"No, no, leave those on," he tells me with a twinkle in his eyes.
I raise my brows as he leans down to the floor and out of sight, I think to remove his boots and pants.
"Open up your legs," he says, standing back up and holding the candy cane that had fallen to the floor.
Chapter 12
The next morning, we sleep in since we stayed up most the night. I can’t explain the feelings that come over me when I wake to Joey beside me. So many mornings, in that still sleepy haze, I’ve felt like he was with me until I fully woke. But this morning, there’s no sadness at realizing he’s not here, because he is. I curl into his hard body, warm and still breathing steadily with sleep. I run my nose along his jawline and inhale his skin.
I bask in this feeling, holding onto it for when he leaves again. He mumbles something and turns his body into me, causing me to roll onto my back. He nuzzles into me, his hips pushing against me, but he’s still asleep. I need to pee and after a few moments, I slide out from under him. It’s not easy mentally since I want to stay in bed with him forever, but bladder calls.
I head into the bathroom and close the door softly, doing my business before my stomach growls. We didn’t eat the night before, and I’m just now realizing it. I’d brought some things for us to eat in the car on the ride home, granola bars and some fruit. But this won’t tide me over since I want him to sleep, wondering if maybe he hadn’t been getting much time for that in training. I know they rise early, are busy all day, and only get a few hours of rest at night.
Grabbing an oversized ARMY shirt from my bag, one Joey had sent me in the mail a few weeks ago, and put it on. I close the bedroom door and pad over to the phone beside the couch in my bare feet. Calling room service, which I hope is open since it’s Christmas Eve day, and luckily there is someone there to bring me breakfast. I order eggs, bacon, and toast for us, and a pot of coffee.
Turning the television on low, I sit on the couch and channel surf as I text Maven, then realize I’m only in a T-shirt, so I sneak back into the room and grab a robe on the back of the bathroom door. Joey’s still in the same position on the bed as when I left him, and I stop to look at him for a moment. A knock at the door jolts me out of my reverie, and I close the door again, before jogging over to the front door.
“Would you like me to wheel this in?” the man asks.
“Yes, please,” I reply quietly and move aside for him to enter.
The cart rolling across floor causes the tins on the plates to ting together and I hope it doesn’t wake Joey. I grab some cash from my purse and tip the man before he thanks me and leaves. I sit on the couch and lift the top off one of the plates, resting it on my thighs as I put salt and pepper on the eggs, munching on a slice of crispy bacon before pouring a cup of piping hot coffee. I’m almost done with my eggs when the bedroom door opens, swallowing my mouthful as my husband comes out of the room in his boxers. He’s all sleep mussed, his eyes still looking tired, as he scratches his head and looks around the room, before landing on me on the couch.
“Sorry, did I wake you?” I ask.
“Is there bacon in this room?” he asks.
I nod and hold up a piece, watching his eyes light up as he hurries over and snatches the proffered meat from my fingers with his teeth. He literally moans as he chews, his eyes closing before taking another bite. I smile at him, betting that the soldiers must not get much bacon. He devours the piece in three bites, even licking the grease off my fingertips as he sits down beside me. I giggle and giggle even harder when he kisses up my arm to my neck, tickling me with his morning stubble.
“Are you planning on not shaving in these ten days?” I question.
“Hell no, I miss my beard,” he hums against my neck.
I miss it too, and for more reasons than it just looking fucking hot on him. We eat and play, teasing him with more of my bacon. Then he reaches over and puts his hand on the back of my neck, his thumb rubbing there.
“I missed you beautiful,” he says softly.
I lean in to kiss him, and right on cue, my phone begins to chime. We pull away, both knowing it’s his mom.
“I’ll get it,” he tells me as he kisses me one last time quickly before getting up.
Joey exits and there’s a knock on the suite door, and I jump up with a wide grin as I head for the door. There’s another knock, just as I reach for the handle, opening it to Maven and Dornan standing there.
