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“Baby! I’m home!”
You heard Josh’s voice from downstairs, and you paused the episode you’d been watching as you lay in bed. A few moments later, Josh poked his head around the door and knocked softly.
“Hi,” he said, a handsome smile on his face.
You grinned. “Hi. You don’t have to knock to come into your own bedroom.”
He shrugged as he came in, laden with a grocery bag and the water bottle you’d left downstairs earlier and hadn’t wanted to go get.
“You never know,” he said as you set your laptop on your nightstand. “You might have been enjoying some alone time.”
His brows waggled when he said it, and you laughed.
“If I was, you’d be more than welcome to join me,” you said. “As it is, though, I was just lazing around.”
“You’re not lazing around,” he said, coming to sit on the side of the bed. “You’re making a whole entire person.”
You ran your hand over your round belly, the shirt that had been baggy before you were pregnant now stretched tight as your little one continued to grow.
“Looking like a whale doing it, too,” you said ruefully.
Josh tutted and gave you a consoling kiss. “Don’t be mean to my favorite girl.”
You smiled. “A cute whale, then.”
“That’s better.”
He set your water bottle on his nightstand and showed you what he’d bought.
“Sorry I was a little late coming home,” he said. “But I remembered you said you were having cravings, so...”
He handed you a whole bag of clementines. “Here you go, baby. Just for you.”
“Ooh, thank you!” you gushed. You held the bag to your chest and gave a dreamy sigh. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said.
“I was talking to the clementines, honey.”
Josh laughed out loud. “Oh. Pardon me, then.”
You beamed at him, loving the sound of his laugh, happy he was home. All your exhaustion seemed to melt away just having him near.
“I love you too, though,” you said. “Especially when you bring me clementines.”
He smiled and leaned over to give you a kiss. “Anything for you, sweetheart.”
You waited patiently for him to change into comfier clothes, and you showered him with kisses when he got into bed next to you.
“Maybe I’ll bring you clementines more often if it makes you this happy to see me,” he teased, content to let you have your way with him.
“I’m always this happy to see you,” you said, trailing kisses under his jaw. “If I wasn’t so tired, I’d ravish you all night long.”
He chuckled. “Ravish me, huh? Well, I’ll take a rain check for when you’re feeling better.”
When you’d had your fill of kisses for the time being, you snuggled close and rested your head on his shoulder. He peeled you a clementine and gave it to you in neat little pieces.
“I got them for you,” he said, a little surprised when you tried to offer him a piece.
“You got me a million of them,” you said, setting a piece in the palm of his hand. “Besides, Josh Junior likes it when I share.”
“Josh Junior?” he mused. “That’s what we’re calling him?”
You shrugged. “I know we haven’t settled on any names, but I want to call him something. And ‘baby’ is already taken.”
Josh grinned and gave you a kiss, and you decided you liked the taste of clementines even better on his lips.
You sat in bed sharing clementines for a while, and Josh told you about his day at the studio, tuning even the most fractious of moments between his brothers into a story that made you laugh.
“We all like the idea of doing an EP of John Denver songs,” he said, “but none of us can agree on how we should go about it. I think we should just keep it simple, but you know Jake. He’s got to get in a guitar solo somewhere.”
You smiled at the thought of one of Jake’s rock ‘n roll solos in the middle of a soft acoustic love song.
“Have you even decided which songs you’re going to cover?” you asked.
He shook his head. “No, but I think we’re just going to each pick our favorite, and then maybe do a fifth one we all agree on.”
“Which one are you going to pick?”
He considered that for a moment, absently running his fingers over your belly in a soothing pattern.
“Maybe ‘Annie’s Song’,” he said. “But that might be a contender for the one we all agree on. I was also thinking of ‘The Music is You’.”
You thought back to Red Rocks, the first time they’d covered that song, and remembered how much you’d loved hearing it in Josh’s voice.
“I think that would be a wonderful choice, honey,” you said. You kissed his cheek. “Will you sing it for me and Josh Junior?”
“Right now?”
“Pretty please?”
He gave a dramatic sigh. “Oh, if you insist,” he teased, as if he would have denied you anything you asked for.
You smiled as he moved himself to lay beside you, feeling the warmth of his hand as he splayed it across your tummy.
“Music makes pictures and often tells stories, all of it magic and all of it true.”
His voice was soft and sweet, full of affection and gentleness. You brushed your fingers through his curls, resting in the love he had for you and your little one.
“And all of the pictures and all of the stories, all of the magic, the music is you.”
You felt a fluttery little kick right under Josh’s hand.
“Oh,” you said softly. “You like your daddy’s voice, don’t you?”
Josh looked up at you. “You feel him kicking?”
“Right where your hand is,” you said, and you melted at the smile on his face. You put your hand over his and pressed it a little deeper against your tummy.
“He’s right there,” you said, hoping your little one would kick again so Josh could feel it.
“Come on,” Josh crooned after a moment. “Where are you, little love?”
The baby kicked enthusiastically in response to Josh’s voice, and you gave a laugh that was part groan. Josh’s entire face lit up with wonder and adoration.
“There you are,” he cooed. He rubbed his fingers over your belly. “Hi, my love. Daddy’s right here. You’re being a little rough on mama, though.”
The baby continued to give little kicks in response, and Josh’s delighted laugh was like music.
“We love you so much, little boy,” he said, pressing kisses to your tummy. “Your mama and daddy love you.”
He continued singing, and you felt your little one respond to your husband’s voice. Love enveloped you, inside and out, and you rested your hand over Josh’s.
“Can you believe we’re having a baby?” you said softly.
Josh looked up at you with a lovesick smile. “It’s a little crazy, isn’t it?”
He kissed your belly again. “We’re already fantastic parents, I think,” he said sweetly. “We’ve already given him a great taste in music, haven’t we?”
A thought occurred to you as Josh went back to humming.
“We could name him John Denver,” you said.
Josh looked back up at you. “Really?”
“You don’t like it?”
He shrugged. “No, I... it's sweet, actually. A little eccentric, but sweet.”
You smiled. “I thought you said you wanted an eccentric name.”
“Yeah, but I was thinking more like Ajax Wolf-Hunter or something.”
You were dissolved in laughter for a solid few minutes at that, and he just grinned up at you like it was the most attractive thing you’d ever done. When you’d tapered off to a few giggles every now and then, he turned back to your tummy.
“Your mama thinks it’s funny that I’m naming you the coolest name ever,” he said.
“I hate to break it to you, honey, but I’m not naming your son Ajax Wolf-Hunter Kiszka.”
He hummed. “Spoilsport.” He gave your belly one last kiss before he moved to sit beside you again, and he kissed you so thoroughly that you would have let him name your baby anything he wanted.
“I like John Denver,” he said, giving you a moment to catch your breath, nuzzling against your neck. “Let’s name him that, if you want to.”
“We could call him JD,” you offered.
You felt his smile. “JD,” he repeated. “Yeah, I like that. Let’s call him JD.”
You felt little JD kick again, and you drew Josh’s hand to feel it.
“I think that’s unanimous, then,” he said with a beaming grin. “John Denver Kiszka it is.”
He kissed you again, and you put your hand to his cheek.
“I love you, Josh.”
He drew back to look at you, and love for you and your son shone through in every feature of his beloved face.
“I love you too, baby.”
He wrapped his arms around you and drew you close, your family of three all snug and safe and loved, and you knew that you had never been happier.