Page 107 of Best Man
“And all I could think was,Wow, she is so strong, think of the babies she could give me.”
She hid her face in her hands. “I’m so mortified.”
“Why?! It’s a compliment! Why wouldn’t I want a strong, healthy mother to give me a strong, healthy baby?”
“Because it sounds like you looked at me, and you saw me as some kind of prime breeding stock to pump out your hockey babies …”
He squeezed her tight. “No, no, no. You misunderstand me.”
“Do I?” she asked, playfully resisting his cuddles.
“Yes. I truly fell in love with you over that weekend, Paulina.”
“I fell for you, too.” She smiled. “But I was definitelynotthinking about how badly I wanted you to put a baby in me.”
He snickered. “Believe me. Those thoughts I had freaked meout, too. I didn’t understand it at all. It was really shocking, even to me.”
“So did you have any more thoughts about knocking me up, or was that it?”
“One more,” he admitted. “When we were having sex without a condom. In the back of my mind, I had this idea, ‘what if she gets pregnant because of this?’ ”
“Ooh, I bet that helped get you off in a hurry, huh?” she teased.
“You’re funny,” he said with a chuckle. “It was strange because no, I did not wantto get you pregnant. But at the same time, it was almost like, part of meknew. And that’s my whole point, see?”
She shook her head. “No. See what?”
“That this wasmeantto be, Paulina. That’s why I was having those thoughts—because our paths were already set in stone. Things were always going to happen this way. And those thoughts I started having about babies, well, those were just hints at the future we were meant to have together. Perhaps it was my soul, preparing me for what was to come?”
“I can’t believe I’m letting you talk your way out of this, Sasha,” she said, slowly breaking into a smile. “But that’s really sincere and thoughtful. I love to hear you talk that way.”
He grinned and kissed her on top of her head. “I like it, too. It makes me feel like we are right where we are supposed to be, doing exactly what we are meant to do. This is not a mistake.”
She sighed happily in his arms. “Yeah …”
Niko thought of something else. “Oh. Another thing. The night of the wedding—when we let all those sky lanterns go—what did you wish for?”
“Oh, um.” Her eyes rolled back into her head. “It’s kind of embarrassing. Do I really have to say?”
“I’ll tell you mine first, if you want.”
“Yeah, you tell me yours,” she said.
“I wished we could stay together.”
“Aw. You’re cute, Sasha. And you must’ve been so happy, because you got what you wanted at the end of the night.”
He smiled. “That’s what I thought, too. But think about it deeper.”
She took a moment to ponder it. “So you’re saying, I got pregnant because of your wish to stay together?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. But what if I hadn’tconvinced you to be my girlfriend that night? You would’ve found out you were pregnant eventually—and maybe you would’ve come back to me in the end. Who knows how things would’ve turned out?”
“I’m so glad you talked me into it. It’s so scary to imagine how things could’ve gone if you hadn’t.” She shuddered. “I’d be realizing I was pregnant, still in my yurt in Montana, living with my parents, single and scared …”
“But it wasn’t meant to be that way, Paulina,” he said and comforted her with a kiss. “So I told you my wish. What was yours?”
She hesitated. “Well, I was bummed that the night was going to end, because I knew you had to leave at the end of it. So I wished for—” Before she could even say it aloud, her jaw dropped. “Oh. Oh myGod.”
