"Of course, Eden.” Nick’s words jolted me back to the present. “We were just starting to explore our feelings for each other when we got the news that our fathers’ plane had crashed."
"Oh, I remember. But before that happened, do you remember how upset your mother was with us?"
Nick chuckled. "Yeah, she was pretty mad, wasn’t she?"
That was an understatement. I nodded. Over the years a part of me wondered if the reason we never saw Nick and his family was because of that kiss that Lucinda walked in on. Now, I realized it had more to do with my mother's anger over Lucinda's affair with my father, but when I didn't know that, I assumed Lucinda really didn't want us to be together. I concluded she didn't like me, and I still held that belief.
"I'm not sure why our families drifted apart after our fathers died. I've always thought it was strange, like I would've expected our mothers to hold on to that connection we always shared, especially after a tragedy like that, but I guess you can't always understand how things turn out."
An uneasy sensation rippled down the back of my neck. This was awkward. I knew now why our families didn’t stay together. His mother had been having an affair with my father. It made perfect sense that once Mary Lou knew about it, Lucinda would not want to be around her and vice versa. But it didn't feel like my secret to tell. I was afraid I would look like a vengeful daughter-in-law wannabe if I told him now. So I just said, "I know. I thought the same thing."
"I was so upset at losing my dad that it took me a while to come back around and realize that you and I had grown apart. And at that point I was just starting to put my life together as a young man and girls weren’t a priority. But now, I wish that I’d stayed in touch. If I could go back and do it over again, I would have made sure that I had your phone number or that I'd written to you or something."
"Aww. That's sweet. In some ways I wish that too, but we both had to follow the path we did in order to get to where we are today. While you were spending so much time on basketball, I was going to medical school. Talk about requiring focus – but it was good for me, because it kept me from thinking about my dad and how much I missed him."
"Yeah, that's probably a great way to look at it. That's one of the reasons why I love you so much. You are such a smart girl."
I giggled. "Thanks. Your sister and I stayed in touch."
"I know, and I kinda wish she’d mentioned it to me."
"I think she was scared your mother wouldn't approve. Of you and me, that is. I don’t think she mentioned me a lot to your mom."
"So you really think my mom doesn't like you?"
I gave him a wan smile. “I don't think she's my biggest fan."
"Don't worry about her. Who cares what she thinks? All that matters is that I love you."
I could listen to him say those words all day. Deep inside I'd been longing to hear them my whole life, now I kept waiting for someone to pinch me and wake me up. But then I’d get a twinge of morning sickness to remind me that I was carrying his baby, and all of a sudden it seemed as real as could be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Nick
I woke up the next morning feeling better than I had since I'd gotten my college scholarship. Normally, I would've gone for a run while Eden slept, but that was out due to my bum knee so I decided to make her some breakfast instead. I might be going a little overboard, but at this point I still felt like I had a lot of convincing to do.
The idea that Eden deserved someone who could pamper her on a daily basis rather than just on off-days, or even worse during the off-season, kept coming back to me. To compensate, I made it my mission to make the time we did spend together so good that she wouldn't be tempted to find someone else who could be her partner on a daily basis.
I opened the refrigerator, found some eggs, butter, bread, milk—everything I needed. In the freezer I found some sort of healthy breakfast sausage and so I turned on a burner to cook it. By the time Eden came out of the bedroom, adorably rubbing at her eyes like a child, I had a plate of French toast, sausage and eggs waiting for her.
"Good morning. Have a seat and eat some breakfast. What would you like to drink?"
She plopped into one of the tall chairs at the bar and yawned. "I didn't know you cooked."
"Mostly breakfast, but I do know how to scramble an egg. Now what will it be–milk, orange juice, or water?"
"Orange juice please and thank you."
Nick laughed. “I used to have a math teacher that would say that."
"Say what?"
"Please and thank you. She would say, ‘Barnes come to the board and do problem 16 please and thank you.’" I laughed and she laughed with me.
"My dad used to say that. I guess I picked it up from him."
"Maybe they were related."
She laughed. "Maybe so."
"Your dad was a pretty cool guy from what I remember."
She cocked her head slightly. "Yeah, he was. I remember your dad being pretty cool, too. I think about him a lot, my dad."
"Me too." I looked down and blinked a few times. This wasn't the time for me to start getting emotional. I set her plate in front of her. "Now you just need something to eat with," I said, looking around.
She started to get up, but I held up a hand. "I'll figure it out." And I opened a couple of drawers, finding the silverware on the third try. I pulled out a couple of forks and handed her one. I fixed my own plate and sat down next to her. She reached over and touched my arm. "Thanks, Nick. This was really nice of you."
"Of course. I gotta take care of my girl when I can."
She beamed then took a bite. After she finished chewing she said, "I wish our fathers could be alive to know this baby." She rested her hand on her stomach.
"I know." My voice came out hoarse. "I like to think they'd be really happy about it."
"Me too."
After breakfast I told her I’d take care of the dishes, for her to focus on getting ready for our appointment.
