by Toni Aleo
He wanted to give her the world.
“Really?” she asked, her eyes locking with his as she stopped, which stopped him.
Unsure of himself, he nodded. “Yeah.”
“Jensen, wow this is out of the blue.”
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot since our conversation, and I want to go back, really look into it.”
“Are you sure this is what you want? You aren’t doing this because of what I asked?”
“No, I want this. Because if one day you look at me and tell me you want another kid, I want to be able to give you one.”
“So, it is for me. I would never ask you do something you aren’t comfortable with.”
“I understand that, and yeah, it is for you. But it’s for me too, Wren. So, um, will you go?”
She didn’t move, her eyes searching his as his heart went nuts in his chest. Her lips curved up in a smile as she stepped into his arms, her eyes sparkling with the possibility of their future as her chin dug into his chest. “Of course, I will.”
He exhaled hard, moving her stray hair out of her face. “It freaks me out.”
“Don’t let it, because I’ll be there with you.”
His grin matched hers as he pressed his nose into hers. “Which is all I need.”
“I know, I’m pretty stinking amazing,” she said, kissing his chin.
“You are,” he agreed, and then he smiled as he touched his lips to hers. When he pulled back, he remembered that she’d had something to ask too. “What did you have to say?”
“Oh, I forgot. It wasn’t important, I guess.” Waving him off, she pressed her lips together as she shook her head. But from the look in her eyes, he could see she was holding something back. “Really, it was nothing.” She tried once more before threading her fingers through his hair. “All I care about is our future.”
“Me too.”
“So stop stalling and kiss me.”
She didn’t need to ask twice. He dropped his mouth to hers and fell into the kiss. Her arms wrapped around his waist as she met him with the same demand he felt deep in his soul.
A soul that belonged to her.
“Am I squishing you?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Mom, this is awkward. My ass is squishing him.”
“It’s not.”
“Wren, he said it isn’t.”
“He’s too nice to say so!”
“I’ll say it. Your ass is huge,” Wells called to her from the bar, and Jensen glared. “I mean, you are a beautiful butterfly.”
“I hate you,” she hollered at him as her mother laid another strip of plaster onto her belly and over their hands that were making a heart. As Brie laid one after Elaine, Jensen smiled, leaning his head into the back of hers. She didn’t want to do this, she wanted to go to bed, but he had convinced to do it for Elaine. Her mom had been so excited when she’d found the set to plaster Wren’s belly. And since he still felt bad about the argument the day he had gotten there, he was all about getting Wren to do something she hated. When she groaned loudly, he chuckled against her neck as his son moved inside of her. “Are we done yet? Even Gunner hates this, he’s hungry.”
“Jesus, Wren! We just got started. Someone feed her, please,” Elaine called back to Vaughn, Wells, and Alex, who were sitting at the bar.
“I’m not. I saw her tits, and it freaked me out,” Vaughn said, shaking his head.
“Right? Like big, sand-dollar titties. Is that normal with pregnancy?” Wells asked, and Jensen decided he didn’t need Wells to call off the wedding because he was going to kill him.
“Mom! I told you I should have worn a bra!”
“I didn’t want lines on the plaster,” her mother yelled back, and Jensen just laughed.
“Yeah, I would have gone with lines instead of seeing those big ole titties,” Vaughn teased.
“I swear, if I wouldn’t have to start over with this, I’d kill you both!” Wren yelled at them.
“But seriously, are your nipples supposed to be that big?” her brother asked, sputtering with laughter. Before she could answer, Jensen set him with a look. “I’m not too good with boobs, but in porn, they’re always so much smaller.”
“Wells!”
“Sorry, Mom, but really. Big titties on that girl.”
“Watch it,” Jensen warned.
Silence fell upon all them, and he realized he might have yelled that.
“Yes, sir,” Wells said, saluting to him as Vaughn shook his head.
“I don’t know why you mess with her. Jenny will kill you. He’ll kill anyone for Wrenny-boooooo,” Vaughn sang, and Wren rolled her eyes. “He luvvvvvvsss herrrrrr.”
