Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Her grin broke free, and became a full-blown smile.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I grunted.
“You don’t want to talk about the fact that you signed Tallulah up for every single gymnastics camp, mommy and me, daddy and me and tumbling class that they offer for the unforeseeable future??”
I stuck my tongue out at her, causing her to dissolve in a fit of giggles.
“Well, you know how my day went. How about you tell me about yours, and why the hell you refused to tell me about what happened today until we got home?” I ordered, crowding her against the counter.
Tally’s smile was wicked as she stared deeply into my eyes.
She brought one hand up, running the tip of her fingernail down the ridge of my sternum before saying, “She’s going to jail.”
I closed my eyes, relief pouring through me.
“Thank fuck.”
“And that’s not all,” she continued, moving her hands down so she could thread them underneath my scrub top.
My brows rose.
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “What else happened?”
“I ran into someone on the way to work, and I didn’t want you to hear this from them before I had the chance to tell you myself in person. That’s why I refused to talk to you, I didn’t want to blurt it out over the phone.”
I growled and pushed my hips in further, letting her feel the length of me.
“Okay,” I drawled, lifting my hands up when she pushed my top up. “Where were you when you ran into them?”
It came up over my head, and I took it from there, throwing it in the direction of the laundry room.
She bit her lip. The way she did when she was trying to find a way to tell me something without me getting mad.
“Tally,” I growled.
“I’m pregnant.”
I blinked.
“I was at the OB/GYN when I ran into Imogen and Aaron, who were there for the same reason.”
I kept blinking.
“I didn’t mean to!”
I stared.
“I fucked up, really. I was supposed to go in for my birth control shot, but I forgot about the appointment. Three times.” She raised her hands and covered her eyes. “I’m so sorry! I should’ve been more careful…”
I placed my hand over her babbling mouth.
“Shut up.”
Her eyes went wide and tears started to fill them.
I knew what she thought.
She thought I was upset. That I didn’t want this baby. That I was mad that she hadn’t told me.
But she was wrong.
I wanted this baby. I wanted as many babies as we could handle, as long as those babies came with her.
“When?” I rasped.
“Uhh, next year. About eight and a half more months. I’m only six weeks.”
That’s when I smiled.
“You’re going to have my baby?”
She nodded, hope filling her tear-filled eyes.
I picked her up around the waist and then carried her to the bedroom, thankful that she’d put Tallulah to bed before she’d told me the news.
Likely we’d only have an hour, at most, before she woke up.
She had a cold again. Then again, she always had a cold. But the pediatricians assured us she would grow out of her sickliness. In the meantime, we just had to learn to deal.
But I’d do anything for that girl. And her mother.
And soon, there would be another child added to our little family’s mix, who I would do anything for as well.
“You’re happy?” she whispered as I dropped my mouth down to the bare skin of her belly the moment we hit the bed.
I looked up at her.
“Fucking ecstatic.”
***
Sixteen years later
“Oh, God,” I moaned. “Is she done yet?”
My girl was on the balance beam, and she was at the most complicated part of her routine. The part where she did the backflip. The part where my breath left me each and every time she did it.
Tally inhaled sharply, and my eyes slammed open.
The crowd around us stood and started screaming.
I could do nothing but stare as my daughter not only stuck that landing, but aced the whole flip.
“Thank fucking Christ,” I groaned.
My other daughter, Morrie, smacked me on the shoulder.
“Dad, we’re at the Olympics. You can’t say ‘fucking’ because it’s highly likely that we’re on national TV right now.”
She was right. We were.
***
Tallulah Ophelia Tomirkanivov, better known as Tot, had a full house in the audience today. Her father. Mother. Sister. Grandparents. Uncles—who look really out of place watching these Olympics with their leather, tattoos, and scowls.
Everyone was in attendance to watch her perfect balance beam routine. She received gold in her first-ever Olympic event, and then went on to earn three more. One in floor, one in uneven bars, and one in the vault. And hopefully this is just the start of many more to come for Tot.
Watching her dad, however, was the highlight of the event for many fans, as he moved, jived, and practically jumped with each of Tot’s moves. And when she did her final backflip and landed perfectly, Dad had a few choice words to say.