Part 50 - Happy

Over the next half a year or so I’d finished another book and it was on its way to being published meanwhile the movie version of Lake Pleasanton was finally beginning pre-production.  Kevin was busy being an awesome dad and was writing music as well.  He’d had offers to do another musical on Broadway but he didn’t accept it because he just didn’t want to take time away from being a dad.  I told him that we would have just relocated temporarily to New York to be with him if he really wanted to do it, but he said he was happy right where he was.

I was the happiest I’d ever been.  Being a mom was everything I’d hoped it to be.  Sure, there were times when it was damn hard and I would break down and cry because I felt like a failure.  But there were so many other times when it was just plain fun.  I loved watching Maxwell learn about the world around him.  Everything was so new and interesting to him that it made old things seem new to me too.  It reminded me a lot of when Sean had first moved to New York and made me and Christian go do tourist things with him.  Maxwell was the ultimate tourist. He’d begun walking around his 11th month and was a holy terror who kept us laughing and on our toes.  We often made it to bed at night simply exhausted but it was great.

On his first birthday we had a big family sleepover.  AJ flew in from California, Jules and Miles came down from New York, Kevin’s mom and his brother’s came from Kentucky, and of course my mom drove up from her house.  Christian and Josef cooked up an awesome yet kid friendly meal, my mom made an amazing cake, and Maxwell covered himself from head to toe in all of it.

By the time the sun was going down and we’d started a campfire Maxwell had been washed up and put into clean jammies.  He was on my lap snuggled up to me with his sweet little head pressed against my chest.  It turned out that the boy had curly hair just like mine and it was a crazy mess but seriously adorable. 

Neither he nor Miles stayed awake long enough to have S’mores with us.  They both conked out as soon as the heat of the fire hit them.  I got up to take Maxwell inside to bed and Kevin carried Miles in.  We put them down together and I couldn’t help but smile at the two sleeping boys.  They were so much fun together and such a hoot to watch when they played. Miles being the older of the two was the natural leader while Maxwell followed along trying to do anything and everything that Miles did.

Kevin wrapped his arm around me, “Can you imagine having two?”

I smiled and nodded, “Kind of, yeah… They wouldn’t be this close in age though, so it would be a little different.”

“True…”

He kissed me and smiled as he looked down at me, “Have I mentioned lately that I love you more than anything in the world?”

“Yeah I think so…” I said with a smile.

“And that you and Max make me happier than I ever thought I could be?”

“Yep…”

“Have I mentioned that I think it’s time I marry you?”

I looked at him shocked, “Um… no?”

I watched as he reached into the pocket of his shorts and he pulled out a small box.  He smiled as he opened it up and showed me the ring inside, “Marry me?”

Of course I began crying.  Along with laughing and grinning from ear to ear too, “Of course!”  I threw my arms around him and kissed all over his face while telling him how much I loved him.

By the time he’d slid the ring on my finger we were both in tears and laughing at each other, “I’ve been carrying this ring around for a few weeks.  I couldn’t figure out how I wanted to do it… Then today when I watched Max shoving cake into his mouth and playing with Miles on the beach with all of our family here, it just felt like today was the right day.”

“It’s the perfect day…” I said and kissed him. 

“So when should we get married?”

“Well the movie starts filming in May and I’m supposed to be there on set for a while, so not then.  And August is definitely out.”

“August?  What’s going on then?”

I smiled looking up at him with new tears in my eyes, “Well… August is when Max becomes a big brother.”

The look on Kevin’s face as he processed what I said was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.  He went from confused to shocked to excited all in a split second, “You’re pregnant?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I found out earlier this week and pretty much did what you did about proposing… I didn’t know when and how to tell you.  Then today with everyone here I figured I’d tell you tonight but you sort of stole my thunder by proposing.”

“Are you kidding me?  A baby totally trumps a proposal!”  I giggled as he dropped to his knees and started kissing my belly through my tee shirt.  “Holy cow, we’re having a baby…”

“Another baby…” I said.

“Yeah, another one…” he said as he stood back up.  He looked at Maxwell and Miles sleeping then kissed me again.

“And we’re getting married…”

He laughed and shook his head, “I guess we don’t ever just do anything the easy way, right?”

I laughed, “Well let’s see… the day we met last year I got a concussion and you spent the night with me, then we fell in love and your ex tried to say that I was a home wrecker, we had sex on a rooftop, went to a ball, came home and adopted a baby and now we’re getting married and having another baby and we haven’t even been together a year yet.”

“We’re crazy.”

“Yep!” I said and laughed.

His hands were at my hips, his thumbs rubbing back and forth along my stomach, “I love you…”

“I love you too.  So, so, much.”

He kissed me again and then pressed his forehead against mine, “So should we wait to tell everyone or do it now and watch them freak out?”

 “Oh we definitely need to tell them now…” I said and smiled.  I took one more look at Miles and Maxwell snoozing then thought of the baby that was growing inside of me.  Everything felt so incredibly perfect.  Sure, it was totally still a work in progress and to this day we continue to work on it, but my life with Kevin and our kids, Vinnie included, is the most wonderful project I’ve ever had.

The End.