Redamancy ✷ Simon Riley

Epilogue)

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𝗘𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲
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Messily breaking a chunk of lemon drizzle cake from the neatly cut slice in her ceramic bowl with her silver spoon, Poppy collected it and shoved it into her mouth. The familiar sweetly drooling taste of tangy lemon and sugar overwhelmed her taste buds in the greatest way as soon as the cake touched her tongue. She chewed it quickly, and easily and swallowed it without trouble.

Adjusting the boringly decorated bowl that was sitting on her huge swollen baby bump, Poppy met Simon's loving gaze and smiled softly down at him. He was lying prone on the crumpled duvet, his face mere inches away from her swollen belly. His mouth was moving, speaking encouraging words to their unborn baby to kick.

Poppy found it cute and quite amusing.

"You might think it's adorable but it isn't for me when he's kicking me in the ribs like a football player," she said with that beautiful unbreakable smile on her lips.

"Leo Riley," Simon lightly scolded. "Quite kicking your mum in the ribs."

She guffawed, her clad chest rapidly undulating at her laughter. Once her melodious laughter came to a cease, she spooned a small cube of cake into her mouth again. She chewed slowly and swallowed, and repeated that cycle until only crumbs dotted the inside of her bowl.

Plonking the spoon in the bowl and depositing it on the surface of the bedside table to her right, Poppy snapped her gaze to her lower stomach when a sudden kick was delivered. She stared down at Simon with red hearts in her eyes when he chuckled and placed a kiss against her belly at seeing Leo's foot pressing up against her skin.

With River City playing on the TV in the background at low volume, Poppy raised the back of her hand to her mouth when she yawned tiredly. Her eyes briefly fluttered shut and she pressed her cheek into the curve of the pregnancy pillow that was snaked around her body.

She gave Simon a sleepy questioning smile. "What?"

"You're so fucking gorgeous, love." He took her hand, lifted it to his mouth, and kissed her knuckles. "So breathtaking... my beautiful girlfriend."

"Oh?" Her perfectly arched eyebrow rose and a smirk replaced her smile at his compliments. "Do continue."

He cracked an amused smile.

"I will..." he splayed his palms across the wrinkled duvet and settled beside her, his eyes not straying from her green ones. His fingers combed through her brown silky hair, brushing it away from her face and tucking loose strands behind her pierced ears so he could cup the side of her face. "Even when we're old and grey in a nursing home together."