help us.”

We both laughed, but… shit.

Soon it was obvious that Thomas was done for the day, and our friends packed up and drove off with a wave. Now that Thomas was coming for therapy here, and soon would be bringing a slew of young friends to join him, we were getting to see our friends more often. It was good for all of us.

Steph jogged over and wound her arms around my neck, tugging my head down for a kiss. “Can we get out of here for a little while? Please?” she whispered.

I loved it when she begged. “Why? You have something urgent?”

She nodded. “I really really do.”

“Well then, Mrs. Brooks, lead the way.”

I followed her up to our house, thoroughly enjoying the view. From behind, you couldn’t tell at all she was pregnant, but at sixteen weeks, she had a decent-sized bump when she turned around. She’d been freaked out that she was turning so big so fast, worried about stretch marks and whatever crazy shit her mind came up with, but I guess we knew what was causing that.

I caught up to her in the hall, scooping her up and running her into our bedroom to toss her on the bed. I crawled on top of her, resting my forearms on either side of her face. I kissed her lips softly before trailing them down her neck, shifting onto my knees as I moved lower. My fingertips glided down her chest, then bunched up the material of her shirt, pushing it up over her breasts. Not for the first time, I stared down at her stomach for a moment, which was new ’cause usually I’d be more distracted by boobs. I pressed two kisses to her abdomen and looked up at Steph, who was smiling down at me.

“It’s pretty amazing, right?” I asked.

“It is. Terrifyingly amazing.”

“It hardly feels real.”

She snorted. “That’s because I’m not as big as a walrus yet. Just you wait. It’ll get real.”

“That’s such a buzzkill.” I shook my head. “Okay, take your shirt off so I can memorize you the way you look right now.”

Her jaw dropped and she scrambled to sit up, laughing. “That was horrible. No.”

But she didn’t protest when I lifted the shirt over her head. And she didn’t protest when I flicked open her bra and slid it down her arms, tossing it aside. I bent to kiss each shoulder and cupped her breasts in my hands, letting my thumbs lightly circle her nipples.

“I’m kidding. You’ll be beautiful as always.”

“Even as a walrus?”

I grinned. “Can you be a hippo? I’ve always liked hippos.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Hippos kill more humans each year than any other animal.”

My eyes widened. “Then I’m so into a walrus.”

She laughed and shoved at my shoulder, but I grabbed under her knees and pulled her down so she was flat on her back. I kissed my way back down her body as I unfastened her jeans and slid them down her hips. I let my mouth tease over her flesh, just barely touching, making her squirm in frustration.

She watched me breathlessly when I stood to strip off my clothes and then kneeled over her once more. Balancing on my knees, I smoothly pushed into her, reveling in the feel of her surrounding me and the sound of her long moan. I caught her lips in mine, parting them with my tongue. One hand tangled in her hair and the other couldn’t stop moving around her body. I touched every place I could reach, feeling every slope and curve, hesitating every now and again in wonder over the lives we’d created. We kissed and panted and tormented each other with our bodies in the best possible ways, increasing our pace until it grew frantic and rough, forgoing rhythm and elegance for pure, blinding pleasure.