8 months later….
Oliver’s sunscreen filled hands land firmly on my shoulders. “It doesn’t matter if you’re half black, Sunshine. You can still get sunburned.”
I roll my eyes at his nagging.
“The last thing I need is a wife who is already cranky from her hormones, cranky from being sunburned too.”
“I’m not hormonal.”
“You threw a tater tot at our waiter.”
“He asked me when I was due!”
“You’re pregnant , Sunshine. He was making polite conversation.”
“I do not look pregnant.”
His hands finish rubbing the lotion in before he turns me to face him. Lovingly, he tips my chin up. “I love you as constant as the sun rises and sets, London.” The moment I smile he adds, “But you, without a doubt, look pregnant.”
I frown and lower my eyes to the sight of my round stomach in my strapless neon orange maternity swim suit. It was a gift from Wyatt and his wife when they heard the news. She recently expanded her lingerie business for full figured women to include a line of maternity swimwear and lingerie for women of all sizes. I absolutely love her and also love the fact that Oliver and Wyatt get along. We actually ran into them about a week after we returned home from our anniversary trip to Australia where we watched Liam surf. The four of us unexpectedly had lunch together and then they were the witnesses for our impromptu wedding. It wasn’t planned. It wasn’t even on our minds when the two of us met for sushi that day. We ate, shared some of our favorite moments from our trip, and then randomly looked at each other like an unspoken joint proposal. Wyatt, wild and spontaneous like me, egged us on. We bought mood rings from one of the thrift shops and went to the court house. They’re still our bands all these months later. I never wanted anything else. While neither of our parents were shocked by our surprise decision, both were thrilled at the idea of throwing us a reception. Problem was deciding who got to throw it and where . We ended up compromising, something we have finally mastered the art of. The reception was at his parent’s place in the country, but my parents paid for all the catering and decorations. His family and my friends from all around the globe came to partake in the mash up. My sisters were not invited. Oliver put his foot down about inviting such negative energy on our sacred day. I didn’t object. We had exotic foods with the main theme being potatoes. There was a wild array of music which ranged from classical to country to K-Pop. We had candles lit by Neptune goddesses and danced in circles around them with our parents. We also had traditions his parents engaged in when they got married, like the final dance in cowboy boots. The weekend following the reception we found out I was pregnant, and I will admit it has been a helluva thing to balance. I don’t know how Azura did it with so much grace. Oliver pleaded with me to travel less and to look for more local talent at least while pregnant, which would allow him to be close by in case I needed him. I agreed, but in return, requested he find a way to work remotely when I need to leave the state, like for today’s surfing competition in Hawaii. Turns out, Oliver loves to travel almost as much as I do. Gives me hope he’ll be alright with taking our little girl around the world with us. Unlike my father though, I plan to give her a more stable home life than living out of a hotel room all the time. I’ve actually come to enjoy the mundaneness of a more laid-back life style. Our downtown apartment always offers a feeling of warmth even when there are no candles lit and dinners out at our favorite local spots with friends allow for the small guard, being a sports celebrity requires you to have, to come down. Even the little things like trying to tidy up the apartment have a way of helping balance the chaos of never having a tidy schedule.
“Sunshine, you’re still beautiful five months pregnant with my child.” His eyes drink in my plump tits. “Very sexy with all the additional curves.”
The feeling of his hands groping my ass makes me giggle. “You do know people can see where your hands are.”
“You do know you’ve done an amazing job teaching me not to care .”
He doesn’t. He’s definitely not the same man I met over a year ago. He’s more relaxed. More comfortable with his quirks and more appreciative of mine. While he used to hate the way we weren’t on the “5 Year Plan” his friends seemed to be on, he’s learned to embrace the differences, and I’ve learned to adopt the important ones. We always make time for what one another declares important and deal with displeasure when it hits. He still doesn’t love the fact that I spend so much time around other men, but he’s made his peace with it, and even learned to trust some of them. Like Milo and Liam. OH! And Guy Klinger who he met when he accompanied me to the Dog Sled Races the week before we went to Ollie and Ford’s wedding.
The announcer commands for everyone’s attention, yet my eyes cut to the left where Liam is shaking out his limbs. He catches me staring and offers a small wave.
Oliver’s hands slide around my waist and onto my stomach. His head drops to my shoulder. “You know he’s gonna win, right?”
I give him a smirk. “What makes you say that?”
“Aside from watching him surf in Australia?”
“He lost there.”
“Barely. Besides, we both know he’s increased his practice and pushed himself. You’ve seen it and blogged about it firsthand. I have read those posts and seen the footage. He’s gonna win because you knew he was a winner the minute you saw him.”
A loving look glosses my face. “You bet your ass I did.”
My husband lightly chuckles when he realizes I was speaking in reference to him.
Our mouths slip together, and the rest of the world fades away as it always does.
There’s no program manual or guide book to winning love or life. Sometimes you get passed on during the draft so the team you really belong on has a chance to accept you. To love you. Life is meant to be lived, and loving someone with everything you have is one of the wildest, most extreme, life changing things you can do. This is our sport. Our collector’s edition POG. Our legendary adventure in progress. Our soul driven, spirit tied exploration of our joint existence. We both found the balls to go for true love, and I believe when it comes to loving each other we always will.