When August Ends

That meant Fathead now lived with us, too. Between the dog, the almost-mother-in-law, and the guinea pigs, it was a full house. But I knew Heather felt more complete with her mom here. She no longer had to worry about her from afar. So that made Alice’s occasional meddling worth it. The long-term plan was to buy a bigger house with an in-law apartment.

I should probably get on that soon.

Still engaged, Heather and I hadn’t yet tied the knot. We wanted to plan a wedding after she finished her undergraduate degree. Right now she worked hard to balance school and work.

I wanted to make her twenty-fifth a special birthday, so I’d surprised her with a trip up to Burlington, Vermont, to visit her best friend, Ming. Heather hadn’t had many chances to spend quality time with her over the past few years. Ming lived with a boyfriend now, and the four of us had a blast just chilling at their house and barbecuing. It made me happy to watch Heather and Ming reminisce about the short time they’d lived together. Ming was a forever friend. Don’t think I didn’t arrive at her place without a case of baby powder, either. Luckily, she has a great sense of humor.

After leaving Ming’s, we hit the road pretty early on Sunday morning. Heather assumed we were heading back to Pennsylvania, but we had a stop to make on the way home.

“We’re going to the lake?” she asked when we turned toward New Hampshire.

I winked. “Maybe.”

When we pulled onto Heather’s old property, she got a bit emotional. It looked exactly the same as I remembered it.

I parked over by the boathouse, and we got out.

She looked around. “I didn’t realize how much I missed this place, but being here again brings everything back. It feels like just yesterday.”

“Let’s take a walk down by the lake.”

We held hands as we enjoyed the tranquility of the water.

When we returned to the truck, I asked, “Wanna take a peek inside the boathouse for old time’s sake?”

“Can we do that? Wouldn’t that be trespassing?”

“Nah. It’ll be fine.”

I reached into my pocket for the key, then opened the door.

“What’s going on? Why do you have a key?” Heather froze as she entered the room. Nearly everything was the same as it had been when I’d stayed here.

“Welcome home,” I said, opening my arms wide.

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “Home?”

“Well, not our permanent home, but our summer home—or our place to escape to whenever we damn well please.”

“What?”

“I bought the boathouse from the owners.”

Seeing her expression go from shock to pure joy made all of this worth it.

“Oh my God. This…is ours? The boathouse is ours?”

“All ours, baby.”

She walked slowly around the space. “How? When?”

I took her hand. “This lake means everything to me. It’s where I met you. It’s where some of our most special memories were made. It represents your childhood and your sister, and it always broke my heart a little that you had to sell the houses. Then you moved to Pennsylvania to be with me, and that was a sacrifice. I wanted to give you a little piece of your history back.”

She turned toward the corner of the room. “You even brought the old loveseat. When did you do all this?”

“Well, remember a couple of weeks ago when I had that out-of-state shoot? I was here setting everything up. I’d been working on the deal with the owners for almost a year. They had to split the land a bit as part of the sale, so it wasn’t that simple. Back when I first contacted them, I figured it was a long shot, but it turned out they didn’t like having to deal with renting it. They just wanted to be rid of it.”

“I can’t believe it. This is the most special thing anyone has ever done for me. I thought my life felt complete before, but man, now? Even better. Thank you.”

I took her into my arms and kissed her head. “I know we’d planned to wait a while longer, but I was thinking maybe we could get married here next summer. What do you say?”

I wasn’t expecting her to start crying. “What’s wrong?”

“A wedding here would be perfect, but—”

“But what?”

“Not sure we can get married next summer. It might be…busy.”

“Why?”

“I was waiting till we got home to tell you. But I don’t think there’s a better time than right now.”

“What’s going on?”

“I messed up recently.”

My heart sped up. “Okay…”

“Remember that stomach bug I had? When I thought I was dying?”

“Yeah, of course. How could I forget?”

“Well, I didn’t know that when you…eliminate like that, it can rid your system of things you need—like birth control.”

It took me a few seconds to figure out what she meant. And once I did, I couldn’t speak.

“I took a test this morning in Ming’s bathroom. It was positive. I don’t even know how it happened, I—”

All that would come out of me was, “What?”

“I’m pregnant. Only a few weeks along, but I was late, so I had a feeling. I looked up all the reasons birth control can fail, and sure enough, there it was: excessive vomiting. I should’ve known about that. I should’ve used a back-up—”

“You’re pregnant?” My eyelids fluttered as I processed it.

She bit her lip and nodded. “Yes.”

“Wow. I wasn’t…this is…the last thing I ever—”

“I know. Me, too,” she said. “This isn’t the ideal time. I—”

I cut her off with the longest kiss to her lips. I held her so tightly. I’d held Heather like this many times, but it felt different, knowing she was carrying my child. It felt surreal.

Holy shit.

I’m gonna be a dad?

I’m gonna be a dad.

I’m gonna be a dad!

“So that sofa is going to have to go to make room for a crib,” she said.

“I’ll gladly get rid of it—burn that shit if I have to.” I lifted her up and kissed her again.

I still woke up many days wondering if it might be my last on Earth. The chance of another aneurysm would always loom over me. I’d tried not to pressure Heather, but there’s nothing I’ve wanted more than to experience having a child with this woman. As each year passed, the desire felt more urgent. But I thought it was too soon for her.

She wouldn’t even be done with school when our baby arrived. But for me? The day I looked our baby in the eyes couldn’t come soon enough.

“Are you happy?” I asked her.

“I’m growing a part of you inside of me. How could I not be? I’m shocked—but yes, so happy. Truly.”

“Good, because this could be the happiest day of my life, and I would hate it if you didn’t feel happy, too.”

“The happiest day of my life was also the scariest—the day you woke up after your surgery and said my name, then told me you loved me. I’m not sure anything can top that.”

“I love you even more today.” I rubbed her stomach. “How about the three of us take a swim in the lake, for old time’s sake? I was thinking we could spend tonight here before we go back home. Maybe I’ll even go to the market and buy a big old loaf of garlic bread. I know you have class on Tuesday. We’ll get you back in time.”

After we changed into our swimsuits, we walked back down to the lake.

As we stood knee deep in the water, I said, “Originally my plan was to have a cigar out on the porch tonight. You know I haven’t smoked one in years. But there’s no way I’m smoking anywhere near my baby.”

I knelt down, ignoring the rocks scraping my knees, until my face was eye-level with her stomach. “Hello in there. It’s your daddy. I can’t wait to meet you.” I looked up at Heather, who seemed amused. “This is so wild,” I whispered, then continued talking into her stomach. “I want you to know I love you already. And even though you’re the size of a little seed, you’re the best thing to ever happen to your mother and me. I can’t wait to bring you here and show you where your mommy grew up and show you where Daddy robbed the cradle and started the process of you coming to be. Best thing I ever did, if you ask me.”

Heather’s stomach moved against my mouth as she laughed. She spoke down to it. “You have the best daddy in the whole world, little one.”

“And you have the best mom, even though you’re gonna come out with a warped sense of what good music is. We’ll fix that soon enough.”

“Hey! He might like my music.”

“Or she might come out blocking her ears.” I spoke against her belly again. “Some day I’ll tell you the story of how I almost saved your mother’s life on this lake. You’re gonna laugh.”

“Your daddy never did succeed in his botched attempts to save my life.”

“It wasn’t meant to work that way. I was never meant to save your life.” I stood up and cradled her face. “In the end, you saved mine.”