Two hours later we were sitting in the waiting room of her doctor's office.
It was a surreal experience. I was thrilled and proud to be the man accompanying my woman to her doctor's appointment, but it was also kind of like I was pretending to be more grown-up than I really was. Doubts about my ability to be a good father kept cropping up. Attempting to squash the negative voice in my head, I picked up a parenting magazine and started flipping through it.
Eden was doing something on her phone. She didn't seem near as nervous, but that made sense because she'd been here a couple of times already. And from what she'd told me she had been reading pregnancy books for weeks now.
We waited about twenty minutes before they called us back.
"Here." The nurse handed Eden a hospital gown. "You can leave your bottoms on," she said. "The doctor will be in in a few minutes."
I sat down in a corner, feeling out of place. This was very different than going to the kind of doctors I went to. My guys usually had pictures of skeletons with muscles on them, stuff like that, whereas here there were pictures of female reproductive organs on the walls and 3-D models of all that female stuff sitting on the counter. It made me a little bit uncomfortable, so I tried to remain as invisible as possible.
Eden retreated behind a small curtain and changed into the gown. She'd been wearing a dress and now she only had on socks and her underwear as she climbed onto the table. Those stirrup things made it look like some sort of torture device, and I wasn't sure how I felt about my girl being strapped down with her legs up in those things. This was what I was contemplating when a lady walked through the door.
“Hey, y'all," she said to both of us. "I'm Janine, and I'm your ultrasound technician today. I see from your chart you're pregnant. Congratulations. Now I'm going to be mostly taking some measurements and some pictures for you and the doctor just to make sure everything's okay. If you have any questions, feel free to ask."
Janine was tall with a whole lot of blonde hair and a serious Te
xas twang. She made me smile from the minute she walked into the room.
"Okay. Eden, you can just stretch your legs out all the way. I’m going to use this gel on your tummy and it's going to be cold. I have a warmer but the batteries are dead, sorry."
"That's okay," Eden said, then I almost burst out laughing when her eyes got big as saucers as soon as Janine squirted the blue get on her stomach.
Janine pulled out a plastic wand that honestly looked like an adult toy and dragged it across Eden's belly. When she did, the monitor showed all sorts of black and white specks that reminded me of an old broken-down television set that wouldn't pick up channels. The more she moved the probe thing, the fuzzy images on the screen started morphing in and out. Then she would press a button on her computer and she'd type some other stuff.
“I’m measuring your ovaries right now.”
“Okay,” Eden said.
I had to admit I was getting a little bit mesmerized by the screen so when Janine said, "There's a baby's heartbeat," I blinked a few times, and sure enough, coming into focus was a black beating spot. My eyes locked with Eden’s, and I'd never loved her so much as I did in that moment. Suddenly it all felt so real to me. She was going to be the mother of my child. We were going to be a family, and I was filled with such an intense rush of joy that I was glad I was already sitting down.
"Wow." It took me a minute to realize I’d said that out loud, but the big grin on Eden's face told me I had.
Janine kept fiddling with her machine and she kept trying to show us the baby. Occasionally it was easy to see, other times I couldn’t make it out. It looked kinda like a bean then a few times it flailed its arms or wiggled its feet.
I was really enjoying watching our baby do its little moves when Janine spoke up again. "Eden, did your doctor mention anything unique to you during your last visit?"
"Unique?"
"Well I see here that some of your last ultrasound results were inconclusive it says. Did they mention to you what might have been inconclusive?"
"Just the sex. They said the baby was positioned where its legs were closed, and we couldn't really tell."
Janine frowned and my heart stopped.
"What's wrong?” I asked.
"Hang on. It's not that there's anything wrong necessarily… Give me a minute." Her fingers flew over that keyboard, and she moved the wand on the other side of Eden’s abdomen.
"Fine, I'm going to push a little bit. Just a little discomfort. It's not going to hurt the baby. I just need to get another measurement.”
"All right," Eden breathed.
Janine typed some more then turned to us. "Eden, are you sure your doctor didn’t mention you were having a high-risk pregnancy of any kind?"
Eden shook her head.
Janine’s brows knitted together, her face marked with concern.
Something was wrong with our baby, and she didn’t know how to tell us. My mind ran through a variety of scenarios, all of them bad. I stood up, crossing the room to take Eden’s hand. She would need me now more than ever. Whatever the news, I would be there for her. I’d help her through it.
Janine finally explained what all the fuss had been about. "Alright now, don't shoot the messenger, but it’s twins."
"Twins?" Eden and I both asked in unison.
"Yeah, now don't blame me. The last lady I told that almost punched me out."
I laughed. "No, I’m not going to punch you, Janine. That's wonderful news! Two for the price of one. I might kiss you, instead."
I may or may not have gone completely insane, picking up Janine and dancing her around in a circle and kissing her on the cheek before setting her back in her chair.
"Now that’s a reaction I've never gotten before," Janine said, touching her hand to her blonde hair, making sure it was still in place.
