Page 55 of Covert Affair

“I won’t,” Stacey cuts her off. “Go enjoy your vacation.”

“Yes. Enjoy your vacation. I’m going to take this one to visit the 9/11 Memorial and then, we have a spa date back at the hotel.”

Stacey catches the expression on my face when Jane leaves the room. “Oh, no. What are you up to, Cody?”

“Oh, you’ll see,” I promise with a wink. “You’ll see.”

If I have it my way, I’m going to teach Stacey all about what happens when I’m surprised on national tv. I’m thinking a pair of handcuffs and a blind fold may be the place to start.

EPILOGUE

STACEY MAE

“All I’m saying isthat eventually, we should start looking for a bigger place.”

Cody glares at me from across his desk. “Babe. Zeke’s only three months old. It’s not like he takes up that much space. He sleeps through the night and he seems to do pretty well sleeping through all the background noise. I don’t see any reason to rush it.”

“Cody. We live in a loft apartment over top of your business. The housing market is tough right now. It could take months to find something we love. That’s why we should start lookingnow.”

“Or we could wait until this damn pandemic is over and things start getting back to normal with the economy and stuff. Hell we could even build our own house by then, if you really wanted to.”

That’s right, Zeke Allen Davenport was born nearly a month after the entire world shut down due to a pandemic. And I’ve spent the last three months stuck at home with a newborn.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Being a mom has been by far one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. It's not being able to go out in public, not even having a back yard where I can get some fresh air without worrying about a deadly virus…that’s the hard part.

“Do you realize how long it takes to build a house, Cody? If we’re going to build a house, we need to make that happen sooner rather than later.”

“Stacey. I love you.”

“I love you, too. That doesn’t change the fact that I want a backyard. With a pool. And lots of grass. And a swing set for Zek. And maybe even a dog or two.”

“Or two?” he gapes. “And a swing set? He can’t even sit up on his own yet. That overpriced baby swing that you insisted he needed works just fine.”

Okay. He might have a valid point there.

“Why don’t you tell me what this is really about? Admit that you’re pissed that I didn’t ask you to marry me while we were in Herefirth,” he raises a brow and challenges me.

“That’snotwhat this is about.”

“It is.”

“It is not.”

“Stacey, you’ve been grasping at straws ever since we got back. Like you’re scared that I’m going to break up with you or something. Everyday you’ve come up with some other kind of big commitment that you want me to make with you. Valentine’s Day, you joked that we should just go on down to the courthouse and get married before Zeke was born. That was after you told me that you wanted to wait until he was here because you didn’t want to be 9 months pregnant in your wedding pictures. Last week you said you want to look at those new condos they built just outside of the city limits because they’d be perfect for a young family. In reality, they’re not much bigger than this place. Now you want a whole-ass house and a swing set.” He blows out a frustrated breath and shakes his head. “I can’t begin to fix whatever is going on here, if you won’t talk to me.”

“Okay. Okay. Iamscared. There. Is that what you wanted me to say? Zeke’s three months old and we barely touch each other. You’re working late almost every night. I’m exhausted. I haven’t seen any of my friends in months. The world feels like it's ending and I’m just afraid that I’m losing you too on top of all of it.”

“Whoa,” Cody pushes his chair back and reaches for my hand, pulling me into his lap.

Zeke lets out a tiny snore in his bassinet in the corner of his father’s office.

“Stace, you’re not losing me. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve wanted to do things on your terms. You told me the day we found out you were pregnant with Zeke that you didn’t want to get married just because we were having a baby. That wasn’t what youneeded.I didn’t propose in Herefirth because you were so fucking sick most of the time we were there and I half-heartedly think you expected me to. Baby, if you want the Goddamn ring, it’s right here,” he pulls open his top desk drawer and takes out a little black box. “It’s been here the whole fucking time.”

“Cody!” I gasp.

“I would have taken you down to the courthouse on Valentine’s Day if I really believed that’s what you wanted, baby. Hell, I would have asked you then to marry me but then you insisted you were only joking and that things were fine. Honestly, I wrote it off as pregnancy hormones, so I waited. But, I’m telling you, this ring is yours if you want it.”

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