A Handful of Love

I still can't believe we went from strangers to spouses in what felt like a single heartbeat, he said, his fingers absently strumming a soft melody on the guitar resting in his lap. She looked up from her notebook, a grin spreading across her face. And now there's a tiny person growing inside me, which means we barely had time to be a couple before we become a family of three. If that's not the universe having a sense of humor, I don't know what is. He set the instrument aside and crossed the room to kneel beside her chair. Are you frightened? His voice was gentle, stripped of any pretense. She touched his cheek, her expression shifting from playful to profoundly tender. Terrified. Not of the baby — of failing at this. We didn't exactly follow the conventional timeline. We didn't have years to learn each other's rhythms, to figure out who leaves the cap off the toothpaste or who needs silence in the mornings. We leaped, and now we're falling together into something neither of us fully understands. He covered her hand with his own. Then we'll learn on the job, the way we've learned everything else. You think I had any idea how to run a household when we met? I burned toast, forgot laundry day, and once tried to fix the plumbing with a YouTube tutorial and unwarranted optimism. She burst out laughing. I remember. There was water everywhere. Exactly. And we survived that. We'll survive this too — not because we're perfect, but because we chose each other with open eyes and full hearts. Every messy, unexpected, breathtaking moment of this life we're building together — I want all of it. The chaos, the wonder, the sleepless nights and the first smiles. I wouldn't trade a single second. She pulled him close, pressing her forehead to his. You're going to be the most extraordinary father, you know that? And you're going to be an incredible mother. Our child is going to grow up surrounded by so much devotion, they'll think the whole world operates this way. She smiled against his lips. Then let's show them exactly that.