21: Chapter 21

RYAN

“You look terrible,” said Dr. Wyatt when she found Ryan outside her office bright and early the next morning. She handed Ryan a cup of coffee. “Let’s talk.”

Ryan followed her into her office. “How did you do it?”

Dr. Wyatt seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. “I worked two days a week in the clinic. I didn’t go back to full-time until they started school.”

“I feel like a failure for not being able to balance both,” Ryan admitted. She’d spent so long on her education, her residency, all to get to a career she loved. Plenty of women managed to combine motherhood with challenging careers. Why couldn’t she?

“You’re not a failure,” said Dr. Wyatt, handing her a tissue. “Motherhood and medicine are both hard by themselves; not even Wonder Woman would be able to balance them without making some sacrifices somewhere.

“There’s no shame in taking time to enjoy your family. Being successful in your career doesn’t mean much if you don’t have anyone to share it with at the end of the day, and I’m glad that you’re seeing that.”

“I am. I didn’t think I would have a family again after losing my parents, and now I can’t picture my life without them.” Ryan wiped her tears. “I think I’d like to take a break.”

“Why don’t you work a couple days a week?” suggested Dr. Wyatt. “That way you can still maintain your CME requirements, and it will get you out of the house. I don’t want you to lose what you’ve worked so hard for.”

Ryan nodded in agreement; she had worked hard, and she didn’t want to give it up, but she would for Marco and William.

“Take a few weeks off for now,” said Dr. Wyatt. “It sounds like things have been tough at home. Enjoy the start of summer. We’ll regroup after that.”

Memorial Day was coming, and Ryan knew that there would be another celebration at the Livingston family lake house.

“Thank you.”

Dr. Wyatt smiled. “You’re very welcome, dear.”

Ryan gathered her things and went to Connie and Roberto’s house to pick up Will.

“Is everything all right, dear?” Connie seemed surprised to see her, which made sense; Ryan had just dropped Will off a few short hours ago, and usually Marco was the one to pick him up.

“Everything is fine,” Ryan said. “Just decided to take some time off.”

Connie smiled. “That’s wonderful. Is Marco taking off as well?”

“Umm, I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him today since I made the decision.” They’d spoken very little this morning after last night’s tough conversation.

Connie handed off Will. “Well, I’m sure he’ll be delighted.”

Ryan put Will in the car and headed to the store, planning to cook Marco a nice dinner tonight.

He called her when she was walking through the store. “Is everything all right? Mom said you picked up Will. Are you sick or something?”

“Everything is fine. I’m taking a few weeks off.”

“Where are you?”

She grabbed some diapers off the shelf, balancing the phone between her ear and shoulder. “At the store; I thought I’d make your favorite for dinner tonight.”

“I’d like that,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

She got what she needed and headed home, enjoying the rest of the day with Will. She was hoping that between taking time off work and reducing her stress, her milk would come back; nursing gave her a chance to bond with Will, and she had missed that.

Putting him in his walker, she got started making lasagna, garlic bread, and salad for dinner.

“Smells good, kitten.” Marco gave her a kiss before picking up Will. “How long did you take off?”

“A few weeks. After that I’m only going back two days a week. You were right last night,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “This is more important than anything else.”

“I love you,” he said, sounding relieved.

“I love you too.”

MARCO

When Ryan went to give Will a bath after dinner, Marco took a shower, enjoying a little time to himself after so much full-time dad duty lately.

Afterward he decided he would run Ryan a hot bubble bath, even putting some lavender oil in to help her relax.

He turned the baby monitor on when she walked into the bedroom after putting Will down for the night. “I ran you a bath, kitten.”

“Are you going to join me?” she asked, tossing her shirt in the pile of dirty clothes.

“I can.” Marco was growing hard as he watched her strip out of her clothes. He could no longer contain himself when she finally tossed her bra and underwear aside, and he lunged forward to push her down on the bed.

She laughed. “I thought we were going to take a bath?”

“Change of plans,” he said, kissing down her body.

Her moans filled the air as he buried his fingers deep inside of her and sucked on her clit. She was his favorite meal, after all, and it had been far too long since he’d had it.

“Please, Marco,” she begged after two toe-curling orgasms.

“Soon, kitten, soon,” he said, wanting to coax at least one more out of her.

She tugged at his hair. “I can’t.”

“Give me one more, kitten.” He knew she could.

His face was dripping in her juices. He ended up giving her not just one but two more before he finally relented. He was nowhere near done with her yet, though, snaking his hand beneath her and lifting her hips so he could go deep.

Her body went limp like Jell-O as he continued to coax out orgasm after orgasm, each more intense than the last.

Then he changed positions, her ankles tucked beneath his arms and his knees on either side of her waist, arching his back with each forceful thrust he gave her. His balls drew up and he exploded inside of her.

It felt like the longest orgasm he had ever had, like the build-up from not having sex for so long all came out at once in an endless stream of semen.

Their bodies were covered in a sheen of sweat, the bubble bath long forgotten. Neither made a move to get off the bed, instead pulling the covers over themselves to stay intertwined for as long as possible.

“Let’s get married, kitten,” he blurted out. He’d meant to do a big proposal, but it had been months, and he just wanted to be married to her already.

“What?”

“I’m serious,” he said, propping his head on his hand. “Let’s get married this weekend. Why wait any longer?”

***

They did get married in their backyard the following weekend.

A year later, Maria and Luca announced that they were finally pregnant with their third and final child, a girl.

The year Will turned four, Marco and Ryan had their own announcement. They were having their second child, a girl as well.

Ryan stayed true to her word and only worked two days a week until Constance Rose started school, only to find out she was pregnant again two months later.

By then, she was getting closer to forty. She decided that she would give up her career and focus on her family, a decision that wasn’t nearly as hard as she’d thought it would be.

It turned out that having a one-night stand at a masquerade ball was the best thing that ever could’ve happened to Marco and Ryan. They’d found each other, and now the masks were off—forever.