Fine, you convinced me to do one last chapter ;) It's like being a rockstar and being called back by your fans (okay, not really, but close).

*Two and a Half Years Later*

I found myself running after a particularly ornery toddler. At one moment, she would be whiny and rubbing her eyes and then, when I tried to pick her up, she'd giggle and race off as if we were playing the most fun game in the world. It didn't help that I was exhausted and wanted to sleep twice as much as she did.

Finally, I caught my little chunky monkey and tickled her, saying, "It's time for your nap, munchkin."

"No nap," she whined, arching her back and trying to squirm out of my arms. Why did she fight it? It was obvious that she needed to sleep and I would kill to be in her place - eating, sleeping and playing all day long with someone else to attend to my every need. But such was not the case, and I had been beginning to suspect that another little munchkin might be on the way to join his or her big sister. A doctor's appointment this afternoon would either confirm or disprove my suspicions.

I hadn't told Harry yet that I thought I might be pregnant again. He was too crazed with putting the final touches on the bed and breakfast which we planned to open in June. I didn't want to give him another thing to think or worry about until I knew for sure.

Harry had proposed that we call the bed and breakfast "Fireplaces" because of the obvious gorgeous fireplaces inside. Instead, I had searched up a bit of history on the house and found that it had been called Burnhaven for a long time, after the Burnham family who built the place, whose name was inscribed in the main fireplace. We went back and forth, pitching different ideas when we finally agreed on Fireside Inn. Simple but warm and welcoming.

After Melody was sound asleep, I turned on the baby monitor and brought the receiver to Harry, who was putting a final coat of paint on the honeymoon suite. "Hey, babe," I grinned.

"Hey," he said, pausing to give me his attention. He leaned over to kiss me but didn't dare touch me for fear of rubbing a shadowy midnight blue onto my clothes. "Off to the doctor?"

"Yes. Melody should sleep until I get back," I told him, handing him the monitor. "But, just in case."

"Have I told you that you're the world's sexiest mom?" He said with a cheeky grin.

"We'll see how sexy you find me in six months if my belly is the size of a blimp and my feet are too swollen to fit in my shoes again." I batted my eyelashes at him after dropping that mini-bomb. We hadn't been trying not to get pregnant so it wasn't a complete surprise. I figured I'd know in a few hours anyway, so why not give him a head's up.

His jaw dropped wide open and his eyes matched. "Wha?!"

"'Bye dear," I said, waving in a teasing fashion and racing off down the stairs.

I heard him call behind me. "You can't just leave me hanging like that!"

I pulled in at Dr. Stellen's office just before 1:30 PM. She was always very prompt so I was called into her office soon after arriving.

"Hello, Regan," She said, entering the room with a smile. She had been my ob-gyn with Melody and I wouldn't trust anyone else but her. I loved that she was family practice as well so that I didn't have to run around to different doctors for every different need. "What brings you in today?"

"Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm pregnant again. I've been exhausted, just a few days late with my period, but I just want to make sure I start on the right foot and hopefully avoid the problem with anemia again." After Melody was born, my iron levels were low and I was more exhausted than I'd ever been in my life. Everyone kept saying it was just because I had a new baby, but I felt like it was more than that. Finally a blood test had revealed that I was anemic. A rather simple problem with a easy fix.

"Good idea," she smiled. "Well, let's find out." She handed me a cup and sent me to the bathroom to fill it.

Not ten minutes later, she was back in the room with an even bigger smile on her face. "Well it looks like Melody is going to be a big sister."

"Really?" I practically screeched. After all the morning sickness, pregnancy discomforts, labor and the anemia, I still couldn't wait to have another baby.

"Congratulations, Regan," she said warmly. "Now let's look at the best options for prenatal vitamins, especially one to keep your iron levels normal."

When I returned home, Harry came out to the front porch. He must have been waiting in the family room, taking a break in his favorite chair and watching through the window. "Well?" He asked impatiently. He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited for my answer.

I brushed past him nonchalantly. "The appointment went well."

I took off my coat and hung it up. When I turned around, Harry's eyes were wild with anticipation. "What was that you said earlier? Something about your belly growing again?"

"Oh that," I said flippantly, knowing it was driving him crazy. "I'm pregnant."

