Page 81 of Hale's Pawn
Ainslee’s hands wrap around my wrists. “You mean that?” she asks.
I lean in and place my forehead on hers. I shut my eyes. “I mean every word.”
“I love you,” Ainslee says to me.
“I love you,” I respond.
“Why do you think it’ll be a girl? You said daughter,” Ainslee asks.
“Because knowing you, you’ll give me a daughter so I can be driven crazy with the two of you,” I tease her.
Ainslee laughs. “If it’s a girl, I want to name her Aurora.”
I shake my head. “Her middle name cannot be Jagger. We have to incorporate it in the first name. We had a bet back in middle school, don’t ask.”
Ainslee snickers. “Seriously?” She sighs. “Okay, how about Aurora-Jagger?”
I think about it. “Aurora-Jagger Hale. Rory Hale,” I repeat.
Ainslee kisses me quickly, then lets go. “What if it’s a boy?”
“It’s a girl,” I say, opening my eyes to look at her. She’s smiling at me.
Ainslee rolls her eyes and I lift her up, placing her on the counter. I sit on the stool and pull the baggy shirt up. I rub her small belly that’s much more apparent now than it was a couple weeks ago. I lean in and I kiss her protruding belly. “Hi Rory, it’s dad. I’m sorry in advance at how much your mom and I are going to love you. We’re going to love you so damned much. You won’t be like us, we’ll make sure to give you us both. We promise,” I say, leaning in again.
“We promise, A.J.,” Ainslee says as her hand joins one of mine on her belly and the other goes in my hair.
“Who the fuck is A.J.?” I ask.
“Aurora-Jagger, duh,” Ainslee states.
“My daughter will not be called A.J,” I say.
Ainslee laughs. “We’ll see about that, Mr. Hale.”
“We really will.”
AINSLEE
I can hardly sit rightas I wait for Mikonos to come over. He’s been out of town for the week. Mikonos walks through the front door and I run over to him. I pull him in for a hug. I can tell he’s surprised by his silence.
“Uh… you okay?” he asks. I know he’s been worried about me but he doesn’t want to make me crack.
I don’t let him go but I do look up at him. I smile wide and nod. “I’m more than okay. I missed you,” I say to him.
Mikonos smiles wide. “I missed you too. I can tell you want to tell me something, so go ahead.”
“I want to let you go for this, but at the same time, I don’t want to. So, I know that typically there’s the whole godmother and godfather shit, but I don’t want that. Oran and I have decided to do it differently, we want our A.J. to have the chance to meet her two godfathers. Will you be there for her?” I ask him.
There’s one secret that no one besides me knows about Mikonos. He loves kids. Mikonos cups my face in his hands. “You want me…to be the baby’s godfather? Me?” he asks.
I nod. “You would love this baby as if it were your own, just like how you loved me as if I were your blood. You’re the first man that isn’t blood who loved me and accepted me for me. Orion, it would mean the world to me if you could be in my child’s life for the rest of our lives. What do you say?”
Mikonos leans in and plants a kiss on my forehead. I shut my eyes. “You are more than blood, Ains. It’s not past tense when it comes to me loving you, okay? You know I’ve got you. Because this baby is from you, I’ll love her just as much or I can tryto. Wait… how do you know it’s a girl?”
“Oran swears it is.” I roll my eyes. “Her name will be Aurora-Jagger Hale.”
Mikonos shuts his eyes and I know what it is. I didn’t tell Oran whose name that was and for a good reason. I wanted Mikonos to tell him. “After my mama?” Mikonos asks me.
