Grey Clouds On The Horizon

Welcome Home

Christian's POV

My heart thudded in my chest. Today was the day. Emilia was coming over for dinner and here she would stay. Taylor had made her pack all of the essentials and Gail cleaned out the upstairs bedroom for her and Delilah. I offered to find space for a nursery but Em has insisted they always slept together. I hadn't been able to decipher whether or not that meant the same room or the same bed, so I prepared for the former.

I tried on three different ties until I found my favorite and it brought me back to memories of my first night with Anastasia. The woman was still the love of my life and I hoped she knew that through the changing course of our lives that would remain the same.

Ana waddled around the room with her hands resting upon her belly. At nearly thirty weeks she glowed and it was hard to see the proof that she was ever so sick. It took her a few tries to find something she liked and she settled on a dark cap sleeve dress with black heels. Ana let her hair go wavy then put on dark eye makeup and red lipstick that nearly made me laugh. My girls would be sitting on either sides of me like night and day. I'd never have guessed Ana would be the night.

My hands rested on her shoulders while she sat at her vanity and tucked back strands of hair. "You look beautiful, Anastasia." The wonderful woman before me blushed scarlet and bit her lip. It churned something within me.

"Thank you, Christian." Her voice was slightly pained and I knew it was the fear she was experiencing. I was too.

"Hey now, everything's alright." My lips pressed against the top of her head and I gave her a squeeze. "Emilia hasn't even met you and she already loves you to pieces."

She sighed and rubbed her palm over the back of one of my hands. "Will you still love me? When she loves you I mean?"

"Always, Mrs Grey." I pulled her into my lap and kissed her sweet lips, not caring I'd have to wipe the lipstick off on the back of my hand. "Til death do us part, remember?"

Ana nodded. "I do."

"As do I." I smirked and she used her thumb to rub off the red pigment. "Thank you."

The two of us sat in the great room waiting for Em's car to arrive. She didn't have a lot to bring, minimalism was her style, so a moving van wasn't necessary. Out of all of it what bothered me was that our daughter didn't have many toys. I doubted the girl owned much more than the three cars I'd had when I was only a few years older than her.

So I'd placed a call with a toy store and they'd delivered a nice array of toddler trinkets. We had a doll house with a family and furniture, vibrant building blocks, a wooden train, enough embroidered stuffed animals to start our own zoo, miniature instruments, art supplies and whatever else I could get for fifteen thousand dollars.

My wife eyed the toys wearily, stroked her distended stomach and sighed. "You have another child."

It was recent news to me too. "No, Ana. We have a  daughter. Christian Jr has an older sister to play with and look after him. They'll teach each other things and grow up sharing with one another. This is all a good thing, Ana."

"I hope you're right." She choked out and sipped on her water. "I just really want this to be a bad dream."

Working hard to simmer down the fire that raged within me, I nodded with false understanding. "I promise that you won't feel like that forever. Someday soon, you won't be able to picture your life without the both of them. Just like how I can't imagine life without you and our baby." My hand rested on her stomach and she tried to doubt me.