by Emilia Finn
She’s pissed. She’s hurt by his anger.
“Two positives?” Jack asks, holding the sealed bag of sticks in front of his face. “Two of you are pregnant?”
“We don’t know who though.” Kit trembles and Bobby holds her closer against his body.
“One’s ours, baby, I know it is.”
Kit’s tears start falling, her emotions way too close to the surface, especially after a night of drinking. “What if it isn’t, Bobby? What if we never get a baby of our own?”
“We will. Hold on.” He stands from the arm of my couch and carefully places Kit down. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Oh my god,” Kit murmurs as he bolts from the room. She holds her hand over her mouth as her white face turns a light green. “We were drunk. We were super drunk, and there are two babies. What if we hurt them?”
“It’s fine, Kit.” Jack walks to his sister, hugging her against his own chest, his large body now way bigger than hers. He’s not her baby brother anymore. He’s a grown ass man, with a teenagers mind. “The babies are fine. If anything, they’re the size of a poppy seed right now. And protected. Getting drunk one time is okay. You deserved a night out.”
Bobby comes rushing back in, banging my door open and holding a small box in front of him. “Okay! Four new tests. I took these out of our bathroom, baby. I’ll replace them tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“Go pee. All of you.” Jimmy lifts Iz then takes a test from Bobby’s outstretched hand. “Go pee. Come straight back.”
“Tina.” Bobby passes a test and I feel her body shake against mine. “Here. Go pee.”
“Peaches.” I take her chin in my hand and bring her eyes to mine. She looks terrified, despite her surety earlier that she’s not pregnant. “We’ll be okay. Go pee, come back and let me know if I’m gonna be a daddy, or an uncle.”
She watches me a moment longer, swallowing her nervousness down. Her hand covers mine as it cups her cheek. “Do you want to be a daddy?”
“Yeah, babe.” I kiss her lips softly. “I do. When it’s our turn. I won’t be mad about the outcome no matter which way it works out tonight. I gotcha.”
I kiss her nose, then I spin her and pat her backside to get her moving across the room. Tink snatches a test from Bobby’s hand and storms out of the room then Iz and Kit follow, like a lineup going to the gallows.
“Holy fucking shit.” Bobby slumps down on my couch, dropping his head in his hands, the worry and nerves now exposed when he kept it under wraps for Kit’s sake. He shakes his head. “I love you guys, really I do. But I fucking hope one of those positives was Kit’s. She wants it so damn bad. I do too.”
“I hope none of the positives are mine!” Jon snaps, slamming his phone down on the coffee table and slumping into the single recliner. “You can have mine, B.”
“What the fuck is your problem?” Jim snaps. “She has feelings, you asshole. If that positive is yours, then you’re gonna man up. You have sex, you live with the consequences.”
“Fuck you, Jim. Mind your own business.”
“My own business?” He leans against the wall, crossing his feet at the ankle and smirking like an asshole. “Okay, you wanna talk about me hoping I knocked your sister up? Cause we can talk about that instead.”
“Shut up,” Jon groans, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. “No, I don’t wanna talk about that either. My sister is a fucking angel. You touch her again and I’ll kill you.”
“Yeah, whatever, Jon. She’s already mine.”
A slamming door down the hall catches my attention and I wince, hoping it doesn’t wake the babies, but my attention is automatically drawn to Tink as she comes storming down the hall and toward us.
Like a damn hurricane aiming for land, I’m tempted to tuck and run. She looks dangerous and ready to kill.
Jon stands again, nervously fixing his shirt but he isn’t given a chance to speak as she storms into the room and pegs the pee stick at his chest. The tiny spitfire is scary as hell when she’s pissed. “It’s negative, dick. Just like I said it would be. Go fuck yourself.” She picks her purse up and blows out the front door.
“Fuck!”
“Yeah, go fuck yourself, dick.” Bobby stands and slaps Jon on the back of the head. “Go find her, give her a ride home.”
“She’s okay,” Kit says, entering the living room quietly with Iz and Tina behind her. “She called a cab. She’s going to her apartment tonight.”