“Yup, that whip is in full force between those two,” Wells teased.
“So? I’m proud to love my wife and make her happy. I see nothing wrong with that.”
“You gave up hot chicken for her. That’s whipped!”
“He did not,” Wren asserted.
“Yes, he did!”
“I didn’t. I just didn’t eat it around her because it made her sick,” Jensen answered matter-of-factly, and Wren looked back at him the best she could.
“Really?”
“Yeah, you always got queasy when I brought it home, so I stopped.”
As a grin spread over her lips, Vaughn and Wells yelled, “Whipped!”
Winston scoffed from the doorway. “Like the whip isn’t in full force with you two. That boy right there tells you to jump, you do, Wells. And Vaughn, all this gorgeous girl has to do is give you a look, and you come running,” he threw back at them.
“She’s really great in bed,” Vaughn laughed, and Brie’s eyes widened.
“Vaughn!”
“What? It’s true!”
“Well, don’t tell your other parents that!”
As Vaughn and Wells shared a look before giggling like children, Elaine took Jensen’s face in her hands, rubbing the plaster all over him, but he didn’t care. He was getting in the shower after this anyway. Hopefully with Wren, if he didn’t have to kill Wells and Vaughn first. “You are the best thing ever, Jensen Monroe, and I love you. So damn much.”
Jensen grinned as Wren turned, kissing his cheek. “He is pretty great and not whipped at all because he doesn’t need to be whipped to love me.”
“Ha! Please,” Wells called back, shaking his head. But Jensen wasn’t listening because beside Wells, Alex was turning red. When Alex leaned toward Wells, whispering something in his ear, Jensen watched as Wells rolled his eyes.
“Babe, she doesn’t know you like she knows Jenny.”
“It doesn’t matter, my parents love you.”
Jensen looked to Elaine, but she was talking to Wren and Brie about placement while Winston was watching, giving his own directions. No one was paying attention to the hissy fit Alex was throwing.
“They probably don’t want us to get married.”
“That’s not true. They’re happy for us.”
“Whatever, your dad hates this.”
“I know, but he’s still coming.”
“This is bullshit,” Alex decided, getting up and leaving the room, walking out the back door.
When the door slammed, Elaine turned, her brows up in her hairline. “There is no slamming doors in my house—”
“This isn’t a damn barn,” Wren, Jensen, Vaughn, and Wells all finished for her since they had been hearing that since the dawn of time.
She just nodded. “Exactly.”
“That was creepy,” Brie laughed, shaking her head while everyone else just shrugged. But Jensen was watching Wells, who slowly came off his chair.
“Sorry, Mom.”
“Was that Alex? What is his problem?”
Wells just shook his head, and Vaughn, being the pain in the ass that he was, said, “He’s pissed because he thinks you don’t love him like you love Jenny.”
Her face scrunched up as Wren asked, “Why does it matter? Plus, Mom helped raise Jensen.”
“Which is what I tried telling him, that you guys don’t know him as well as Jensen. Yeah, he’s being a brat. He’s nervous about the wedding. It’s fine,” Wells said, holding up his hands in a calming motion. “Let me make sure he didn’t leave me.”
As he walked through the kitchen, going out the back door, Vaughn laughed from his seat. “Hundred bucks says they don’t get married.”
“Vaughn Johansson, you shut that mouth of yours right now!” Elaine yelled, and he did as she asked, looking down at the food in front of him.
“I mean, I don’t like that he’s gay, my boy, but even I think that guy’s a little bit of a sissy for him.”
“He is,” Wren and Vaughn said together.
Elaine just made a face, looking out the back window. “Well, I don’t care. Wells told me he loved that boy and he wants to marry him, so I’m throwing a damn wedding, and they better get married.”
“Or else we’ll all need to get alternate housing since you’ll probably blow this one up with him inside,” Winston supplied, and Elaine glared.
“That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
Winston scoffed as Jensen said, “Not for you.”
