Cora

Matthew? Roger tries, passing the name down the line to the baby and I grip his hand, and we both wait…

But nothing.

“The baby doesn’t like the name Matthew,” I whisper, laughing a little. “Well, it was just a starter,” Roger murmurs, grinning at me again. “You try one.”

“All right,” I say, leaning my head back and taking a deep breath. And then I pass a name down, trying… Oliver.

“Oliver!?” Roger bursts out in disgust and I gasp, glaring at him.

“You are biasing our son!” I accuse, sitting up to smack him. “I said nothing when you said stupid Matthew!”

“Matty is a cute name “he protests, laughing and blocking my blow. “Oliver is the name of a sickly Victorian child who wants more gruel -”

I growl and lay back, taking a deep breath and gathering myself. “Well, let’s see what the baby thinks,” I murmur, sending Roger another glare. And then I try again, whispering Oliver? down the bond. But nothing comes back.

“Good baby,” Roger murmurs, kissing my stomach again and making me laugh. “Don’t let her call you that. It’s terrible.”

“Okay okay,” I say, taking a deep breath. “Let’s try one more.”

“I’ll pick it?” Roger asks.

“Sure,” I reply, relaxing. “But this time, pick one you really, really like. One that you’d actually want him to be called – your favorite.”

“Okay,” he murmurs.

Roger passes another name down

Because I love it.

And we wait…

both Roger and I gasp at the same time as we

Happy!

sitting up as Roger

thrilled. Laughing, elated, I take his face in my hands and kiss him, and kiss him,

just named the

up all of our sandy clothes and the blanket and trooped back to the house, where we closed the doors and slept for

on the door, bringing us a basket of food so we could eat something, and Roger went to get it

to, eventually, because Roger wouldn’t let me eat all my meals in bed, instead insisting that I come and sit with him on the couch for the elaborate dinner he made. Well, elaborate for Roger,

laugh, sending messages to the baby when he was awake to see what he’d do. And honestly, the baby never did

as well. But honestly, it blurred in with everything else we did, a usual part of the day as we napped, and went swim and laid out in the sun. The entire time it was just…so natural, and so

second day, we knew we had to get back

Roger murmurs, pulling me close outside the little bungalow

let him kiss me, let it sweep through me.

peck, before looking around. “I really like this place. Maybe the owner will

sigh, but then I put a hand on my stomach. “But, considering that this little

considering what the goddess said that night on

break into a grin. “You’re thinking

I’m going to enjoy the process very

shoving him away a little bit. ”

my shoulder as we head for the car. ” Nah, I’m going to be a very involved dad. You’ll see. You’ll barely have to

on my toes to kiss his cheek as he opens my car door for me. “Or, we can just pass them all off on Ella,” I say, giving a

into that?” Roger asks, loading our tiny luggage into the

as Roger climbs into his seat. “Ella, loaded up with four of her own kids and as many nieces and nephews as we can pass over

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255