A burst of laughter left his chest and he picked me up, squeezing me tightly. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he kept me pinned in his tight embrace. "You're such a tease," he finally said.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." I had pulled back enough to look at him. He was still holding me aloft, so he pushed me back against the wall to keep a good grip on me.

"I don't care," he breathed. "We're gonna have another baby?"

"That's what I just said," I teased.

Then he kissed me. Not just a congratulations kiss. An I want you kiss. His mouth moved skillfully against mine; it was as if he'd tailored his kisses just to my liking because tasting and feeling him this way was always perfect. His tongue flicked at mine, awakening a desire in me that had been dormant for a few weeks, likely due to my fatigue. And he'd been so busy with the house. But now all was quiet and the still of the afternoon lent itself to some us time.

"Baby's still asleep?" I asked breathlessly, having had to force myself away from his mouth.

"Yes," he replied eagerly. "And no one's here right now." That was unusual since there were normally trades here working on various construction activities, producing a flurry of sounds all around us. But there was no one to interrupt us, so Harry carried me all the way to our bedroom, locking the door behind us.

He let me down but he didn't even let me go until my clothes were gone. His were gone just as quickly and we climbed under the covers of our bed, with a fire crackling in the fireplace creating the perfect scenario for some afternoon loving. We joined together with mutual sighs and groans of satisfaction, giving and receiving everything we had to strengthen the bond we had with one another.

There were times that I marveled at how deeply Harry and I had learned to love each other. And there were times I feared that it could all be taken away. What if I lost Harry, the same way he lost his first wife? I couldn't even imagine the kind of torture that would be and I usually chose to let go of the thought before it consumed me. But Harry had lived through it and here he was now, loving me with a depth and a passion I never knew was possible.

While we held each other and recovered, I giggled. "It's ironic because this was what got us into this situation in the first place. We had sex to create a baby and then we had sex to celebrate. Seems redundant, doesn't it?"

He laughed a little, too, and nuzzled his face into my neck. "There can never be enough sex."

I burst into laughter just as we heard the first signs of a toddler waking up in the room next door. "No rest for the weary," I said and started to get out of bed.

"Don't go yet." Harry pulled me back close to him, pressing our naked skin together. "Let's not forget this, okay?"

"What?"

"Things are already busy and they're going to be crazy once the inn opens. But let's not forget to do this. Let's not forget about each other."

"I wasn't planning to," I said, kissing him for his thoughtfulness. Again, I made a move to get out of bed and Harry stopped me.

"You stay. I'll go and hang out with her for a little while. I'm sure doing all that baby-growing has made you tired."

I gave him a cheesy smile and said, "That daddy lovin' wore me out a little bit, too." Then I immediately cringed, saying, "That's not how I meant it to sound." I heard him laughing as he went to get Melody up from her nap.

A few weeks after we found out we were expecting again, I got an interesting phone call from a girl named Caila Ford.

"Hello," I answered, bouncing Melody on my hip.

"Hi, I'm looking for a Harry Styles," she said.

"That's my husband, but he's out at the moment. Can I help you with something?" 

"Are you the ones who are opening the new bed and breakfast in that historic house out on East Watersgate Road?"

"Yes, we are," I said proudly.

"My name is Caila Steadman-Ford. My fourth great-grandfather was Thomas Burnham."

"You mean the one who built the house? In 1875." I gasped. I had been curious about the place's history ever since I'd begun that little bit of research that revealed the estate's original name.

"Yes, that's the one."

Melody arched against me, wanting to get down and play in the bottom kitchen drawer where I'd stashed some toys just for her. I let her go and she was soon occupied for the remainder of the phone call.

"Wow," I marveled. "I didn't know any of the family still lived around here."

"Well, I live in California now, but I was born in Grosse Ile. My grandparents lived in your house along with my great grandmother Sylvia, until Sylvia died in 2007. My grandparents moved to California and I went to live with them. But I'm going to start my PhD at Michigan State in the fall so I'm coming back to Michigan."

Interesting. I knew she couldn't be claiming any kind of ownership over the place since it had gone into foreclosure about a dozen years back. "So, can I help you with something? Did you want to come by and see the house, or....?"

