After Tonight

Abbey’s P.O.V.
I couldn’t leave. This wasn’t some chore I could just put off until the next afternoon. It had been nearly four months. I wanted it right. So I got halfway down the hall and turned around. When I got the door, it was already open and Rob nearly bumped into me. I hoped it was because he was rushing to chase after me.
“So you really want to do this?” I looked up and him, needing the straight answer. One without apologies and one without torrential tears.
“Absolutely.” Rob didn’t hesitate to answer. In fact, his breathing seemed a little ragged. “Yes.” We stared at one another, studying one another.
“You get a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card this time, but if I find out about you and any other co-stars I will personally castrate you. Got it?” I walked past him, back into our apartment. When I turned around I saw him watching me, taken aback. But then he smiled.
The smile was a slow one. The corner of his lips hitched up just a little and as everything finally dawned on him, it stretched to his eyes. Maybe it was because his smile was infectious, or because he was walking toward me with a determined gleam in his eyes. Maybe it was because we were having a baby together, but I grinned back.
It was a collision. First it was our lips, and then it was our bodies. His hands wrapped around my waist as he kissed me fiercely, gently lifting me off my feet for a brief moment.
“God, I missed you.” I sighed as I kissed him. He pulled away and rested his forehead against mine, looking me in the eye.
“I love you.”
“I really like what you did with the extra room.” I grinned up at Rob.
“I had a little help.”
“I love it.”
…
“Have you kicked your coffee habit?” Rob sat at the kitchen table in the chair beside mine. “I, uh, I read somewhere it was bad for the baby.”
“I did.” I studied him for a moment. “Where’d you read it?”
“I, er, a magazine maybe? Or my mum might have mentioned it…” He cast a sidelong glance at me. His eyes said it all.
“Rob, did you read a baby book?” Tears formed in my own eyes as I reached up to stroke his cheek.
“Er, just a few—Allie got them for me.” He placed his hand over mine and brought it to his lips. “I’m quite the expert on this little thing, you know?”
“Will you stop calling it a ‘little thing’?” I smiled faintly, rolling my eyes.
“Is that not what it is?” He laughed a little. “Because if I know you, which I do, then I’m willing to bet you don’t want to know what it is yet.”
“Very true. Grace and Allie know, but I forbade them to breathe a word of it.”
“I don’t want to know either then.” Rob’s fingers became intertwined with my own and he gently kissed the tips of each one. His expression became serious. “Abbey, I’m so sorry.”
Suddenly my face felt hot and tears stung my eyes. There had been so many consequences to our actions—my family hated him, his family thought I was a tramp, the press went crazy and slandered us both, I’d moved out, he slept with another woman…the list was practically endless. It would be so hard to simply forget all of the pain this caused the two of us. Not to mention everything he had missed—instead of Rob waking up at midnight to fix me a snack or Rob holding my hair back as I vomited that snack right back up, it had been my dad. My dad, my brother, Allie; everyone but Rob—even Jeff helped me out on a late-night food run once. It was supposed to have been Rob. Would I ever tell him how scared I’d been without him, how much I regretted my decision once I’d stacked the final cardboard box of my things into my old room?
“I know.” I closed my eyes and sighed again, trying to evade another onslaught of tears. I knew I could have drawn everything out and it could have been so much worse, but I didn’t want this to go on any longer. “It’s over now. OK? I’m forgetting this.”
“If that’s what you want.” His forehead was knit in concern.
“Yes. I just want to move on. You’re here now, we’re together. That’s all I care about.” Rob only nodded his response.
…
We ended up talking for hours. I told him about the apartment I was now going to withdraw my offer from, and about my mom. He asked about how I’d been doing, baby-wise, for the past couple of months and I told him everything. When I threw up, what I ate—which he had obviously figured out already—and when I started showing. He listened attentively, no doubt trying to make up for what we had lost. He talked about Vancouver and about dropping out of the film. Then he told me about employing my sister and my best friend to help him with the recent renovations.
There was more kissing, more holding, more crying. This was it now. Things were once again looking good. Grand, even. This was how it was supposed to be.