“You look stunning,” Levi said, stepping into the room.
“Thank you. You look handsome.” I walked over to straighten his collar. “You know I am going to get as big as a house now.”
“I don’t care. I’m going to continue to worship every inch of you. Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Otherwise, I’d be forced to ravish you right now.”
“Funny.”
My life had done a complete one eighty in a matter of months. And it was still hard to believe. I guess once the babies were here, then I would know it was real.
Once downstairs, I fixed my floral headpiece and walked barefoot out back.
“Rylee, this is Ciara who is doing the photoshoot and her assistant, Miller.”
“Nice to meet you both.”
“You, too. Levi brought some things down that you want to use in the photos. And I really want to incorporate the love that you two have and of course your belly.”
“Levi showed me your work and it’s amazing. Tell us where you want us.”
Ciara positioned us close to a huge tree. First, Levi and I kissed while he pressed both hands on my stomach.
The next one, we stood next to each other and held a sign that said, ‘Our family is growing by two heartbeats and four feet.’
We then laid down in the grass, holding our sonogram photo as if we were looking at it. After that, Levi kissed the side of my head while I looked at the sonogram. It was super sweet.
Levi helped me stand back up, and Ciara had Levi hugging me while I held a baby onesie that said, ‘Twins’ behind his back while I looked over his shoulder. She then had us hold hands while also holding baby shoes.
“Okay, this look. I want you both to be super serious while you look at each other, but I want to see the passion coming through,” she advised.
It took a few moments for me to straighten my face so I wasn’t laughing. Levi tilted his head a bit while he placed a hand on my neck like he was going to kiss me. I placed my hand over my belly so the dress was against my skin and you could see my stomach really well.
“Perfect,” Ciara said. “Is there any way we can get a few of you inside and it’ll be like silhouette.”
“Of course. We can go right inside the back here and use that room.”
Ciara and her assistant followed us inside and gave more instruction on how to pose against the window. The first few were of me alone, and then Levi joined in and we did a few more. All these photos were probably gonna cost a fortune. But I knew it would be worth it.
“Alright. I think I got everything. You guys were amazing and totally natural in front of the camera.”
“I appreciate you guys coming out here in the middle of week to do this. I’m so glad the weather held up.”
“Me too.” She looked to Levi. “So, I’ll email you the photos. You can pick and choose what you want and how many. And I’ll give you the family discount.”
Levi smiled. “I really appreciate it. We’ll need some larger size photos since we plan on displaying them in here in larger frames, and kind of have the photoshoot on display while we have people over for dinner.”
Once she and Miller left, I looked down at my feet. “My feet are so swollen.”
“You’ve been on your feet all day between working and the photoshoot. Come on, let’s go get you settled in.”
Once in our little apartment, I changed my clothes and put on a comfy sleep shirt. “I’m exhausted,” I admitted.
Levi scooted next to me on the bed. “I bet. You need to continue taking it easy, though.”
“Okay.” I smoothed a hand over his chiseled jaw.
“Get some rest.”
My eyes suddenly felt heavy, so I got comfortable in bed.
***
Friday evening, we headed into town to attend the fall festival. We arrived thirty minutes before the show so we could grab a quick bite to eat. And we had some snacks packed in case we needed them.
Walking around town, hand in hand, we looked at crafts and fall holiday décor and I even spotted a few fall decorations I wanted to put around our place. “I have to take a break,” I told Levi once I spotted a free bench.
“Of course. Do you need some water or a snack?”
“Sure.”
He passed me a bottle of water and a granola bar. “We can sit and people watch for a little bit.”
After sitting for thirty minutes, I was ready to continue.
“Walk slow and take it easy,” Levi told me.
He had been so attentive and even though I hated attention being drawn, I appreciated everything Levi was doing to make things easy for me.
“You’re being such a trooper for a guy about to be a father to twin boys. You have to be freaking out and not showing me.”
He chuckled. “I’ll admit, I’m scared shitless. I’m afraid I’ll do something wrong. What if I’m not a good dad?”
“I know for a fact you’ll be a great father. Our boys are very lucky.”
“They are lucky to have you as their mom.”
“Are you gonna get me a push present?”
“A push present? What the hell is that?”
I laughed. “It’s where the partner gives the mother
