Until Us

by Cristin Cooper

  She took a seat on the steps next to Naomi. “Do you mind holding Austin? I didn’t get to participate last year, which was the only reason Tyler won. The title is mine this year.”

  Katie giggled, taking the squirmy little boy from her hands. He splashed Katie the moment she put her arms around him.

  Katie and Austin played while watching the competition. She had never seen Tyler be competitive, but his sisters brought it out in him. In the end, it came down to Tyler, Naomi, and Rebecca’s oldest son Brayden.

  Bouncing Austin on her hip, she cheered for Tyler when he managed to hold onto his title.

  Pouting, Naomi took Austin from her arms. Katie swam to meet Tyler to congratulate him. It was just far enough she could no longer touch the bottom. He reached for her and pulled her against him. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders she gave him a kiss on the cheek. “That was awesome!”

  His expression grew serious, and she became more aware of her breasts and belly and how they were touching his bare skin. His thumb ran small circles on her lower back, making it difficult to concentrate on anything but his touch.

  “Tyler!” The four boys, who were in line for the diving board, called him.

  “Duty calls.” She grinned at him, relieved while simultaneously frustrated their moment was interrupted. She wanted to tell him everything she was feeling, but was unsure how to do it, and she didn’t want an audience when she did.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  March 2016

  Tyler

  Peals of laughter came through the open garage door where Tyler and his mother were putting away the dried out pool toys.

  “What are your sisters doing to poor Katie?” his mother asked aloud just as Pablo, Leah’s husband stepped out into the garage to grab a case of pop.

  He answered for them. “The women are talking about pregnancy and being horny,” he said so casually, as if it was an everyday occurrence. “Oh and you should probably know Esther volunteered you to take care of Katie’s needs.” He finger-quoted ‘needs’ and winked.

  A strangled “What?” came out of Tyler’s throat as his mother covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to smile.

  Pablo let out a hearty laugh as he left Tyler and his mother alone in the garage.

  “I’m so glad she came this week. She really gets you, Tyler.” He was well aware. “Every time I see you two together I can’t picture a more perfect person for you.”

  He felt the same way and after this week… “I think she has ruined me for anyone else. I want to be with her, Mom. Not just as her friend. Every day, she takes a little more of my heart, and I want her to. I want her to have all of it. The whole damn thing.”

  “Do you think she’s ready to hear how you feel?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I think she feels something more for me, but I’m not sure. I’m okay waiting, and it might be better to wait until after the baby is here. It’s only been seven months since Eric passed and she’s dealing with a lot right now. I don’t want to put any more pressure on her than she already has.”

  His mother was quiet for a moment. “You’re different with her. More yourself,” she said softly.

  “I feel different with her. She showed me what I want and it’s her. I also want to be a father to her baby. I want to tell her daughter all about Eric and share all of his favorite things with her. I want to take care of them.”

  “I thought early on the reason you wanted to be with her was because she needed you. I can see now what a strong woman she is, and she doesn’t need you but she likes you.”

  “I know. But I think I need her.”

  “One of us! One of us!” his sisters chanted with their fists in the air.

  “What’s going on?” he asked his brother-in-law Leo, Esther’s husband.

  “Katie was being sarcastic with Naomi. That’s when Rebecca dubbed her one of them, and the chanting began.”

  Katie’s face was beet red from laughing so hard.

  She couldn’t be more beautiful or more perfect.

  “Hey.” Katie smiled up at him when she realized he was watching her. “I’m curious. I just realized that all of your sisters have biblical names, but you don’t.”

  “Oh, he does.” Rebecca chimed in. “It’s Matthew Tyler, but since our Dad’s name was Matthew, we call him by his middle name.”

  Tyler growled. “I don’t know why God bothered giving me a voice when I have four sisters to speak for me.”

  “Aww, poor you,” Esther teased.

  “See what I had to put up with growing up?” Leah punched him in the gut and told him to stop being a baby.

  Katie laughed and shook her head. “I missed so much being an only child.”

  “As kids we all wished we were only children, but now I kind of like these people,” Esther said, waving her hand at the full room.

  “How about we relax in the family room and put a movie on. I’m too tired to play board games tonight,” his mother announced to the room.

  They all agreed and took spots around the large living room that held a huge sectional sofa and large stuffed chair with ottoman. He took Katie’s hand and led her to the chair. It was better than sharing with his siblings. He had her sit in the chair while he sat on the floor in front of her leaning back against the chair.

  Before the movie began, she leaned forward, her belly bumped into the back of his head, so she was forced to lean back a little bit but she managed to reach him and began massaging his shoulders and back.

  Her touch was making him crazy and to distract himself, he took her feet that were on either side of him and massaged them at the same time. She leaned down, her hair making a curtain and giving them some privacy. “That feels amazing,” she whispered. He was tempted to pull her head closer and kiss her, but there was no way he was going to make an attempt in front of his sisters.