“Are we too early?” she asks quietly.
“No, just in time,” I smile.
“Who is it?” Joey asks as he comes out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, his eyes landing on his best friends.
“What the fuck?” he smiles and walks over, hugging Maven, then Dornan.
I haven’t seen Dornan smile like this since Joey left, and it in turn makes my heart fluffy and full.
“You guys just get here?” he asks them.
“No, we drove with Katie,” Maven tells him.
“You think we’d send her across country alone?” Dornan adds.
“Not like I couldn’t,” I add defensively.
“There’s no doubt,” Joey says, putting his arm around my shoulders.
“Where’s the food?” Maven asks, moving past us into the living space.
We hang out, and Joey and Dornan talk a lot, while Maven and I watch some Christmas movie playing on the T.V. The two of them were sharing the suite next door, and I hoped something might happen between them. But on the way here, I occupied the back seat for the most part, while they rode together in the front. I pretended to be asleep a few times, thinking maybe they would talk about what Dornan’s been wanting to talk to her about since before I came into the picture. But nothing.
About an hour later, we’re on the road home. Rain has come, along with winds. Joey drives us the whole way, but I don’t think he minds though, I know he loves driving, and missed it while he’s been away. I provide the music, and when I think everyone’s getting sick of my eighties pop, I change it to Metallica or Judas Priest. I don’t know if it’s because we’ve only been communicating by phone, but we sit in silence for most the ride.
As usual, I’m cuddled up at his side, just being with him. Enjoying the feel of his body beside mine, our hands together and resting on his thigh. It’s these moments that can’t be replicated with a phone call, those can’t erase the physical distance, this is the only thing that can. Maven and Dornan remain quiet for the most part in the back seat, and at one point I see Maven asleep with her head on his thigh.
The drive actually goes by fast, and I’m a little sad I won’t be spending any alone time with Joey the rest of the day. We pull down Main Street in Plantain, and watch as Joey looks at all the shops, decorated in holiday cheer, holly wreaths hanging from the lamp posts. Even though we never get snow aside from out in the desert, the town does it’s best to make everyone feel the holiday. He looks around like something might’ve changed since the last time he was home, but it hasn’t.
We drop Maven at her place and Dornan at his parents’ house, and a moment later we’re on his parents’ street. The American flag, and Swedish flag both blow proudly in the wind on the front porch. I never felt much when I saw the American flag, but now that my husband has dedicated his life to our country, I take pride in it, and think of him every time I see it. It’s raining buckets, so as Joey pulls up, he honks the horn.
We wait until Gwen opens the side door before we both bolt out the passenger door inside. Gwen and Joseph are there, and are both hugging Joey as I turn around inside the kitchen. I know I missed him so much, I can’t imagine how much they did. They embrace for a long while, I see Gwen tear up, but I know she’s more happy than sad. Joseph pats his son’s back and gives him a nod.
“How was the drive?” Gwen asks, coming towards me.
“Wet,” I snort and they all look at me with raised eyebrows.
It takes me a moment before I realize the room is silent, since I’m more concerned with pulling
my freezing wet T-shirt away from my skin. I look up and realize what I said, and what they’re thinking.
“Ew,” I sneer.
Joey laughs and sticks the tip of his tongue out to tease me. I shake my head and turn to head upstairs for some clean clothes. Pulling open the dresser drawers, my clothes mingled in with Joeys, I grab a T-shirt and sweatshirt, and a dry pair of jeans. Joey’s voice comes from the hallway as he answers Mom about something. I take the liberty to get him some dry clothes out as well, and when he walks into the bedroom I toss them at his chest, which he catches.
“Thanks,” he replies and sets the stack on the bed. “What’s this?” he asks reaching down and picking up a small wrapped package off the bed.
“Oh, that’s for tomorrow morning,” I say, hurrying over to get it. “Must’ve slipped off my pile.”
He raises his arm, so it’s out of my reach.
“Come on,” I sigh.
