Page 127 of Rebel Heart
“Oh, come on. Can’t I have one hint?” I batted my eyelashes for good measure.
Marco stared at me for several beats and acquiesced. “Fine. First thing this morning, I’m taking both of my girls for pedicures.”
My face lit up. At seven months pregnant, there was nothing that’d stop me from having someone rub my feet. “Did you hear that, Kerri? Daddy’s taking us to get our toes painted today.”
“Can I have yellow toes?”
Marco leaned forward to look past me at our daughter. “You can have whatever color you want, sweetheart.”
She smiled excitedly at him as she took a bite of her bacon. It must have been like looking in the mirror for him every time he looked at her. Except for her dark hair, that she’d gotten from me, Kerri looked just like her dad. I often wondered who Kobe would look like when he arrived.
“What else are we doing today?” I asked.
Marco shook his head. “Nope. That’s it. You just have to wait and see where the day leads us. But I promise it’ll be fun. And I will say that the pampering that happens this morning won’t be the only pampering that happens.”
My brows shot up. “Oh?”
He leaned closer, kissed my cheek, and whispered, “Following a day of fun together as a family, after Kerri is down for the night, I have a special present for you that only requires you to lay back and relax while I do everything else.”
A shiver of excitement ran along my spine. I hadn’t experienced it much when I was pregnant with Kerri, but this pregnancy had me feeling ravenous for sex. “Hmm. What will you be doing?”
“Let’s just say, I intend to use multiple parts of my body, mouth included, to make sure you have an unforgettable birthday.”
I licked my lips. “That sounds amazing.”
Marco picked up a strawberry and held it up to mylips. I took a bite, unable to miss the way he watched my mouth.
I loved it.
I loved that things were still like this between us.
I had thought we might lose some of the spark between us after having a baby—and especially with me being pregnant again—but it hadn’t dulled at all. We were just as ravenous for one another as we had been all those years ago when we were sneaking around and meeting up in the empty rooms at the hotel.
As I sat there, sharing breakfast with my husband and our daughter, I couldn’t help but feel lucky. This was all I’d ever wanted, and now I had it. Loneliness was a distant memory.
And after we ate and spent a little bit of time being lazy in bed, Marco took us out to spend the entire day together. It was a long, exhausting day. But it had been wonderful.
Best of all, by the time we got home, showered, and got Kerri in bed, despite the long day, my husband didn’t slack.
He made sure my birthday ended with a private celebration for two.
LIAM - FIVE MONTHS LATER
Evidence of how quickly time passed was all around me.
It was obvious in the changing colors of the leaves and cooler temperatures that indicated summer had ended and fall had arrived.
It was apparent in the way the family business had changed and expanded and grown.
But it was in the little things that I noticed it most. In the dark curls that bounced as Eliza, my three-year-old daughter, ran through the park and the way her golden eyes—the ones that looked just like her mom’s—stared up at me with curiosity and wonder.
It was in Emmett’s newborn milestones, my six-month-old rolling over on the blanket.
It was in how I, somehow, managed to fall deeper in love with my wife. Layla and I had now spent more years together, including those from high school, than we had apart. Perhaps that was the biggest and best sign of the passing years.
As I sat here on the picnic blanket with Emmett while Layla and Eliza ran around and played in the park, I sank deeper into the feeling of peace that had settled over me right around the time Layla and I had officially worked things out between us.
This was all I had ever wanted.
