"Are you okay?" I turned to look at Howie, a smile on my lips. It had been three and half months since our wedding and I was lying on the chair, my arms folded under my head, and a hole in the lounge chair for my growing baby bump. I never thought I'd end up pregnant….no, that wasn't quite true. After the first cruise, there was a slight spell where I was sick and thought I had been, but it was just stress, or nerves. Although, all my friends agreed I was pregnant and that they needed a baby to spoil, somehow I was the one for the job because, at the time, I was the closest to having a boyfriend. Somehow, that didn't seem very fair to me but I suppose I couldn't fault them much there.
And of course, we won't get into the eye contact I saw happening between Howie's brother and my best friend Kris. I'm also sure they had sex sometime on the boat, but she wasn't 'fessing up to it. Neither was my brother-in-law, sadly.
"Yeah, just enjoying the sun for all it's worth right now."
"And the little one?" I grinned as I felt the roundness.
"Growing and active. When did you get back into town?" I asked, smiling at having him home. Howie glanced at his watch and then leaned down to kiss my head.
"About 20 minutes ago. I didn't want to bother you when I knew you'd been having issues with the baby."
"Yeah, it's sure making me uncomfortable and personally, I don't think it cares," I told him, shifting a bit to look at him more. I took in the grin and smiled as well again. Howie was happy and that was all that mattered to me. It really was the most important thing.
"It probably doesn't. Might get that offhanded attitude from its mother though." I glared at him as he cracked up laughing.
"Rude, you know," I muttered, closing my eyes again. So much for wanting to ogle him or being happy that he was home, not now, not after that comment, although, chances were that he was right which annoyed me too.
"I'm teasing, baby." He rubbed my back and I let out a contented sigh. "Still determined not to find out the sex?" he asked quietly, enjoying the morning with me.
"Nope, I want a surprise. Although my next check-up you can find out if you want. I just don't want to see what you buy so that I can't figure it out." I felt Howie shake his head and peeked an eye open.
"No, I wouldn't do that to you. I thought about it on the flight back home actually, I want it to be a surprise. Not that we would buy clothes just one color because as it is, you wouldn't buy a lot of pink stuff." I turned over to lie on my side and laughed.
"No, that's up to Kris. Alexa has all the black and blue covered and the rest of the rainbow I'm leaving up to Ashley. They complained a while back they wanted a baby to spoil so they will have it. They will also have serious aunt duties because I plan on the baby being watched a lot so that we can give it a sibling rather soon." With that, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss, making him laugh as he did so.
"You want a house full of kids already, is that it?" he asked as he gave me another soft kiss, his hands resting on my hips.
"I didn't think I did, or at least that it wasn't for me. But now that we have one in the oven, I can't help but think of the fun of making more." He laughed again, his hands stroking up my sides now.
"Just the fun of making them? That is fun. However, many little Resa's and Howie's running around is sort of scary you know." I shrugged, the thought not even really fazing me. I liked the thought of the big 'ol house that he had built for us being full of little ones. And the house was grand enough and yet simple enough to be perfect for us. Yeah, Howie got some serious props for that one, he knew exactly what I liked and I was quite floored when we came home to it after our wedding. It wasn't done yet, but the main parts were ready to move in and we did.
"It is scary, but it's nice too. We would have such good-looking kids and you can't deny that."
"Never, babe, never." He looked down at me and I lifted a brow, curious by the look on his face.
"What is it, Howie?"
"You know how I went to New York last year, helped Josh with that song?" I nodded at his question. "Well, he released it, hit number one in two weeks."
"Yeah, I remember. That was a nice little check to add to the bank account. What's wrong with that?"
"It seems I have another award I'm up for. I got a phone call, seems I had two singles that placed me in the same category. One was for Josh, the other for Kaylie, and that's something that's never been done. I told them to leave the single out for Kaylie as I already have a nomination for best album with her."
"Howie, you're going to sweep the floor! That is amazing sweetheart." I leaned up and kissed him again. Never before had that been heard of AMA's and for him, that was great, although, I was worried that with something like that under his belt, he might just be pulled away even more, but we'd cross that bridge when we came to it. Howie was very good at juggling his time and he still spoiled me. So, I had no doubt that when the kids arrived, he would be cutting back more on the music to spend time with us.
"You're staring," he said, a soft smile tugging at his lips.
"I'm in love with you, so utterly in love, Howie. You have no idea the things you do to me. Thank you," I told him, pulling him in for another kiss.
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"Look who is walking the red carpet, Hollywood's Golden Couple, and they look amazing." We stopped at the spots that were marked off and took a couple of pictures, the flashing lights not giving us a rest. We hadn't been out since we got married and no one had known about the baby bump until now. After a few minutes, we got the flag to walk on and stopped at the podium, smiling at Cassie Banks. "We have to know, Theresa, who are you wearing?"
"Valentino. They were crazy excited to do my dress for this. Especially," I said, holding onto Howie with one arm while rubbing my stomach with the other, "since we have a little one on the way."
"So I see, congratulations on the baby, do you know what you want?" Cassie asked and Howie shook his head.
"We just want a healthy baby. And with our history, we'll be happy to have it running around like crazy."
"How does it feel to be in the limelight light like you have been? It's never an easy thing to be Hollywood's Golden couple."
"No, Cassie, it's not. We're not even sure how we got that title, to be honest. We're just two crazy kids who fell in love on a boat, came back home, and fell in love again at an award show, much like this one in fact," I said, smiling at Howie.
"That's right, you two went on that singles cruise. Is that why you did your wedding on one as well?" Cassie asked, looking between us.
"Sort of, I guess. We wanted something different, something that would cut back the drama, something that was us, and something that was fun. What's more fun than having a boat to ourselves?"
"That is so sweet, Theresa. I heard you looked beautiful, that it was a fun wedding and it seemed your guests were quite happy."
"Thank you, Cassie," I told her.
"One final question, guys, and I'll let you get inside. This little one you have, was it a byproduct of a certain night?" I laughed and looked at Howie who answered her question as I rubbed my stomach again.
"No, Cassie, this time around, It Didn't Happen On The Cruise."