The Dream Is Not Over

First Of Forever

River's POV

We didn't stay much longer after my parents agreed to set up this wedding, only a couple of days. Dad called to say my mother is checking things off my list left and right, and our wedding is almost completely planned. All that's left is for us to get there and say our vows. I didn't know I could love someone so much but every time I look at her, I fall even more in love. I've turned into a physical embodiment of one of those sappy Hallmark cards and I don't even care. I can't wait until I can make her my wife.

The morning after we get home, I wake up and Olivia isn't next to me. I hear a loud, weird sound and I check the bathroom but the door is open and the light is off. The sound stops. I rub my eyes and scrub a hand over my face, yawning. I open the shades and take a deep breath but that terrible sound ruins every last fragment of my peace.

"God, what is that?" I complain aloud. I walk out of the bedroom and down the wall. The lights are on in the living room and the kitchen. I turn the corner and I find the source. Olivia is juicing at...I look at the clock...6:30 in the morning. I groan.

"Honey, what are you doing?" I ask and she turns around. Her long blonde wavy hair is piled up on top of her head with chop sticks and she's wearing her glasses, an oversized Zeppelin baseball tee and nothing else but maybe skimpy underwear I can't see. If I weren't annoyed, I'd be turned on. "You should be sleeping...I should be sleeping."

"Did I wake you up?" she asks innocently, jamming a stalk of celery through the juicing machine.

"It's loud enough to wake the dead!" I shout over the noise.

She giggles, coming toward me. She kisses my lips and scratches her fingernails through my beard. My hand falls to its natural position on her hip. "I love you. I'm sorry I woke you."

"It's okay. I love you too." I kiss her this time then she pulls away gently to go back to her juicing. I walk over to the counter and I can see washed celery sitting in the sink. It's more celery than I've probably seen in my life apart from the grocery store produce department. "What is all this?"

"I'm making celery juice. It's got a ton of vitamins and minerals. It's good for you!" I grimace but she continues. "It can lower high cholesterol, lower blood pressure, help prevent cancer..." Her voice gets drowned out by the incessant grinding sound of the stalks she didn't prepare well enough to make it through the machine. "...lots of benefits. You should try it. My mother suggested it to me because it helps prevent UTIs and it has anti-microbial properties to fight off other kinds of infections. Celery is high in vitamin K and C as well as being rich in potassium, B6 and folate- which is good for the baby."

"When did you talk to her about the baby?"

"I didn't. Before she left, she just gave me a list of things I might need and a book wrapped in recycled brown paper. When I unwrapped it, it was a natural-approach book about babies and pregnancy."

I shake my head. This is too weird for me to digest so early in the morning. "So uh, how much are you making?"

"I'm going to try for a gallon of juice then freeze the pulp to use in smoothies."

"Gross!"

"It's not that bad, honey. Besides, it will help the baby and I want to be as healthy as possible."

"I know." A smile tugs at the corner of her lips. "You know I want what's best for you. No lifting anything heavy, no overly exerting yourself, no skipping meals, even for enlightenment purposes."

"I'm aware, overprotective papa."

"I'm not overprotective, I just worry about you now and I will always worry about you. I think about you constantly and now, I think about both of you, all the time."

"You're sweet," She says, her voice fluttering slightly. She swipes a finger under her eye beneath her glasses.

"Don't cry."

"I'm sorry, you've just made this whole thing a lot better. I was so scared I'd lost you and now we're together again...and I'm juicing. It makes me feel emotional."

"Us being together, or juicing?"

I'm joking but she looks up at me, completely serious and says "Both."

I burst out laughing and she cries more. I immediately shut my mouth and hold her, rubbing her back. "I'm sorry..."

"My mom knew about the baby, and she gave me a Holistic Habits For Two booklet from her homeopathic doctor," she wept. I'm confused but I continue to comfort her instead of asking questions. "I miss her. She's so sweet to think about the baby before I even knew he was in there. She loves me!"

"Of course she loves you. You're her daughter." After a moment, I register what she said. "He?"

"What?" She asks over my shoulder. I make space between us, and I watch her take her glasses off and pull the bottom of her tee shirt up to dry her eyes. Yep, tiny blue panties. She looks up at me and I stop staring. Focus, River. She said he, he means boy. She's doing that thing mom does.

"Do you think we're having a boy?" I ask and her eyes widen.

"Did I...did I say that?"

"You said he. 'Before I even knew he was in there'."

"When I was watching you with your father, the bond you two have, even if you guys used to butt heads, struck me. The eyes, the mannerisms...I don't know. Something about it just felt right. I knew we would have a little boy just like you, just like your dad. You are good men and I hope I can be half the mother Stevie was to you and the wife she was to your father."

"Baby, you're going to do great. I don't expect perfection. I want you and I know you are so devoted to our little one already. I know how devoted you are to me. You show me everyday. You are the most loving woman I have ever known and I am so happy to get to call you my wife. You are it for me. You're my everything."

"Oh, River!" she says, tears continuing to fall down her face. "How did I get so lucky?"

"I ask myself the same thing all the time." It sounds sweet until I smirk and she swats at me playfully.

"Hush!" She giggles and that's exactly what I wanted. Mission accomplished. "But it's true. I'm so lucky to have you in my life and so is our little boy." I hold her tight, kissing the top of her head. "We're meant to be."

"I think so too." I hear her sniffle, and I feel her arms wrapped around my waist. "Get back to your celery, Liv. It won't juice itself."

She giggles again and I wipe away the remnants of her tears. "I suppose not." The moment she slips away from me, I want to pull her back but I don't. I stand in our tiny kitchen and watch her, in awe. I can imagine her making healthy meals for our kids, I can imagine her teaching them all of the facts she has floating around in her head. I can imagine her dripping in silver jewelry and stones, carrying our little boy on her hip as she flits around, talking on the wall phone with the long cord. I can see it. This is the beginning of the rest of my life.

A/N: thank you all for reading, commenting and voting on my story. I considered quitting, and no longer being on Wattpad for various reasons but you guys have really encouraged me to continue. Thank you.