by Watkins, TM
“Kisses for papa?”
She hadn't mastered the kiss yet, it was more of an open mouthed slobbering on the cheek.
“What are we going to call teddy? How about Evan because he's only got stuffing between the ears?”
“Hilarious.”
I gasped and turned to see Evan standing behind me.
“Front door's unlocked again mamma.”
Wearily I sighed, my brain had turned to mush since becoming pregnant. Leaving the front door unlocked was one of the things that I was regularly doing. Fraser had made a habit of walking behind me to ensure that everything got done.
“I unlocked it.” Fraser offered as he stood from the floor. “You know, you did say I'll be there at one and we can get going.”
“Yeah.” he grinned.
“How's Aus?”
Evan rolled his eyes with a smug grin.
“Same as you were when you two idiots got married.”
Fraser scoffed with slight indignation, trying to pretend that he hadn't almost passed out the morning of our wedding.
Austin and Abigail were taking the momentary break in the schedule to marry. Abbey had planned everything around bug's expected due date which was officially a week ago. It had been planned that she would have the kid and be right for the wedding. Except that no one planned for a stubborn child or even the possibility that the doctor had got the date wrong. Now everyone was rather nervous about Frankie going into labor during the service.
Aus and Abbey were having a church service, one that pleased both of their parents. Unlike my family who couldn't care where I got married so long as they were invited. Fraser picked Sahara up and passed her over to me. Life with a child was interesting. There was no five minutes preparation before walking out the door anymore. Now life consisted of packing the nappy bag and a stroller, ensuring that food and milk was packed as well. Once they were ready to go we then had to ready the child, one that would fill a nappy five seconds after getting a fresh one on.
But we had been ready for hours, the bag and the stroller by the front door along with the pretty dress. It was a pale pink, soft layers underneath puffed the skirt out.
“Jack's waiting.”
I turned out of the room and saw one of the bodyguards at the front door.
“Afternoon Jack.”
He smiled with a nod.
“Afternoon Mrs...”
I looked at him, the one that I always gave him when he tried to be too formal.
“Eden.”
“How's things?”
“Bedlam, ma'am. We just dropped Jaxon and Austin at the church and the crowd went insane.”
I nodded, completely understanding. Even though Fraser and I had tried to keep our wedding a secret, we failed. In the ten months of tour that we had completed so far, I had seen a fair amount of crowds, fans and crying girls but it was nothing to what it was like when we married. And today was going to be worse. Austin was the pretty boy front man, he was the one that was idolized and fawned over and he was about to get married.
“I've put the car seat in.” Jack said as he picked up the stroller and the bag. “We should be hurrying along, wedding starts in half an hour.”
Ten minutes later we pulled up outside the church, the limousine slowly making its way through the police barricades. It was all that stopped the crowd of crying girls from getting to the steps of the church. Evan was the first out along with Jack who was getting the stroller out of the boot. The crowd went wild when he smiled and waved at them, they begged him to come over, to sign their bits of paper but we were on a schedule. We had to be out of the way before the bride arrived.
I quickly put Sahara into her dress as Fraser stepped out, turning back in to take her from me.
“There you go lil lady. Best behavior today otherwise uncle Aus is going to unleash the tickle monster.”
She grinned at the words, the smile big enough to whisk the offending dummy from her mouth. Somewhere along the way she had managed to convince her father to give it back to her. He was a sucker for her smile and a softie for her tears.
I stepped out and looked at the sea of people, mostly girls but there were a few males in the crowd. Behind them was a makeshift gantry with a row of photographers waiting for a glimpse. They were packed just as tight as the crowd of fan girls.
The cameras went crazy at us, the limousine slowly slipping back out onto the street. Sahara wasn't impressed by the sounds or the flashing and she was beginning to fuss.
“Best get a wriggle on.” Fraser muttered.
I nodded and pushed the stroller up the ramp to the church, all that it contained was the nappy bag. Fraser took every opportunity to carry his little girl, something that was a vast improvement from his reaction when she arrived into his life.
He walked by my side rather than walking up the few steps with Evan. Fraser looked incredible in his suit, I hate to say it but even Evan looked great. As I looked to the top of the stairs where Evan had stopped, I saw the PR machine going into overdrive. With these kinds of events Jerry dragged them out of wherever it was that he hid them and made them work hard. This kind of publicity was golden, it sold magazines, their music, tickets to their concerts and merchandising.
So Evan was being made to stand and wave to the crowd, his slinky date was one that I had never seen before. She hadn't bothered to come into the house with him and hadn't spoken to us in the limousine. So that kind of put her in a bad way in my opinion. No doubt she won't last long.
“I'll take that for a moment.” the little upstart in a suit said, tugging the pram out of my grip. “I can see nappy, fluff the skirt please.”