“It’s for me, isn’t it?” he asks, looking down at me.
“Last time I checked, that is how you spell your name,” I reply.
“Please, let me open just one,” he begs playfully.
“Okay,” I sigh, I mean I guess if there’s one I want him to open with just us two it may as well be this one.
He sits down on the bed, but I remain standing. He quickly rips open the wrapping paper, revealing a small photo album. The cover says ‘FAMILY,’ and I watch with baited breath as he flips it open.
The first few plastic-covered pages are from when Joey and I started dating, then ten or so of our wedding and before he left for boot camp. Then I swallow as he flips to the next page, and my eyes hone in on his face, watching for any sign of acknowledgment. He looks up at me confused until he looks down at my hands. His eyes widen, and his mouth falls open.
“I…you, we’re…” he stammers, “I’m going to be a dad?” he asks.
I nod, and rub my hands over my small tummy. “Four months.”
“Holy shit!” he says loudly, pulling me against him again, mindful of the baby and kissing me hard.
I giggle, because this news has been killing me to keep a secret. When Joey left for boot camp, I knew I was emotional, but it started getting out of hand. The nausea I had with Maven that night started happening more frequently and I knew something was up. I called Maven freaking out a couple of weeks later, more with excitement than fear. She came over with ten boxes of tests, but it wasn’t necessary, the line on the first test instantly turned positive.
We both squealed and jumped around, and I could hardly wait to tell Gwen and Joseph. The next week I went to see a doctor, and get my blood drawn and an ultrasound, Maven and Gwen at my side. Every time Joey and I spoke on the phone, it was on the tip of my tongue to tell him, but I knew it had to be in person.
“Not like you can really tell, but how the fuck did I not notice this last night?” he asks.
“I don’t think you were really paying attention to that part of my body,” I tell him.
I look at the side of his face as he pulls the album closer so he can examine every detail. He looks at the first two pictures for at least five minutes, and I can’t describe this elation inside me. Just like how it feels like no time has passed between us, like we’ve only spent an hour apart. Joey is my home, and bringing a baby into our lives, created by the both of us, just feels right too. When he gets to the last two photos, from just earlier this week, I wonder if he will notice the writing on the side. Then he squints and brings it even closer.
“Does this say-” he pauses, “girl?”
He looks over and rests the album on his lap. I nod as my eyes search his. With ease, he slides me onto his lap and I take the photos in my hands as I look down at him. His palm and fingers rub over my stomach.
“She’s going to be perfect, like you,” he tells me, running his hand over my hair.
Chapter 13
A few months after Christmas, Joey finished with his training. We moved out of Plantain and into a house on the Army base in North Carolina. Some nice new houses had just been built in a new neighborhood, which we were lucky enough to get into one. It was bigger and newer than any house I’d ever lived in, and I loved it. The lawns were manicured, American flags waved proudly beside every front door, and all the house fronts looked the same, just different colored siding which were different variations of beige. All the same, I felt comfortable being here alone.
Maven and Dornan helped us move, and when we arrived, all the stuff we ordered while Joey was home for Christmas, was already there waiting for us. The inside was already painted, and it only took us a few days to get everything settled.
Joey began his new job, which had him on base sometimes and he’d be home every evening at five. It was so weird that we’d lived together for years at this point, but never alone. I enjoyed this privacy and ability to greet my husband any way I chose after a long day at work.
Sometimes Joey would leave for weeks at a time. He couldn’t tell me why, but I knew he was going overseas, or at least I think he was. When he did come back, his dirty clothes were covered in sand and dirt, but I never asked what he was doing, and he never told me. I got the feeling that maybe he wasn’t allowed, because even when he was gone and would call, he only wanted to talk about stuff going on with me. I was getting nervous as the time drew closer for our daughter to arrive that he would miss it.
