Page 16 of Always and Forever

He begins to tickle me, and I slide down the bed on my back, laughing so loud I feel the baby move. “Wait, Quill, quick! Feel my stomach, the baby’s moving.”

Quill shoots up and places his hand underneath mine, resting it on my belly where I’d felt the kicking.

“Oh my God, he just did it again,” Quill says, his voice filled with awe.

“He? What makes you think it’s a he?”

“Because, babe, I need a son to take over from me one day.”

I draw my eyebrows together. “And what if it is a girl?”

“Then I’m fucked, that’s what,” he says, kissing my belly. “Sorry, little one, but if you’re a girl, and if you’re as gorgeous as your mom, I’m gonna keep you locked up till you’re thirty.”

“Quill!” I state. “You’re crazy.”

“Babe, I’m serious,” he replies, his face pained. Quill leans over and kisses my tummy again. “I don’t care what sex you are, little one, just know that we will love you no matter what,” he murmurs. Tears pool in my eyes at the vision before me. “I love you, baby.” Quill runs his thumb over my cheek.

I sniffle. “I love you, too.”

---