She glared at me, but her eyes were smiling. I tilted her face up to me and met her with a tender kiss. Her lips were swollen from all the kisses, but I didn’t care about that; it made me love her even more. I stroked her hair, running my fingers through the copper strands. She purred into me and closed her eyes in post-sex bliss.
“So, I’ve been thinking,” I began.
“Don’t do that too hard; you might hurt yourself,” she joked and poked me in the stomach.
“Shush, don’t be mean.”
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“We never went on a honeymoon.”
She nodded. “Can confirm.”
“We should.”
“Um…you have a very strict schedule. Don’t you travel again tomorrow?”
I sighed. “The next day. Fuck, I’m gonna miss you so much.”
She laughed. “It’s just a couple days. You were right, it’s really hard you being away all the time, but I think I can manage it. It does force me to focus all my efforts on writing when you’re gone, so when you get back, I’m all yours.”
“Well, since we’re not making the playoffs, once the season is over, we should go on our honeymoon.”
She poked me square in the chest. “Okay, yeah, let’s plan something. Where should we go?”
“You pick.”
She rolled her eyes. “I want to go to Iceland, but that was where I was supposed to go with him. We should go somewhere else.”
“I always wanted to go to Italy.”
She smiled. “Us two pasty Irish kids in Italy?”
“Why not? What ya think?”
“Are we gonna drink lots of wine and not leave our hotel room?”
I winked at her. “If that’s what you want to do, I’m game.”
She twirled her fingers down my arm. “I could get behind that. However, are you planning on going back to St. Paul in the off-season?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I usually go back. Why?”
“Oh, that’s why my brother called me in the first place.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Have you been avoiding your mother’s calls again?”
She looked down at her nails that were apparently very fascinating at the moment and pretended not to hear my question.
I nudged her shoulder. “Fi, come on. What gives?”
She sighed. “Ugh, you’re the worst. Now that we’re married, it’s like I’m constantly getting harped on about giving her some grandkids. She already has a grandkid from Finnegan and Emily! Why do I have to give her one? Also, I’m twenty-seven years old; I would like to live my life a little bit.”
I bit my lip, unsure how to broach the topic with her. When we first got married, it was chaotic and a mess. Now that we were sure this was what we wanted, I thought it was a good idea to talk about it. I would do whatever she wanted; if she wanted kids great, if she didn’t, also great. Ultimately it was her body, so it was most definitely her choice. Although, the thought of having cute little redheaded babies with this woman? I was so on board.
I looked over and noticed her staring up at me questioningly. “Aaron, what’s on your mind?”
I sighed and ran my hand down my face. “I know we tabled the kid talk, but should we talk about it?”
“I guess,” she sighed. “Do you want kids?”
“It’s your body,” I told her.
Her face softened at that. “Goddamnit, Aaron, you would give me the whole world if I asked for it, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes?”
She sighed again. “If you don’t want kids, I’m cool with that.”
“What if I do? I mean, I don’t think I’m ready for that this second, but I don’t hate the idea.”
She narrowed her eyes at me and placed a hand on my chest. “Baby, you won’t be like him, you know that, right? You’d be a great father.”
“You think so?”
She nodded. “You put up with my bullshit all the time.”
I laughed and held her closer. “I don’t know if that qualifies me as father material.”
“Hmm, maybe not. I don’t think I’m ready either; I want some time to have you all to myself.”
I smirked at her and flexed my muscles. “Oh yeah, you want this hot bod all for yourself?”
She laughed at me but smiled. “Yes, exactly that.”
“But the idea of having a kid with me...you would be on board with it?”
She nodded with a bright smile, that kind of surprised me. “Yeah, baby. We would have such cute little babies.”
I leaned over and kissed her softly. “Babies plural?”
She pushed me away with a laugh. “Maybe…but not yet. Let’s wait on that whole situation.”
“Whatever you want, sweetheart,” I told her and ran a hand through her copper-colored hair. “But…”
She eyed me suspiciously. “But what?”
I twirled her hair around my finger. “I can’t wait to have cute redheaded little babies with you. Someday.”
She put a hand over mine and gave me a sweet smile. “Someday,” she agreed.
I beamed at her as I imagined the two of us having a child down the line. I wondered if they would have her feisty personality. I wondered about what it would be like putting those first skates on my baby.
“Aaron, what’s with the face?” she asked, pulling me out of my daydream.
“I’m thinking about us having kids. That scares me but also excites me.”
“Me too. I wasn’t sure I actually wanted kids; I definitely didn’t want them with Eric. Right now, I want to enjoy married life, but one day we’ll have that.”
“When we’re ready,” I agreed.
As I watched her bite her lip, I had a feeling “one day” might be a lot sooner than either of us were willing to admit. For now, I was going to enjoy our family just being the two of us.
I leaned over and slanted my mouth against hers again. I never thought Fiona Gallagher would become my wife, even in my wildest fantasies, but I was so happy it had come to this. One thing was for certain: she was never taking off that wedding
