4 & Counting

by Toni Aleo

  “I’m sorry, I am completely stunned here.”

  Piper wiped her face. “I know and I’m sorry—”

  “Don’t you dare apologize, I should have noticed something was off, but at the same time, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

  “I was scared.”

  Elli nodded. She could understand that. Piper’s family was hard on her. She was always the failure in her parents’ eyes. The one that never knew what she wanted. She was always moving, never settled in a career; stability was not her strong point. And having a baby meant you needed to have some sort of consistency in your life. Racking her brain for a solution, she watched as the girl she loved like a little sister sobbed. It was easy to see that Piper was scared out of her mind. Elli wanted to help her; after all, she was a fixer, and even though she suspected the father was not in the picture, she had to ask, “Who’s the father?”

  Piper shook her head, covering her face as she wiped away the tears. When she looked at Elli, Elli knew then that this wasn’t going to be good. She could read Piper like a book. She could tell when Piper was lying and she could usually tell when Piper was hurting. But then again, maybe that’s not true anymore. Piper hid her pregnancy for six months and Elli had no damn clue. Putting all that aside, what mattered now was to help Piper.

  “Who, Piper?”

  She inhaled another shuttered breath, her blue eyes flooding in tears and her chest began to heave. “I love him, Elli, I do, but he doesn’t love me.”

  She was stalling, and dread filled Elli. She knew instantly who it was. It was someone she knew. It was someone she consider family. It was the same person that was causing a whole bunch of stress in Elli’s life, but before she could say his name, Piper did.

  “Erik, Erik Titov, Jakob’s brother.”

  Fucking Erik, she thought as her nails bit into her palms. She breathed deeply to calm herself, then slowly exhaled through her nose before she nodded in understanding.

  “Does he know?”

  She shook her head no and Elli wanted to shake her. Didn’t she realize that she was doing nothing but hurting herself? She wouldn’t tell her that, though; she was going to get it tenfold from her family, and Elli wouldn’t do that to her too.

  As calmly as she could she told her, “Go to my house in Sweetbriar and pull yourself together. You need to tell Erik; he needs to know. It will hurt everyone in the long run if you don’t. Don’t do this to yourself, or him, and more importantly to your unborn baby.”

  Piper looked up at her through her damp eyes. “What?”

  Yes, this was the best thing for her. She’d figure things out, finish the book she was illustrating and maybe even prepare to be a mother. Being a first-time mother is hard enough, but doing it alone has to be ten times more difficult. Elli was going to do everything she could to help, but Erik Titov was a whole different story. That man had so many issues off the ice it was insane, but something was going to have to change. He needed help and, no matter what anyone says, maybe this could be his wake-up call.

  Piper was a flighty girl but she loved with everything inside her. Elli truly believed that was what Erik needed.

  He needed Piper.

  “You heard me. No rent, no bills, nothing; go live there and just figure things out. Work on your sketches and figure out what to do next. My house is yours until you don’t need it any longer.”

  “I can’t—”

  “Yes you can,” Elli said, reaching for the canister on the kitchen countertop that held their extra keys. Pulling out her Sweetbriar house keys, she handed them to Piper and smiled. “Go. If you need anything, call us, we’ll help you, but the house is the same as when I lived there. All you need is your personal things.”

  Piper moved the keys around in her shaking hands. “How do I thank you?”

  “By telling him and figuring out everything. You are going to be an amazing mother, Piper, you just have to figure out what your future holds. First, though, you need to tell Erik.”

  She nodded slowly before reaching for Elli and hugging her fiercely. Elli could feel Piper’s little belly pressing into her and it brought tears to her eyes. Her baby sister was having a baby.

  And by the grace of God, Elli would make sure that Piper was happy.

  Hopefully that would include Erik too.

