People might assume that North Carolina is warm all year round, but they’d be wrong.

In the winter, we get low temperatures just like the rest of the East Coast, even if it is a bit more mild. We can even get some snow flurries from time to time, but mostly it’s just chilly and windy due to the gusts coming off of the Atlantic.

So when it finally gets warm, us beach people wander out of our hibernation and spend as much time on the sand as humanly possible.

“God, I missed it being warm.” Blake holds her hands out to the sides, her dress ruffling in the warm night breeze as it flutters around her large belly.

She looks like a goddess, like Mother Earth or some fictional character.

“We are just summer people, living for this weather.” I catch one of her hands, lacing my fingers through hers and enjoying the familiarity of our connected hands.

It was her idea to take a night time walk, something I was a little wary of as she was seven months pregnant. But, what Blake wanted, Blake got … at least when it came to me. I had to admit, it was very peaceful being out here with only the woman I loved and the sound that had marked our lives every single year of our childhood. The moon was shimmering on the calm waves, and the smell of summer was just around the corner.

“This may be one of the last times we’ll ever be out here alone.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief, and I knew she was thinking of all the other times we’d traipsed this land at night.

“At least for the next eighteen years anyway, but I think we can manage to sneak away once in a while. That’s what we have built-in grandparent babysitters for.” My arm wrapped around her shoulders, and I nuzzled her hair.

Her scent, the shea butter she’d been rubbing on her body for the baby, invaded my senses and it was all I could do not to handle her like some animal.

“That’s true. But I mean this in the dirtiest way possible, Mr. Cole. This is one of the last times we’ll be out here alone … so what do you say?”

Blake toyed with the strap of her sundress, and I finally caught onto what she was saying. “Oh, yeah?”

I could barely breath when she slid it down, revealing one beautiful, swollen breast. I couldn’t keep my hands off of them these days, not that I ever could before she was carrying our child. Instantly, I began to grow stiff in my shorts, and the moon was bouncing off of her blond hair, making her whole being glow.

“We can be teenagers just one more time.” The smile that paints her peach lips is pure evil, and I’ve never been so ready to get into the water.

Blake doesn’t wait for me, instead stripping her dress off in one swoop and running for the water.

“Oh, no you don’t!” I chuckle and begin ripping off my clothes, leaving them in a heap on the sand as I run naked towards her.

There is something so innately freeing about running down the beach with nothing on. The night wind coursing over your skin, every pore filled with surf and sand and salt. The image of Blake, her gorgeous pregnant body broaching the water and sinking into it, the moon lighting up every curve of her form.

This moment is like poetry, soft whispered words and underlying meaning as we tread into the cool ocean.

“Come here, beautiful.” I catch her up around the waist, the water lapping against our bodies.

“It’s colder than I remember.” Blake chatters her teeth but moves into my embrace.

“Well, you are in here at the beginning of June, the water hasn’t had a chance to warm up yet. But you should be used to this, you summer child.” I kiss her wet cheeks, our bodies moving a little farther out, floating.

“It feels really good to be weightless right now.” She tips her head back, her eyes tilting to the night sky as I hold her, help her float.

Her swollen stomach bobs on the top of the surf, and I’m so enthralled with this amazing woman that I can’t contain it. While I help her float, I kiss her stomach, savoring the saltiness on her skin. I know how tired she’s been, how exhausting the extra weight and the restlessness of our little girl inside of her has been. If I can give her a few minutes of peace out here, I’m going to let her have it in any way I can.

“Were you ever scared to come out here?” She turns her head to the side, her eyes catching mine.

I duck my head down, sweeping my lips across her forehead. For as much as I’m trying to let her have her peace, I can’t keep my mouth off of her.

“No I never was, because you never were. You were always the fearless one.”

Blake brings her body back into the water and moves into my arms. I hold her like we’re about to cross over the threshold as bride and groom, because I can no longer hold her face-to-face. She buries her face in my neck, and I wonder what it would be like if we were actually married.

“When are you going to let me make you Mrs. Cole?” I’ve been thinking about asking ever since she got pregnant, but knowing Blake she’d think that was tacky.

“Oh come on, Carson. Do we really need a piece of paper? I have been yours since I was a kid. There is nothing bigger in this world than the love we share, do we need to validate it with a wedding?”

I thought about it. “I guess not, but this baby is going to share my name. I’d like you to share our name too, to make us a family. I don’t need the party or the cake. But I would like your ring on my finger, I always thought I’d be that sexy husband with the silver band on my left hand.”

She chuckled and hit my chest lightly. “So this is about your jewelry wishes, not some sacred vow?”

“I think we’ve made those vows to each other pretty clearly, but yes, I’d like to make it official.”

My girl looked up at me, the moon shining like saucers in her eyes. “I’m not opposed to that.”

“Good.” I nodded, tucking her back into my shoulder.

While this foray into the ocean might have started as a dirty walk down memory lane, it turned into something deeper between us. A relaxing moment between the two of us before the chaos of our life crept in. A piece of time that I can give this radiant woman to just float, to be with herself in this peace.

And while we might not get another one of these moments for a little bit, I know that I’ll take any day with her over any day without her. Because even at my worst with Blake, it is better than any of the last ten years I spent away.