The Dance

Chapter 73 Three

Dear Readers,

The poem featured in this story was not written by me. It is from Ally Pally Poems. Visit their website for customized poems for gifts. -polaris1401

While Matt worked on his assigned task, Lila took advantage of finishing her surprise announcement for Bam. She knew she couldn't draw this secret out much longer as he had already made vague references about her increased appetite and slight weight gain. He attributed it to her moving to the bush oblivious that the change he was seeing were all a part of the new life growing inside her.

While Matt crafted the outside leather cover of the book, Lila was preparing the pages that would fill it. She snagged Gabe's sketch pad and calculated she would need six pages, a sentence on each page, front and back, and carefully scripted out her announcement to him. She had asked Matt to make two things. The first was an embossed leather book cover in which she could write their story and a sterling silver spoon from his random collection of objects.

Matt delivered his part of the surprise in less than two days and Lila finished binding the pages together with leather straps. One early morning, she asked Bam to walk her down to their home site to see the progress of the build. While Bam was busy explaining his design and pointing out personal touches in the plans, she coaxed him to sit down by her.

"Joshua, I have something I want to share with you. It's just some  thoughts I have about our future." Lila carefully pulled the leather bound book from her pack.

"Looks pretty fancy for some plans." Bam looked amused as his hand ran over the stamping on the cover of the book which read "The Book of Joshua and Lila."

"Read!" Lila commanded as he opened the cover to the first page. The first sentence began with the words:

There once was a girl

Bam turned each page carefully and read each sentence aloud.

And that girl met a boy.

They found living as two

Was a life full of joy

These two happy lovebirds

This couple, this pair

Were snug in their nest

But they thought it quite bear

So they cuddled up closer

Made room in their tree

And their love overjoyed

When two became three.

Bam read the last sentence outloud a second time as Lila handed him the spoon that read "We're expecting." It took a few seconds for him to process what he just read. He looked at Lila who was beaming. He looked again at the spoon. He looked at Lila again.

"We're having a baby?" He formed his comment into a question. He repeated it a second time but as a statement. "We're having a baby!" Lila nodded giving him a confirmation that she was indeed pregnant. He pulled her closer to him, caressing her stomach while he kissed her. He then bent his head to her belly and kissed it welcoming the baby that grew inside her.

"You're not mad, are you?" Lila had hoped he didn't think it was too sudden.

"Are you kidding me? I'm going to be a dad! That's pretty damn awesome."

Lila was relieved, excited and scared all at the same time. Maybe it was her hormones or maybe she realized that they would now be responsible for another life outside of their own. Either way she was happy knowing that she would walk this path with Joshua and that above all he would make an incredible dad for their child.

"Does anyone know yet?" Bam asked surmising the spoon was Matt's handiwork.

"Matt does. He found out by accident that day at the pizza parlor. He saw the pregnancy kit. I asked him not to tell you as I wanted you to be the first to know outside of me."

"Well, how do you want to tell everyone else?"

"Can we just for today keep it between us? Our little secret for just one day?" As much as Bam wanted to share the news with everyone, he understood what Lila needed. He looked forward to their time alone later that evening so he could show her again and again how much he loved her.

"How far along are you?"

Lila smiled and somewhat blushed at the question before she answered Bam. "By my calculations, 8 and half weeks from our honeymoon in Juneau."

Bam roared with laughter. "Must have been that lacy number you wore on our honeymoon night."

Lila's giggles echoed through the woods. "Mmmm, guess I'm going to have to stock up on the sexy lingerie if we want more babies."

"Feel free to model those lacies anytime you want." Bam kissed her again. He knew he was the luckiest man on the planet.