Page 88 of Something Like Shelter

“Is everything all right?”

“Yes. Perfect, actually.” I sucked in a deep breath. “We’re having a baby.”

The shocked look on his face dissolved into something soft and sweet.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

He pulled me against him, his arms tight around me as Adelaide came running back into the room.

I stood there with the man I loved, the little girl who made me a mother, and the baby inside me who would grow our family, and I’d never felt more fulfilled in my life.

Then, crack!

The sound came from right behind me.

We both froze.

Not a second later, water began spraying. On the walls. On the floors. On us.

Owen’s eyes widened.

“No.”

I bit my lip.

“Owen…”

“I installed that sink myself. It’s been fine for years.”

“I know,” I said, laughing as he rushed forward to cut off the water.

He turned to me, water dripping from his hair.

“I swear to God, you somehow brought your bad home luck here with you.”

He wasn’t wrong.

After years of the house giving him not a single cause for alarm before me, since moving in, the powder room toilet stopped working, the electric had to be re-run in the living room, the water line going to the street burst, half the planks on the back porch rotted and needed to be replaced. And now, the sink.

“You knew what you were getting into with me.”

“That I did,” he said, giving me a smile. “I’ll get my toolbox.”

“I’ll get the mop.”

“No need,” Owen said, nodding to the floor.

Glancing down, I saw not only Tuna but our daughter rolling around in the water.

A little whimper escaped me.

I had two baths ahead of me.

Owen caught my eye and gave me a smile.

“Worth it,” he said.

I looked at my wet family, my ruined floor, and the broken sink behind us.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was.

THE END