So many incredible moments.
So many painful ones, too.
My eyes watered with each one, and B must have known what I was feeling, because her bottom lip quivered, and she pressed a hand over her heart as if to soothe it.
Maybe she was feeling it, too.
Maybe she was realizing in that exact same moment I was that all the heartbreak had been worth it.
Sounds snapped back to me when B was close, and I realized not only was I crying, but so was everyone else seated around our makeshift ceremony location. There wasn’t a dry eye on that beach, and when B made it close enough for me to reach out and take her hands in mine, I said screw the rules and kissed her right then and there.
“I think you’re supposed to wait until the end of the ceremony to do that,” she breathed against my lips with a smile when I released her.
I shook my head, lining her jaw with my thumb as I counted all the lucky stars that brought her into my life.
“I’ve waited long enough.”
• • •
One year later, we bought our first house together near Newport Beach, California.
I wondered if the universe had decided we’d been through enough hell in our teens and twenties that it decided to give us a break in our thirties, because everything just kind of fell together for us once we were married.
While we debated B moving back home to South Florida or me moving to Pittsburgh, we knew in our hearts that we wanted to start our lives somewhere new and fresh. California was what called to us most.
Like I said — it was our place.
B started looking for publishing houses that had branches in Los Angeles, thinking she’d have to start over.
When her boss found out, he lost his mind.
Turned out, B had earned their trust and respect. So much so that the thought of losing her drove them to put their thinking caps on and figure out a way to keep her.
And so, B became the first film rights representative for Rye Publishing, opening a small branch for them on the outskirts of L.A.
As for me? I was in the same boat. I thought I’d have to start at the bottom of a new accounting firm, work my way up again. And I was fully prepared to do it.
Until my dad handed me the keys to a small office space he purchased in Huntington Beach.
“It’s time to start a new legacy,” he’d told me, and just like that, I was in charge of our first expansion of the firm.
I was exhausted from unloading our U-Haul, back aching as I lowered myself to the laminate floor with a groan. I propped myself up against the wall, wincing as I tried to get comfortable.
B chuckled when she saw me. “You alright there, old man?”
I smirked, but before she could walk past me with that little attitude of hers, I reached out and captured her wrist in my hand.
“Get down here and I’ll show you old man.”
She laughed as I pulled her into my lap, and when she was seated, her arms wrapped around my neck like they belonged there always. I pulled her in for a long kiss, and then we sat there on the floor of our new house, boxes stacked all around us.
“So, we can get a big sectional and put it there,” B said, shifting in my lap so she could point out where she wanted the couch. “Mount the TV on the wall. I definitely want a record player. We can put it back in that little corner.”
She smiled, and I watched her tap her chin as she looked around pensively.
“We can clear out some space in the garage to put our surfboards and hang all our equipment. You can build a locker for us, can’t you?”
“Whatever you want.”
She smirked at me. “Whatever I want? That’s a dangerous statement.”
“It is. Sadly, I’m powerless when it comes to saying no to you.”
“Hmmm,” she mused, snuggling up closer to me. “Is that so?”
I kissed her nose in answer.
“Well, in that case, I want a bench built for under the big window upstairs,” she told me. “And I want to line the walls around it with so many books I’d never be able to read them all.”
I laughed.
“And… I want a rocking chair.”
“A rocking chair, huh?” I asked, surprised. “For the porch?”
She shook her head, suddenly shy as she looked at her finger and trailed it down the front of my shirt. “For the nursery.”
She peeked up at me through her lashes as I frowned, confused.
“The nursery? We don’t have a...”
I didn’t finish the sentence.
My heart thumped loud in my ears as B swallowed, her eyes searching mine, and she covered my hand as she moved it to rest on her stomach.
I let out a shaky breath, looking down at where I held her before my questioning gaze met hers, and I couldn’t swallow, couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe as I watched a small smile bloom on her lips.
“I’m pregnant, Jamie.”
The words hung suspended between us, and I blinked, over and over, not sure I heard her correctly.
And then I lost it.
I crushed B to my chest, wrapping her up so tight she laughed and made a joke about not being able to breathe. But I couldn’t let her go, couldn’t do anything but hold her tighter as I fought the urge to cry.
She was pregnant.
She was pregnant with my child.
It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, that realization, like being touched by an angel and thrown off a cliff at the same time.
“You look terrified,” B joked.
“I am.”
She laughed. “But wait, isn’t this what you’ve always wanted?” She grabbed my hand again, placing it on her stomach. “A wife, a house, and now… fill that house with kids?”
B smiled at me, waiting for me to tell her she was right. And maybe, had this been eighteen-year-old me, I would have.
But I knew the truth now.
“No,” I breathed, and B frowned, tilting her head to one side as I slid my hand along her cheek and into her hair.
“No?”
I shook my head, pressing a long, slow kiss to her lips before I whispered, “The only thing I’ve always wanted, B, is you.”
GOOD MORNING, MY BEAUTIFUL wife. And Happy Mother’s Day.
Today is all about you, my dear, and so I’ve taken the kids and run far, far away to give you peace. That being said, I know today is the last day I should be asking anything of you — especially since you run everything in this household, as well as the agency, day after day — but I have an assignment for you.
It’s your turn to read my book.
Of course, it’s not nearly as long as yours — you’ve always had a way with words that I never did. I also didn’t have a whole publishing house at my disposal, so I hope you don’t mind the streaky ink from my work printer, or the mess of staples holding this thing together. But I got to read your side of our love story.
Now, I want you to read mine.
There’s a bottle of bubble bath by the tub, or a bath bomb if you prefer, and your favorite tea is ready to brew. Lunch will be delivered right to the door, and I’ll be back around three.
Go soak, read, and relax.
And tonight, it’s just you, me, the piano guys, and a blanket on the beach.
Don’t worry — the kids will be with Sylvia and Drew.