Page 79 of Make Me Whole

“She was excited because the four of us had fun together and I read three stories in one night. Then, she called me Dad.Me, Sky. And it was justDad.Not Dad Max, like Eli was Father Eli. The way she spoke was as if he was the intruder in her life and I was her real dad. It was pretty amazing.”

Tears sprang to my eyes, and this time, I knew it had nothing to do with my wacky pregnancy hormones. “Thatisamazing.”

“Yeah. And it got even better, because after that they discussed the possibility of us–Mom and Dad, as they call us behind closed doors–kissing, and the hope that we do was unanimous.”

I sat down at the head of the bed, legs stretched toward him, and looked at him with all the love I felt—for him, for our growing family—shining in my eyes. "I told you they’d be more than okay with you and me being a thing."

Max smiled so big his face nearly split in half. He reached for my left ankle and brought it to his lips. His kiss was loving, devoted, and sexy in a very PG way.

When he pulled his mouth away, his eyes were deep with feeling. “Thanks for giving me another kid. That’s something I’ve always wanted but never thought would happen.”

“Because you never thought you’d get over Marge enough to be with someone long-term?”

He shrugged. “In a way.”

I tilted my head in confusion, and after a moment Max offered an explanation. “Since Marge’s death, childbirth has terrified me. The idea of falling in love again, getting pregnant, and losing another woman I love is too awful. I vowed I’d never risk that again. I thought about getting a vasectomy for years, but since my grief was a natural female repellent, I decided against it.

“And then, there was you. The first woman I’ve ever loved since Marge, and you come with a kid. A girl, nonetheless. It was a gift from God, if you ask me. A new love, a bigger family, a sibling for Aiden, and no risk of losing you over something I caused. The whole, perfect package.”

With a smile plastered on my lips, I felt my heart break inside my chest and silently panicked. After that admission, how could I tell Max that I was pregnant? He clearly didn’t want biological children. But, how could I not tell him? A pregnancy isn’t something you can hide forever, especially when you’re about to start a life together.

I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. Not without an explanation, at least. So I just stared at him with that frozen smile until he said, “But let’s get back to my surprise. My patience is running thin, Sky. Get your prop and tell me what this surprise of yours is.”

My eye twitched in panic. I thought about telling him that his surprise was canceled due to low interest, but I doubted that would go well. Since I needed time to process and come up with a new course of action, I looked at the nightstand for aHail-Maryidea and found it on my phone.

Grabbing the device, I waved it at him. “Here it is.”

Max’s brows tugged in confusion. “The surprise is your phone? How’s that life-changing?”

My heart pounded. I ignored it and casually shook my head as I made my way toward the foot of the bed and him. “No, my phone is the prop—or rather, the alarm clock in it is the prop. The surprise is that since the kids don’t wake up before seven and I set an alarm for six, we get to spend a night together and have sex in the morning. Our first taste of what this new life will be like.”

Though I felt like an impostor, Max’s smile told me I had been pretty convincing. He kissed me passionately, and I did my best to reciprocate. When he pulled way, he whispered, “Thatislife-changing. I love it! And I love you.”

My heart ached, and tears sprang to my eyes as I kissed him again. “I love you too,” I whispered, hoping that my secret wouldn’t end up making this our only taste of life together.

33

MAX

The first night I woke up in Sky’s bed, she wasn’t even there.

Rubbing my eyes with sleep and confusion, I reached over to Sky’s nightstand and slid my finger over the screen of her phone to stop the godawful upbeat music of her alarm. Then, I looked around the room for any sign of where she was.

It was still ass-o’clock in the morning and the sun wasn’t even up yet. The only light in the room was a faint glow around the ensuite door that pointed to Sky’s location. Since we were still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship, I decided to lean back and wait until she was done with whatever she was doing in there. No need to ruin the magic so soon by reminding myself that she was a normal human with bodily functions.

I stretched and relaxed. My mind wandered to last night’s tryst and the possibilities this morning presented, but the agonizing sound of someone tossing their cookies put a stop to that line of thinking. Notsomeone, though. Sky.

Romantic magic be damned, I jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom door. Without even knocking, I opened it and walked inside.

Sky knelt in front of the toilet, her long hair haphazardly piled on top of her head by a clip and her arms stretched toward the wall like shelf brackets. She looked at me from over her shoulder and groaned. “Go away, Max. We’re not that kind of couple.”

I rolled my eyes and reached for a washcloth that was on top of the sink. As I ran it under the tap, I shook my head and said, “The kind of couple who takes care of each other? Yes, we are.”

Her face grew greenish as I walked toward her with the damp towel. I barely had time to press it to the back of her neck before she hurled again. The nasty smell bothered me way less than the sight of her in such misery. If that wasn’t a sign of how bad I had it for this woman, I had no idea what was.

I caressed her back and dabbed the wet towel until the full contents of her stomach resided in the toilet. She turned and sat on the floor with her back pressed against the nearby tub. I flushed the toilet, took a seat next to her, and handed her the damp towel.

“Do you want to go to the doctor?” I asked as she wiped her mouth.

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