So Revealing (Happy Endings Book Club, Book 3)

by Kylie Gilmore

  Her smile dropped. She slapped a hand over her mouth, her stomach rolling. Ty was on crutches with a cast on his right leg.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ty took one look at Charlotte’s wide eyes, her hand covering her mouth in horror, and knew he’d done the right thing not telling her about his mishap over the phone. Now he could comfort her in person.

  “Don’t freak out,” he said. “It’s just a fibula break. I’ll be in a walking boot in two weeks. It’s not even a full leg cast. See? Just below the knee.”

  She dropped her hand. “Ty! What happened? Why didn’t you tell me? We talk every night.”

  “Can I come in?”

  She stepped back and he swung his large wheeled suitcase in ahead of him before he swung in on the crutches. He turned to her, and she bit her lower lip, her eyes fixed on his cast.

  “The good news is I have the next six weeks off,” he said. “And my left ankle is almost good as new.” He pointed to the leg without the cast in an effort to remind her he was a quick healer. The sprained ankle was nothing compared to the pain of bone cracking.

  She blinked rapidly, her eyes shiny. “What happened?”

  “Motorcycle jump went south. I was demonstrating for the new guy. Maybe I was a little ambitious with the jump.”

  “Were you in the hospital?” she asked in a small voice.

  “Yeah, emergency room. Just in and out. It’s really not a big deal.”

  “It is a big deal! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

  “Let’s sit down and talk,” he said, making his way to the sofa. He wanted to hold her and explain everything and he couldn’t do that on his feet. He set his crutches to the side and took a seat.

  She joined him and stared straight ahead. “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t mention any of this.”

  He slid an arm around her shoulders. “I know how you worry about me. I wanted to wait and tell you in person so you could see for yourself I’m fine.” He pulled her close and kissed her temple. “Plus I wanted to hold you in case you got upset.”

  She straightened and dashed at her eyes with a fist. “Well, I am upset.”

  “I know.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close for a hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when it happened.”

  “When did it happen?”

  “Tuesday.”

  She pulled away. “So we talked and texted for four days and you just pretended everything was fine?”

  “Everything was fine.” Her eyes flashed and he rushed to explain. “Okay, it wasn’t totally fine. I felt shitty and I didn’t want you to worry. I would’ve been here sooner, but the doc wanted me to wait a few days before flying. Something to do with the plaster cast and swelling.”

  “Ty, we need to be honest with each other. You said you were what you see is what you get and I liked that about you.”

  “Okay, okay, next time I’ll call you from the emergency room.”

  Her face crumpled.

  “I didn’t mean that bad,” he said, stroking her hair. “I thought you wanted to know right away. Anyway, look at the bright side. Now we get six weeks together.”

  She looked off in the distance, her hands gripped tightly together in her lap.

  He felt her withdrawing, pulling into her defensive shell, and he wanted feisty, happy, in-love-with-him Charlotte back. Not that she ever said she loved him, but he was pretty sure she did. Otherwise why would she care so much what happened to him?

  “Relax,” he said. “It could’ve been much worse.”

  Her head swiveled toward him. “Why do you always say that? Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to me,” he said. “Nothing serious anyway.”

  Dead silence. She looked off in the distance again.

  “Char, please, look at me. Say something.”

  She swallowed and a tear leaked out. He lifted his hand to wipe her tear away, but she pulled back, brushing it away like it was an annoyance.

  “Char—”

  “I love you.”

  His heart was in his throat. It was the first time she’d said it back to him, but he feared there was bad news heading his way because she didn’t sound happy about it.

  “I love you too,” he said cautiously.

  She spoke earnestly. “I want you to be around in the future, for our future. I want you to think about a lower risk job for us. I just found you and I don’t want to lose you.” Her voice choked. “You’re too important to lose.”

  He frowned. “You knew who I was when you met me. Just don’t think about what I do.”

  “I can’t stop thinking about it!” She jabbed a finger in his direction. “And don’t try to tell me you’re perfectly safe. In the six weeks we’ve been together, you’ve gotten a black eye, a sprained ankle, and a broken leg. You’re never perfectly safe.”

  “That was just bad luck. Usually I’m just bumped and bruised. Regular icing and I’m good as new.”

  She gave him a skeptical look. “You showed me all your healed injuries.”

  “Yeah, I got those over the course of ten years. That’s not bad at all. I’m good at my job.”

  “And how long do you think you’ll be so lucky? With just broken bones and bruises?”

  “My boss worked stunts until he was fifty.”

  “Why fifty?”

  “He broke his back.” She gasped, and he rushed on. “That’s him, not me. Baby, you’re going to have to get used to me getting bruised a bit. It comes with the territory.”

  “A broken back is not ‘bruised a bit!’” She gestured wildly. “Don’t ask me to get used to it! I tried! I can’t!”

  He raised a brow. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting?”

  She leapt off the sofa and stalked out of the room toward her bedroom.

  “Dammit, Charlotte, where the hell are you going?” He let out a breath of exasperation. “I can’t chase you around on crutches and I’m too tired to break down a door!” he hollered after her.

  She disappeared from view. He leaned back on the sofa and rolled his head to the side. “Just finish the conversation!” he barked.

  He knew this was a deal breaker and he wanted her on his side. He didn’t want to lose her or his job. He just had to explain it better, persuade her to his way of thinking.

  She returned, striding toward him, her dark eyes locked on his with a seriously kickass expression. His heart kicked up, simultaneously turned on and worried she was about to give him the axe.

  She stopped in front of him. “You know how you said you want to marry me, kids, dog, the whole deal?”

  His heart warmed. She was going to say it back. Finally. “Yes.”

  “I want the same thing.”

  He smiled. “Great.”

