The Truth About Ever After (32 page)
Read The Truth About Ever After Online
Authors: Rachel Schurig
I
felt something in my heart
shift,
move slightly as if
making room. I didn’t question it, didn’t overthink it, or wonder what it
meant. I simply gripped Eric’s hand tighter in my own and followed him out into
the night.
Chapter Thirty-two
“Babe,
you need a sunscreen refresher,” I said, gazing over at my husband.
“I’m
fine,” he murmured lazily. “I feel great.”
“Fine.
But don’t complain to me when you’re sunburned.”
Eric
sighed loudly and pulled himself up from his lounge chair. “You win, Mrs.
Thompson.” I heard him rustling around in our beach bag, then a shadow was cast
over my chair. I opened my eyes, squinting up to see him standing in front of
my chair. “Will you help me?”
“I’m
far too busy doing nothing,” I said. “Sorry.”
“Oh,
it’s such a shame,” he murmured sadly.
“What
is?”
“Well,
now I’m going to have to pay you back for being mean to me.” Before I could
respond he had picked me up and pulled me into his arms, cradling me against
his chest as he ran for the water.
“Eric,
you put me down,” I yelled, hitting his shoulders. He merely laughed as he
plunged into the cold waves, pulling me along with him. “It’s cold!” I
squealed. “Oh, you suck!”
Once
he was waist deep in the water, he let me go, setting my feet down on the sandy
bottom. “Sorry, babe, but you asked for it.”
“Yeah,
well, joke’s on you,” I said, splashing him. “’Cause you still don’t have
sunscreen on, and now the water will be reflecting even more harmful sunlight
onto your skin.”
Eric
wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close to his body in the water. “Will
you put aloe on my burns?” he whispered in my ear.
I
laughed and pushed him away. “I’ve already told you once this week, aloe is not
sexy, it’s sticky and gross. Stop trying to make aloe sound dirty.”
Suddenly
I felt something. Gasping a little, I reached over for Eric’s hand. “Look!” I
pulled his hand down on my belly, spreading his fingers out. Sure enough, I
felt another kick, and Eric’s face lit up.
“Doesn’t
matter how many times that happens,” he said. “It will always be the coolest
thing ever.”
“Agreed,”
I said. Now that I was used to the cold of the water, I decided to swim out a
bit. Baby had made it very clear that he or she loved when I went swimming in
the ocean. Once I was deep enough, I kicked my feet up so I was floating on my
back, looking up at the cloudless blue sky.
“Not
a bad view,” Eric said, coming up beside me. He was so much taller than me the
water barely skimmed his shoulders.
“
Mmmhmm
,” I said, loving the feel of the water lapping on my
skin.
“I
mean you, silly,” he said, running his fingertips lightly over my belly. He
leaned down and kissed me, the pressure causing me to dip under the water a bit
before bouncing back up.
“Let’s
stay another week,” I murmured. “Please?”
“No
can do,” he said. “The boat’s due back in Miami. Bedsides, you’re not supposed
to travel after the next few weeks.”
I
sighed, knowing he was right, but it was hard to imagine ending this amazing
trip. It hadn’t happened exactly how we had planned it; Eric had insisted we use
the motor much more often than the sails. He was adamant that I would not be
doing the hard physical work of open-ocean sailing in my “condition.”
I
conceded, figuring a motor would get us out to the Bahamas that much sooner.
And the islands were everything we had dreamed they would be. We spent time in
bustling Nassau, revisiting the resort where Jen’s wedding had been. My
favorite part, though, was exploring all the little uninhabited cays. Sleeping
out under the stars on the boat with Eric, feeling our baby
grow
bigger by the day—nothing could be better than that.
“Home
won’t be that bad,” he whispered in my ear. “Jen will be there, and Lucy. We
haven’t seen her in weeks.”
“True,”
I said, reaching up to put my arms around his neck. He slipped his hands under
my legs and back, pulling me up against him again so we were face to face.
“Kara
is coming to visit next month.”
I
smiled, but felt a little prickle of concern at the thought of my old friend.
She and Trevor were working on things, and she actually sounded pretty positive
these days, but I still worried about her.
“There’s
your job,” Eric continued, “which I know you’ve been missing.”
“Also
true.”
“And,”
he said, kissing me lightly on the lips, “I’m not sure if you’ve heard the
news, but you’re actually having a baby in three months.”
“I
am?”
He
laughed, kissing me again. “You are. Eric Junior.”
I
scoffed. “No way. I told you we’re naming this baby Blue Ivy, just like
Beyoncé.”
“Woman,
don’t push me. I know you don’t want me to dunk you under this water.”
“Fine,”
I said, affecting a dramatic sigh. “We can name it Apple.”
Eric
laughed and kissed me again. “Kiki, have I ever told you that you make me
really happy?”
Leaning
my forehead against his, I smiled, almost overwhelmed by the magnitude of my
own joy. The sun was shining down on us and our boat was bobbing only feet
away. Our family and friends were waiting for us at home. Best of all, soon we
would be joined by the new life I could even now feel kicking inside me.
But
for right now, in this moment, I had Eric. And that was enough for me.
THE END
About the Author
Rachel
Schurig
is the best selling author of the Three Girls series. When not writing, Rachel
enjoys reading, decorating cakes, watching bad reality TV, and spending as much
time outdoors with her dog, Lucy, as possible.
You can find out more about Rachel and
her books by visiting
http://rachelschurig.com
Interested in reading more from this author?
Check out the rest of the best-selling
Three Girls
series, available now from Amazon.com
Come along for the crazy ride
as Ginny
McKensie
and her best friends deal with an
unexpected pregnancy in
Three Girls and a
Baby
, available now!
Follow Jen Campbell as she
struggles to plan the perfect wedding—and find her very own happily ever
after.
Three Girls and a Wedding
is
available now!
Join Annie Duncan as she
continues her search for the perfect leading role—and the perfect man to
go along with it. The third book of the series,
Three Girls and a Leading Man
, is available now!
Don’t miss the newest
book from Rachel
Schurig
,
IN SEARCH OF A LOVE STORY
Emily
Donovan doesn’t have a romantic bone in her body.
At least,
that’s what her friends Ryan and Ashley keep telling her. They’re convinced her
bad luck with men is directly related to her life-long lack of interest in all
things romantic. When Emily’s latest relationship crashes and burns, she
decides to go along with her friends’ plans for a romance research project.
Sure, the idea that she’ll have better luck if she learns about the great
romances of literature and film seems a little silly, but Emily figures it
can’t hurt.
In no time
at all, Emily finds herself buried under a mountain of romance novels, chick
flicks, and sappy love songs, hopeful that her hard work will pay off with true
love. When she meets Greg, Ashley and Ryan are convinced she’s found prince
charming—after all, he’s rich, handsome, and totally into Emily. What
more could she want? And why does it seem that her friend Elliot isn’t
exactly happy for her?
Faced with misunderstandings,
miscommunications, and a seemingly endless string of missteps, she is
nevertheless determined to give true love a try. In doing so, Emily will
eventually find that true romance, the kind that lasts, has little to do with
stereotypes or clichés, and everything to do with finding out what’s in her own
heart.
Available now from
amazon.com!
Learn more about
these books at http://rachelschurig.com