“A lot of good it does me,” Alex says while moving around the room. “I had the chance of a lifetime, and I had to walk away.”
“What do you mean?” Ollie asks.
“Nothing.”
“It’s clearly not nothing,” I push him.
Alex sighs. “My mentor called about a week ago with an offer to go to Egypt to run the new office out there as a lead architect. Obviously, I said no because we’re doing this, but it would have been incredible.”
Oliver looks to me and then at Alex. “You wanted to take it?”
“Of course I did. It was like being asked to play in the Superbowl of the architecture world. I would’ve been working on a design that defied rules, and the building is going to be incredible. It would’ve been a dream, but this is family.”
He starts to walk away, but no way am I letting him leave it at that. Part of what this family had to deal with was our father controlling our lives and forcing us to give up our dreams to further his. That’s not what this resort is supposed to be about.
It’s about a chance to do something for ourselves.
It’s about having what we’ve always wanted but thought we couldn’t have.
If Alex has dreams, he should chase them.
“Wait,” I say, moving toward him. “Look, I’m going to speak for the family when I say this, but if you want to take that job, do it. We’ve all given up so much, and for what? To suffer more?”
“I’m part owner.”
“And you’ll be part owner wherever you live. It’s not as if we don’t have enough of us to handle this shit or won’t be able to reach you if we need something.”
Oliver nods. “You’re really not all that useful anyway. Once the walls are up, you’re pretty much done.”
“Gee, thanks,” Alex says with an eyeroll.
“He’s right.” I shrug. I know Alex well enough to know that he needs this push. My siblings would never want him to stay here if that’s not what he wants. “You’ve done your part, Alex. We needed you to be involved with Odette during the drawings and layout. Now that it’s done, we can all handle the rest.”
“You’re acting like I can just move away on a dime.”
“That’s exactly what he’s saying,” Oliver explains. “You live in an RV, you helped us when we needed you to, and I don’t think a single one of us would be okay with you passing up this chance because you felt like you didn’t have a choice. What do you have to stay for?”
Alex’s face scrunches. “Oh, I don’t know. He’s having twins. Stella just got married. Grayson just had another baby. Not to mention Amelia . . .”
“You can have all the quality time with Amelia you want, just stay there for a week,” Ollie says with a shudder. “That life . . . so not for me.”
“My point is that things are happening here, and my running off to Egypt doesn’t make sense.”
“Do they no longer have planes in Egypt?” I ask. “Or the internet?”
Alex throws his hands up and then starts to pace. We’re making sense, and he doesn’t want that.
“Delia is my best friend, and she’s going to have a baby.”
“I’m fully aware.”
“And you’re an asshole who will fuck this up somehow,” Alex tacks on.
Oliver nods. “He has a point there.”
I flip them both off. “You’re reaching here. We’re doing just fine. Delia having babies or my hypothetical fuckup, which isn’t going to happen, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do what you want.”
“I don’t even know if this is what I want.”
“That’s a lie.” Oliver smirks. “You know you want this or you wouldn’t have brought it up. Dude, just take the job. If it sucks, you own a resort that your much smarter and better-looking siblings will have started. And if it’s Stella you’re afraid of, I’ll handle her.”
Alex laughs. “She’s terrifying.”
“She is, but she’s manageable. Plus, we have Jack now.”
I raise a brow. “How does that give us an edge?”
“He has to listen to it, not us. He married her, and now . . . he should have to suffer the consequences.”
Alex and I chuckle. “I won’t tell you what to do,” I say. “But life is short, and we don’t get many chances to do something we want.”
He looks to Oliver and points at me with his thumb. “Do you hear this shit? The guy who has had one of the best women I’ve ever met be in love with him for over a decade and has passed every chance with her is now telling me I shouldn’t let this go.”
Oliver nods slowly. “The man has a point, Josh. You’re not exactly following your own advice.”
“Delia and I are together now.”
Oliver laughs. “When did this happen?”
“A few days ago.”
“Took you long enough.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a pain in the ass?” I ask Oliver.
“Daily.”
“We should say it more then,” I mutter under my breath and turn to Alex. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you and following your dreams. Delia and I are doing good, Oliver is an idiot, Stella is happy, Gray just had the baby, and Amelia will love you on video chat—just like she did when we were all living around the country.”
I can see the indecision building in him. He shifts his weight and then grips the back of his neck. “I don’t know.”
“What’s holding you back?”
Oliver steps forward with his mischievous grin. “Is it a woman?”
“Is what a woman?”
“Your mentor.”
Alex shoves him. “Shut up.”
“It is! I knew it. That’s why you don’t want to go. You’re hard up for her, and she knows you’re a total loser who lives in an RV and is now broke.”
Alex rolls his eyes. “He’s a forty-year-old dude who was a few years ahead of me in school. There’s no woman.”
Oliver nods. “I see, you still have no game.”
I laugh.
“Fuck off,” Alex says to both of us.
