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Click hereOne day, after she moved back, we sat watching a documentary on TV. I suddenly turned the TV off and took Astrid's hand in mine.
"Astrid, I have been struggling with this for a while now. I've never said this to you but I need to say it now. I love you. I think I've been in love with you since I saw you at that wedding. I needed to be absolutely sure and I am. I want to be with you. I want to live my life with you. I want us to be husband and wife. Astrid, will you marry me?"
She stared at me, her jaw slackened, gobsmacked. She looked like she was trying to speak but nothing was coming out.
"You want me? I've been a punching bag for damn near every man I've come across. I have a ton of phobias, most of which you haven't met yet. You have been wonderful and kind and forgiving and I love you too, but marriage? Are you sure? I might not even be carrying your child."
"I am as sure of it as I am of anything. Please, if you love me then spend the rest of your life with me! If it turns out that your baby is not mine then I will still raise them as my own."
"You are a crazy fool but you're my crazy fool. Yes, I will marry you."
We didn't have a big ceremony, just us and witnesses in front of a judge. It was all she wanted.
Business was booming and I finally had a decent down payment for a house. We wanted to have our own home.
The baby was almost due when we signed on the dotted line and bought the house. Astrid was huge and it was hard for her to get around. She was exhausted. Her doctor was keeping a close eye on things. As an expectant father I was nervous.
Astrid went into labour early one morning. I got her to the hospital. She was excited and she held my hand when she just passed out. They rushed her away and left me there alone.
It was hours later that a doctor came to tell me that I had a son but there were complications with the delivery, Astrid hadn't survived.
There are no words to express the depths of my grief. I had a son, a beautiful boy, but my beautiful wife was dead.
Caroline stepped in to help. God bless her she would spell me off when I needed help. She grieved with me. She understood my pain and she reminded me that I had kept my promises to Astrid, that I would love her till the end of her life and that I would raise the child regardless of whether I fathered it.
Caroline insisted I get a DNA test done. She said it was the responsible thing to do. I agreed and started the process.
I named him Erik, a good Norse name in honour of his mother. He was growing fast. I came to have a new respect for single parents, theirs is not an easy lot.
The results proved the I had indeed fathered Erik on that night of bliss at the Empire Hotel. I couldn't have been prouder.
Caroline and I had been best friends with benefits. The benefits expired when I married Astrid but the friendship remained. After many months of mourning, Caroline and I resumed those benefits. Not long after she told me that she was now pregnant, but a DNA test wouldn't be necessary.
Caroline and I tied the knot and she gave birth to a girl. Mother and daughter were fine. We agreed to name her Astrid.
The love between Caroline and I was different than it was with Astrid. With Astrid it burned hot. With Caroline it burned long and steady.
I'll never forget Astrid, my fierce Norse goddess.
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- COMMENTS
I think the readers providing negative comments are scoring the story too low. Allowing their disappointment with Astrid's death prevents them from enjoying a 2-page romantic tale on Literotica. I would remind some readers that one of the great Love / Romance stories of all time - Romeo and Juliet ended tragically. For that reason, my score moved from 4 up to 5 stars.
I really didn't find this _romantic_.
It was an OK story, but there was no real connection to the characters.
You had a fairly run-of-the-mill meet-cute story going, somewhat cliched, but OK, then you had to throw Astrid's death in with no prep at all - total buzz-kill - and thereby turned a weak 4 into a 2.
Lovely romance. Astrid’s death seems to hark back to very, very old romances where death stalks the lovers, but love survives; in this case with Caroline.
I enjoyed this until Astrid died in childbirth. Then it lost something with the ending, mostly the the bit of believability that makes good fiction.