Fallen Angel

Those fifteen or more years later....

Emily looked at me, narrowing her eyes as she assessed the view.

"I dunno," She hummed warily. "I think I'd miss the stubble grazing against my inner thigh."

"Dirty girl." I said with a snigger. "So that's a no then?"

"It's up to you. I guess there are advantages, like this."

She pulled the hair at the end of my chin, tugging me forward to kiss her. Her hand smoothed over the barely-there beard that she said made me look like an old man. I felt like an old man, after trekking through the jungle for hours this morning, I was tired and ready for a long afternoon nap.

But I wasn't the only one who was tired, Emily was sleeping a lot of late, her body was tired and heavy. As our kiss ended, she looked up at me and I could see the lethargy.

"Lay down Em."

"I can't. Too much to do, somebody needs to get ready for this afternoon."

"I'll be fine."

She smiled wryly at me and I grinned, shrugging.

"Can't blame a man for trying. Especially when he's feeling rather neglected."

"Oh you poor thing."

Emily sat on the lounge, sprawled out and sighing rather heavily. She was always gorgeous but of late, she was incredible. In fact, one might say that she was glowing. That little mound protruded from her body, four months into the second pregnancy. The first one? Oh, he was at my feet, munching on his teething ring.

Sixteen years had passed for us before Nate arrived, a year old and already we were having another one. I was a little shocked when Emily said that she'd taken a test out of curiosity because it wasn't common to have another child so quickly after the first one. But one little test confirmed that my beloved wife was indeed pregnant again, maybe her body was making up for lost time.

I picked Nate up off the floor, he was an amazing child. He was a placid baby, the worst of his moods was right before dinner and bed and for the rest of his time awake, he was happy.

"And what do you think?"

Nate looked at me and grinned, one little tooth had emerged from his gums.

"You like it, don't you?"

He continued to much on the little blue ring, his bright red eyes watching me.

"Of course you do. And what about your birthday present? Did you play with it while daddy was off chasing the monkeys?"

"No, he played with the box."

I sat on the lounge beside Emily, Nate stood and planted a slobbery kiss on her cheek.

"Thanks baby boy."

As my hand smoothed over the large swell, I could feel someone pushing her limbs out. Like with Nate, Emily's pregnancies were easy. Even though she would spend her mornings of the first few weeks with her head in the toilet bowl, she still looked radiant.

The sound of blipping drew closer, I turned to see Emilio walking towards the front door. Long and lanky, Emilio was the spitting image of our father aside from the greasy mop of hair that hung in his eyes and ripped jeans and the band shirt.

I'd become a mixture of the two of them whereas Cara and Delaney were very much our mother. And even though it was painful to watch the family grow again, there was in fact another dude in the brood. Flynn was five now and I was grateful that Emily and I had been able to clock a few years before he arrived, we were in a stronger place and it helped us cope.