Page 118 of Family Bonds: Coy & Angel

“A lot,” he said. “I don’t want you to regret marrying me so fast.”

“So that is it,” she said. “You’ve got some guilt that you pressured me and because of that, you’re trying to spoil me? Give me everything and make life easy so I’ll think how great of a husband you are?”

“When you say it like that, it’s kind of insulting.”

“Exactly!”

Damn, she was feisty.

“Let’s rewind,” he said. “Since we are talking about this and you’re already annoyed, there is a credit card in my office with your name on it. Take it and buy what you want for the house in terms of big things.” She snarled at him. “You won’t let me take care of your student loans, so pay them off yourself with your salary. I think that is fair. It’s still going to take several years if you put your whole salary toward them.”

“I know,” she said.

“We can sit down this weekend and go over household expenses. I’ll show you what everything is. I want you to use my card for everything, but you won’t.”

“Nope,” she said. “I can buy food if that is all you’re letting me do.”

“It’s not about letting,” he said. “I’m old-fashioned. I was raised that way. My father and brothers are the same way. If you don’t believe me, talk to Sam and Amanda.”

“That’s tacky,” she said.

“It’s not,” he said. “Not when it’s people who love you. Then talk to my mother. She’s never worked and let me tell you that she had an issue with this in the beginning too. But she’ll explain it to you more.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said.

He checked on the bacon and then put four slices of bread in the toaster.

Angel had finished with the tomatoes and broke off leaves of lettuce, so he grabbed the mayonnaise out of the fridge.

She pulled down two bowls and brought them to the stove to ladle soup into both of theirs and put them on the island where they’d eat.

He pulled the bacon out and they assembled their sandwiches when the toast popped.

Once they were sitting, he said, “Is there anything else going on that I need to know about? Or is it just what we talked about? We might as well get it all out in the open now.”

“No,” she said.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “You’ve been moody for a few days. You can tell me it’s hormones and I’ll back off.”

She laughed. “I don’t think you know how to back off. But maybe I’m a bit on edge.”

“About what?” he asked. “Your last appointment was good. You said you feel fine.”

“I keep waiting to slip up. It’s like the longer it is that everyone doesn’t know, the more it builds for when they find out.”

“You’re the one that didn’t want anyone to know about the baby just yet,” he said.

Everyone in the family knew they were married. That didn’t take long to make the rounds, but no one other than immediate family knew about the baby. Or if they did, no one was saying it to him.

“I know,” she said. “We agreed to wait until after the ultrasound. It’s going to be hard to keep hiding the fact I need time off once a month for an appointment.”

“They’ve been scheduling them first thing for you so you’re missing just an hour of work. Thankfully the same will happen with the ultrasound next month.”

Which he couldn’t wait for. He wanted to go with her to the last appointment, but she’d pointed out it would be better for him to not do it early on if everything is good and then they could plan on him going with her to the cardiologist and other more important appointments.

“I know,” she said. “I’ve got to get over things. I’m trying. I really am. I hate being judged and have most of my life as someone that needed to be taken care of.”

“I don’t think anyone looks at you like that. If you want to let everyone know about the baby now,” he said, “we can. I’ll support that decision. You know I’m happy about the pregnancy and can’t wait to shout it to the world.”

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