  A few minutes later, she leaned back with her hands on her belly. He turned around on his knees to check on her. She lifted her shirt and took one of his hands and placed it on her stomach. It felt like the baby was pushing back against his hand. Not a second later, she grimaced and sat up a little straighter.

  “What happened?”

  “She’s moving around a lot and keeps jabbing me in my innards. It hurts sometimes.”

  She scooted over in the chair and patted the seat in offering. He put the ottoman back in front of the chair then took the seat and let her snuggle against him. Not that he was complaining.

  Tyler played with the ends of Katie’s hair as he watched the movie. Every once in a while he felt eyes on him and would look around the room to catch his mother or one of his sisters watching him with slight smiles on their faces.

  They liked her, which was as important to him as Katie liking them.

  The next morning, Tyler and Katie said goodbye to his family and headed home to Portland. Katie hadn’t slept well the night before, complaining about not being able to get comfortable. She kept a smile on her face, but he could tell she was in pain.

  They were more than halfway home when she asked him to pull over so she could stretch her legs. She got out and walked around taking in deep breaths as she kept rubbing her back and complaining about a sharp pain. It was unlike her to sound almost whiney, but she was, and he began to worry something else was going on.

  Without telling her, he began watching the clock and noticed her pains were coming in fifteen-minute increments. He didn’t want to worry her, but he was taking her to the hospital whether she liked it or not. He worried because they were still an hour away from Portland and her doctor.

  As he pulled into Portland, she was complaining every ten minutes that her back was hurting. “Katie,” he said calmly. “I don’t want to alarm you but I think you might be having contractions.”

  Tyler saw the fear in her eyes as she sat up straight. “But I’m only thirty-two weeks.” Her voice trembled as she placed both hands on her stomach. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “She’s not ready.”


  “I know. That’s why we’re going to get you checked out.”

  He drove straight to the emergency room. From there, they took her to labor and deliver, where they hooked her up to machines to track her contractions and the baby’s heartbeat. They inserted an IV and gave her fluids in order to help slow down the contractions.

  While the on-call doctor came in to check on her and run some more tests, Tyler called her family and the McHenry’s to let them know what was happening.

  What felt like hours later the doctor returned. “Well, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is, the contractions have stopped, but the bad news is you are now officially on bed rest. The most we want you doing is going back and forth between the bed and bathroom. At least for a few weeks. If the contractions come back, then we’ll need to keep you at the hospital. With your baby’s diagnosis, we don’t want to take any risks.” He handed her a form with a list of things to watch out for. “The most important thing you can do is stay in bed and keep hydrated. I’ve set up an appointment for you to see your regular O.B. in a week. If you have problems before then don’t hesitate to come back in.”

  “Can she go home tonight?” Tyler asked.

  “We’re going to keep her here tonight for observation, but she should be able to leave tomorrow morning.”

  Tyler called Phillip who was with Jenny and the McHenry’s getting lunch in the cafeteria while waiting for the update. A few minutes later, Katie’s room was filled to the brim. After repeating what the doctor had said, Tyler took charge and said, “I think we have plenty of time to get Katie’s things moved into the McHenrys’ guest room downstairs. She needs to stay near a bathroom and not exert herself.”

  Katie’s voice was low when she said, “Excuse me? Everyone out except for you.” She pointed to Tyler.

  Tyler was so caught up in what needed to happen that he had no idea why Katie was angry.

  “I’m right here! We never talked about where I wanted to move or if I wanted to move right now. I have a place to live.”

  He ran his hand down his face, more in frustration at himself than the situation. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to take care of you. I know you were planning on moving out of Alexis’s condo, and the McHenrys’ seemed like the best place. Tracy just retired, so she’s home all day to be with you and they have a room on the main floor with a bath. You won’t have to worry about stairs.” He sighed. “I’m sorry.”

  She made a cute growling noise. “Dang it, Tyler. I wish I could stay mad at you, but you’re so dang thoughtful. It’s annoying. I appreciate you thinking of me, but please, talk to me first before making big changes.”

  For the next few weeks, Katie’s new bedroom became a hub of activity. Tyler had taken extra shifts so he could take time off after the baby was born, so he didn’t get to see Katie nearly enough. But when he was off, he was in her room hanging out with her and she got him caught up on the happenings.

  He’d set up his entertainment center in her room, so at night, they could cuddle and watch TV. Each passing day it became more difficult to hold back his feelings. If it weren’t for the intensity in the way Jeff and Tracy watched them, he would’ve said something by now. But the guilt… Tyler didn’t need to be reminded Katie was Eric’s girl and that she was having his baby, but Tyler’s feelings were getting to the point where he would have to get past his fear of hurting the McHenrys because loving Katie wasn’t a choice.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  April 2016

  Katie

  Billy came into her room to say one last goodbye before Tracy took him to the airport. He and Will made a surprise visit while her mother was at a writing conference in California. She suspected Billy had ulterior motives and wasn’t far off when yesterday he once again listed all the benefits of moving back home.

