It was a bit of an upgrade.

Benji was shocked that I had all this money squirreled away, and a bit angry, too, but after I sat him down and explained everything, he seemed glad that I had it. He just wasn’t so thrilled that I’d hid it from him.

After that big talk, we didn’t speak much for a couple of days. I worried. I hoped that he didn’t feel he’d made the wrong choice by coming with me to Ilsa Paradiso. It was so different from the plains. I’d found a new job, but he was re-evaluating his life. He took up fishing, and was getting better at it.

But we still weren’t speaking much and it killed me.

We were in seperate worlds.

He invited me out to the garden one evening a few days after we moved. And I was so shocked.

Candles, a nice dinner, the lot.

He loved me.

He really loved me!

I nearly fainted on the spot.

We decided to get married right there on the spot. Who would come to a lavish thing anyway? And besides, we didn’t need it. All we needed was each other.

A few weeks later, I woke up feeling…strange.

Benjamin went to the beach with Monty and Ralston. He was totally oblivious.

I phoned into work sick.

I felt horrible. Really, truly horrible. I took myself to the doctors. After a few questions, he asked if I would be willing to do a pregnancy test. I scoffed, and did it just to prove him wrong.

He wasn’t wrong.

I was pregnant.

He sent me home with the news. I walked in a daze. We were careful…except the night we got married. We were a flurry of passion and we must have forgotton to use protection.

I wanted children, but this all seemed too sudden. Were we ready?

I told Benjamin when he got home from fishing.

He was shocked.

I tried to relax

He was still shocked.

But soon, we started to get excited. We talked. This was the next step, really. We were married, and now I was pregnant. We were young, but why not have a baby? We both wanted kids, we were well off, I had a good career, and he had just gone professional with his fishing.

We were having a baby!

Midnight cravings were horrible, though. I made pasta and pies at stupid hours of the night.

Months passed and I was a whale. I heard that swimming was good for me when I was pregnant, so we went to the beach. I was shocked i could still fit in my suit, to be honest.

But then my water broke.

So I drove myself to the hospital because Benjamin’s legs had turned to goo.

As you do.

We were both in a state of shock.

I did pretty well driving with contractions.

I gave birth to a set of twins. Holly and Harley. I wasn’t expecting two.

They were perfect.

Our little family was just what I’d always wanted.

The babies grew into beautiful toddlers, and soon, it was time for me to get back to work! Benjamin was happy to be a stay at home dad for half of the day. He’d fish when I got back home for a few hours, and then we’d put the babies to bed and spend some time together.

We had it all planned and worked out.

Well, as worked out you can have it with two toddlers, two dogs and a young could all sharing a house!

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BONUS

Adorable Darcy is adorable