Foster got down on one knee before me and my heart skipped a beat. My fingertips tingled with excitement as I reached for him, but stopped. I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I didn’t know what to do at all.

“Rose,” Foster said, looking up at me. “I have something to ask you. Before we leave and find out if we’re having a little boy or a little girl. There’s something I need to do.”

“Foster… what are you doing right now?”

“Shhh,” he whispered. “I’m going to ask the questions here. First off, do you like the crib?”

I looked over at the crib against the wall. I wasn’t sure what world Foster lived in where he thought that living in a studio apartment meant he could pretend to have a nursery for the baby. But I had to hand it to him, he tried his best. The wall next to the bed was decorated with pictures of animals. Then there was a crib with animal sheets. We really hadn’t talked about what the living arrangements were going to be. We still had time though. Plenty of time. I was just taking in each and every day we were together. His strong hands touching my body, always finding their way to my growing belly.

“I love the crib, Foster,” I said.

“I know this isn’t what we want right now, but don’t worry about it. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Foster took my left hand. He ran his thumb over my ring finger. My heart pounded even harder. I swallowed hard, trying to keep my balance.

“Rose. The only days in my life that have ever mattered were the days when I was with you. And this baby now makes it so we are stuck together forever.”

I nodded. Smiling. Waiting…

“So, I wanted to ask you, before we leave,” Foster said. “Will you… lift your shirt so I can kiss your beautiful belly and talk to our little alien before we know what it is?”

He started to laugh.

I didn’t.

“You’re serious?” I asked.

The smile on his face told me everything. I let out a long breath and grabbed my shirt. Okay, before I could completely and totally hate him, this had become almost a game for Foster. At my last doctor’s appointment, the one where Foster saw the baby for the first time on an ultrasound, he caught me looking at a wedding magazine. Jokingly, I told him I wouldn’t have his baby unless we were married. Or at least engaged. That there would be no baby without a diamond ring. I was playing with him, flirting terribly in the doctor’s office. Leave it to Foster to drop to one knee right there in the office, getting the attention from everyone. Only to flirt right back at me, asking some stupid questions, all the while touching my left hand.

So now it was an inside joke between us.

I hated him for it.

But I knew that if the time ever came, my answer was pretty clear.

Foster’s hands touched the sides of my stomach. He came forward and kissed it, then put his nose to my belly.

“You’re supposed to hear me,” Foster said. “I hope you can. Whether you’re a boy or girl, it doesn’t matter. You stole my heart, kid. Faster than your mother did when I first saw her.”

Foster stood back up, towering over me.

I slipped my hands under his shirt, feeling his hard stomach. “I love when you do that, Foster.”

“What, fake propose to you?”

“You’re such a jerk sometimes.”

“All the time, Rose. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“We’d better get going so we’re not late.”

“The appointment isn’t for another hour.”

“Yeah?”

“The ride is only fifteen minutes.”

“Your point?”

Foster grinned. “I’m not one to get to places early. I like to make an entrance.”

His hands touched my hips and inched down.

I felt my body shudder and I sighed. “I can’t right now. But once we’re done there…”

Foster curled his lip. “I don’t like to be messed with, Rose.”

“I feel so bad for you,” I teased. I moved my right hand down and eased between his legs. “So bad for you…”

I squeezed him.

Foster sighed. “Rose…”

“Shut up,” I whispered.

My fingers tugged at his zipper.

I pushed at him, making him walk to the bed.

Foster was a strong man and already an amazing father. But to me, he was going to forever be the bad boy who would show up in the middle of the night to steal my heart.

* * *

“Are you ready?”

Foster held my hand tight. He sat on the edge of the chair in the dark room, staring at a large TV on the wall across from us. Soothing music played in the background while the flames from the lit candles danced around.

We could have found out at the doctors but Foster wanted it this way.

Which was fine by me. I was up on a large, comfortable bed with lots of pillows. So relaxed that I almost wanted to ask that if Foster paid more money, could I stay and sleep for a few hours. Or days?

“We’re ready,” Foster said. “Come on. We’re ready.”

The ultrasound tech moved the jelly laced wand down my belly. She pressed and twisted. Right there on the TV screen, it was pretty obvious what we were looking at. I gasped.

