Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 33887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
How did I ever doubt?
“I love you madly,” I whispered.
“That’s good, since you aren’t getting rid of me now,” he quipped.
I was so done with this island between us, therefore I walked around.
I was barely within reaching distance when Hale reached, and he hadn’t lied. When his arms closed around me, they did it so tightly, I couldn’t breathe, and I feared maybe a rib or two might crack.
I didn’t care.
But he was Hale, and he kinda liked me, so he didn’t squeeze me and our unborn child to death. He loosened his hold but didn’t let go even if he did move one hand so he could cup my jaw.
“Are you sure, sweetheart?” he queried. “This is gonna be a lot harder on you than it is on me.”
“I love her, or him, almost as much as I love you.”
His eyes warmed and he murmured, “Okay.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I want a her, blonde hair, blue eyes.”
“I’m not sure I can make that happen.”
Left unsaid: I wanted the opposite.
“Then we’ll have to make another one.”
And there it happened again.
I loved him more.
“How many do you want?” I asked.
“As many as you want.”
I started laughing. “What if that’s fifteen?”
“Okay, I’m capping it now at four.”
I continued laughing.
Then I shoved my face in his chest because the emotion of this moment, the importance of it swept over me, and I was going to start crying again.
He slid his hand from my jaw up into the back of my hair.
“Hormones,” I mumbled into his chest.
“Sure,” he said, knowing I was lying. Then he asked, “Do you want to get married sooner?”
I tipped my head back. “Do you?”
“Sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Me either. And I want a big thing, so first, we need to pay attention to the current big thing before we get stuck into the next big thing, and second, I want the next big thing to be big, so don’t give away all your money.”
“Like I’m the only one who’s loaded in our family.”
Our family.
I hadn’t noticed it, but the butterflies were gone. Somewhere along the line of this conversation, the exhilaration and beauty of them soaked into my flesh and became a part of me, a part of this, a part of starting a family with Hale.
“Are you going to try to one-up Chloe on the wedding gig?” he asked.
“I’m not thinking full choir like she had, but I do want to give you food for thought since it’d be important to me, and my family, if we had a Jewish wedding.”
“Of course, since I’m converting.”
Again, I was blinking.
“Sorry?” I asked.
“I need to talk to your rabbi,” he said distractedly, like he was making a mental note.
I shook him and his focus returned to me. “Hale, are you serious?”
“I was considering it before, especially since we were going to be planning a wedding and building a family. Now things need to get moved up.”
“You’re going to convert,” I said flatly.
His eyes narrowed on me. “Don’t you want me to?”
“I just don’t know how much better you can get. And it’s freaking me out.”
He grinned.
“But that’s a big deal, Hale,” I warned him.
“I know, sweetheart. But I’m not doing this just to do it. I’ve never been religious, but that doesn’t mean I’m not spiritual. Again, I want to sit down with your rabbi, discuss what this might mean, understand it so I know I’m making the right decision. However, can I assume you want our children brought up in your faith?”
Man, suddenly there was a whole lot we needed to talk about.
I nodded.
He spoke.
“First, a family should be united in that way, even if, in the end, I find it isn’t the right path for me, I still need to have the knowledge so I can help you guide our children in their faith,” he declared. “Second, I’ve shared every high holiday with your family since we’ve been together, and they were meaningful to me in a number of ways, including how welcome into the community they made me feel. And, most importantly, I’ve always wanted to smash a glass with my foot and be hoisted up on a chair.”
I started giggling, actually giggling, before the tears welled in my eyes again.
Hale stared at my eyes. “Jesus, maybe it is the hormones.”
I batted him on the arm, but joked, “Say goodbye to Jesus.”
He busted out laughing.
That fought back the tears, and I smiled at him as he did it.
His body made a sudden movement, and he quit laughing in order to focus intently on my face.
“My phone is vibrating, which means Genny and Duncan are here,” he said, his words rushed.
“I thought we were meeting them later for a drink after Matt and Sasha arrived,” I noted.
“Change of plans. Sidetracked by my beautiful fiancée and our future kid. We’re popping out with them to have a bite before we go to the airport to meet the new arrivals. Now I need to know, and you got the time it takes the elevator to get here to answer, do you want to wait the normal three months, or are we sharing our news?”