Page 44 of Summer With You

“I won’t be mad if you are a minute late for visiting hours, Ace,” she told me. I just cast her a dark look. She knew I didn’t want to leave her, but she would never put herself before Summer and Charlie.

Taking the kids home, I didn’t like leaving Celine there, but she insisted. I’d tried over and over to get her to change her mind, but my woman was a stubborn one. After feeding them something light, I put them straight to bed. Celine had texted me not too long ago that they had given her something to help her sleep, so I showered and got into our bed. I could smell her everywhere, and it made my chest ache. A longing I had never felt before crawled into the pit of my stomach. I hated being away from her, especially when I knew she needed me.

A few days later, little had changed. We had a new routine that existed of me taking the kids to school, spending the day at the hospital with Celine, and then pick the kids up in the afternoon, bring them to see their mother, and then take them home.

Today, Celine would be coming home without our little boy. We had never left the hospital empty-handed before. Even signing her discharge papers felt wrong. She cried when they first told her she could leave but Jessie had to stay. It had torn my damn soul apart to see her so shattered. It cut me deep as well, but I forced myself to remain strong for her.

Amber visited her every day. The two spoke for hours about nonsense while I tried to work from her tiny hospital room day in and day out.

But today was different. When I walked into Celine’s room, Amber wasn’t there, and Celine had the biggest fucking grin on her face. “What’s going on? Where’s Amber?” I bent down and kissed her cheek like I did every morning.

“She’s in labor!” Celine told me, a wide grin on her face.

“No way.” I smiled. “When did it happen?” I knew Amber was going to be excited, and God knew Ryan would be. He was doing his best to remain strong, but with Amber growing more exhausted and snappy—which in turn made the kids aggravated—he was near his wit’s end with it all.

“About an hour ago. Her water broke last night but the contractions didn’t start until she woke up this morning. Oh, I’m so excited,” Celine gushed. It was so damn good to see her so happy after being so down the past few days. “We’re going to have babies together.”

“You always knew that,” I told her, leaning over to press a light kiss to her lips. She was so beautiful when she was like this.

“Yeah, but we never expected to have them in the same week.”

Six hours later, Amber gave birth to another boy and girl. We were sitting in her room, looking at the two bundles that Ryan and Amber were taking turns holding when Dr. Nicole came into the room looking for Celine.

“Can I speak with you outside?” Celine followed her out, walking slowly behind the quick doctor. I could see she was still a tad bit uncomfortable with walking. Even after having both Charlie and Summer, Celine still had a bit of trouble after delivering children, no matter how small they were.

Celine motioned for me to come a moment later by sticking her head in the door and waving me over.

“We can take Jessie home at the end of the week!” Celine burst out, just about bouncing on her heels in excitement. I turned my attention to the grinning doctor.

“In four days, he has made tremendous development, and we feel that it is safe to release him in three days. Continuing to breastfeed him will help, and soon, he will be the size of a normal baby, and it will be as though he was never born premature,” Dr. Nicole assured both of us. “Congratulations.”

---

A few weeks later, we were all gathered at Celine’s parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner. Jessie was swaddled in a blue blanket in Celine’s arms as she rocked him to sleep a few minutes before we would sit to eat.

Amber’s twins were sleeping in their joint stroller far away from the noise, and the other kids were splashing around in the pool with Ryan, who was relentless in burning out their energy. I knew he was exhausted. Things were always harder with twins. When Amber got up to feed, he got up with her. It was a joint effort, unlike with Celine and I, who could, for the most part, take turns.

I watched Celine from the kitchen. I was carving the turkey her mother had just pulled from the oven, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. She’d always been a natural with babies, and somehow, whenever I saw her holding my baby, my heart pulsed even harder for her. She was everything to me, the light of my life.

“I hope you always look at her like that.” Mrs. Wilson laughed, grabbing my attention. I looked over at her. “That’s the look of a man desperately in love with his wife.”

“I’ve been in love with her for a long time,” I told her, a smile tilting my lips. I knew I would never fall out of love with Celine. She was everything to me.

“I knew you were the one for her all those years ago, but boy, had you pissed her off.” She laughed. I grimaced. “Do you really think I would let just anyone take care of my child during a hurricane? I knew you would keep her safe and put her needs before yours because of the way you looked at her.”

I frowned in confusion. Before that hurricane, Celine got on my everlasting nerve. “How did I look at her?”

“The way her father looked at me when we were young.” Mrs. Wilson smiled.

Not long after, we sat in our respective seats at the table, gave our thanks for the food, and then went around the table, sharing what we were thankful for. It was a Thanksgiving tradition that I knew we would always continue.

“I’m thankful for my little Jessie, that even though we went through a little hell in the beginning, God gave me a healthy little boy to love and cherish.” Celine grabbed my hand and squeezed it as she smiled, glancing over at our sleeping child.

I swallowed the nerves trying to claw up my throat, and the stampede of elephants in my stomach. It wasn’t like I was going to ask her to marry me. Doing that one time had been nerve-wracking enough.

“I’m thankful for my family, my kids, and for you.” She watched me with glassy eyes. “You have always been the best part of me, have always brought out the best in me, and will always make me a better man.”

I reached into the back of my jean pocket for the black velvet box that housed a custom princess-cut diamond ring that I had designed while we were at the lake house.

---