She pinned him with a look, and Jensen hid behind Wren as she laughed. “I used to love you, boy.”
“Sorry,” he muttered against Wren’s neck, and she leaned into him.
“I’m the favorite now,” Vaughn laughed.
“No, you’re not. Brie is.”
“Yes!” Brie said, fist-pumping as Wren just laughed.
“You’re the one who put the damn thought in my head,” Elaine said worriedly as she looked out the window and then back to everyone in the room. “Do all of you think it’s not gonna happen?”
“I do,” Brie said slowly, holding her hand up.
“I totally do,” Vaughn added with both hands up.
“We can’t hold our hands up, but we do,” Wren announced, and Jensen glared at the back of her head.
“I don’t!”
“Yes, you do,” she said, and he scoffed but didn’t protest.
Maybe he was whipped.
When a car door slammed outside, with someone calling someone a drama queen, they all looked to Winston as he nodded. “Pretty sure we just wasted half a million, love.”
Sputtering with anger, she threw a plaster strip down and muttered, “I swear to God, I’ll kill him.”
When Wren looked over at Jensen, he smiled before she leaned into him, pressing her nose into his. “I told you I didn’t want to do this.”
He just kept grinning. “I did. I get your ass on me for a solid hour.”
“I mean, if you wanted me to sit on you, I would have done it without this!”
“Yeah, but this way, we make your mom happy.”
She glared as Elaine said, “And this is why he’s my favorite again.”
“Hey!” Brie complained, and Elaine flashed her a grin.
“You’re my second favorite.”
“Hey!” Wren and Vaughn complained, and then everyone was laughing.
And at that moment, Jensen didn’t want to be anywhere else but with his arms around his wife in the middle of his second family’s kitchen, with his loved ones.
He went from having no one to having so much love it was overwhelming, and he wouldn’t change a damn thing.
Brie: Did you tell him?
Wren: No, I chickened out. Twice.
Brie: Wren! It’s the day before the wedding, you need to tell him.
Wren: I know, but I have bigger things to deal with at this time.
Brie: What?
Wren: I’m meeting Shanna for lunch.
Brie: Oh. Shit.
Wren: Exactly.
Wren: Fucking Jensen.
Brie: How the hell did he manage to get you to go?
Wren: He was going down on me, and he asked right when I was screaming yes, so he took that to heart.
Brie: Wow. Smooth. And smart.
Wren: Yeah, gotta give it to him, he knows how to work me.
Brie: That’s so cute.
Wren: I hate you.
Brie: Aw! We’re like Vaughn and Jensen.
Wren: I don’t think that’s a good comparison.
Brie: Maybe you’re right.
Brie: Well, Godspeed. Let me know how that goes.
Wren: Will do.
Glaring at her phone, she tucked it into her purse as the warm air of the summer breeze hit her in the face. It was a gorgeous, hot day in Colorado, and she’d rather be in the air conditioning than trekking to the little restaurant Shanna and her husband were waiting at. When she squeezed Jensen’s hand, he looked over at her as they walked down the little street of the town. “Do we have to go?”
He nodded. “Yes. I told them we’d meet them.”
“Can we blow it off?”
“Wren, come on, she misses you.”
“I’ll go down on you in the car,” she suggested, and he scoffed, his face beaming with a grin.
“That’s unfair.”
“But I will.”
“No, I think you need this.”
“How in the hell do I need this?”
“I think you need the closure. If you don’t want to talk to her after this, that’s cool, because at least you’ll give her a reason and explain your reasoning.”
“Or, I can keep ignoring it.”
“Or, you can get out those lady balls I know you have and tell her the truth.”
The truth. God, she hated the fucking truth at that moment.
Clearing her throat, she grumbled as they made their way to the little burger joint that had been in the town since the dawn of time. She didn’t want to do this. She knew it made her an asshole to cut Shanna out of her life the way she had, but she seriously couldn’t help it. She felt Shanna wouldn’t have been there for her, and she couldn’t deal with any more rejection at the time. Bradley had done enough, and she couldn’t take it from her best friend. So she did what she did best, she shut everyone out.
