I chuckled, loving how our announcement was so anticlimactic. “Anything else to drink?” I asked Shaw.
He had a half-full bottle of beer in his hand. “I’m good.” He smiled and dropped a kiss on my lips.
Warm tingles spread through my belly and I nodded, joining him at the table. I wasn’t sure when I’d get used to the warm feelings being near him inspired. I hoped not ever.
Epilogue
Chloe
One Year Later
“Over here! Bring the bucket,” Colin’s little voice called.
Shaw chuckled and grabbed the white five-gallon bucket to join eight-year-old Colin at the shoreline.
“Can I really take him home?”
Shaw looked down to inspect the small creature at Colin’s feet. “If you promise to take care of him. He’ll need shelter, food, and clean water.”
Colin nodded enthusiastically, promising he’d take good care of the hermit crab.
I wasn’t so sure what Colin’s mother would say about all this, but I kept my trap shut. Shaw in a father-figure role was way too cute. I placed my hand on the tiny belly bump that had hardly begun to show, and watched them interact.
The waves lapped at their bare feet as Shaw helped him scoop up his new best friend into the bucket.
“Can I see him?” Claire asked.
Colin lowered the bucket for her to peer inside, wide-eyed. A few other kids gathered around too at the commotion.
We had created a new Wednesday tradition. Something to give back, rather than give in to our carnal pleasures. After we got married last year and things in our lives settled down a little, we created a charity in his late wife’s name, the Samantha Denton Foundation. She wasn’t perfect, but none of us are. She was human. She loved Shaw in her own way, and if she hadn’t been part of his life, if none of this had happened, he and I might not have ended up together at all. Life was strange that way.
The foundation was a beach cleanup effort since the beach, and preserving our slice of heaven, was important to us both. We took groups of kids out here, usually part of a class field trip, and together we patrolled one mile of sand, cleaning up trash and debris.
When Shaw’s good friend Abe passed away earlier this year and left everything to Shaw, we decided to tie his legacy into the foundation too. Instead of his home being bulldozed to make room for condos, it was now our meeting spot for the expeditions, and a natural learning center where we talked to the kids about preservation and showed them the plants and trees unique to the Florida Keys. I think Abe would have been happy about that.
Shaw came back to my side, his face as calm as the blue water stretched out before us. He briefly put his hand on my tummy, caressing me before letting it fall away. It had become his new greeting, and I didn’t even think he realized it.
“Who do they remind you of?” His eyes were still on Colin and Claire, who had ditched cleanup, opting to keep their new pet company.
I smiled knowingly. “They’re inseparable. Just like we were at that age.”
“Maybe we’re witnessing another epic love story in the making.”
I squeezed his hand. My big, tough alpha male was turning into a softie more and more with each passing day. We’d been married for six months now, and I was about three months pregnant. After I’d felt nauseated for three days straight, Shaw had gone to the store for home pregnancy tests and demanded I pee on a stick. When he saw it was positive, he picked me up with tears in his eyes. And now he was there for me, ever attentive for every food craving, complaint, ache, pain, and joy I experienced.
“You’re so sweet,” I murmured, taking his hand.
He smirked at me. “Just because we’re doing this whole good-for-humanity bit on Wednesdays doesn’t mean I’m not going to take you home and fuck you senseless. You know that, right?”
I giggled and swatted his chest playfully.
I had moved in with him in his cozy little beachfront home, putting my own touches on it. And now we were preparing to change the guest bedroom into a nursery—gender neutral because we wanted to be surprised.
The last two years had been filled with surprises—some good, others tragic—and we were ready for more of the good kind of surprise. I had my best friend by my side and a new life inside me. And the memories of what we’d been through to build us up and make us stronger.
I knew, from here on out, we’d weather every storm together. And nothing could be sweeter.