Fraser looked at me derisively, I smiled back and fluffed the skirt of the little girl in his arms. It didn't matter about the nappy, the photographers had already taken dozens of photos.
“Smile for the crowd and remember your pose.”
I narrowed my eyes at the little punk. We'd been subjected to lessons on how to pose for the cameras and when I say we I mean the female portion of our little ensemble. We had to stand a certain way that was flattering to our bodies and would work well for the cameras. There was no disguising the enormous belly on Frankie but with me I looked like I'd eaten too much. I knew what he were really saying and the little sod nearly got his nose broken for it.
“I'm pregnant you little bastard, don't you dare call me fat. I will stand however I damned well want to and if it prints in an unflattering way that so be it.”
His eyes darted to Fraser who looked like he was ready to pass Sahara over and beat the shit out of him. He shrugged as he began to push the stroller into the church, muttering something about a fat ass. In an instant Sahara was in my arms and Fraser had grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket. He dragged him into the church, returning a few seconds later with a flustered Jerry a few steps behind.
“Fraser be reasonable and remember that the world is watching.” Jerry said quietly as he stopped beside them.
“No. Do it or I beat the shit out of him.”
“Fine.” Jerry sighed. “You can leave now Michael.”
He jerked himself away from Fraser's grip, sneering slightly as he stepped away.
“My office tomorrow Michael.” Jerry added.
Jerry gave him a stern look, probably the coldest that I had ever seen. He was always a happy man but this was one that was far from his happy place. Michael had broken the golden rule of his employment contract. No derogatory comments. He huffed and walked away, the cameras went into a frenzy.
“Well, that was interesting.” Jerry sighed. “Okay you three, get your pictures done. I have it on good authority that the bride is en route.”
We stood for about a minute, when a white limousine turned into the street we moved inside. Frankie was at the side of the church, looking out the window. As we made our way around the edge of the pews I watched her with a lot of worry.
“Everything okay?”
“Yep. All good. Just got indigestion again.”
She had struggled to find a dress to wear, complaining that they all looked like she was wearing a tent. I understood her pain and I was only five months pregnant. We'd had a waddle day, one that saw the two of us waddle into a store to pick our dresses and then waddle out again.
Frankie didn't waddle anymore. She gripped her back and pushed that mountain of baby and flesh around.
“Everything hurts.” she sighed as Curtis lowered her into the pew. “Poor Curtis can't even cop a feel anymore.”
He faked a pout as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, his free hand smoothing over the enormous swell.
“It's cool babe, I don't want to cause you discomfort.”
As I sat down I watched her belly ripple, Curtis frowning at the sight. I looked up at Frankie who was wincing like she was in pain.
“Oh monkey balls.” I whispered. “Are you in labor?”
Frankie nodded as she screwed her eyes shut tight. At that moment the organist started to play and Monique walked down the aisle.
To say that life was uncomfortable at the moment was accurate. Not only was Frankie in labor at the beginning of a wedding but one of my husband's former mattress bouncers was walking down the aisle.
We had discussed it after Abbey announced that Monique was going to be her bridesmaid, Fraser stated that wanted to find a hole and crawl into it. It hadn't been one of his finest moments but it was one that he was stuck with. We were in Boston after Austin had tracked Abbey to a hotel room, she had returned home after a misunderstanding with him.
So we were all stuck in a hotel room for the night. While the boys partied the night away, I nursed a monster headache. In an attempt to get my attention, Fraser flirted with Monique. It didn't work mostly because I was tired from flying and suffering a mild cold that was causing the monster headache. I also didn't know that he was trying to get my attention, I didn't think that he looked at me in that way. After I had left them to their little party, Fraser figured that he might as well enjoy his night and spent the rest of it with her. It was the same as all of the previous dalliances he'd had since my arrival. Try to make Eden jealous, doesn't work, screw the woman anyway.
I told him he was an idiot, that he should have just said something and that flirting with dozens of women in front of me and then fucking them wasn't a wise thing to do. All it did was make me believe that he was a playboy and wasn't interested in becoming monogamous. It resulted in a fight and some unbelievable make up sex.
And so life was now awkward. I was faced with a woman that had spent the night with Fraser and I still had to be polite to her because she was Abbey's best friend. Friends or not, she looks at him the wrong way and she's going to get spoken to. Hit on him and then we've got a problem. I've worked too damned hard to get Fraser's life in order to have her swan in and turn it to shit.
He took my hand like he knew the thoughts that were running through my mind. Maybe it was because my nose twitched with a slight sneer. I looked at him, he offered a soft sweet smile and a wordless reassurance that I didn't have to worry.
A soft whimper broke my odd thoughts about how I would hurt Monique if she touched Fraser, I looked at Frankie who was gripping her belly and trying her damnedest to be quiet.
“You'll need to time them. When she's at ten minutes then you'll need to get Jack to bring the car around.”
