by Hope Ford
Instead of answering him, I ask my own question. “I’ve noticed you haven’t had any pictures with women in the last two months.”
He looks at me in surprise. “I told you I wouldn’t do that anymore. I’m not going to love you and expect you to be my wife and then have my picture taken with other women. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
He says all the right things. My heart is pitter-pattering in my chest. “I have to tell you something. I should have told you the day you walked into the restaurant, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It may change everything.”
“It won’t,” he says with confidence.
I take a deep breath. “I’m pregnant. We, uh, got pregnant that night two months ago.”
His eyes widen in his face. He stares at me, speechless. I shouldn’t have dropped this on him like this. “You’re pregnant? You’re having my baby?”
I nod, still not sure how he feels about it. I squeak under the pressure. “Yes, I’m having your baby.”
“Oh my God!” He groans and falls to his knees in front of me.
“Josh, are you all right?” I ask him. His head is buried against my belly, and when he doesn’t answer me, I run my hands through his hair, pulling slightly, wanting him to look at me.
His head bends back, and he’s staring up at me with tears in his eyes. “I’m all right. I just need a minute.” His arms are circled around me, and he takes big breaths in and out.
His eyes are almost frantic as he stares at me. “Tell me you’ll marry me.”
Confused, I shake my head. “We’re already married.”
“Please don’t be mad at me for not telling you. The drive-thru chapel closed the very next day after we got married. They never filed the paperwork. There’s no proof we got married. Nothing.”
I get sick to my stomach. “I have the marriage certificate. It says we’re married.”
He looks at me, fear plain as day on his face. “I triple checked. It wasn’t filed anywhere, and it doesn’t make it legal. But none of that matters. Just tell me you’ll marry me again.”
I take a step back, and he jumps up. He’s huge standing over me, almost intimidating. “So we’re not married.”
He grits his teeth. “You’re my wife, Violet Chambers. A piece of paper and fucking clerical error doesn’t change that. You’re mine. You’re the mother of my child.”
“But...” I start.
He pulls me to him. He’s big next to me, but it never seems to matter. The way he holds me I always fit perfectly next to him. “There’s no buts. You’re mine.”
Anxiously, I look around at all the people staring at us. “Josh, let’s not do this here. Not now.”
He looks around and grunts. He takes me by the hand and pulls me down the steps. I start to panic because there’s no way I can jump over the side down onto the field, but he leads me to a gate. There’s a guard standing there who opens the gate before ushering us through. I’m surrounded by all of Josh’s teammates as we walk through the tunnel. Some of them congratulate him and some just stare at the two of us curiously.
He stops at a door and walks in. It’s a weight room, and thankfully, we’re the only two people here.
He turns toward me as soon as the door closes behind us. “You’re going to marry me, Violet.”
I take a deep breath. I want to say yes and go with my gut, but I can’t. Not when I’m making decisions for two now.
“Are you happy about the baby?”
“Woman, you’re driving me crazy. Of course, I’m happy about the baby. Do you think I didn’t want to get you pregnant? I’ve filled you with cum the last three days in hopes of doing just that.”
I take a deep breath and ask him the one thing that is weighing on me. The shock of us not being married is too much. “Are you marrying me because I’m pregnant?”
He shakes his head, confused. “I married you two months ago before you even got pregnant.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, you married me when we were drunk and didn’t know better. But you’ve known we weren’t actually married for the last two months and you’re not telling me until now.”
“You’re mine, Vi. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to make sure you knew you were mine before I told you. I didn’t think it would matter. We should have a real wedding, your dream wedding anyway.”
He drops to his knee in front of me and holds my hand. He smiles at the ring I have on my finger. I put it back on before I came here today. “Marry me, Vi. Be my wife. The mother of my children. The love of my life.”
We may have started out in the most irresponsible way, but the fact remains I’ve been miserable without him. He’s a good man, and I love him. “I love you, Josh Chambers.”
He lets out a big breath as if he’s been holding it. “Is that a yes?”
I nod and barely get “yes” out before he jumps up and swings me around in his arms.
My hands tighten on his shoulders. “Ugh, no more of that.”
He puts me down in an instant. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
I’m holding my stomach, and I swallow hard. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just no more spinning.”
“Anything you say, little mama.”
I groan, I can’t help it. “Really? That’s what you’re going to call me?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “I just found out we’re having a baby. Give me a break.” His big, muscled arms go around me. “I love you, Violet Chambers.”
“I love you too, husband.”
He grunts, and his voice is thick with emotion as he kisses the top of my head. “I like the sound of that.”
Epilogue 1
Josh
“Are you sure about this?” Violet asks me for like the twentieth time. I’m starting to get a complex now.