When he reached for the door, she looked up at him. “Don’t leave me alone.”
“Wren, be real.”
“Jensen Monroe, promise me right now.”
He shook his head. “Fine. I’ll piss my pants to keep from leaving you alone.”
“Solid plan,” she said as he opened the door, and he laughed, letting her in before him. When her gaze fell right on Shanna in a booth, alone, her stomach dropped.
Where the fuck was her husband?
Unsure of herself, Shanna got up slowly, a grin pulling at her lips. “Oh my goodness! Look at you!” Wren plastered the fakest smile she could muster and met her halfway in a tight hug. “I can’t believe it. You’re pregnant.”
“Yup, I couldn’t believe it either.”
“Right? You never wanted kids.”
“And now I couldn’t imagine not getting ready to have one,” she said nervously before Shanna hugged Jensen.
“I was telling Jensen at the rink how excited I am for you guys. This is awesome. I always knew you guys would get together.”
Wren smiled up at Jensen as he pressed his hand to her back, helping her into the booth. “You and him, both. I was late to the game.”
Jensen smiled. “Better late than never.”
He kissed her temple before she looked around nervously. “So, where’s Jay?”
“So now, the other two boys have strep, and I was worried if I told y’all he wasn’t coming, you wouldn’t.”
Wren wouldn’t have.
“Oh, no, of course, we would have come. I might have let Jensen stay home, though,” she joked. “I doubt he wants to hear about girl shit.”
“I can leave,” he suggested, and Wren’s eyes widened.
“Really? That wouldn’t hurt your feelings? I would love to catch up! Just us girls,” Shanna all but screamed, and Wren slowly turned her head, her eyes burning into his.
Don’t you leave me, don’t you leave me.
“I mean, i
t’s up to you, babe,” he said, his eyes widening with hers.
Oh, she was going to kill him dead.
She could feel Shanna staring at her, pleading with her eyes. Damn it, she owed it to her. Jensen was right. She needed some sort of closure. So, reluctantly, Wren nodded her head. “Yeah, go. I’ll call you when we’re done.”
“You sure?”
“Yes! I’ll take care of her, promise,” Shanna gushed, patting his hand, and he sent her a grin.
“Yeah, go help Vaughn with NateWay.”
“Okay, I will. Call me, okay?” he asked, and she nodded as he kissed her temple before getting out of the booth, saying bye to both of them. Before he could get out the door, though, she was already texting him.
Wren: I’m gonna kill you.
Jensen: Not if I can find the biggest Snickers and chuck it at you.
Keeping in her laughter, she looked across the table at her ex-best friend. Shanna looked so much like Bradley with her light brown hair and big blue eyes. She wasn’t as tall as Bradley, but then, no one really was. Except for every other man she knew. God, she was nervous.
“So!” Wren gushed, and she never gushed, so she pressed her lips together to cover up the fact that she was freaking the fuck out. This was the last thing she wanted. Damn it. “How’s life?”
She saw something flash in Shanna’s eyes before she shrugged. “You know, just raising kids and being a wife. I don’t do anything special.”
Wren could hear the hostility in her voice. It was expected, but then, Wren sort of thought Shanna would have hit her with it a little later in their stupid lunch date. “That’s not true. Mom said you are decorating for her.”
She nodded. “That’s for your mom because, for the longest time, she was my second mom. But then, that just changed.”
Wren slowly looked down at the table. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t sit and deal with the borderline hostility in Shanna's tone. Yeah, she was good at ignoring shit, but she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, especially when it was her fault they were a mess. “So, we’re doing this now?”
“Doing what?”
Wren looked back up. “It’s obvious that you don’t want to talk about life. You want to know why I dropped you like a bad habit, and that’s understandable,” she said as strong as she could as she met Wren’s gaze. “And the answer is I got pregnant, and I knew you’d judge me for my floozy-ish lifestyle.”
