Your Beauty Never, Ever Scared Me - Wintumn Stories

Our Christmas Rose

Winter arrived home and headed straight for the bedroom to check on Autumn. He knew she hadn't been feeling well again so he assumed he would find her there, but he didn't. He checked all around upstairs and still couldn't find her. When he went back downstairs he caught sight of her through the window. She was out in the back garden, sitting near their flowerbeds. He thought it was strange for her to be in the middle of December until he got outside and noticed which flowers she was looking at in particular.

They had a very small garden that they worked on together in the summers. They spent so much time outside when the weather was nice reading on the lawn or just lying together in the sun, so they worked together planting all their favorite flowers and creating a space that they loved. When they went through the miscarriage, they planted a small Christmas Rose bush in hopes that it would bloom around the time they would have been welcoming their baby. They wanted to honor their memory in their favorite place. If everything had gone to plan they would have had their baby any day now, and as Winter approached the garden he noticed that the flowers had started to bloom.

Autumn was turned slightly away from the door, so she didn't notice that Winter had come outside. His heart broke as he saw the sight of her in one of his hoodies, sitting on the ground. He saw her shoulders shaking slightly as if she was crying and thought he could hear her saying something, but her voice was even lower than usual. He tried to strain to hear anything but the only words he could make out were "our baby."

Seeing her like this took him back to that night months ago. He felt awful that he had gone out today instead of being here with her when she obviously needed him. She was such a strong person that it was easy to forget how much she truly relied on him. Autumn could take down any parent, matching wits or strength with the best of them; but as soon as she was home she was his sweet, emotional love. No one would ever know her like he did. He got to see every side of her personality and fell in love with every new quirk he learned. She was his everything, he would do anything for her. And tonight, he was ready to be strong for her.

"My love?"

Winter called out to her, loud enough for her to hear but not so loud as to startle her. When she turned around he was shocked to find that her expression wasn't sad. She was clearly surprised to see him, but she was smiling brighter than Winter had seen in quite some time. He truly didn't think he'd seen her this happy since their wedding. He watched her scramble to her feet and run into his arms, holding him tighter than she'd ever done before. He squeezed back just as tightly. He had no idea why she'd be this excited to see him, he'd only been gone a few hours. But he was thankful for any opportunity to be this close to her, whether he knew the reason behind it or not.

"My sweet, I'm so glad you're home. I'm sorry I was going to have dinner ready to surprise you. I just got sidetracked when I saw-"

She only realized how quickly she was talking as she ran out of breath before she could finish her thought. Her excitement was getting the better of her. She took a second to calm herself before continuing.

"The roses. I got distracted by our roses."

"They're beautiful, my darling. And the timing couldn't be more perfect."

Autumn was glad she was turned away at that moment. She couldn't hide the smile that spread across her face again. The timing was more perfect than he even knew.

"Well, it's rather late my love, shall we just go out to dinner then?"

"That sounds lovely. Just give me a couple minutes to make myself presentable."

"But you look so beautiful already, my love. Why change?"

She let out a small laugh and kissed him on the cheek as she made her way up to their room to change. She'd spent part of the afternoon coming up with a whole plan of how she was going to tell him and when. She thought she'd at least get through the first appointment before she told him. Given her history she had been able to be scheduled in quickly. She'd be going in that Monday just to confirm everything and she wanted to tell him after. But when she saw him she knew she couldn't wait two days. The way she felt right now, she wasn't even going to be able to wait two hours. It was already killing her to not share this with him. She had to tell him tonight and she had the perfect way to do so.

Changing was the last thing on her mind when she went upstairs. She knew once she shared her news they wouldn't be going anywhere. She was going to retrieve a gift for Winter. When she found out they were expecting last time she had all of these visions of the baby and Winter. She'd envisioned herself once or twice but mostly she thought about him. The way Winter was with the kids at the nursery, it was easy to imagine how he'd be as a father. She had no doubts that the two would be inseparable. Because of that Autumn had commissioned a very small replica of her favorite of his hoodies, the one she was currently wearing, so that he and their child could match. She would never admit how much joy the thought of her husband and her baby dressing alike brought her, but once she imagined it she never wanted to think of anything else.

As she made her way back down the stairs she saw that Winter was standing in the doorway to the lounge, patiently waiting to react to her coming down to him. He looked slightly shocked when she appeared in the same outfit she left in, but his smile only grew as she came closer to him.

"You look absolutely perfect, my love. That hoodie has never looked better."

He wrapped his arms around her before he noticed that she was holding the wrapped package in her hand. He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Little early for Christmas gifts, don't you think?"

"This one can't wait, my sweet."

She grabbed his hand and sat him down on the sofa. She placed the box in his lap and sat down next to him. He looked down at the hoodie, confused. Autumn knew he would be, this was the last thing he would be expecting. As he held it up, she could tell the new still hadn't registered.

"A bit small for either of us isn't it?"

"Hmm, we'll just have to give it to the baby then."

"Wonderful plan, my love. We'll give it to the baby."

Winter had started absentmindedly folding the hoodie, his words clearly not registering. When he finally realized what he had said his face changed so drastically that Autumn couldn't help but laugh. She watched as his expression went from confused to shocked to excited. He slowly turned to question here, but he was barely able to finish any of his sentences.

"Autumn?"

"Winter?"

"Ar-Are you-"

"Mmhmm"

"When did you-"

"Just this afternoon."

"So we-"

"Yes, my love. We're having a baby."

Winter could not contain his excitement. He pulled Autumn into his lap and kissed her hard. Neither one was even trying to hold back their tears at this point. They were both feeling so much, but they were feeling it together. There was no guarantee that this moment would last. They'd been through the worst, they knew how quickly this could be snatched away. But right now, they weren't going to think about that. They were going to live in this moment, drinking in the overwhelming feelings of joy and closeness. When they finally pulled away, Autumn reached out to wipe away Winter's tears. Her hand lingered on his cheek as he brought his own hand up to cover hers.

"Autumn, I love you more than words can express."

"I love you too, Winter. We're so lucky to have you."