Page 100 of Sheltered

“You only have one minute to solve the riddle.”

My eyes narrowed. “Is this what you have to do to win?”

She shrugged, feigning innocence. “If you’re that good, you’ll be able to solve it.”

I sighed. Maybe this would be her lucky day. “Alright. One minute to solve the riddle, then you tell me the answer if I can’t figure it out.”

Harlow nodded, excitement written all over her face. If the possibility of stumping me was going to make her this happy, maybe I’d need to reconsider my need to always get the answer right.

“When does one plus one not equal two?” she asked.

As soon as she got the question out, she hit the button on her phone for the timer. Seeing it, my mind immediately went to thoughts of a clock. I’d heard the riddles about when nine plus five equals two, and I thought she might have been doing something like that, but it didn’t work in this case. Thirty seconds in, I abandoned the theory about clocks and time. I shifted it to cases of math, but I quickly decided Harlow would not have come up with something that went outside the rules of general math.

Forty-five seconds in, I was truly stumped. And when those last ten seconds hit, I had a hard time focusing on anything other than the fact that Harlow was squirming in my lap with such excitement.

When the time was up, I noted, “You don’t play fair. I couldn’t concentrate at the end with your body writhing on top of mine.”

“I’m sorry. Do you want a few more seconds?” she asked.

If there was anything I’d learned about marriage over the last two months, it was that when my wife was happy, I was happy. I loved Harlow, and winning this round would make her night. I wanted to give that to her.

So I shook my head and answered, “No. I’m not even close to figuring it out. When does one plus one not equal two?”

She grinned, her face lighting up. “When it equals three.”

The smile that had been on my face vanished, and I shot her a curious look. “But when does that happen?”

As soon as the question was out of my mouth, Harlow’s entire expression changed. Tears filled her eyes, and her fingers pressed in on my shoulders. “When you and I make a baby.”

My hands, which had been resting on her hips, pressed in firmly as I allowed the words to sink in. “You’re pregnant?”

A tear spilled down her cheek, and she nodded. “Yes.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” she rasped.

“When did you find out?” I asked her, reaching up to cup her face.

“I stopped to grab a test on my way to work this morning. I took it as soon as I got there, and I’ve been dying to tell you all day. I was going to do something a bit more special, but I just didn’t want to wait to tell you. So, I figured I’d cheat with the riddle and put a time limit on it,” she replied.

I didn’t know what to do.

In an instant, my whole life had changed.

Of course, that had happened the moment I met Harlow and started spending time with her. But this was something else.

This was… This was crazy.

“We’re going to be parents,” I stated.

“We are,” she confirmed. “How do you feel about that?”

My eyes roamed over her face, taking in every gorgeous feature. “Like I was wrong about everything.”

She tipped her head to the side, and I couldn’t help but press a soft kiss to her lips. “What do you mean?”

“I thought our lives were perfect, that they couldn’t possibly get any better,” I started. “But it just hit me that I was mistaken. Things are about to change in the best way, and I can’t wait to see where this life leads us.”

---