Living Again (65 page)

“I can’t believe we’re married,” Kayley said, laying on Ben’s chest and trailing her fingers back and forth. He caressed her hair, still wet from the shower.

“Me either,” Ben admitted. “It feels awesome. I’m so happy.” He kissed the top of her head, and she tilted her head back to smile at him. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, babe. Anything.” Kayley rolled so she could look into his eyes.

“Does this feel similar to your wedding to Alex? I mean- I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, so…”

“No,” Kayley answered, putting her finger on his lips. “Ben, I loved Alex. Desperately. There is something about that first love, you know? But, as much as I was in love with him, I was pretty young. I mean, we were happy, of course. He was a wonderful husband to me. But if you’re asking me if this compares to Alex, I’m going to tell you absolutely not. With Alex, since we were young and had no real obstacles to overcome, I didn’t really know how it felt to lose someone you loved, or to have something almost tear you apart and come back from that. So, I guess what the difference is for me is that I learned a lot from losing Alex, and from almost losing you. I had to fight more for this. Does that make sense at all? I know that I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone,
ever
. With the exception of Alexis, of course, but that’s a different kind of love, too.”

“It makes sense,” Ben said. “That was the best explanation. You’re right. When you aren’t tested, you have no idea what you could stand to lose. Even though I was never married, I know for sure that I love you much more deeply than I ever loved Zoey. She was essentially my first love, too. I mean, you know I had other girlfriends, but since I was working so hard to become a doctor, I didn’t have a normal college experience. I didn’t have time for commitment like that. There’s something so great about knowing where we’ve come from, that the pain of our pasts have helped us build something perfect now. Isn’t it amazing how that happens?”

“It sure is. You’re pretty amazing yourself, Ben Nichols. Dr. Yummy. Oh my god that was so funny when Alexis said that tonight. I thought Emily was going to snort her drink out of her nose.”

“It was hilarious,” Ben chuckled, remembering it. “Now everyone there knows my daughter called me yummy.” They both laughed until tears escaped their eyes.

“I guess that makes me Mrs. Dr. Yummy,” Kayley giggled.

“You’re very, very yummy,” Ben agreed. He put his big hand on her flat stomach. “Think tonight could’ve made us a Baby Nichols?”

Kayley covered his hand with her own. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” She tucked her head under his chin, closing her eyes in exhaustion. “I never want this night to end, but I’m so exhausted,” she yawned, realizing it was close to three in the morning.

Ben grabbed the sheets with his foot and covered them with them, then turned off the light. “We have forever, baby. I love you.”

“I love you,” Kayley echoed, her eyelids fluttering closed as she slipped into sleep.

“Daddy! Mommy! You back from pawty?” Alexis ran to them, jumping in their arms. They sandwiched her, both hugging her tightly. Kayley breathed her in. God, she had missed her. While they had a fabulous time on their honeymoon cruise, it had been brutal for both of them to be away from her that long. By day five, she was all they talked about. They decided that next year was a family cruise or vacation.

“Princess, we missed you so much. Were you a good girl?” Ben kissed her over and over.

“She was fabulous. She sure did miss you guys, though,” Ben’s mom hugged them both. “Renee and I switched off and tried to keep her busy. I took her to play at Emily’s a few times, too. It was fabulous to spend this much time with her. She’s a great kid.” Karen stepped back, looking at them. “You guys look wonderful, so tan and relaxed. Bring me back anything?” She looked at Kayley, then her stomach.

Kayley finally caught on to what she was saying at the same time as Ben. “We’ll have to see about that.”

Alexis looked at them, tilting her head. “You bwing me baby, Mommy?” Kayley smiled, knowing Alexis wanted a baby doll or stuffed animal from their trip.

“Let’s see what we got for you. It’s in the car,” Ben said, ruffling her hair.

“No,” Alexis shook her head. “You give me baby, Mommy? Wittle baby? Wike Cate’s baby?”

Ben and Kayley looked at each other, realization dawning on them that she meant did they bring her a real baby. How in the world?

Ben laughed, not knowing how in the world to answer this question. “Did you talk to her about this, Mom?”

Karen held up her hands. “I said absolutely nothing, son. I promise.”

Kayley shook her head. “Let’s go, baby girl. We’ll talk about your real baby later on. We have a surprise for you. Are you ready to go see our new house?”

The three of them headed out the door and to their new house across town.

Kayley lay in the bathtub in her new enormous bathroom, her earphones pumping slow, relaxing music in her ears as she tried to decompress from the day. Ben had put Princess to bed to allow her time to herself. It still shocked her when he did that, since she went so long doing everything for Alexis. She had gone back to work today, and after the whirlwind of the wedding, honeymoon, and moving into their new house, going back to reality had been depressing. But, it had been fun to show off her beautiful ring and her great tan to everyone at work. Of course, Ben had sent her flowers today.

