Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
They range in age from six to seventeen, most from broken homes, most going through the similar sort of stuff I did as a kid. As I look at them, I find myself picturing our future children, hoping I can lead them right.
“The skills I teach you will make you stronger, a better fighter. But they’ll teach you how to conduct yourself too. They’ll teach you confidence and that you don’t always need to fight. Remember that. It could save your life.”
I trail off when I see my Becca bee standing at the glass door, her beautiful face appearing. Her brown hair spills down to her shoulders, messy like it was this morning when I left, after my woman woke me up with her legs straddling me, her fingernails buried in my chest.
Focus.
But it’s difficult when I meet Becca’s eye, an unreadable look on her face, at least from here.
What is she doing here?
She knows I have another class in thirty minutes. We arranged to meet later.
Once this class is over, I rush outside, spotting Becca in the corner of the room. I say hello to the parents, making small talk, then cut over to her as quickly as I can without being rude.
“What is it?” I ask, touching her shoulders to stop her pacing.
She looks up at me. Her cheeks flushed in the way that drew me to her, to begin with. Her lips are parted somewhere between a smile and a frown, as though she can’t settle.
“Becca bee? You’re not going to sting me, are you?”
She laughs, shaking her head. Moving closer to me, she bites her lip as if to stop it from trembling.
“I had to come here,” she says. “I… I realized something earlier about my time of the month. So I got a test – well, two tests, and I did them both. And….”
My heart is pounding, the whole world suddenly seems to get brighter and become a better place.
I feel like singing.
“Tell me,” I whisper.
“I’m pregnant, Ben,” she cries, letting it all out in a rush.
I cheer as I sweep her into my arms, spinning her around and finding her lips. She laughs in that just-Becca way, that joy-filled way that has me imagining an even brighter future.
It’s like a camera flash, so bright it dazzles, and yet it’s all the time.
Every second with my woman – and now with our child – is the best second.
“I love you,” I tell her. “And I love our baby.”
She laughs as I put her down. “See, once upon a time, I would’ve found that a little crazy. How can you love somebody you haven’t met yet? But you know what, Ben?”
“What’s that, Becca bee?”
She grabs my shirt and pulls herself close for another kiss. “I feel exactly the same.”
SIX MONTHS LATER
Becca
I sit at the table, Ben at my side, glowing with so much happiness I’m sure I could burst.
One hand rests on our perfect little bump and the other clasps onto Ben’s. He gives me a squeeze, looking over, dashing in his wedding suit, with his clean-shaven face and his intense eyes and silver hair.
“I love you so much,” I whisper for the millionth time today.
I still feel energized from the ceremony. Walking down the aisle, it wasn’t the guests or the music who made me feel beautiful.
It was Ben, his gaze fixated on me, his desire plain in every inch of him.
Now, the whole room turns to Alex as he taps a spoon against his champagne glass.
It meant so much to me and Ben that Alex wanted to be his best man and basically insisted on it.
“How many times do I have to tell you I love you two as a couple? Especially now that I’ve seen how great you are together.”
Alex smiles across the room, looking at Mom and Dad and June and everybody else, then finally he settles on us.
“People might look at Ben and Becca and think they’re an odd couple. Maybe it’s the age gap. Or maybe it’s the fact that Ben is my best friend. But what they wouldn’t know, couldn’t know, is how perfect they are for each other. You only could if you’ve known them like I have.
“It’s a cliché, maybe, to say somebody completes another person. But that’s exactly what I see here. Ben completes Becca, and Becca completes Ben.”
Tears well in my eyes, his words making me want to scream in pure happiness.
I can’t believe I ever hid in Ben’s gym, afraid of my big brother’s reaction.
“They make each other better in all the best ways. They support each other. And when they look at each other, it’s like the whole world stops. They’re so in love. Anybody could see that. I planned on telling some jokes when I got up here, but you know what, there’s nothing funny about this.