Page 220 of Only With You

She giggles, nose scrunching, and the twinkle in her eyes returns. “Promise?”

“I promise, angel.” I kiss her forehead again. “Now, let’s make breakfast before Mummy wakes up and then we’ll open presents.”

Vi giddily swings her feet, her small body buzzing with energy. “I can’t wait to show Mommy her present.”

I tongue my cheek, checking out her stunning penmanship. Vi thought it’d be a good idea to draw all over her arms and neck with a Sharpie as a gift to Julianna.

“Oh, I’m sure she’s going to love it.” I softly pinch her cheek. “Now what should we make, pancakes or waffles?”

“Pancakes and we need bacon with lots of syrup,” she animatedly replies.

“Good choice. I was thinking the same.” I set her down to her feet and she wastes no time grabbing the bowl and whatever she can reach.

Side by side, we—well, I cook and she helps me where she can, but halfway through, she gets antsy and runs to the Christmas tree. She sits in front of it, humming “Jingle Bell Rock” or what I assume is supposed to be that song.

“Morning.” My wife’s sleepy voice drags my attention away from Vi to her.

She’s breathtaking. A halo-like glow surrounds her, looking effervescent as ever. Some say it’s the pregnancy, but the thing about Julianna is that she’s always had this radiance about her.

Six years and I’ll never be able to get over the fact that we share a life together. That she’s mine, agreed to marry me, and have our babies. Fuck, I’ll never be able to get over it because I never thought I deserved a life like this until her.

“Morning, Love, did you sleep well?” I remove the last of the pancakes from the griddle and set them on the plate as she ambles over to me.

“Can you stop looking hot for just a moment?” she groans, putting some distance between us when I try to grab her.

I crack a smile, pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose. “I’m not doing anything and don’t pull away from me.”

Begrudgingly, she idles over and lets me embrace her, but she shoots me a glare. “You are. You’re standing here, wearing your glasses, making breakfast, looking so hot. Ugh, I’ll probably get knocked up again just by looking at you. Get away from me.”

She weakly pushes me away, but I keep a firm hold on her. I do my best not to smirk and remind her that she begged for me to come inside her.

I rub her belly and pause when I think I feel him kick, but he doesn’t. “You know that wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

Her head jolts back, staring blankly at me. “Not a bad thing? Landon, I’m only five months pregnant and they’re already saying he’s going to be bigger than Vi. Should I remind you that Vi was nine pounds when she was born. Nine!”

Her bump protrudes more than it did the first pregnancy. I fucking love it, but Julianna not so much after the midwife told us that he’ll probably be at the ninety-nine percentile in height.

“Nine poundsandsix ounces.” I smile at her, but that only deepens her glare. “Don’t look at me like that. I mean, look at us compared to most. We’re bound to have big babies.”

“I know that,” she grumbles, dropping her head on my chest. “It just makes me a little nervous.”

I cup her jaw, tilting her head back so that she’ll look at me. “You’re going to do great. Just like you did with Vi and I’m going to be there every step of the way.”

She sweetly smiles at me, her eyes glossing over. “Our babies are so lucky to have you as their dad.”

Anxiety washes over me. “You think so?”

Being a father is one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. I thought nothing or anyone would ever amount to Julianna, but I was wrong. The moment she became pregnant, those babies became my entire existence.

My love for them is so unfathomable, sometimes it makes me feel so undeserving. But Julianna reminds me that I am deserving. Not through words but through the things she does, like she knows that I need it.

Especially now that we’re going to have a boy. I love him just as much as I do Vi, but I won’t lie and say it doesn’t make me more anxious. Logically, it shouldn’t be any different than raising Vi, but I’m afraid of fucking it all up with him. It’d be hard to do that, though, because there is nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for my family.

“Lan.” She circles her arms around my neck, and I drop mine to her waist. “I’m so lucky to have you and our kids are too.” The assurance in her voice eases the discomfort in my chest.

“I love you.” I kiss her, letting my lips stay on hers.

“I love you,” she softly repeats. “You’re going to do great. He’s going to love you so much just like Vi does.”

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