"Well, I actually have kind of a proposal. I have no idea if you'll be open to it. I was hoping to move back to Grosse Ile for the summer to do some research on my family. I'd like to use the research in my PhD studies, but I need a place to stay. Now before you think I'm just asking to move in, let me run the idea by you. I was hoping maybe I could rent a room for cheap, since I know your prices aren't going to be affordable for me. But maybe I could help you in turn by doing some of the work while you get off your feet. Or maybe you could offer me room and board and I could help with, well just about anything. I could help with meals or take reservations or even clean the rooms. I hope I don't sound too desperate, but I am kind of desperate because I've missed the place so much and I'd really love to be able to stay there while I do my research."

"Well," I said, faltering a bit. "That's quite a proposal. I know that Harry has been interviewing people and trying to put together a budget for hired help. He just hired a handyman, too. So I'll have to talk with him to see if it's something he is interested in doing. When do you need to know?"

"As soon as possible, please. I'm just finishing my Master's Work and I'd like to come out to Michigan as soon as I finish in May."

"Wow, that's ambitious," I said. "Going straight from one to the next. Good for you."

"I live to study," she laughed. "Let me give you my number and just let me know when you've talked it over with your husband."

"I sure will," I told her. "Also, just to be clear, is there anything you're not willing to do? In terms of helping out with getting the inn off the ground?"

"Nope," she answered cheerfully. "I'm happy to help in any way necessary."

"Well, thank you. I'll get back to you as soon as Harry and I have some time to talk about it."

"Thanks so much," she said. "Talk to you soon."

That night, after Melody was in bed for the night, Harry and I retired to our cozy bedroom to sit in front of the fire on a little loveseat we had placed in front of our bed. I spoke with him about Caila and her proposal to exchange room and board for helping us out as we got the bed and breakfast up and running.

"That sounds interesting," he said, nodding his head. "How is she going to do her research if she's working here?"

"Hm, that's a good question," I mused. "I didn't ask her specifically, but unless you're planning on making her work 20 hours a day, she will have time to do her research, too."

He gave me a playfully exasperated smile. "Darn, I was planning to have her do everything while you and I run off to Tahiti."

"Yes," I answered dryly. "Take your two-and-a-half-year old daughter and your pregnant, puking wife to Tahiti. That will be fun."

"Ha! Seriously, though, do you think she's legit? Like, can we trust her?"

"You can do a background check on your employees," I reminded him. "I'm sure she wouldn't have a problem with that."

"That's true," he agreed. "It actually sounds like a pretty good deal to have help without paying for another employee. Of course, it ties up a room for the summer. I can crunch the numbers to see if it's a decent trade-off. Or maybe she could stay in our guest room."

"You're worried about her being legit and then you invite her into our home?" I teased. "Actually, I think she'd prefer to have her own space. Maybe you could put a rush on the apartment over the garage?" There was space over the old carriage house and Harry had put some effort into turning it into an apartment so we'd have another small source of steady income if we rented it out, but it wasn't his top priority. He looked doubtful but it was a possibility.

"Right again. In terms of safety, however, I seem to remember one young lady who, not too many years ago allowed a man, whom she believed to be homeless, to come into her apartment and spend the night."

"Well, look how that turned out," I said. "I have an instinct about these things. I think it will work out great."

"Me, too," he said. "Oh, and I made a decision on our handyman. I'm going to offer Liam the job. He seems very honest and hardworking. Plus, I can't resist having another Brit in the business."

"That's great, babe," I said, kissing him briefly and then getting up off the loveseat to change into my pajamas. "I like him, too. I think he'll be a great addition to the place."

"As long as you don't go falling for him because of his English accent," Harry joked.

"Too late, I'm already in love with an Englishman and I love much more than just his accent." I wiggled my eyebrows and hopped into bed.

Things were coming together quickly. I called Caila the next day and told her about our decision. She was thrilled, of course. I told her about the background check and that we'd have some kind of contract drawn up for the arrangement. She happily agreed to everything.

In just two months' time, she'd be moving into our smallest suite for the summer. And in three months' time, Fireside Inn would be open for business.

* * * * *

So there is the final chapter of this book, but the story will continue in the next book, albeit from Caila's point of view. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as you've enjoyed this one! <3