  ***

  After walking Piper out to her car, Elli waddled back into the house, physically and emotionally exhausted. She had no clue what she was going to do about Erik and Piper but she knew she had to do something. When she reached the foyer, she paused and smiled when she heard the music. Shea’s deep beautiful voice sang as he played his guitar; it gave her goose bumps. She loved when he sang, and this was one of her favorite songs. Walking into the living room, she found Shea with Shelli sitting beside him watching him in awe as Posey, Owen and Evan lay on the floor. She wasn’t sure if the babies knew what was going on but they seemed calm while Posey looked up at her daddy like he hung the moon and stars.

  Which in all reality, he did.

  Softly he sang the chorus to Dierks Bentley’s “Thinking of You,”and Shelli’s smile was unstoppable. When her sweet little voice started singing along with him, Elli couldn’t hold back the tears.

  Damn hormones!

  Shea encouraged Shelli to sing, and together they sang the song like pros as Elli’s heart expanded with love. Coming closer, Elli kneeled and gathered Posey in her arms as they listened to Shea and Shelli finish their song. Shea flashed her a grin that set her on fire and she knew that nothing could ever live up to this moment. She sat with her babies, watched her husband and daughter as they sang, and realized nothing in the world was better than this.

  She was happy. So freaking happy, tears rolled down her cheeks.

  When the song ended, Shelli threw her hands up and let out a cheer.

  “I did it!”

  Shea leaned over, kissing his daughter loudly on the lips. “You sure did and it was beautiful.”

  Shelli smiled proudly at her daddy as Elli said, “So beautiful, Shelli.”

  She jumped off the couch and climbed into Elli’s arms, kissing her on the cheek. Elli closed her eyes, holding her two girls as her boys lay beside her, sleeping.

  “Smile, guys.”

  Elli looked up to find Shea with his phone focused and ready to take a picture. Shelli and Posey smiled like the pros they were while Elli shook her head. “Shea, I look horrible.”

  “Never. Smile, gorgeous,” he said with a wink.

  Elli did as he asked, and as soon as the flash went off Shelli and Posey jumped up to see the picture. Elli leaned over to check on her little guys and listened as the girls gushed over their photo.

  “Alright, why don’t you guys go play in your room? I’ll be in there in a few.”

  “Okay, Daddy,” Shelli said, running off with Posey right behind her. Shea laid his guitar down and came over to help Elli up from the floor. She smiled as she took his hands and let him help her swiftly to her feet. He then smiled as he gathered her in his arms, kissing her softly on the lips.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  “I love you more,” she said, eyes closed as she ran her nose along the hair on his jaw.

  He hadn’t shaved since the playoffs, and man, did she love his beard. Hell, she loved this man no matter what. As long as he was hers.

  “Is Piper okay?”

  Elli shook her head, leaning against Shea’s chest. “No, but she will be.”

  “Anything I can do?”

  She shook her head again. “Just hold me.”

  “I can do that.”

  He led her to the couch, holding her close beside him as he dusted her temple with his lips. “Jordan called while you were talking with Piper.”

  She smiled at the mention of her ex-backup goalie. She loved Jordan, but with Tate being her main goalie, Jordan wasn’t getting the play he needed and she knew he needed more than what the team could o
ffer him. She wanted Jordan to be happy, and thankfully, he met a fiery redhead, Aynslee, before he left for South Carolina to play with the IceCats.

  “How are they?”

  “Good. Still not settled but they found their house. He plans to ask her to marry him after the IceCats’ opening game.”

  “Awesome, I’m so glad.”

  “Yeah, he says he wants us all to visit sometime, the whole crew.”

  Elli laughed. “Goodness, the whole crew? That’s what we are, you know? A crew.”

  Shea laughed as he kissed her temple softly. “Damn right and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

  “Me neither.”

  “Except maybe one more though,” he said with a wink.

  “Ugh! Don’t start!”

  He laughed before turning her to face him. Elli placed her lips on his, kissing him slowly, making the butterflies go nuts in her stomach. Every time they kissed it was like the very first time. She loved this man completely and nothing could ever change that. Now all she needed to do was fix what was going on between Piper and Erik and life would be great. It wasn’t going to be easy, but most of the good things in life were not.

  Especially love.