Fate Bonus Scene

Just because I love my job, doesn’t make every day easy. The last several weeks have been busy stacked on busy stacked on busy. But today?

Today has been such a fucking shitshow.

Dad and Uncle Wyatt were both sick and stayed home, which wouldn’t normally be a problem, but today it was. Oh my God, it was. Name a problem, I dealt with it. The Bliss location has been chugging along just fine for the last year, but not today. Oh no. The one day I’m on my own to solve everything, the entire Hutton Hotel world melts down. There were shipping issues and payroll issues and supply chain issues and I ran around like an idiot trying to solve it all from states away. At one point, I considered booking a flight to see what I could do in person, but Garrett talked me out of it, saying he’d hop on a call from home and knock some heads so I could focus on the problems here at the home hotel.

To top it off, I couldn’t think straight. I haven’t been thinking straight for the last several days and I’ve just been so freaking tired. I one hundred percent did not have the energy to deal with things as gracefully as I should have.

I barked at Therese. Growled at Martha, the head of our housekeeping department, and she’s just the sweetest thing that ever was.

I don’t bark. Or growl. Especially not to employees who’ve been with us so long they might as well be family.

I’ve just been…off.

I apologized and neither woman seemed all that bothered by my mood, but go figure, it’s one more pebble on the pile of why I can’t wait for today to be over.

It’s well past eight pm before I walk out the door, and the sunset is in the middle of doing its thing. Normally, I’d pause to appreciate the beauty, but today all I can do is wonder if I’ve done damage to my retinas because the sun is glaring straight into my eyes. Jogging down the porch steps, the heel of my pump catches and breaks off. I totter, clutch the rail, but go down anyway, scraping a hole into a brand new pair of slacks I’d already decreed as my new favorite. I actually like the way my ass looks in them, and that’s saying something.

“Great,” I growl. “Just freaking great.”

I am so ready to be home, where Garrett’s waiting impatiently for dinner. My poor husband has to be hungry. God knows I am. My stomach growls its agreement—look at me, growling again!—as I climb into the car, toss my ruined shoes onto the passenger seat, and shoot Garrett a text, letting him know I’m on my way.

After I hit send, I take a deep, cleansing breath.

The day is over.

All will be well the minute I walk through the front door and see my darling husband.

And that’s what I get for being optimistic.

First, the tire pressure is low, so I stop at the gas station to fill it up, but the machine takes my money and never turns on, and I step in someone’s gum on my way to talk to the attendant about it. Then, an accident has me sitting in traffic for twenty tedious minutes and for some reason, none of my playlists are doing anything to lighten my mood. I text Garrett again so he won’t worry and blow a puff of air past my lips.

Is this what life was like for him before we got married? Feeling like the whole world is stacked up against him? A fuse so short it doesn’t take more than a flicker to set it off?

It’s a wonder he got this far without murdering someone, because I swear to God, I’m definitely understanding Nick’s need for a job that focuses on combat and weaponry.

What is with me today?

Finally, I pull into our driveway and climb out of the car, wincing as my bare feet come down on approximately seven thousand stones. By the time I push through the front door, I’m ready to call it a night and go to bed before I inflict my bad mood on Garrett.

Only…candles flicker on every surface. A trail of roses leads out of the foyer and hooks a left to lead toward the bedroom. Fluff rubs my pants in greeting and I bend to pet his head as Orange almost knocks me over in his enthusiasm to say hello as well.

“What did Dad do?” I ask the cats, who obviously don’t answer, but trot off in the direction of the rose petals—tails high, trilling in excitement—as I stand.

“Garrett? I call, following the felines, the stress of the day melting with each step. What better way to forget about shipping issues and payroll problems then to follow my husband’s orders until he calls me his good girl?

But, instead of leading to the bedroom, the petals disappear into the bathroom, where gentle music and flickering light filters out the door. Garrett sits on a chair beside a tub filled with bubbles and surrounded by candles. Rose petals float in the water.

He stands. Takes my hand and pulls me close.

 “What is all this?”

My husband slow dances me in a circle, tugging my blouse out of my slacks. “It sounded like you had a bad day. I thought you could use a little stress relief.”

His deft fingers undo the buttons on my shirt and he slips it off my shoulders, kissing my neck, my throat, my chest. “I thought a nice bath and a foot rub would wash away the stress of the day. Afterwards, there’s some food in the kitchen and we’ll have dessert on the boat.”

I grab his waistband and pull him closer. “What kind of dessert are we talking here?”

“The good kind.” Garrett kisses me deeply, capturing my bottom lip between his teeth. “But first, bath.” He points at the clawfoot tub I love so much.

But tonight, what I really want is him.

“What if I want dessert first?”

“That’s not the way it’s gonna work, my Angel.”

“Why not?”

“Be a good girl and follow directions.” His grin is wicked because he knows he has me with that one. His praise is a siren call to my libido and I’d break myself on the rocks to get to it.

But that doesn’t mean I’ll make it easy on him.

Where would be the fun in that?

With a wry grin, I unhook my bra and let it slip to the floor, then trail a finger down his cheek. “Help me with my pants?”

“Fuck, Angel.”

Garrett’s eyes darken as he tugs at the button and lowers the zipper. My pants fall to the floor, revealing the white lace undies I knew would be his undoing. Slowly, carefully, I step out of them, then lower myself into the tub, sighing as the warm water envelopes me, then dangle a foot over the edge. “What’s this I hear about a foot rub?”

Garrett chuckles. “You’re not playing nice.”

“I’m just doing what you told me,” I reply, oh so innocent. Wide eyes. Batting eyelashes. Pouting lips.

“Is that what you’re doing?” He kneels beside the tub and slips a hand into the water, caressing my thigh, then sliding a finger along my clit.

