Once Upon a Time

“What? You think it’s a bad idea?” I ask desperately.

“No…” Kim says slowly, avoiding looking me in the eyes. “Not a bad idea. It’s a good idea, but I don’t know… maybe I think it’s just too soon. A baby is a lot of stress. I’m not sure how your relationship will do under that kind of pressure. I’m not sure you’ve thought about everything.”

“What else is there to think about?”

“Have you thought about the fact that if you fight with him, that’s your home now. You can’t always run back to mom and dad because Noah said something you didn’t like.”

“We’re not some little head over heels preteen couple. I know that. I’ve thought about everything alright?” I snap. “I’ve thought about how we’ll be together all the time. I’ve thought about how people change once you start living with them, I’ve thought about what happens to me if we can’t work this out, I’ve thought about what’s going to happen to our baby. I don’t know what else there is to worry about. Oh, well I can always worry about why he’s asking me to do this. What if he doesn’t want me there and the only reason he is doing it is because of the baby? I’ve thought about that, too. I’m scared to death to move in with him, Kim, but I think this would be good for us.”

“Alright,” she says softly, rubbing my arms, trying to calm me down. “Moody,” she teases me. “Next thing you know, you’re going to be dipping pickles in peanut butter or something.”

I grimace at her. “Why would I do that?”

“Duh, pregnant women crave weird things. I liked banana and bacon sandwiches. Or sometimes sardines… it all depended.”

“That’s disgusting,” I say, wrinkling my nose up. “Why can’t I crave normal food?”

“I don’t know. I think it’ll be interesting to see what weird thing you crave.”

“Right now I crave ice cream,” I tell her, grinning. “Please?”

She laughs. “Yeah, I just gotta go get Emma.”

I nod. She goes upstairs to get Emma and then we’re on our way to get ice cream.



I walk into Noah’s apartment, ice cream cone in hand. He looks up from his laptop, glasses poised on the tip of his nose. He grins.

“Hey,” he says smoothly. “Have fun with Kim?”

“Mm-hmm,” I hum, sitting down on the couch and curling up next to him. “Whatcha doing?”

He wraps his arms around me and kisses my forehead and then turns the laptop towards me. “What do you think?” he asks me.

I gasp. “Noah that’s a house.”

He nods. “I know. It’s for lease. Seven hundred a month, including everything but cable – it has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, one has a walk in shower, there’s a huge living room, the master bedroom is between the other two – I thought that was nice, we could be between Grace and Charlie – the kitchen is pretty great, there’s an office, and a backyard – we could get a play set for them, slides, swings and all that. I think it’s amazing.”

I smile at him. It’s cute that he’s doing this, looking for a home for us. I look at him uncertainly though.

He smiles softly at me. “We could paint the walls dark red and get brown couches. Get dark carpeting put down. Make it feel all homey, just like I know you want.”

I grin at him – a big, toothy grin. “Noah, a house isn’t necessary.”

“I know it’s not necessary, Teag. Picture Christmas,” he tells me now, scrolling down to the picture of the living room. “Picture your red walls and your couch and matching chairs and all that, and now picture a Christmas tree in that corner. Picture stockings hung up on the mantle. Picture you and me cuddled up on the couch watching cheesy Holiday movies and drinking hot chocolate while Grace and Charlie play on the floor with all of their new things.”

He’s describing a family, a real family, in a real home. He’s painting the picture just the way I’d want to see it. I didn’t realize he knew me that well… or maybe he doesn’t and we just want the same things. Either way, it’s warming.

“Why do you keep saying Charlie?” I ask instead of blurting out all the gooey, warm, sickly romantically sweet things I wanted to say.

“Well I’m tired of calling our baby ‘it’… he just needs a name.”

“He?” I question. “Our baby is a girl.”

“How do you know?” he asks.

“A mother knows!” I laugh.

“Well, so can a father and I think we’re having a boy.”

I smile softly at him. “Noah, the house is amazing – everything you said is just amazing. Are you sure, though? Are you sure you want to buy a house with me? Are you even sure you want to move in with me?”

He sighs and puts his laptop on the coffee table. His hands find their way to my waist, grasping me firmly. Our lips meet – it’s just a soft, sweet kiss. His tongue lightly traces my lower lip and the he pulls away from me, looking me dead in the eyes.

“I love you, Teagan, with all of my heart – more than I ever thought I would. It scares the hell out of me. I don’t know what I would do without you anymore. But I do know that I want you with me, for as long as we’re both breathing, I want you right here in my arms. I want to go to sleep with you, and wake up with you, and kiss you good morning. I want you forever. I want this – just you, me and our children – I want this,” his hand slides underneath my shirt and rests on my stomach. I shiver. “I want us to be a family.”

I can’t help the tears that fall down my cheeks. He kisses my forehead, the tip of my nose, my lips, and lastly he leans down and kisses my stomach, just lightly, but my heart races.

“Okay,” I whisper.

“Okay?” he whispers back. I just nod at him and he takes my melting ice cream cone and tosses it on the table. He then stands up and offers me his hand. I stand, too, taking his hand. He holds it tightly in his as he leads me to his bedroom.