“You mean am I sure I want to marry you? Yes, I am. One hundred percent. But the way you keep asking me makes me think you’re having second thoughts. Well, you can forget it, Vi. We’ve gone over this. You’re mine.” I grunt out the last words because she brings out this possessive control freak that sometimes I’m unable to contain. She can have all the second thoughts she wants, but the fact remains that she’s marrying me tomorrow.
She slides her hands around my waist. Her belly is big and round between us. “Wouldn’t you rather me not have to waddle down the aisle to you? I mean, I’m huge.”
“You are not huge,” I tell her. I’ve made sure to tell her how beautiful she is all day every day. She doesn’t realize that I don’t care that she’s put on weight. She’s carrying our child, and she looks more beautiful every day.
She stomps her foot. “I am huge, though. Let’s just wait. We can get married after Josh Junior is born. We can have a tropical wedding or something.”
I sigh, knowing there’s no way I can wait another day to be married to her, but she keeps bringing it up, and she definitely has some kind of hang-up about it all.
“Fine,” I grunt, hating that she’s sad and this isn’t happening the way she wants but also knowing that there’s no way I would change a thing with the way things have happened.
She looks startled and stares up at me wide-eyed. She blinks once, then again. “Wait... you don’t want to marry me?”
Astonished by the asinine remark that just came out of her mouth, I shake my head side to side. “What are you talking about? I want to marry you more than anything. But I also want you happy, and it’s obvious that you’re not happy about this.”
Her head drops. “So we’re not getting married...”
Her voice is thick with emotion, and I can tell the tears are forming without even seeing her eyes. Her pregnancy hormones have wreaked havoc on her emotions, and it kills me to see her like this. “We’re getting married.” I tell her forcefully. “We’re going to the courthouse tomorrow to get married. We’ll have Sierra and Evan there, Millie, and whoever else you want. Your brother of course. So it will be official. I’ll hand deliver the fucking papers myself when we’re done and have them f
iled. Then once you have the baby, you’ll have the wedding you want.”
She sniffs and finally looks me in the eye. “You’ll do that... for me.”
I shake my head. “Don’t you know, Vi? I’ll do anything for you. I just want you happy, but honey, I’m not waiting to get married. It’s important to me that we do this soon. I know to some people it’s just a piece of paper, but I can feel myself going crazy, knowing you’re a free woman.”
She snorts. “A free woman?” She puts her hand on her belly and turns side to side. “Do I look like a free woman?”
“You look like my woman. You look like the woman I fell in love with the night I met her. You look like the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with...” I lean down and press my lips to hers. I hate that her changing body has brought on so many insecurities. I wish she knew how much she means to me.
“Forget it,” she says in between kisses.
My whole body tenses, and I put my hands on her shoulders. “Forget what?” I ask.
“We’ll get married in the church tomorrow like we planned. In front of our family and friends—heck, I’m pretty sure the whole town will be there. I’ll waddle down the aisle to you and let you make an honest woman out of me.”
My heart starts to race. This is what I want more than anything. But I need her to be happy about it too. “Are you sure?”
She nods and slides her hands up the front of my chest. “I’m sure I love you and want to be Mrs. Josh Chambers. I don’t want to wait. I love you and want the world to know you’re mine.”
I embrace her tightly. “I am yours, baby. I love you, always and forever.”
She blushes. “I love you too.”
Epilogue 2
Violet
“Are you still mad at me?” I ask my big brother.
Tate swallows the big piece of whiskey apple cake he just bit off. “I should be.” He grunts.
I laugh because I can’t help it. “It’s not like it was planned. I found out that day that I was going to the game. If I had any kind of notice, I would have gotten you a ticket.” When he found out I went to Josh’s big game without him, he was more than just a little bit upset. But when I told him that I was getting married and that he was going to be an uncle, he finally forgave me. At least he said he did.
He shrugs. “I’m not worried about it. I’ve already talked to my new brother-in-law about it, and I’m the proud new owner of a Jasper Eagles Season Ticket package.”
I tilt my head side to side. “Well, la di da, aren’t you special?”
“Yeah, yeah, he mumbled something about keeping you happy and all that, and I assured him you’d be happy if I had tickets to his games.”
I stare at him, and we both bust out laughing at the same time. My brother is almost ten years older than me. We weren’t really close growing up, but now that we’re older, he’s one of my best friends.
“What else can I get you to eat? You can’t live on cake alone.”
He rubs his flat stomach. “I’m stuffed. I couldn’t eat another bite.”
I rub my ever-growing belly, and something flashes in his eyes. Before I can ask him about it, he says, “I’m surprised your husband is letting you work.”
“Letting me work?” I snap.