  In the last four weeks she had been on bed rest, Katie considered it for the very reasons he listed. She was afraid to do this without her mother and Billy nearby as a support. But as much as she didn’t want to admit it, her desire to stay was stronger because Tyler was here. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to. She wondered if this was how her mother felt about Billy and why she never seemed to be able to settle down with anyone else.

  Billy sat on the edge of the bed and plopped a nine-month-old Will on the floor with several toys, hoping to distract him. It didn’t work. With a big toothy grin, Will immediately pulled himself up until he was standing, holding onto Billy and reaching for anything he could get his hands on.

  “My Sweets,” he said with a sad smile, “please consider what we talked about yesterday. I know it would make your mother feel better having you close by.” He looked down at Will and mumbled, “It would make me feel better too.”

  “My Billy.” This was one of the many reasons she loved this man and wanted to marry someone just like him. He faced her again and wiped at her tears before pulling her into a hug.

  “After spending a few days here, I know it’s not likely,” he said, sounding slightly dejected.

  “What do you mean?”

  He raised a brow and gave her a knowing look. “Tyler,” he stated.

  “I…I’m still not sure what you mean,” she said as she avoided looking him in the eyes. Was she that obvious? If Billy noticed could the McHenrys? How would they react to her falling in love with Eric’s best friend?

  “He’s a good man and I like him.”

  She took Billy’s hand. “I’m not sure I would have appreciated who he is if you hadn’t shown me what it was to be loved unconditionally. He is a good man and he reminds me of you.” She grinned.

  Billy sighed. “I love my life. I’m grateful for every moment of it, but if I could go back in time, I would have told your mother I was in love with her when she was twenty-one instead of waiting until the day you left home. We wasted too many years not being together. I don’t want you to do the same.”

  She wanted to be with Tyler, but… “Billy, I’m having another man’s baby and not only that, she’s going to need lifelong care. I can’t ask him to take that on.”

  “I see the way he looks at you and the way he takes care of you. It’s how I look at your mother every single day.

  “To some men, it may be a burden, but I suspect to Tyler, it would be an honor. If he loves you, he’ll want to be at your side and a part of your life and hers,” he said, placing his hand on her belly.

  Billy gave Katie one last hug and kissed the top of her head. “Be brave.”

  Giving up, Katie turned off her e-reader after making a third attempt at reading the same paragraph. The worst part of being on bed rest was the amount of time she had to think about-—everything. Weeks of contemplating life and what her next step should be once the baby arrived. Her thoughts also went back and forth between Eric and Tyler, leaving her feeling sad, guilty, and ashamed.

  She heard a slight knock on the door, which brought a smile to her face. Once she saw Tyler’s smiling face in the doorway, her belly did some flips, though that might have been the baby. And then she remembered what Billy said, causing the flips turned into a rapid heart rate.

  Could she tell him she was falling in love with him?

  “Hey, what are you doing up?” He stepped into her bedroom, looking slightly disheveled after getting off a twenty-four-hour shift. He quietly shut the door behind him then slid off his coat and toed off his shoes before falling into bed next to her like he did most days after work.

  So lost in thought, Katie had no idea what time it was. She looked over at the clock and was surprised to see it was just after midnight.

  “Are you feeling okay? Are you having contractions?” he asked as he ran a slightly cold hand over her belly. She shivered from his touch, and he quickly drew his hand away, assuming the shiver was from the cold and not from his touch. He rubbed his hands together to warm them up before placing a hand back on her stomach.

  She tried to control her voice, but her nerves were getting the best o
f her. “No. I was just…thinking.”

  He gently ran his hand over her belly, then leaned down and spoke to her baby. His smile brightened when he felt the gentle roll of an arm or leg. It was sweet how her baby girl always responded to him.

  He smiled and opened his arms so she could snuggle against him with her head on his chest. He soothingly ran a hand up and down her back until she relaxed against him. How could he make her nervous while simultaneously making her feel like she was at home in his arms? “What were you thinking about?”

  “Eric.” And you. You more than Eric.

  His hand stilled on her lower back for just a second. If she hadn’t been hyper aware of his touch, she might not have even noticed.

  “You miss him,” he stated just above a whisper.

  Her heart rate sped up as she decided to be completely honest. She shook her head. “I feel guilty because I haven’t. I mean I do when I think about him, but I go days when he never crosses my mind.”

  She felt his chest rise as he took in a deep breath then slowly released it. Did he think she was a horrible person? How could you love someone then not think about them all the time after they die?

  He didn’t speak, and she wasn’t sure what Tyler’s silence meant, but she went on. She might as well spill it all. “Maybe it’s easy to forget he’s not here because we didn’t see each other all the time. We didn’t even talk or text every day.”

  “Probably, but you have nothing to feel guilty about.”

  “It’s not just that.” She ran her hand down his chest and played with the buttons on his shirt.

  He cleared his throat, but he still sounded choked up. “What else?”

  “Lying in this bed day after day has given me a lot of time to think. Probably too much. I can’t help wonder how he would’ve handled all of this. My pregnancy, the baby having Down syndrome, just…everything. Having a baby would have turned his life upside down.”