“Think about it, Alex,” I say seriously. “We’ve all given up our dreams, if this isn’t yours, then don’t waste time living it. This was meant for us to get out from under Dad’s thumb. It wasn’t meant to put us under another.”
Oliver nods. “What he said.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You do that, and while you think, let’s discuss our big brother and his girlfriend,” Ollie tacks on, and I know this conversation is going to become an interrogation, but I’m ready for it. I’ll deal with it all because, at the end, I get to go home to Delia.
Dr. Willbanks enters, his hair pushed to the side, looking like he just walked out of a damn cologne ad. What the hell is with this guy? Shouldn’t doctors be old and ugly? Also, why is he here again?
Delia shifts a little, and I grumble under my breath.
“Hello, Delia and Josh. It’s good to see you again. Dr. Locke is at the hospital for a delivery, so you get me again today. Hope that’s all right.”
“No worries. It’s great to see you too,” Delia says. Since I don’t feel the same, I just grunt. Which earns me a nasty look from Delia.
“How are you feeling?”
She rests her hands on her stomach. “Good. You were right, the second trimester is much better. I have more energy, and I haven’t had any more morning sickness.”
“Wonderful. Have you felt the babies move at all?”
I look to her, wondering if she has because she hasn’t said anything to me about it. She shrugs. “I don’t know what I feel. Jessica says it’s the babies, but then . . . wouldn’t I know? Like, a mother would know it’s the baby moving and not bubble guts.”
He smiles warmly, flashing his perfect white teeth. “A lot of women don’t think it’s movement, but if you feel something like soda bubbles, that’s probably the babies. You’re at eighteen weeks now, so it’s safe to say you’ll start to feel stronger shifts
sometime soon.”
She looks to me, her eyes filled with hope, and my chest aches. God, she’s so damn perfect. “It’ll happen,” I assure her.
Delia nods quickly. “So, today we get to see them and find out the sex, right?”
Dr. Willbanks nods. “Yes, we’re going to check on the twins, see how they’re growing, and then, if they cooperate, I’ll check to see if we can find out their sexes.”
“You both cooperate!” she says to her stomach.
Someone knocks on the door and a girl enters. The doctor explains that Sara is the ultrasound tech and he’s here to narrate and observe. Great.
“Do you want to see the screen?” he asks me. “If so, go ahead and stand up there.”
I move to the spot he pointed to before taking her hand in mine, bringing it to my lips. “You ready?”
“So much. Then we can go register again.”
I laugh. “We have a lot of things we need to remove when we go back.”
Her eyes fill with joy. “We do?”
“Yes, baby, we do.”
Like the two sets of everything. We can have one set and see where our relationship goes. While I may not be ready for marriage, I know I want to be with her. I want to wake up with her beside me, and I want to be able to raise our children together. If things change, then we’ll handle it. I’m taking this one step at a time.
The technician spreads some gooey stuff on Delia’s stomach, and then smiles. “All right, here we go.”
Once again, the sounds of the heartbeats fill the room. Delia’s hand tightens in mine, and we watch each other as the moment hits us again. These are our children.
“Josh . . .”
“I know.”
Tears fill her eyes, and she wipes them away. “I hope that never gets old.”
I lean down, kissing her lips. “I doubt it will.”
The tech and the doctor talk a little and then he points to the screen. “This is baby A and this is baby B. Since you have fraternal twins, you can see that they each have their own amniotic sac as well as a placenta.”
Her hand tightens a little. “That’s good, but are they okay?”
“Baby B is a little smaller, but that’s normal with twins. We’re going to look at each one now and check their organs,” the tech explains.
Delia and I watch the screen as the tech works, my eyes wide and this feeling of contentment flowing over me. I can’t believe this is where my life is. I’m watching my children, our children, growing. The doctor and the tech explain things as we move along. Both of their hearts are developing beautifully, and so far, things look great.
“Would you like to know the sex?” the technician asks.
Delia’s head lifts. “Yes!”
She laughs, and we learn what colors we need to go shopping for.
Chapter 28
Delia
“Pink! I want that one there!” I tell Josh, who once again has absconded the scanner gun. He gets that one on our registry, and I search for one for the boy. “Do you like this?”
He looks at me with a brow raised. “I really don’t care. Pick whichever one you like.”
“I picked the one for the girl. Don’t you want to pick for the boy?”
“An hour ago, I would’ve said yes. Now, I’d just like to get the hell out of the store.”
I refuse to let him piss in my cereal today. I’m too happy. We’re having a boy and a girl. It’s like I won the lottery because, no matter what happens with my relationship with Josh, I will have a piece of him.
“This is important.”
“Bedding?” he asks incredulously.
“Yes. I mean, this will be what our children see each morning and night. These colors will be their comfort.”
“Delia, you’re insane. They are sheets.”
I huff. “It’s their first sheets.”
He shakes his head. “I have no words.”
“Well, have an opinion and help me pick.”