Fortunately, he’d already told his bosses or whoever he reported to, that we were expecting. Joey assured me he’d be there, that he wouldn’t miss seeing her born for the world. But a few weeks before my due date, he got sent off somewhere and I was a mess. The sadness that he’d miss the baby consumed my every thought. He was so hard to get a hold of normally, but he made sure to call me at some point every day. I don’t know why, but I assumed since he was able to do that, he was in the states somewhere.
The week before my due date, Gwen and Maven came to stay with me. My stomach was huge, and I worried about how big this baby really is. Joey’s six foot six inches and when he was born he was ten pounds and twenty-four inches long, and I’m no short thing either, although I have no idea what my measurements were when I was born. I’m prepared to deliver a turkey, but try not to think about it too much.
At my last appointment, my doctor told me the baby’s dropped and it could be any day now. My bag for the hospital is packed, and her room is ready for her. This morning I wake up to a call from Joey, I’d barely slept the night before due to shooting pains in my back and side.
“She’s moving around like crazy,” I sigh as I lie in bed with the phone pressed to my ear.
“She knows it’s almost time,” he tells me and I can hear he’s smiling by the tone of his voice.
I can tell he’s outside, by the sound of wind and other people talking in the distance.
“How are you?” I ask, sitting up.
“Fine, beautiful,” he says flatly.
It’s hard to have a conversation with someone who can’t tell you shit about where they are or their daily business.
“I miss you,” I sigh.
“Shit, I miss you too,” he says with a sigh as well.
I reach over and close the window beside the bed, the early morning breeze has me shivering. Tossing the covers off my legs, I slowly scoot to the edge of the bed, and baby girl kicks me hard and I wince, putting my hand over the area.
“What are you doing today?” Joey asks.
“Probably nothing,” I tell him.
I stand and feel another hard kick, and I grimace, my hand grabbing at my rock-hard stomach. Blood rushes in my ears and then I feel something happen inside me. “How do you know when your waters broke?” I ask with a groan.
“Um,” he replies, “I don’t know, why?” he adds after a moment.
“Because I’m standing in a puddle of water,” I state, looking down.
Clear liquid streams down my bare legs, puddling around my feet on the hardwood floor.
“Shit, where’s Mom? Can you wal
k, is the baby coming out?” he says frantically.
“Let me call her,” I tell him, surprisingly calm.
“I love you, call me as soon as you get off the phone with her,” he tells me.
“I will, I love you too.”
We hang up and I quickly call Gwen, who tells me she’s at the grocery store in town and Maven’s gone on a run around the Army base. I sit back on the bed and wait to feel something, contractions, the pain again, but nothing. After a few minutes, I get up and go into the bathroom. Cleaning myself up, I brush my teeth, and wash my face, putting my hair into a ponytail. By the time I waddle back to the bedroom, Gwen is coming up the steps in a rush.
“Are you having contractions?” she asks, out of breath.
“I don’t know, I can feel something, but it’s different every time,” I tell her, slipping yoga pants up my legs.
“I’ll call your doctor and see what she wants you to do,” Gwen says, and leaves me to continue getting dressed.
I put my hospital bag on the bed, and go into the nursery. I grab a new blanket I just bought her to bring with me, and look around the space. This could be the last day this room is empty; this could be the day I meet my baby.
“Katie?” I hear Maven as she comes up the steps.
“In here,” I reply and step out into the hallway.
“What do you need me to do?” she asks all sweaty from her run.
“Uh, well, I guess grab my bag, but I don’t know if the doctor wants me to go to the hospital,” I tell her.
“Yes, we’re going,” Gwen says from downstairs.
Maven and I share a look before she does a little happy dance which makes me smile, then she disappears into the bedroom to get my bag. Gwen meets us at the bottom of the steps, with car keys in hand.
“Can someone call Joey and tell him-”
“I’m on it,” Maven says as she pulls out her cellphone.
Gwen helps me into the passenger seat of her car, while Maven gets in the backseat.
“Are you having contractions?” Maven asks me.
Take On Me: Plantain Series Book Three Page 14
