Ella

Over the following weeks, we fell into a tentative yet strangely comfortable routine. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it felt like a real marriage, not by a long shot, but between the baby and the election, Alexander and I almost felt like…

Partners.

Mostly, Alexander just threw himself into election preparations, while I found myself caught between the excitement of preparing for our baby and the misery of morning sickness that seemed determined to last all day long.

Morning sickness. What a joke. Try afternoon sickness, evening sickness, middle- of–the–night–wake–up–and–sprint–to–the–bathroom sickness.

But Alexander was always there when I was ill. And every night, even when I didn’t see him all day because of the election, he came home for dinner. At every event, we were by each other’s sides, quietly supporting each other.

Again, it wasn’t a real marriage by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, it felt more like a strange sort of limbo. But in an unexpected way, it was also sort of comfortable. And I found myself smiling a lot more during those days, although that could have been chalked up to the excitement of preparing for the baby.

The baby preparations, in particular, were going smoothly. The cherry wood crib and matching furniture had arrived right on schedule, and we’d spent an entire afternoon setting up the nursery.

assembling everything himself, muttering about proper safety protocols and refusing to let any of

across his forehead as he concentrated, had

a real husband preparing for his

think about what our life would be like if that were the case, but it wasn’t easy. Especially not when his face

was sick.

Chapter 172


+15 BONUS

skyrocketed after our public announcement about the pregnancy. Apparently, voters loved the idea of

Surprise, surprise.

our maternity shoot were still circulating on social media, along with candid shots from various events where Alexander’s hand could be seen resting protectively on my lower back. No

was five months along, Alexander had taken the lead in the polls for

actually win this thing,” he’d said one evening, collapsing into bed beside me while I sat up on my side, reading a book. I could feel a wave of sickness coming, so I knew it was pointless to try to

glanced at him. “You sound

am, a little. When this whole thing started, it felt like such a long shot.” He shrugged. “But the family man

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