Let's Do This 1: Stormi and Sebastian

Chapter 9

Sebastian POV

One year later...

     A whole year has gone by. Our first anniversary comes up next month, the same month our little girl turns six months old. I have a surprise for my little family planned. We're going to be going to Alaska on a whale-watching trip. I know Stevie won't remember it, but we'll have lots of pictures and lots of memories to share with her as she grows older. Plus, we can always go again. It's something Stormi has kept on her bucket list. For our tenth anniversary, I have a trip to Europe planned for the family. Stormi has started her list of countries she wants to visit and things to do and see in each.

     Life has been amazing. We got married the month after I proposed because Stormi didn't want to be too pregnant in our wedding photos, but you can see a tiny little bump on her. It was the perfect day, surrounded by our friends and family. The reception was at the little Italian restaurant I proposed to her in. Everyone came back out the following month for the wedding, thank God. I don't think she would have married me had Emily and Raven not been able to make it. However, I think Emily might be making the move permanent as it looked like something was brewing between her and Stormi's dad, Andrew. Good for them though. They deserve happiness after all the shit they've been through.

     Her mom, sister, and sister's husband, have all tried reaching out to us. We haven't answered, nor have we returned any calls. The lawsuit was dropped after almost a year of them trying to fight for it to be heard in a court of law. It was just sad, and they'd used practically all of the money that was left from the divorce and savings to keep paying lawyers to get it pushed through. After the third or fourth lawyer, the lawyers just stopped taking the case as quite a few judges had it thrown out of their courtrooms. And thank the lord it happened when it did because Stormi gave birth to our girl who is a carbon copy of her mother, minus the nose, two days after it was dismissed. Again.

     Motherhood inspired Stormi, and she took photographs of her bump at every stage. She also started interviewing other mothers and asking if she could write their stories in a book. She promised an equal portion of the proceeds to all twenty-five mothers she interviewed. All of them are either single mothers or mothers with partners. And partners from all walks of life. Husbands. Wives. Boyfriends. Girlfriends. It was beautiful. The stories of the struggles, triumphs, and of successes in situations they didn't think they could get out of. It made me see motherhood in a different light. I respected what my wife's body could do and learned ways to help during those times when everything is falling apart for the pregnant woman because she doesn't have pickles, or because her shoes don't fit right. I can't wait to see Stormi pregnant with more of my babies. I moved in with her, and we decided we were going to be doing an addition to the side of the house to accommodate more children.

     We are breaking ground today. We're making the current 'mud room' or foyer where we come in, into a short hallway, where we will still be able to enter from the outside, that adds four more bedrooms off of a large room that will act as a playroom for the children when they get bigger. We will still be keeping the nursery as a nursery until the kids are big enough to be on their own in a big kid's bed. We will use this other room, with more rooms off of it as a guest wing until it gets filled, and the nursery can go back to being a guest room.

     I can't wait for the future. Every day is a new adventure with my girls.

Stormi POV

     I cannot believe the addition will be done in one month! Thank goodness too, because it seems we will be moving Stevie into her big girl room sooner than anticipated. I'd been more tired than usual and a little moody, more so than usual, so I decided to test two days ago. I hope Bastian takes the news well. We've been...in a weird place. I'm not sure what's going on with him. He's been working a lot lately, I'm not sure if a project has him worried or what. He's still been a great father; he's just been distracted when we're together. He's always on his phone or his laptop. He's hardly ever home in time for bedtime, let alone dinner. In the last three weeks, he's made it to three bedtimes and one dinner. One. I know I've been busy with Stevie lately, but she's finally starting to walk and be a little more independent. Which is a blessing. I just hope it's nothing too serious.

     I'm going to tell him tonight. Stevie has a shirt on that says, "Big Sis" on it. I cannot wait to see his face. I hope he's excited. I made sure I had everything to make his favorite dinner, wedding soup, spaghetti, and meatballs with homemade garlic bread.

     It's late when Sebastian gets home. He jumps when I turn the light in the living room on.

     "I thought you'd be asleep." He looks away as he talks, meeting my gaze when he's done.

     "No. I wanted to wait for my husband I never see anymore. What's been going on?"

      He scoffs. "Nothing. Why would anything be going on?"

     "Because you've been home for three bedtimes with Stevie and one dinner with us in three weeks. What is going on? Is everything okay at the publishing house? Is it a client? Are you sick?" I asked, throwing out whatever I could think of, "Is there someone else?"

     He glared at me when I said that, "Never. Why would you think that?"

     I stood, slowly walking towards him. "Because you're never home. What's going on?" I practically begged, "Please. Talk to me. I love you and I want to fix this. Whatever it is." I grabbed his hand, looking up at him, so close I could smell his cologne. "Please?" Tears filled my eyes. I wasn't above begging my husband to talk to me. To let me help fix us.

     He looked away, taking a deep breath. He looked back at me, tears in his eyes.

     "I have cancer. Stage three." He whispered into the stillness of our living room. My breath hitched in my throat.

     "What?!" I whisper-shouted, which sounded more like a demand I rasped out, dripping in desperation that I'd heard him wrong.

     "I have stage three colon cancer. They don't know if we can operate. I've been doing scans and biopsies, and getting second opinions these last three weeks since finding out."

     "No." I felt my knees give out, as Sebastian wrapped me in a hug, slowly easing us onto the floor, me sitting on him. "No," I said more strongly, like I could tell the cancer to go away and it would listen.

     "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'm sorry I've been keeping a distance. I didn't want to have this talk until I knew more. I just"

     "When's your next appointment? I want to be there."

     "Tomorrow at nine."

     "Great. My dad was going to watch Stevie anyway while I met with the contractor."

     He nodded. "You should know, I made my last will and testament." I put my hands over his mouth.

     "Tomorrow. Tell me tomorrow. Tonight, I need your love. And us to hold each other. I need you," I looked him right in the eyes, tears falling down both our cheeks, "Please."

     "Anything," he kissed me, deeply. Not in a rushed, I need you now, kind of way. More in a, I want to savior everything in this moment. From the way you taste, to the way you feel. To the way your mouth feels on mine. To the way you make my body shiver, and the moans you make as you get excited. That's the kiss I was lost in for the next hour while we kissed, and touched and memorized each other. Every inch of skin on each other was worshipped. We would worry about everything else tomorrow. After the doctor's appointment.

     "I love you, Stormi. You are my life." He whispered into my hair as he fell asleep. I laid my head on his chest, listening to the thump of his heart. Wishing there was a way to record the sound so I could play it at night when he had to be in the hospital. God. It was going to be hard as hell to be away from him. We would need to come up with a good plan, a good support system, and a good team of doctors who believe in us. With a yawn, one final thought crossed my mind.

     Let's do this.