By Any Other Name

Chapter 23

"So what should I call you?" Levi wondered as we ate a late breakfast the next morning. "I mean, your name's Rose, and it's beautiful, but it seems...wrong somehow. To me, you're Annie."

I swallowed the food in my mouth and met his eyes.

"I'm glad you see me as Annie because I don't really feel like Rose any longer. That's who I was before... with him. I'm not that person anymore. I haven't been for a long time."

"Annie it is then." He smiled.

Returning his smile, I focused on my meal again. Thankfully it turned out much better than dinner had.

We ate in comfortable silence for a few moments before Levi spoke again.

"We should probably talk about a few things," he said, popping another forkful of eggs in his mouth.

"What sort of things?" I wondered.

He shrugged. "I don't know. We just sort of sporadically decided to do this. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad. I just feel like we never really talked about the future or anything."

"Alright..." I said, curiously. What he said was true, but I wasn't sure anything would really matter very much. Both our lives were here with Minnie, Abigail, and the children. We would find our own house eventually, but I didn't really care about much other than that it would be mine and Levi's home.

I suppose there was money to think about, but Levi was capable of so many things and he worked hard. Besides, if we ever really needed it, there was still the money from his father, not that he'd ever want to touch it of course.

"What about kids?" he said. "We should probably discuss that after last night." He smirked.

Blushing, I smiled. He had a point there. If we weren't careful, we might have more children than we knew what to do with before long.

But then something else occurred to me, and my smile faded.

"Of course I want children," I said. "But after what happened before, I'm not sure I can have them."

Levi set his fork down and placed his hand on mine.

"Is that...I mean, would you be alright with that?" I wondered. Maybe we really should have talked about these things before.

"I think I'd be a little disappointed," he admitted. "But not in you."

I gave him a small smile.

"I'd like to have kids," he said. "But if it can't happen, then that's it. It wasn't meant to be. I'm positive that you're the one I was meant to marry and if we can't have children of our own, then we'll survive. Besides, I'm sure we'll have a house full either way."

I laughed at that.

"But if we can have them," Levi said, rubbing his thumb across my hand. "Then I'd like a bunch."

"I'll see what I can do," I teased.

His gaze went to my lips and he nodded distractedly. "Me too."

The food had suddenly lost all appeal and I bit my lip, taunting him a little.

"You, ah, didn't plan on going anywhere today, did you?" he asked, lacing our fingers together before pushing away from the table and standing.

He began leading me through the house before I could even think of answering.

"As a matter of fact, I did not." I giggled as he quickly ushered us back upstairs.