I gasp, dropping my head back, welcoming his touch. “I thought dessert came last.”

“Consider this an appetizer.”

***

After I’ve been bathed and had my ‘appetite’ wetted, I wrap myself in a towel as the water drains from the tub. Garrett leads me out of the bathroom to the kitchen where a charcuterie board of cheese, meat, and fruit wait. I pop a strawberry into my mouth, chewing happily as my husband pulls two champagne flutes out of the cabinet—and two bottles out of the fridge.

“Before I pour, there’s one more thing I want you to do for me, Angel.”  

I lean on the counter, grabbing another strawberry. “Your wish is my command.”

Garrett pulls a package out of his back pocket and hands it to me. I stare down at the box, frowning.

“A pregnancy test?” I laugh as I speak because really? Wouldn’t I know if I was pregnant? I mean, obviously I’d know…

That’s not the kind of thing that slips by a person.

“Humor me, Angel.” Garrett smiles. “I have a suspicion.”

“Don’t you think I’d know if I was pregnant?” I scoff, but my mind is ticking back over the last few weeks. I’ve been so busy at work; I couldn’t guess when my last period ended.

“You’ve been so tired lately. And your moods have been…off.”

I arch an eyebrow. “Off? What do you mean off?”

Garrett holds up his hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger, my love. I did the math and I think you’re late.” He steps closer. “Aren’t you?”

“I…I don’t know. Maybe? What day is it?” But he’s starting to make sense. “It’s the fourteenth,” I say, nodding.

My jaw drops as I process the implications.

My period is definitely late. How did I not know this? Work’s been busy, but that busy?

Garrett places a hand on my cheek. “I think you should take the test.” He shows me the bottles he pulled out of the fridge. One, champagne. The other? Non-alcoholic sparkling cider. “So we know which bottle to open,” he says with the sweetest smile.

With a quick nod, I head back to the bathroom. After I’ve flushed the toilet, I call for Garrett to wait with me, though we don’t wait long. He’s holding my hands when two pink lines show and tears spring to my eyes.

My husband’s arm wraps around my shoulder, drawing me close, but he won’t look at me. He just keeps staring at those two little lines, his jaw pulsing, his expression unreadable.

You’d think after all this time, I’d be better at reading him and I am. I really am. Just not tonight, when it matters most.

We stopped using protection months ago, deciding that if a baby was meant to be, it would be. We were ready for a family but didn’t want to make a big thing about it…

What if he changed his mind?

What if now that it’s happened, he realized how much he didn’t want to be a parent?

I need him to say something because my mind is going a million miles an hour and I think this is a really good thing but…

“Are you mad at me?” My voice sounds small, trembling into the room.

Garrett turns his attention to me. “Mad?”

And still I can’t read him.

“You’re so quiet and your jaw’s doing that thing…”

He cups my cheeks, pressing his forehead to mine. He kisses me. Once. Twice. A third time. A fourth. When he pulls away, tears shimmer in his eyes. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life.” He palms my stomach, beaming down at me. “A baby, Angel. We’re going to have a baby. The first of many.”

“Many?”

“Many. After all, we have a legacy to continue.”

***

The moon hangs low and full over the water, tracing the waves in silver as they lap against the sides of the boat. Garrett plucks a strawberry off the tray and holds it in front of my mouth. I bite into it, brushing my lips against his fingers.

The evening air is warm, soft almost as it caresses my skin and I snuggle into my husband. I never thought I’d like being out on the water, but his enthusiasm for it is contagious and it’s become one of my favorite ways to spend an evening. Miles from shore, watching the sunset, or the moonrise, just…being. Together.

But tonight?

I’ve never been this content.

Garrett drapes an arm around my shoulder as Fluff hops onto his lap, twirls in a circle, then settles with a sigh of contentment as if to say he agreed with me.

I never thought the cats would like being on the boat, but they race us down the dock every evening.

“You know, I really like being married to you,” I say.

“Yeah?”

“Definitely. And that’s pretty amazing, considering I didn’t like you very much when we first met.”

“Wow.” Garrett chuckles. “Just putting it out there.”

“I thought that’s how we did things in this relationship. We weren’t even dating yet when you ordered me to take off my clothes for the first time. And only a few days later, you were pinning me to walls in cheap hotels…”

His laugh rumbles in his chest. “Oh, I remember. How could I forget?”

“And I think I’m really going to like raising children with you.”

“I’m going to like that too, Angel.” He runs a hand through my hair. “Watching them grow into little versions of you—”

“Or you.”

“For their sakes, we’ll hope they take after their mother. Life will be better for them that way.”

I straighten to meet my husband’s gaze. He’s smiling, looking warm and wise and happier than I’ve ever seen him. “You’re smart. Driven. You feel so much.” I place a hand on his heart. “Our kids would be lucky to be like you.”

“Right. The parent whose brother and sister repeatedly say is cold and uncaring.”

“Garrett. How long has it been since they said that? You went through so much. Your mother. Elizabeth…”

He swallows and nods. “And I shut out the world because of it.”

“That’s not what someone does when they’re cold and uncaring, that’s what they do when they feel too much. The way you love me? The way you take care of me and our business? I want that for our kids.”

“I want this for them.” He brushes a hand through my hair. “What we have.”

“I want this for them too.” I take a sip of sparkling cider and make a silent promise that I’ll do everything I can to guide our children towards health and happiness.

Garrett settles into his seat, watching the horizon as the boat rocks with the waves. His hand covers my stomach. His head leans against mine.

“And they lived happily ever after,” I whisper, and he huffs a laugh.

“I thought you didn’t need a prince.” His voice is low, intimate without a hint of judgement.

“I thought so too.” I snuggle even closer. “But fate gave me one anyway.”