Beyond These Walls (The Walls Duet #2)(61)

We had to.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” I reminded him, sitting up to stretch.

“We are going out.”

“Out? That’s vague. Care to be a little more specific?”

“We’re going to Disneyland.”

That got my attention. “What?”

“Disneyland,” he repeated. “The happiest place on earth. Mickey? Minnie? Any of this ringing a bell?”

“I know what it is, dork! I just don’t know why you’ve suddenly decided to go,” I said, looking around, trying to remember what day it was.

Tuesday! It was a Tuesday!

“On a random Tuesday,” I finished.

He smiled as he finished putting on his shoes and came to join me on the bed since I still refused to relinquish my warm spot.

“Like you so eloquently stated, neither of us has jobs or school. There are only so many movies I can watch before my brain turns into mush. As lovely as this house is, I’m getting cabin fever, Lailah. We need to get out, and as long as the doctor keeps giving you the thumbs-up, I think we should do just that.”

I gave him a suspicious look. “This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with my Someday List, would it?”

His eyes softened. “Do you remember how sad you were that last day of our honeymoon? How you wished we could have more time together just like that?”

I nodded.

“Well, we have it now. It might not be exactly the same, but it’s time nonetheless. And I figured if we’ve been given this uninterrupted time together, where I’m not being called away to meetings and you don’t have tests to study for, we should make the most of it.”

“By taking me to Disneyland?” I questioned.

“By fulfilling as many of those wishes on that list as possible,” he replied.

Because who knows how much time we have?

It wasn’t said, but I could see it there, dangling in the air between us. Neither of us wanted to acknowledge the possibility of what could happen if things went badly with my pregnancy, but if they did, he knew we should spend the days leading up to that moment to the fullest.

“Disneyland it is,” I said. “But I want Minnie Mouse ears.”

His smile grew. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

I’d lived in Southern California for the majority of my life, and I’d never been to Disneyland.

I never knew it was so big.

People seemed to be everywhere, but we were actually told park attendance was low due to the middle of the week and time of year.

I’d hate to see it during the summer.

“What do you want to do first?” I asked excitedly as I looked around in every direction like a gleeful child.

“This is your day, but we need to go to one place first. Come on,” he said, pulling me toward a row of stores.

I laughed when we ended up in front of The Mad Hatter.

“Minnie ears?” I asked.

“Yep, let’s go in,” he said, taking my hand.

We stepped in and made our way to the many rows of ears I could choose from.

“Okay, wow. I had no idea this would be so difficult.”

“I think you should get the ones with sequins,” a familiar little voice said.

I turned to see a young girl beaming up at me. Her eyes widened in excitement the moment she saw me, and she threw her arms around my waist.

“Abigail!” I cried out. “Oh my gosh! How are you here? Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“We had a teacher workday today, and I have a season pass. Plus a certain someone mentioned you might be here today,” she smiled.

I looked up to see her mom standing nearby speaking with Jude. We exchanged waves as I mouthed, Thank you.

She nodded, smiling.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” I said, squeezing her tighter.

“Isn’t it going to be great? An entire day together! And I can’t believe you’ve never been here. I’m going to take you everywhere, and we’re going to ride every single ride!”

Jude coughed a bit, getting our attention as he joined back in the conversation. “Maybe not every ride?” he suggested.

“Oh, right.” She blushed, looking down at my midsection. “Well, most of them,” she amended.

To outsiders, I still looked like regular old me. But at nearly three months, when I stared at myself in the mirror, I’d begun to notice the changes, the tiny bulge beginning to form. I’d cup my hand over it, cradling that little bump, hoping it knew I was there, cherishing it.

I grinned down at her. “Want to pick out ears with me?”

“Sure!” she answered cheerfully. “Let me just say bye to my mom.” She skipped cheerfully over to her mom, giving her a hug and kiss.

“I’ll meet you back here around five?” her mother confirmed with Jude.

He nodded, and they chitchatted a bit more before she headed out.

“This was a very nice thing you did,” I said quietly to Jude as Abigail looked through the hats.

“I knew you missed her.”

Smiling, I watched her pick up a set of ears with a princess crown. I laughed. “I did—so much.”

In the end, Abigail ended up with a sequined set of ears, and after much convincing, both Jude and I walked out of the shop wearing matching bride and groom ears.