For the girl, it was really easy. I love dragonflies, and they had the most beautiful pink quilt set with yellow dragonflies and white polka dots. The lace trim around the top made it perfect. For the boy, I’m sort of lost. I don’t want trains or cars, but there’s not a lot of options other than that.
He walks down the aisle farther. “What about this one?”
I look at it with lips pursed. It’s actually adorable and will match perfectly in the room. It’s quiltlike with navy-blue, white, and teal patches. There are anchors on the navy-blue patches, arrows on the teal ones, and blue, teal, and gray mountains on the white ones. I love it.
“It’s perfect.”
He smiles. “I’m getting them both now.”
“What?”
“The bedding. We’re buying it.”
“But we’re registering.”
“No, I want to buy this for our kids. Now. I want to start to put their room together.” I want to protest, but there’s something in his eyes that tells me not to. Josh takes a step to me, pulling me in his arms. “I’ve spent so much of my life waiting for something. For someone. For something to make me want to live again. I was waiting for you, for them, for . . . God, I don’t know. I’m tired of waiting. I’ve seen the other side, and I don’t want to do that.”
I lift up on my toes, pressing our lips together. “I don’t want that either.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
He lets me go, and I smile as he loads both into the cart. It all feels so real now that we know we are having a boy and a girl. He’s also moving out of the second bedroom tonight, not that he hasn’t been sleeping in my bed the last week, but we’re making plans. Josh is going to stay with me, and we’re going to be a couple, raising our children together.
My mother is close to having a coronary from the thought of it, but we’re taking it as it comes.
I’m in no rush to get married. I’m honestly happy just knowing he wants to be with me. Maybe that makes me a total idiot, but it’s how I feel.
We head home with a few bags of baby things, and when I walk into my house, I look around at how much this place has changed. The floors are beautiful, and the kitchen is just about done now too.
When Josh, Jack, and Grayson were working on it yesterday, they found a cabinet that had some rot, so what was meant to be an easy painting job has turned into much more. I tried to argue that we didn’t need to do it, but they gave me identical looks of incredulity as they ripped the cabinet off the wall so I had no option but to replace it.
They rebuilt that section, and I love it.
I head in there while Josh puts the baby gear in the spare room.
Feeling hungry and a little tired, I make us each a sandwich. As I’m putting the mayo on the bread, I feel Josh come up behind me, hands resting on my belly. “Do you know how beautiful you are?”
I smile, leaning back into his touch. “No, feel free to tell me.”
He chuckles against my neck. “You are the most beautiful woman who has ever drawn breath.”
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
I turn my head so I can get a glimpse of him. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“Not bad?” Josh asks with a smirk.
“I mean, I’ve seen better.”
“Yeah?”
I giggle when he tickles my sides. “I’m totally lying, I don’t know that I’ve ever had eyes for anyone other than you.”
Fate is a funny thing.
He brings his lips to mine, and I sink into his touch. Each time we kiss, it’s like a surreal experience, and I never want it to end.
When we break apart, he runs his finger down my cheek. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I keep waiting for everything to change,” he confesses.
“What do you mean?”
“This happiness. I’m just waiting for it to stop.”
“Why would it?” I ask.
“It always does.”
“It doesn’t have to.”<
br />
“No, I guess it doesn’t, but I feel like it could, and it might.”
Josh and I are new, and I’m scared of losing him as well. Of losing what is suddenly right in front of me. What if tomorrow, he wakes up and is like, “I’m out”? Then what? I am alone with two babies and a broken heart.
“Look, it will only end if we let it. I have no plans of letting you go, do you?”
“I’m not going anywhere, Delia,” he says with conviction. “Trust me.”
I want to believe him so much, but I too have insecurities. “I do trust you, but we both have fears and have to rely on each other to get us through it. I also know that life isn’t perfect.”
He nods. “It’s not, and I’m just as scared as you are, Deals,” Josh confesses. “I’ve had my fair share of disappointments too. I worry that you’ll wake up and be done with me or that something is going to happen to you and then what?”
He’s insane. I have never been able to deny my feelings for this man. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Why would I ever leave you, though?”
“Because I could screw it all up. I have before. I’ve failed and lost and broken things that were precious. You could walk out that door and then what?”
It won’t ever happen, but I understand fear. It’s not rational, and it feeds into the very worst of us, just like it’s doing to me now. We are both on unsteady ground, waiting for it to fall out from beneath us. I have to remember that.
“Nothing is guaranteed. I know this as much as you do. My parents were so in love and my mother thought they had a lifetime to love, but he died, and we had to go on. You have to stop living as though the other shoe will drop because, at some point, it always does. We have now, Josh. We have each other and the babies, and we have to live for now.”
He rests his forehead against mine with eyes closed. “I don’t want to think about losing you.”
“You won’t,” I promise.
It’s going to take time for him to believe that. For both of us to believe that. It’s been a long time coming, and all of it has happened so fast that it will take us time to really trust it.
Josh raises his head, and his blue eyes are filled with emotion. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
A Moment for Us Page 17