Their cruise had been amazing. They had enjoyed stuffing themselves silly, laying by the pool sunbathing, sitting on their balcony overlooking the water, and making love. A lot. When they got on the ship, they had treated them like royalty since it was their honeymoon. She smiled as she recalled their first night on the cruise.

Walking onto the ship, Kayley looked around in amazement. It was like a city on the water. Ben picked up her straw hat she was wearing and kissed her gently. She smiled, following him through the ship, his hand holding hers tightly. The ship employees said hello to everyone as they went past, and she saw that Ben was headed for the elevators.

“Where are we going? I thought there was a welcome party on the deck?”

Ben looked at her, his eyes narrowed. “Food? You think I want food? This is our honeymoon, Kay. I want
you
. And the sooner the better.”

Her stomach flipped and her body clenched, just like every time he spoke to her like that. She squeezed his hand and looked at him coyly. “Why Dr. Yummy, what exactly would you like to do on our first official honeymoon day?”

Ben leaned his mouth to hers and began whispering, detailing every single thing he wanted to do to her. Her eyes wide and her pulse thrumming through her body, she could hardly stand the suspense to get to their room.

“You’re so bad,” she whispered, her face flushed.

“But you’re going to like it. A lot.” Ben pulled her out of the elevator, looking at the information in his hand on which way they were going
.

“Thinking of something?” Ben’s rich voice broke through both her memory and her soft music. Popping an earbud out of her ear, she blinked her eyes up at him. “Lexi is asleep.” He stripped off his clothes and she watched him unabashedly.

“In fact, I was thinking about our first night on the cruise,” she admitted, taking in his sexy body. He smirked, climbing in across from her and beginning to rub one of her feet.

“That was a great night,” he murmured.

“It was so hot, the way you told me what you were going to do in the elevator. That was something new and enticing.”

“I did everything,” he started running his hand up her leg. “And then some.”

Kayley closed her eyes as his hand continued until he reached her slickness. “How about you do that again, tell me.”

Ben sat up, sloshing the water over Kayley as he moved until he was over her. “How about I tell you that I’m going to make you scream in this bathtub? What would you think then?”

Kayley’s breath hitched, and she nodded her head. “I’d like that.” Ben grinned against her mouth as he whispered exactly what he wanted to do.

Kayley didn’t think about the honeymoon again that night, because Ben spent a long time making good on his promises.

Kayley awoke, turning her head side to side while subconsciously breathing slowly out of her mouth. It took her a moment to realize what had woken her up. Pain traveled through her stomach, radiating throughout her body. She couldn’t stop a smile from spreading over her face as she realized that the day was here. Their son would be born today. Almost nine months exactly from the day of their wedding, they would welcome their new addition to the family. Breathing through another contraction, she was so thankful. This time, she would get to roll over and wake up her husband to tell him the happy news. Looking at the clock and realizing her contractions were coming pretty close together, she knew she needed to wake Ben up.

“Ben,” Kayley reached over and shook him awake. “Ben,” she said more forcefully when he didn’t budge. Deciding to try a new tactic, she started kissing his face and neck, finally settling on his lips as he instinctively moved towards her. “Babe,” she said against his mouth. “Wake up.”

Ben moaned, throwing his arm over her. “What time is it?”

“Four in the morning,” she answered, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice.

“Why in the world are you awake?” Ben complained, burying his head into her. She leaned over, pressing her lips against his ear so he could be sure to hear her. “Because your son is on his way.”

Ben turned his face, slowly blinking his eyes at her, but it not registering yet. “What? My son?” And just like that, his eyes widened like UFO’s and he sat straight up. “Baby? You’re in labor? Are you okay?”

Kayley laughed, putting a hand on his arm to calm him. “I just woke up having contractions. They aren’t too bad right now, but we need to get ready to go because they are coming kind of close together.”

Ben’s eyes traveled to her protruding stomach, and put his hand tenderly on it. Leaning over, he spoke to his son, as he always did. “You ready to come meet us, huh buddy? We’re ready for you, too. Be nice to your mommy, because you will see what a great mom she is. And, I really, really love her, so be gentle.”

Kayley ran her fingers through Ben’s hair as he talked to their unborn son, and tears pricked the back of her eyes. Just like that, she was flashed back over three years, to the night she went into labor with Alexis. She had been all alone, having to call her parents to take her to the hospital. She had wished so much for Alex to be there, for her to not have to deal with it alone.

This time, it was totally different. She and Ben were married. He was here for her. She wasn’t alone. Not ever again.

“You okay? Contraction? We need to time them.” Dr. Ben came out, even though he wasn’t anywhere close to being an OB.

Kayley shook her head. “No. I was just thinking about how different this time is. When I went into labor with Alexis, I was all alone.”

Ben kept his hand on her stomach, but leaned up to kiss her softly on the lips. “You have me now. You will always have me.” He rolled over to stand up, and helped her out of the bed. “You have the baby’s bag all packed, right? Is it in his room?”