I wasn’t so sure about Eden. Her face was a shade paler than it had been a moment ago. “You okay?"
She nodded "I'm okay." But she looked shell-shocked.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Eden
Nick had talked me into coming to Fresno. It wasn't going to be long before my belly had me on the no-fly list, and he really wanted me to get acclimated to the area before the babies came.
Nick was away on a road trip with the team, then he’d only be back in Fresno for four days before he had to head out for another one. Since time was limited, he asked me to arrive on the same day he was due to return. His assistant Dwayne was nice enough to pick me up at the airport and let me into Nick's house. It was a modern building, constructed from mostly glass, all sharp angles and steel beams.
Dwayne showed me around, finishing up the tour by saying, "Now the last thing Nick asked me to do was go to the grocery store or whatever take-out place you wanted and be sure to stock this place with foods for you and the babies. So what can I get you?"
How sweet of Nick. Especially since he didn't have a lot of experience with pregnant women. I had a fierce craving for black olives, and I couldn’t get enough pink lemonade. In fact, that was pretty much all I drank these days besides water. I added a few more items to the list, thanked Dwayne and collapsed on the couch as soon as he left.
It looked like the same couch Nick had had in Austin, and I recalled many nights of Netflix and chilling with him on this sofa. I smiled, trying to picture Nick's head in my lap, which was completely round these days. In fact, I didn't have a lap anymore, I thought, kicking off my shoes and stretching out on the sofa. I told myself I’d only close my eyes just for a minute, but I fell right to sleep.
I wasn't sure how much time had gone by before I was awakened by a knock at the door. Stretching my arms overhead, I hoisted myself up off the couch and waddled to the front door. I peered through the peephole to see a stunningly gorgeous woman with cosmetically plumped-up lips wearing a tiny white tank top.
“Hello! I’m Pepper Hendrix. I live next door,” the woman said.
My down-home Texas-girl manners instinctively had me opening the door. I guess this woman could have been a threat, but I couldn't picture myself leaving her standing on the doorstep like that.
"Come on in. Nick's not home right now."
"Oh, I know. He won’t be back for another few hours."
How did she know that?
She continued, "It was you I was coming to see, silly."
"Me?"
"Yes, oh my goodness. Marco and me, we've been dying to meet you. Oh and the babies she pointed at my belly. You look like you're having twins."
Outwardly, I smiled. "Yes, a boy and a girl." But inwardly, I was grimacing. Her words were codes for “you look like an elephant.” And coming from her, with the size-zero body–well it stung. More than I would've liked to admit. Who was this woman? Nick had never mentioned her to me, but it sounded like he had mentioned me to her. And who was this Marco fellow?
"And Marco…" I thought I would let her finish my question for me and provide me with some sort of information about what was going on here.
"Yes, Marco–he is in Mexico for a fight."
"So Marco, is he a fighter?"
She looked at me as if I were joking, like I was supposed to know exactly who Marco was and why he would be in Mexico at a fight. Unfortunately for me I didn't know the first thing about fighting sports, and this put me at a disadvantage. Basketball and football were about all I followed.
She laughed. "He's down there promoting. If he were fighting I would be with him."
I took this to mean that she and Marco were a couple, and gauging by the enormous rock on her left ring finger I guessed they were married. This was something of a relief. "Well, I'm glad you stopped by. Can I get you something to drink?" I wandered into the kitchen, and the click-click of her heels on the terrazzo floor behind me told me she was following
"I don't want to be any trouble," she said. "But do you have any sparkling water?"
If we did, I had no idea where it would be. "Let me see," I opened a cabinet above, next to the refriger
ator.
She pushed past me and pulled out a lower drawer, which turned out to be a refrigerated drawer. Sure enough, it was full of bottles of sparkling water. She gave me an apologetic smile. "Here it is."
How did she know where that was? Clearly, she spent a lot of time over here. A twinge of jealousy sparked in my gut, and I protectively placed a hand over my enormous belly.
As if in response, one of the twins kicked right at that moment.
"Oh my goodness, is he kicking?"
It could have been the girl kicking, I wanted to snap. Suddenly this woman standing in Nick's kitchen knowing more about it than I did made me territorial.
I nodded and my manners returned. A reflex. "Would you like to feel?"
She nodded giddily, and I placed her hand on my belly and asked, “Do you have any children?"
To my surprise she answered, "I do. My son, he's twenty. A police officer in Los Angeles."
Well that was shocking. I guess she'd had twenty years to get her figure back, but she looked like the type who would've been wearing a bikini two weeks after giving birth. I'd heard of teenage girls who wore their regular jeans all the way up until delivery, and then wore them out of the hospital. But I'd gained over fifty pounds, and I wasn't finished yet.
Pepper stayed a few more minutes, finishing her drink, and making small talk about some plants she’d bought for her front yard.
When she left, she told me to tell Nick she stopped by.
"It was lovely meeting you,” she said.
The Barnes Family Romances: (Books 1-3) Page 14
