Page 114 of Training the Heart

“Come, Ivy. You’re fucking stunning when you come, it’s the most exquisite sight I’ve ever seen,” I tell her, watching her mouth form into a perfect little O as a deep breathy moan leaves her.

“Fuck yes, Wade … more,” she whines, and it sets me off as our bodies tangle together and her ankles twist tighter around my waist.

Heat licks across my skin, my head lolls back as I grip her hair, winding my fingers in it. I kiss her with so much fervor her breath catches as I spill myself into her with one more deep thrust, just as she comes all over my cock. My fingers dig into her hips and my free hand is wound in her hair, holding her here. Tight to me. Right where I’d like to keep her forever.

We breathe in unison when it’s over and I press my forehead to hers. The connection between us feels unbreakable. It’s harmony. It’s the fireworks and goddamn harp strings I’ve seen in the movies as I realize this is it, this is my life forever. She is my purpose. I’m hopelessly hers as long as she’ll have me.

“I love you so goddamn much. My everything,” I tell her, feeling the need.

A special kind of high that I’m realizing I only get from four words in the entire English language settles in my chest as she whispers, “I love you, Wade.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Wade

Aweek from now isn’t going to do, and I told Ivy as much last night. There is not a chance I’m making her wait another week to see that everything is okay with our baby. I’ll be getting her an appointment before that. I’ve never really been a praying man, but I will succumb to begging the universe for this baby. I’m willing this to be—the way my mother does. Manifesting everything she wants in life and always telling us to, telling us it works. I never gave it a thought before, kind of thought it was all just bullshit, but right now I’m manifesting the hell out of this because I never knew it until those words left Ivy’s lips, but Iwantthis. I want it more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my entire life. I won’t even let myself think of a different outcome.

After we went back to my house,ourhouse, we talked long into the night about the hows and what-ifs, as we ate our ice cream sundaes and watchedUnder Siege. I could see it in her eyes, the fear of letting this hope register with her. The fear of wanting it. But I’ll do it for both of us, because somehow I have a feeling this is the future we’re meant for. Her and me and this life. It’s the simplest purest form of happiness there is.

By nine a.m., I’m ready to go. I have an appointment set for us with Dr. Miller’s practice. She’s been our family doctor for thirty years and I trust her with everything I have, including Ivy and our little bean. She agreed to take Ivy’s appointment for me today as a favor, but promised to hand Ivy over to the other doctor in her practice so that Ivy can have a doctor of her own. After hearing she was with Brad’s doctor for a long time, I felt like that was important. Ivy deserves her own doctor, her own way.

I find Ivy when I’m ready to leave at the barn talking to Haden and Dusty while they clean.

She’s got her hair in a big high ponytail and is wearing tights and a UK hoodie. I wonder if she’ll always take my breath away the way she does now, and I find myself hoping with everything in me that a round little bump will be filling out that hoodie very soon. I can’t fucking wait to see how much more beautiful her body becomes as my child grows in her.

“The boys are going to finish up for you,” I say when I approach her. I pull her to me and kiss her. Haden and Dusty don’t even really look up but I see a smirk on Haden’s face under his hat. He knows to respect me enough not to make any comments. I fill them in on some other things I need completed before Haden leaves to take care of his other responsibilities.

Nash and CeCe round the corner of the barn just as we’re saying our goodbyes to the boys.

“Mark July 22nd on your calendar, we just filled in Mama, and we’re going to have the best bachelor/bachelorette party in Vegas before that!” CeCe says as she smiles wide at Ivy, giving her a hug when she enters the barn.

“July 22nd? That the big day?” I ask, giving Nash the weird kind of hug /handshake men do when they’re happy for each other.

“Yep, gotta plan our wedding around your horse’s race schedule, because we want you both there for every part of it and when that racing starts, we don’t want to miss any of it.”

“Good luck to you, try to keep the bride beast tamed, and whatever you do don’t pick anything without asking her.” I grin.

“Shut up, I’m not a control freak, Wade,” CeCe says.

Nash looks at her and chuckles like she must be joking but when she looks back he stops laughing immediately.

“You are a little bit, but it’s an endearing kind of controlling, little firefly,” Nash says as he pulls her to him.

CeCe winks at Ivy and shrugs.

She goddamn well knows she’s as controlling as I am, but will never admit it.

“I heard Sam isn’t coming back, does that mean you’re here to stay?” CeCe asks Ivy, but she also looks back up at me for an answer.

“I’m hoping so,” Ivy says, and when her eyes meet mine they’re full of a secret only the two of us share. “I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else,” she adds with a shrug and a smile.

As Nash and CeCe scamper off to get their horses ready for a ride, Nash yells around the corner, “Have a nice day, lovebirds,” before the sound of their snickering fills the air.

“This is going to feel a bit chilly,” Dr. Miller says to Ivy as she squirts a gel on Ivy’s abdomen. Ivy is a ball of nerves and so the fuck am I.

“Just try to relax and we’ll see what we can. I’ve had a look at your files from your previous doctor. I see his notes on your physicals, but I can’t see anything in there at all about your cervix being weak, and he’s since passed away so I can’t even ask him.”

“He was old when I saw him last, it was a couple years ago,” Ivy confesses. “I didn’t even know he had passed on.”

---