Jon groans painfully. He’s in the shit, so bad. “Fuck.”
“Baby.” Bobby walks to the girls, taking Kit’s spare hand in his while her test holding hand rests behind her back. “You all did it?”
“Yep.”
“So?” Jack bounces on the balls of his feet with a stupid grin plastered across his face. He gets nieces and nephews today, no matter what. “Do you know the results?”
My heart pounds in my chest, almost painfully, but not because I’m scared, or mad or anything bad. I’m just… this is life changing. Either way, this night changes our family. For the better.
“Yep. Still two positives, two negatives.”
“Tell us now.” Bobby begs. “Please tell me now. I’m dying here.”
All three women share super smug, super secret smiles, and I find my own lips lifting in response. This is good news. Everyone is happy.
“We got a positive, Bobby. You’re gonna be a daddy!”
Kit shrieks in delight when he picks her up and swings her around. “Yes!” He rains kisses all over her now sober face, no longer green from being bounced around. As a whole, our group converges on the couple, a giant group hug and we squeeze and congratulate them. “I love you so much, baby. I love you. And I love our baby.” Bobby’s voice breaks on the last words, his emotion squeezing my heart.
“Wait!” Jack says, pulling our group apart. “Stop squishing her. You’ll pop it right out.”
“Jack!” Kit laughs as she wipes happy tears from her eyes. “What happened to your tiny protected seed baby speech?”
“That was before I knew for sure you were pregnant. Holy shit, Kit. You’re having a baby! I’m gonna be an uncle.”
“Hey, douche.” Iz hits his arm, but her smile is full and happy. “You’re already an uncle.”
“Oh, Sissy.” He grabs Iz, pulling her to his broad chest. “I know. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant…” He lets her go and turns back to Kit. “Holy shit. Dad would be so pissed that he’s not here for it.”
“I know!” Kit laughs. Laughs! She doesn’t cry like I expected she would. She laughs and high fives Jack. “Jesus, can you imagine? If he was still here, baby,” she turns to Bobby, “if he was still here, he’d be living in our damn basement by now. He’d annoy the shit out of us.” She continues wiping happy tears from her eyes. “Holy shit. I’m having a baby.”
“I’m so fucking happy.” Bobby squeezes her again and kisses the top of her head.
Jack turns back to Iz suddenly, then to Tina and me. “Who has the other positive then?”
Holy shit. Is it Izzy? Or Tina?
I squeeze her against me, preparing my body for either answer. I’m so fucking nervous.
“It’s mine.” Iz holds her test out in front of her, her face ecstatic and green at the same time. “We’re having another baby, Jim.”
“We are?” His eyes are round like saucers, his face awed as he looks at Iz. “It’s ours?”
She nods, smiling eagerly. Instead of hugging her, or kissing her or telling her he loves her, he turns a full circle until he’s facing Bobby. “Yes!” he shouts, then he and Bobby chest bump like fucking idiots.
“Are you sad?” Tina asks, holding out her negative in front of us as the guys continue to jump around together, having forgotten their pregnant wives as they laugh at them.
I take the test from her hand, studying it a moment longer, then I put it in my pocket. “No, Peaches. I’m okay. I was okay either way.”
“I’ll give
you your baby, Aiden. Whenever you want one. I’ll take back my old name, I’ll deal with Sean. We can start the process next week. I won’t let him hunt me anymore. We’ll deal with it properly, then I’ll marry you for real and I’ll give you as many babies as you want.”
I take her face in my hands again and bring my lips down to hers. “I love you, Peaches. All the way to the moon and all the red skittles.”
“I love you too.”
“You should probably take responsibility in this though.”
She pulls her face away from mine, her soft eyes going hard, and I fight back my smile. “What?”
“Well, my swimmers probably don’t even work anymore. You broke them months ago in Kit’s kitchen. This is all your fault.”
Tina’s eyes go soft again as she slaps my chest playfully. “You’re a dummy.”
Thirty Two
Sean
It’s go time
I spin my chair at the knock on my office door, turning away from my contemplation on the rose garden made invisible in the dark. My fingers are clasped in front of my chin as I rest on my elbows. My pinstripe suit pleated perfectly down the front like a razor blade, my leather loafers soft like fucking butter.