He holds his hands up defensively. “Don’t get mad. I mean, your husband doesn’t want you walking most of the time by the way he’s always carrying you around. I just meant I figured he’d be watching you around the corner or something.”
“I’ll have you know I can do what I want...” The words no sooner come out of my mouth and my husband walks in the front door of Red’s bigger than life. “Violet Chambers, you snuck out of the house. You are about to have our baby any day now. What part of rest do you not understand?”
My brother laughs and snorts. He loves seeing my husband get the upper hand. “Busted!”
I give him a shove. “Whatever, big brother.”
Josh puts his hands on my shoulders, kisses my neck, and whispers, “What am I going to do with you?”
I let him lead me to the other side of the counter and seat me next to my big brother. He gently pushes me down into the seat and kisses me again. “All right, tell me what needs done.”
I start to shake my head. “I can’t...”
He smiles at me. “You can. Just tell me what needs done, and I’ll take care of it.”
I sigh loudly, even though I’m secretly thrilled to have my husband dote on me the way he does. I give him a few things that need to be done and he walks away to do them only after I promise I’ll stay seated.
My eyes follow him, and man it’s fun to watch my tall, muscular husband roll up his sleeves and work.
“Ugh, quit looking at him like that. I’m pretty sure I just threw up in my mouth.”
I jab my elbow into Tate’s side. “Whatever, big brother.” I turn in my seat. “So what about you? When are you going to settle down? Make me an aunt?”
He stands up and stretches, avoiding my eyes. “Probably never. Women aren’t really into being touched with these hands.” He says it jokingly, but I can tell there’s some meaning behind the words.
He holds them up and I stare at his big hands and long fingers that are stained after years of working as a mechanic. He owns the only car repair shop in Whiskey Run and stays busy year around. And yeah, he definitely has working man’s hands, but women don’t care about that. Not all of them do, anyway.
“You’re crazy. Some woman would be lucky to have you as her husband.”
He laughs. “Forget it, sis. Don’t get any crazy matchmaking ideas. I know you, and it’s not going to work with me.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” I tell him, trying to hide the smirk on my face.
“Yeah, right. Anyway, I got to get back to work. See you, bro,” he calls to Josh before putting his arms around me. “Love you, sis. Call if you need anything.”
I should let it go, but I’ve never learned to keep my mouth shut. Not when there’s something important to say. “You have to move on eventually. You know that, right?”
His face is stricken. It’s been forever since I’ve mentioned “her,” the one that we never talk about. The one that broke his heart all those years ago.
“I’m over her. I haven’t thought about her in years,” he says.
A part of me believes him, but another part of me knows that even though he’s over her, he’s not over the damage she caused. She’s the one that made him feel like he’s just some small-town guy that isn’t worthy of marriage. It’s the furthest thing from the truth, but there’s no way he’s going to believe his little sister.
“Order’s up,” Eddie the cook hollers from the back before he comes through, his arms loaded with bags and sets them on the counter.
I start to get up and make sure I groan nice and loud. My husband comes running, and my brother turns around and is by my side in an instant. “What’s wrong?”
I put my hand on my back. “Nothing. I’m fine. I just have to take these down to the square where the photoshoot is happening today. I’m supposed to be catering...”
I don’t get to finish before my husband interrupts me. “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll take it down there.”
“No! I mean no, you need to stay here and finish the list so I can get home and lie down.”
He eyes me skeptically before putting his hands up, giving a look to my brother and walking away. My new husband already knows me so well, and he knows I’m up to something.
My brother is looking at me skeptically also. “Is this one of your matchmaking schemes, sis?”
I roll my eyes and try my best to look innocent. “What? No, of course not. You know what? Forget it, I’ll just take it.”
But my brother puts his hands on my shoulders and holds me to the seat. “I’ll take it.”
I clap my hands together. “You will?” and then I realize I’m probably being way to excited about this. “I mean, thank you, T
ate. I really do want to get home soon.”
He leans in and kisses the top of my head. “I got it, sis. Take care of my nephew in there and don’t worry about a thing.”
I help load his arms with the bags, and he leaves out the front door of the diner. I stare after him excitedly, and my husband comes up and stands behind me as we watch my brother walk down the sidewalk. “What are you up to?”
I shrug. “I may have met the model for the Whiskey Distillery photo shoot the other day.” I turn in Josh’s arms and look up at him. “And she’s perfect for Tate. I know she is.”
But he doesn’t look as excited in return. He grunts. “You mean you are trying to hook your brother up with a model? The man that has hang-ups about being a small-town mechanic? The same man that has sworn off women that are beautiful or from the city?”
My heart drops into my stomach as I watch my brother disappear around the corner. Oh my God, what have I done?
Tate and Lakelyn’s story is coming soon.
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