Page 96 of Expecting an Argument
I pursed my lips and dropped my eyes to the stack of forms. I glanced back up at him. “What do you want from me, Beau?”
Beau looked at the sleeping babies on his chest and then turned his attention back to me, his eyes soft. “You know exactly what I want, Olivia.”
I nodded, my decision locking in place. I picked up the pen and started filling out the first form.
Beau leaned forward a little. “What are you doing?”
“Giving the twins their full legal names,” I responded as I wrote.
He swallowed. “And…what name are you giving them?”
“I’m doing exactly as I said I would do,” I said as I filled out the second form. “Our children are going to havemylast name.”
A tense silence enveloped us for a moment, but then Beau gave a short nod in acceptance, leaving me to complete the forms in peace.
When I finished, I straightened the sets of documents and set them neatly in my lap.
“I’ll take the babies so you can sign,” I offered.
His mouth formed a fine line and he slowly rose from that stiff hospital chair. Gently, he handed me Brady, then Annie. The babies cooed and grunted as they settled against me, their bodies warming my chest. I held them close as I watched Beau take the stack of forms and settle back into his chair.
Beau’s eyes lazily roved over the beginning of the form for a second, but then he paused, his brows furrowing. He blinked and read the form again. The paper crinkled in his hands as hepulled out the second form from behind the first and held them side-by-side, his eyes bouncing between the two.
He looked up at me over the papers. “Wh-what does this mean?”
“I told you,” I said plainly, “the babies will get my name.”
Beau looked down in disbelief, staring at the forms where I had written “Annie Cherie Fontaine” and “Brady Louis Fontaine.”
“So…?” Beau asked.
Maybe the sleepless nighthadgotten to him.
A flush crept across my cheeks and I smiled. “Yes, Beau. I will marry you.”
The forms fell from his hands as he rose to his feet. He stared at me, wordless, as the sunlight from the window cast him in a golden glow. Then he smiled, softly at first, but then that smile grew until he was laughing.
A giggle formed in my throat, but he stole it with a kiss before it could leave my lips. He cradled my head, kissing my temples and the tip of my nose before giving each twin a kiss on the head.
When Beau moved back next to me, the sunlight caught the fine hairs on Annie’s head and made me pause.
“Look,” I said as I brushed Annie’s hair back with my palm. “Do you see—?”
“I do,” Beau responded.
We both looked at our daughter, snuggled in her blanket, as I smoothed down her veryredhair.
I blinked. “Beau, you like statistics. What are the odds that Chuck and I are related?”
He hummed. “Mathmatecally speaking, it would be a long shot. But with my good luck, I’d bet the ranch on it.”
Beau gave me another kiss and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. We rested our heads together as we watchedour babies sleep in the warm afternoon sun, making a perfect picture of the Fontaine family.
And then, with a quiet exhale, I made Beau Fontaine III a silent promise.
I was going to stay with him, forever.
Splash.