Some say money can’t buy happiness. I call bullshit. I’ll happily call them a fucking liar, then tell them to give it a go. Then I’ll kill them for trying to stick their filthy fingers in the money pie that belongs to me.
“Boss.”
I study my second in charge, Damon Riley, and sneer at his untucked shirt. What are we, fucking Neanderthals? I surround myself with savages, and not in the way one might hope for in my line of business.
The ranks have changed, everything has changed since she ran. Insubordination. Theft. Carelessness. Guys who think they have bigger balls than they really do. Like weeds, I rid them from my garden before they harm the collective.
“What?”
“She just popped up. Prints flashed through control central twelve minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“East.”
I knew she’d pop again. Can’t hide forever, especially in this country. Money is the root of all things; I have more than Gates, and she has none. Eventually her sins would catch up to her, and I’ve been waiting, watching and plotting. I will take absolution. I am God’s hand, I am law.
There will be no forgiveness for her. Not in this world, anyway. We’re beyond talking. This won’t be a discussion. I’ll find her, and I’ll send her straight for judgment.
“Let’s go.”
Thirty Three
Tina
Celebrations afoot
“I’m getting two new grandbabies? Two!” Nelly rushes across Bobby’s backyard, skirting the patio and grill as Jon cooks the steak, then around the pool fence with a smile on her face so big it might break her. She aims straight for our huddle of girls, then squeezes Kit and Iz against her chest.
“Get off her, Mom.” Bobby laughs, not letting Kit go, but he hugs Nelly next, squeezing her with a proud smile on his face.
“My baby’s having a baby.” She takes his face between her hands, a mother holding her firstborn, a soft sweet caress I can totally relate to. I hold Evie like that most days too. “I’m so proud of you. I’m proud of all my boys.”
“Thanks Mama. I love you.”
“I love you too, honey. And you!” She turns to Jim, squeezing him the way she did Bobby. “You made me another grandbaby too. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks Mom. I’m pretty fucking psyched.”
She slaps his chest in mock outrage. “Stop swearing like that. Don’t you know how uncivilized you sound?”
“Sorry Mama.”
“Mmhm, you should be. Where’s my Evie bug? I know she’s around here, you better not be teaching her to swear like that.”
“No, Tina keeps us under control.” He winks at me. “That’s why I’m swearing now, cause Jack took her inside for some juice. She’ll be back in a sec then I’ll have to say poop and dagnabit again.”
Nelly rolls her eyes. “Sounds like you’re truly suffering. I swear I raised you better. I raised him better.” She turns to me, as though I’m judging her parenting abilities on her sons’ swearing. She turns to Aiden, cupping his cheek gently with her hand. “At least Aiden doesn’t speak like that.”
“No Mom.” Aiden holds me closer against his side and I fight my smile. He’s full of crap. “I would never act like an animal. You really should have stopped having babies after me.”
“Aww, but that wouldn’t do. I do love my last baby. He just has a disgusting potty mouth. But he is giving me a new squishy baby, so maybe I’ll tolerate it. For today.”
Jim smirks under her praise. “I love you, Mommy.”
“Mmhmm. I’m going to see my babies.” She turns from us, squeezing my arm on her way, then she walks to the kiddie walker as Bean plays in the shade. Pulling her out, she holds Bean on her hip and walks onto the patio, kissing Jon on the way past, then she slips inside to find Jack and Evie.
I spot the guy’s indulgent smiles as they watch Nelly walk away and I roll my eyes. “You know she swears, right?”
Bobby face turns stricken, as though I stabbed his mother in front of him. “Who does?”
“Nelly. She swears. I’ve heard her.”
“She does not!” Jim declares.
“She does!” Iz laughs.
“It’s true,” Kit says. “And most of the time, it’s when she’s talking about you boys.”
“You shut your dirty mouth!” Jim demands, though he laughs. “My mama is an angel. Don’t you spread your filthy lies about her.”
