After Hardin

44

~ TESSA ~

I woke the next morning in my bed alone, and briefly wondered how I ended up there, the last I remembered was sitting in the reclining chair waiting for Hardin to come back from his room. The confusion doesn't last long when I peek at my desk and see his things sprawled out on it with him sitting there, his head bent toward the screen of his laptop and fingers flying across the keys. I roll onto my side so I can get a better look at him. I watch him for the longest time before I finally speak.

"Hey." I croak out. My throat is dry and scratchy from sleep.

Hardin turns in the chair to face me, "Good morning. How'd you sleep?" He gives me a big toothy smile.

"I slept great. I'm guessing you moved me to the bed last night?" I ask him as I grab for the bottle of water on the nightstand and slam the rest of it's contents.

He chuckles before saying, "I thought forsure you would wake when I moved you, but you slept straight through. You must have been exhausted. Do you need anything? Breakfast? Something to drink?" He says as he stands and walks to the bed. When he reaches the bed, he sits down next to me and pushes a strand of hair out of my eyes and behind my ear.

"Mmmmm. Something to eat would be great, but I can go get it." I say and try to push myself up off my side. Hardin's hand pushes against my shoulder to stop me before it rests on my belly.

"Nope. Don't move. You're on bedrest. You can get up to go to the bathroom and shower. Stay in bed and I'll get you breakfast." He rubs his hand across my belly as he talks.

"Fine." I groan, annoyed, and then realize that I'm being bratty. "Sorry. I'm just not used to having to rely on others for things like this. I appreciate you being here and helping me and the babies."

I lay my hand on his and he looks up from our joined hands and into my eyes. "Tessa, there isn't anywhere else that I should be or want to be. I'll prove to you that I'm not going anywhere. First step, what are you and the kiddos wanting for breakfast?"

"Surprise us. I'll eat just about anything as long as it isn't runny eggs. Those make us sick." I laugh as I pat my belly. Hardin gives my hand a squeeze before he quickly disappears from my room with the kitchen as his destination. I, on the other hand, finally pulled myself out of the bed and headed straight to the bathroom. The kids were using my bladder as a trampoline and if I waited any longer I would moset definitely pee myself.

After washing my hands, I stand in front of the mirror and look at my growing belly. I pull my shirt up over my stomach and rub my hands over the large mound of my belly. I can't believe that I'm growing three babies. I swear if they find another one in here I may lose my mind. I'm pretty excited about having a girl too, but that excitement is diminished by the complications that her brothers could face. I'm not sure how long I stood in front of the mirror, my shirt pulled over my belly and my hand running circles over it.

"What are you doing?" I jump slightly when I see Hardin leaning on the door jam and watching me.

My face blushes as I turn to look at him. "I started looking at how big I am, and that somehow morphed into me worrying about the boys." I say looking down at my stomach, wishing I could see through my skin and know that the boys were still okay in there.

Hardin stands from leaning against the door jam and walks over to me. "I know you're worried about the boys, I am too, but we need to think positive. Stress isn't good for you or the babies. Plus they are our kids, they're gonna be stubborn as hell and more than likely give us a ton of grief while they're growing up." He takes my chin in his hand and rubs his thumb across my cheek. "And you are beautiful and sexy pregnant. I never thought I would find you sexier than I already did, but baby, seeing you pregnant with my babies is a whole new level of sexy for me." He places a kiss on my forehead, and then my nose, and then lightly on my lips. My legs practically give out at that small touch and the words that he has spoken.