Page 91 of Fragments of You

“Octavia?” I snort out a laugh. “Sounds like some kind of fuel for machinery, not a name for a little girl.”

“It does not.” Nash chuckles, his hands sliding over my very pregnant belly.

I guess it’s safe to say, a lot has happened over the last couple of years.

Nash moved to California.

We got married three months later.

Bought a fixer-upper the next month and spent the next five months fixing it up.

Found out I was pregnant about six months after that.

Even though we had been trying, I still worried about Nash’s reaction when he found out. I shouldn’t have. I’ve never seen that man more excited than he was that day.

Shortly after that, we opened our own rescue center. After hearing me complain for far too long about the overcrowding at the rescue I was working at, Nash did what Nash does best. He found a way to give me what I wanted. He found an abandoned warehouse not far from our house and was able to talk the owner down to an affordable number for the monthly lease.

We were able to convert it into a usable space without too many hiccups and opened our doors shortly after I entered my second trimester. I handle most of the operations, while Nash does all the maintenance and rescue missions, though once the baby is born, I plan to join him as that is one of my favorite parts of the job.

It seems like a lot, I know, but somehow, we’ve been able to make it all work and still keep our sanity.

Nash found a local NA group in town. He still goes every week without fail. Sometimes, I like to go with him too. It helps me to understand him more, and ultimately, it’s only brought us closer. We’ve also met some really great people and made friends along the way.

Somehow, despite all that we’ve been through, everything has fallen into place perfectly, almost as if it were scripted by fate itself.

“What about Grace?” I suggest.

“Not unique enough.”

I feel him shake his head, even though I can’t see him.

Funny enough, our biggest obstacle to date is picking out a freaking baby name, which we can’t seem to agree on for the life of us.

“I bet Iris could help us. Surely she and Jonas went through something similar when they had to name not one but two girls.”

“I’ll admit, Lana isn’t too bad. But are you forgetting what they named their second daughter? No offense, but Iris is the last person I’m going to for baby name advice after that one.”

“Oh, come on, Elowen isn’t that bad.”

“Isn’t it?” He barks out a laugh.

“Okay, it isn’t great,” I admit, smiling to myself when our little one decides to grace us with her presence. “Did you feel that?” I look over my shoulder to see Nash, smiling from ear to ear.

“She’s strong, like her mama.” He kisses my forehead.

“And relentless like her daddy.” I grimace when she gets her foot into a rather uncomfortable spot and pushes. “I will say, as much as I have loved being pregnant, I am ready to have my body back.”

“Mmm, I’m ready to have your body back too.” He nips at my ear.

“Pretty sure you had my body this morning,” I remind him.

“Maybe I should have said, I’m ready to have your body all to myself again,” he corrects.

“Well, she’ll be here before we know it, and if we want her to have a name when her grandparents and Aunt Celine arrive, perhaps we should figure out what we’re going to call this beautiful daughter of ours.” I place my hands on top of Nash’s on my belly.

“Very true. Knowing your parents, they will try to name her for us.”

“Oh God, could you imagine?”

---