“Believe what you want, mama’s boy, but it’s true.”
“Oh, look.” Tink nods toward the deck where Jack walks out holding Steph’s hand. “Can we?”
“Yeah,” Kit says with a mischievous smile. “We can. You boys, go away. Take Jack with you.”
“Baby.” Bobby warns her with a disapproving tone. “Be cool.”
Kit scoffs. “I’m always cool.”
“Yes, but Jack is your baby, and I see your claws. Put them away.”
“Don’t be a dummy. I just want to hang with her. Maybe we can go lounge by the pool. Talk.”
“Jack won’t let you take her,” Jim argues, but we all scoff. Men. So simple minded.
“Jack won’t stop me.”
“Babe--”
“Steph!” Tink calls out. “Come sit by the pool with us.”
“Tink.”
“Oh hush, worrywart. It’s tradition. We have to make sure she’s good enough.”
“Hi everyone.” Jack and Steph approach our group, Steph tucked nervously under Jacks arm and I watch as Tink and Kit’s smiles turn sugary sweet. Izzy shakes her head, smiling at her shoes, and Aiden chuckles under his breath.
“Watch out for her,” Aiden murmurs against my brow, then he kisses me softly.
“Who, Kit?”
He chuckles again. “No. Steph. She’ll need someone on her side.”
“Alright.” Tink grabs Steph’s loose hand and tugs her from Jack. “We’re going to hang out for a bit. Go hang with the kids.” She dismisses the guys, and I don’t miss the way Jack’s and Steph’s eyes latch onto each other. They’re terrified and I giggle softly. We’re not going to kill her. We’re just going to grill her.
“So tell us about yourself.” Kit starts the inquisition as soon as we’re inside the pool fence and away from the guys hearing.
“Um--”
“Have you always lived here?” Tink supplies as she lies on the recliner chair.
“No.” Steph hesitates, so Tink just grabs her hand and pulls her down beside her. “No. My Dad was transferred here for work last year.” She tucks her mousy hair behind her ear, adjusting on the chair until she’s awkwardly comfortable. “He’s an engineer.”
“What kind of engineer?”
“Um, structural. Like, he makes sure the building and bridges and stuff stay standing. So he draws th
e correct sized beams and stuff.”
“Cool.” Kit says, getting comfortable on the lounge beside Steph. “So you moved here last year. Do you have siblings?”
“Yeah. I have a little brother, Matty. He’s eleven.”
I hear Kit mutter under her breath and I smile. I bet she can relate to the little brother thing. “What does your mom do?”
Steph straightens her shoulders, catching on that this is an interrogation and not a friendly chat. She’s tough. I like that. “She was a stay at home mom for a while, but she’s an accountant. Like you, right?”
“Damn,” Kit mutters again and I stifle my laugh. “Yeah, that’s cool. And yeah, I’m an accountant.”
“How did you and Jack meet?” Izzy asks, popping the top on a soda that she grabbed from the mini fridge just behind us. “Since you’re in the grade below him.”
Steph’s face turns beet red and I watch the girls’ eyes widen. Why so embarrassing? “He, ah. He kind of stopped some guys from bothering me.”
“He got in a fight?” Kit asks, her brows pinching, now on Jack and off Steph, but Steph shakes her head.
“Nah. He just kind of stood there, all broodingly behind me. He actually scared the crap out of me too,” she laughs softly. “I didn’t know him. Like, I knew who he was, but I didn’t know him. For all I knew, he was one of their goonies and was behind me to stop me running away.”
“So what happened?” Iz asks, no longer grilling, but genuinely curious. And concerned.
“These boys were being jerks. I’m still kinda new at school and I was eating lunch and studying. Alone. They wanted to talk to me, but they were loud and obnoxious. I wasn’t comfortable so I asked them to go away, then when they didn’t, I got up instead. The one guy, there was three of them, one of them grabbed my arm to stop me, then suddenly Jack was there. He didn’t even have to speak, he just looked at them with his arms folded across his chest and they just scampered away.”
“Bullies don’t like to be stood up to,” I murmur, drawing all eyes my way.
