Page 49 of Courageous Devotions

“Never leave me again,” he begged openly. “I can fix anything between us. Just give me a chance…”

“Colton, I’m here and not going anywhere,” she interrupted, touching the side of his face. He turned into her palm, kissing it, and nodded, moving to lie down beside her once again – before pulling her close and shutting his eyes.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this – but let’s get some rest,” he chuckled softly. “I want to be able to shower with my gorgeous wife and do all sorts of filthy things with her.”

Eris laughed gently against his shoulder where her head rested, and he felt his heart flip over in his chest as she dropped a light kiss against his skin.

“Ya just did, buddy… now go to sleep.”

* * *

Waking up the next morning with Eris was probably one of the highlights of his life so far – besides meeting Zane on that rainy night. So many moments he never expected, combined with so many feelings. Being a dad was both amazing and educating.

They had been in the middle of making love when a voice pierced his consciousness, causing his body to seize immediately as he froze in awareness.

“Hey Daddy… I hungry. Mama, you okay?”

“Oh, um, hey, Zane…”

Colton scrambled nervously and let out a loud exclamation of gratitude because they had sheets over the two of them. Their cuddling under the covers had started everything between them not too long ago.

“Zane, go potty and get in your chair,” Eris said hoarsely, her face flooded with color from obvious embarrassment at them being caught. “I’ll be right there.”

Colton braced himself, waiting for her to get upset because he’s the one that started things between them, only to see her turn to him and smile shyly.

“I’m gonna have to get up,” she whispered apologetically.

“I’m gonna need a few minutes,” he chuckled intimately, leaning forward to kiss her. “I love you… and I don’t care if we got interrupted. Still a good morning in my book – and the boy is gonna take a nap later today.”

“Yes, he will,” she laughed, understanding what he was hinting at. “How about I start the coffee?”

“Have I mentioned how much I love you?” he chuckled, climbing out of bed gingerly and shutting the bedroom door where Zane left it open. He could hear his son singing a song in the distance, waiting patiently, and smiled at her.

“What?” she smiled, yanking his T-shirt over her head. “You keep looking at me and…”

“Eris, I’m just happier than I ever imagined,” he admitted, walking over and kneeling beside the bed before her. “I love you… I’m in love with you, and I just love being a father more than I ever imagined. I can’t imagine being any more thrilled than I am right now.”

“Probably if Zane had waited another ten minutes…” she joked.

“True,” he chuckled. “I’d be a little happier physically – but emotionally, this is everything.”

“I love you too,” she murmured, leaning forward to kiss him… and grabbing her pajama pants. “Zane first, then the shower demolition, naptime, and nookie…”

“Can I pick the order of events?”

“No.”

He grinned.

* * *

Yeah, life was good, but three hours later he was of a completely different mindset. The tile was coming off in large chunks, some still attached to the backerboard. Whoever had done the work on the bathroom had used the wrong stuff, so it was turning to debris in his hands as he removed it. Zane was banging away with a rubber mallet at a spot on the wall to ‘help’ – and getting upset because his spot wasn’t breaking like Daddy’s was.

The soap tray came off right in his hand. In fact, most of the tile surround was crumbling as he removed it, shocking both he and Eris as they shared a similar thought: this could have come down on Zane.

“I’m gutting the entire thing,” he announced in frustration. “To the joists. If the tile was done wrong, what else did they do incorrectly?”

“Are you sure, Colton?”

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