I looked up and saw Abigail floating down the aisle, looking like she was the happiest woman on the planet.
“Smile.” I said through gritted teeth.
Frankie looked up with her smile and two thumbs up, Abbey smiled brightly back at us. Once her attention was elsewhere Frankie went back to being in pain.
“When did your waters break?”
“A few minutes before you arrived. There wasn't much pain so I thought I had time.”
The contraction settled down, Frankie took a deep breath and held onto Curtis like her life depended on it. Sahara was sitting on my lap, not that there was much left. Everyone said I was carrying a boy, it felt like I was carrying a large watermelon.
Sahara started to rub her eyes and her papa was onto it, rummaging through the bag and finding a bottle for her. She gladly went to his arms and settled without a fuss. By the time the bottle was done she was asleep. Fraser settled her onto his chest and rubbed her back, looking at me with a smile that made my insides flutter.
“Who are you and what have you done with my Fraser?” I whispered with a grin.
“He's right here baby.”
I chuckled and turned to the view of Austin and Abbey exchanging rings. Frankie gripped my arm tight, her eyes watering as she pressed her lips tight.
“Almost there.” I whispered.
She nodded and laid against Curtis as he wrapped his arms around her. I pulled out my phone and quickly messaged Jack to bring the car around, that Frankie was in labor. A message came through, I had barely had time to turn the thing onto silent.
Jack: Bridal car in way. Take her out back door to car park.
I showed the message to Curtis who nodded, Frankie frowned.
“Curtis needs to be here for photos.” she whispered.
The old me would have huffed at her and told her that no one would care, that everyone would prefer that she got herself to the hospital rather than worrying about stupid photos. But that was the old me. Marriage, motherhood and pregnancy has changed me. Not a lot though, Frankie still calls me a man eater and Fraser still calls me a hard ass. But this new me just smiles at statements like that and accepts it.
Fraser gave me a gentle nudge, I looked up to see them kiss and a wave of relief hit me. With a few more minutes Frankie and Curtis would be on their way.
For the entire time that she stood at the top of the stairs of the church, Frankie gripped Curtis's arm and smiled through gritted teeth. She was having another contraction and all I could see was dozens of photos with Frankie looking like she didn't want to be here.
“They are fifteen minutes apart, slip away now before the frenzy starts when everyone begins to move.”
They both nodded and walked back into the church, taking the back way out of this nightmare. The sound was almost like thunder. Some girls were still crying, some were trying to get autographs and some wanted them to come over for pictures with them. It wasn't going to happen. Security was determined to keep a wide gap between the guests and the crowd.
Our limousine was second in the queue which I frowned at, wondering why Jack had brought it around to the front when he said the car park. We approached it as the security guard opened the door, helping us with the stroller.
“Where's Jack?” I asked Jerry.
“He's taken Curtis and Frankie in my car. We're hitching a lift with you guys.”
Fraser loved his papa duties, strapping Sahara into the car seat and ensuring that all was well. She was asleep so there wasn't much to do. He settled onto the seat with a happy sigh.
“What a great day, yeah?”
“Sure was. Friends marrying, bug being born. Healthy, happy and in love. Could you ask for anything more?”
Fraser shook his head with a soft smile.
“Nah, it's all good baby. I'm happy with what I've got. Everything is perfect.”
###
Coming soon:
Rampage
A Night Fire Novel
Being an A lister in Hollywood isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Harmony Roberts wows the world with her romantic comedies and good girl roles. The world thinks that she's got it all and at surface level, it's the truth. Beneath the surface is a woman that is desperate to break through the typecast and become someone different. Turning thirty sends her into a downward spiral, while getting drunk she makes a list of all the things that she has to do to break the good girl image. Ten things that she has to do within forty-eight hours. With her sister Seph, they set out for the city of sin, ready to have a wild weekend of debauchery.
Evan Cooper has spent his adult life as a free man, partying at every opportunity. H
is role as the lead guitarist for America's hottest rock band, Night Fire has given him ten years as a rock god. But the wild life is taking its toll, he can't remember a day when he didn't have a bottle in his hand and an unknown groupie in his bed. He looks to his band mates who one by one are marrying and having children, something that Evan secretly craves for his own life. But how can he have a serious relationship with women who only want him for his wealth and status?
One wild weekend in Las Vegas is all that it takes for these two lost souls to find exactly what they are looking for. But is it enough to last a lifetime?
About the author:
TM Watkins lives in Brisbane, Australia with her family. When she's not working or running around after her family, she spends her days contemplating the next adventure for her characters and her nights writing about them. Under the pen name of xMishx on Wattpad, she has written many books that are still available to read for free.
Acknowledgments:
Sahara image purchased from iStock
Artist: Tawes13
Rampage image purchased from Shutterstock
Artist: Anetta