“Well?” Foster asked. “What am I looking at? It’s still an alien to me.”

I laughed. “Foster…”

“It’s a boy,” the ultrasound tech said.

Foster jumped up. “A boy?”

“Foster, that dot right there is the… you know,” I said.

Foster let my hand go and stepped forward. “That right there. That’s the…”

“It’s a boy,” I said. “No denying it.”

Foster stared at the TV screen as the ultrasound tech paused the screen and began to type.

He turned and looked at me.

I shrugged my shoulders.

My mind already started to race. To play all this out. A boy. A mini Foster. A second Kingsley. I wasn’t sure the world could handle that. I wasn’t sure I could handle that. But the smile on Foster’s face soothed me.

The ultrasound tech continued, pointing out all the parts of our baby. Little arms. Little legs. Even smaller toes. A big head, resembling his father.

A perfect baby.

Foster looked back at me and smiled.

Our world had always been a mess. But now we had a life on the way.

When the ultrasound was done, we were given a ton of pictures. Foster plucked out the one that proved that the baby was a boy and studied it.

“My boy,” he whispered. “Fucking right.”

I laughed. “Easy now.”

Foster looked around the room. “Oh, wait. Now’s a good time for something.”

Foster tucked the ultrasound picture into his back pocket.

He dropped to one knee again and took my left hand.

“Foster, not now,” I said. “I’m not falling for this again.”

“Who said there’s something to fall for?” he asked.

I tried not to get excited, but it was impossible to do when he was in that position.

“Rose, I love you. Everything you’ve given me. Now I want to give you everything in return.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you now, Foster?”

“Yes. And I want to start right here…” He squeezed at my ring finger. “Rose, will you… let me help you off the bed?”

I pulled my hand away and then swatted at him, slapping him across the face. Not hard, but it still felt good to do.

“I take that as a no,” Foster said, rubbing his cheek. “Damn.”

I swung my feet off the bed and wrestled to get to my feet. “You keep that up and I’ll find someone who will actually propose and take care of me.”

Foster’s hands shot right to my waist and held my steady. His lip curled as he looked down at me.

See, Foster could mess with me… but I knew how to mess with him… just make him jealous…

I stared up at him, curling my lip to match his. Wanting to be cocky. Wanting to be fierce against this monster of a man. The man who had swept me off my feet before I realized what that really meant.

“Rose, you don’t ever get to say that again,” Foster said. “We’re stuck in this mess for the rest of our lives. The problem has always been the outside world. We let it in. We chased it too much. You said it yourself, we never took the risk. We never jumped. Yet we were meant to jump years ago.”

“So what are you saying, Foster? You want to jump?”

“We already did, Rose.” Foster turned his head and nodded to the large TV screen. It was a still shot of the baby and his perfectly shaped head. Tiny hands near his mouth. “We already jumped. And whether you’re wearing an engagement ring, wedding ring, a ring that our son buys you for a birthday present, what we have matters more.”

I reached up and touched his face. “I know that, Foster.”

“I’m going to do something someday Rose that’s going to change everything. I promise. Right now, I just want this moment. I want us. I want to spend every single day watching your beautiful body change and become more beautiful. I’m stuck in this moment with you. I’m not sure that’s the right way to do things, but I don’t give a shit. If this moment I’m living in has you in it, Rose, then it’s the only moment that matters.”

I swallowed hard. My tough guy bad boy was showing that tender side again. A side that I only ever saw when he stood on stage and sang songs.

“You’re sort of wrong though,” I whispered.

“How so?”

“This moment isn’t just about me, Foster. Or you.” I felt for his right hand and moved it to my stomach. “It’s about the three of us now.”

Foster grinned.

I blinked, trying to hold back tears.

When I blinked, I saw him back at that party all those years ago. The way he walked with a swagger. The way people weren’t sure about him. The way he locked his eyes on me and became my protector.

“The three of us,” Foster whispered. “I think I can handle that, Rose.”

“I don’t think you have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice,” he whispered. Foster moved his other hand to my chin, tilting my head back a little. “Here’s the thing, Slug… I fucking choose you.”