Seven Months Later
ANY GOALIE WILL TELL YOU that it’s not the high shot that is the hardest to save, but the knee-high blast to a corner, where quickness and explosiveness really come into play. My coach always said I had great hands, but my explosiveness was only good. And good can be the enemy of great.
I guess that’s how I was with Poppy. I had the hands to be a great friend, but I needed the explosiveness to go all in with her. To love her fully. To give her my everything.
And now that I have, everything seems easy.
Lying on her back beside me, Poppy is out cold. Her breaths heavy, her lips parted. A soft snore exhales through her teeth every once in a while that makes me stifle a laugh. Her hair is longer now, growing crazy fast due to all the pregnancy hormones. But she says she doesn’t intend to let it get much longer, which is fine by me. She’s growing in other ways that I appreciate as well.
I stare down at her protruding stomach that I’ve been watching for the last ten minutes because our little future footy star in there is kicking up a storm. Poppy’s skin pulls and stretches with every move our little boy makes. I can’t believe she can sleep through the acrobatics going on in there.
God, she’s beautiful.
And not just because her breasts have grown two cup sizes over the last several months. Because she’s holding a piece of our love inside of her. A piece of our friendship. A mini Booker and Poppy.
Not a mini Andrew like our nosey neighbour downstairs likes to jest.
The excitement I feel over meeting our little boy is unlike anything I ever imagined. I didn’t fully realise how incredible this experience would be. The scan when I first saw him was fantastic, but it paled in comparison to the first time I felt him move inside of Poppy. Then it all became real. I couldn’t get the baby room finished fast enough.
I’m going to be a dad.
Poppy and I are going to be parents.
This baby isn’t even born yet, and it’s already given me the best gift of all. It’s completely opened my heart.
It didn’t take me long to realise that I loved Poppy even before we found out about the baby. But the fact that she’s the one giving this experience to me has brought us even closer than I thought possible.
Exhaling heavily, I whisper to her stomach, “I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
“What are you doing?” Poppy groans with a sleepy giggle, her raspy voice deep from lack of use.
I cringe for waking her and answer, “I thought you were asleep.”
“I’m a top-notch performer, Lamb Chop. I can fool even the best of them.”
I chuckle against her stomach. “I’m just practicing.” I drop a kiss to our future keeper and move up to do the same to Poppy’s lips.
“Practicing for what?” she asks, reaching up to run her hands through my hair.
My lips pull into a smirk. “Practicing the words while it’s still just the two of us and I have the time. I think I’m getting quite good at saying them.”
Her long lashes fan her face as she blinks. “Well, don’t be practicing when I’m not awake to hear them. I’ll never tire of how they sound.”
I look into her eyes and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. “I’m pretty much crazy in love with you. And I’m going to marry you, you know.”
She inhales sharply. “Steady on. You’ve just gotten the hang of loving me and we’re due to have a baby in a couple of weeks. I think we have plenty of time for marriage.”
“That’s perfectly fine,” I reply with ease. “I’ll wait as long as you need me to, but I’m certain about what I want and it won’t change. I want to marry you, Sunshine. And it has nothing to do with the fact that we’re going to have a baby together.”
“Are you sure about that?” she teases and pokes my lips with her finger.
“Completely.” I kiss her fingertip and stare into her green eyes. “It’s quite logical because I haven’t forgotten that we’re supposed to make sure each other gets to Heaven.”
Her jaw drops, the precious words from our youth turning her into a statue. Smiling, I move up, drop a kiss on her lips, and add, “The way I see it, it’s easier to keep track of each other with rings on our fingers.”
Tears slip down her temples as she slides her hands through my hair. Looking up at me with glassy eyes, her voice trembles when she utters, “I’m so in love with you, Booker Harris.”
“I’m so in love with you, Poppy McAdams.” I kiss her palm and then move down to kiss her stomach. “And I love you, too, little one. You’re going to hear that a lot growing up, so get used to it.”
She laughs and then laughs some more. Then she stops laughing because I kiss the laugh off her face. As our lips fuse together, a smile of complete happiness tugs on the corners of my mouth.
I get to kiss these lips forever…
…because my best friend is a keeper.
T H E E N D
Gareth Harris is finally coming next!
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Keeper is part of my Harris Brothers novels and a spin-off of the London Lovers Series.
Hayden & Vi, Tanner & Belle, and Camden & Indie all have stories available! Even Brody and Theo have stories too! Read on for the full reading order of my series standalones and get lost in my wonderful world of London.
Or check out a sneak peek of Camden’s story, Challenge!