  She whipped her hand from behind her back, holding a plastic white stick up to him with two bright pink lines. “I’m pregnant.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “No.”

  “Yes,” Charlotte assured him. “I just found out this morning.” She stared at the test and beamed at how bright the two pink lines were. “It’s a miracle.”

  Ty grabbed her and hauled her into his lap, tucking her legs to the side. “But you said you were on the pill.”

  She set the beautiful test on the coffee table and turned back to him. “I was, but I started it when we started, and it turns out sometimes it can still happen in the beginning. I mean, when you first go back on the pill.” She bit her lip, anxiously waiting for his reaction. It had taken her a little time to comprehend what happened. She’d skipped her period, which had happened before, but something told her just to check with a test to be sure. While she’d waited for the test results, a quick online search told her it was possible to get pregnant if you’d just started taking the pill. She’d been off it for a few months because of the surgery and her waffling over in vitro.

  Ty was eerily silent, staring straight ahead in an expression of utter shock.
Maybe she should’ve eased him into the conversation, but she wanted him to understand why he was so important for her and their baby’s future. She wasn’t trying to change him. She just wanted him to be alive and well for their future.

  “Ty?”

  He slowly shook his head. “I thought you couldn’t get pregnant.”

  “There was only a very small chance. One percent. It’s a miracle!” She smiled tightly, still a little worried that he wasn’t as happy as she was.

  Suddenly he crushed her to him, pinning her tight, one hand cupping her head to his chest, the other arm wrapped around her torso. She smiled to herself, glad he was over the shock.

  “Holy crap,” he said. “This is…amazing!”

  She tried to lift her head, and he loosened his hold. “You’re happy?” she asked.

  “Damn right I’m happy. Are you kidding? I’ve always wanted kids. Look at my huge-ass family and now I get my own. Our family.” He smiled, looking bemused. “Ha! I’m the one percent. Boom. It’s all those good orgasms I rocked through your body. It gave my swimmers lots of good vibrations.”

  She laughed. “I’m so happy. I just…I still can’t believe it.”

  He hugged her again, and she snuggled in, her head on his shoulder.

  “I gave you what you most wanted,” he said with a note of pride.

  “You did.” She found herself beaming again. “The best present ever.”

  “When do you think it happened?”

  “I don’t know. We had a lot of sex.”

  “I bet it was that first time in the shower. There was this glow over everything.”

  She giggled. He was so romantic.

  “There was!” He tilted her head up for a kiss. “Come back with me to LA.”

  “I want to stay here. My doctor is here, my friends—”

  “I’m in LA,” he snapped.

  She took a deep breath, about to explain herself when he went on in a much gentler tone.

  “You’re going to need to scale back at work anyway with the pregnancy and after. Let me take care of you. I want us to be a team.”

  “Yes. Absolutely. I want to be a team. Okay, let me explain—”

  “We’re getting married right away. Get Hailey to plan something super cool super quick. Wait. Let me do it right. Shoot. I can’t go down on one knee in a cast. And I don’t have a ring. Just pretend, okay?” He framed her face with both hands and gazed into her eyes. “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” she said right away.

  He flashed a smile before his mouth claimed hers, hot and urgent. His hands started to roam. When he lifted the back of her shirt from the waistband of her jeans, she reached back to stop him. She needed to talk to him first.

  His mouth trailed to her ear, kissing along the way before taking her earlobe in his teeth. “Take this stuff off, baby,” he whispered. “I can’t wait to be with you.”

  “We need to talk.”

  “Later.” He wrapped his hand in her hair and tilted her head back, exposing her throat to his kisses. Desire spiked within her even as her brain screamed at her to make sure he understood her situation.

  “Ty, this is important.” He loosened his grip on her hair and she met his heated gaze. “Can you listen, please?”

  He stroked her bottom lip with his thumb and then kissed it. “What?”

  The words tumbled out in a rush. “The doctor warned me if I ever did get pregnant, I’d be considered high risk because of the endometriosis. I’d really like to stay here with my doctor and the hospital in the city. It’s the best for neonatal care. Plus my friends are here. In LA I’d just be waiting for you to come home and worried about you too.”

  His grip on her tightened. “What kind of high risk?”

  Charlotte rubbed his arm. “I don’t want you to worry. Chances are—”

  “Tell me!”

  She chose her words carefully, knowing his brother Alex had lost Tammy during the C-section. “Early labor is the one I’m most worried about. That’s why the neonatal care is important. That’s what they call newborn care for premature babies.”

  “So we could…lose the baby?”

  “Chances are good—”

  “What else?” he asked through his teeth.

  She took a deep breath. “I could get high blood pressure, bleeding, and maybe need a C-section.”

  “No, no, NO,” he said as if the force of his words could stop all of it from happening.

  “The doctor will keep a close eye on me. I might need bed rest later on. I’d like to be home where I have my friends. They’re the family I chose.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to you. Not on my watch.” He wrapped her in a hug for long moments before pulling back and stroking her face, her neck, and down her arms. It wasn’t sexual, more like he needed reassurance that she was okay. He slid his hands to her shoulders and down her back.

  “Char,” he croaked, his expression pained, “I had no idea you could be in danger. I feel like this is my fault.”

  “It was a happy accident,” she said. “Nobody’s fault.”

  His eyes watered. “I can’t bear it if…”

  She stroked his stubbled jaw. “No. We’re going to think positive.” She pressed her lips together for a moment, again choosing her words carefully. She didn’t want him freaking out because of what had happened to Tammy. “I knew the risks. I accept them. I’m otherwise in good health and my chances are good for a healthy pregnancy. I’m going to see the doctor on Monday. You’re welcome to come with me and ask any questions you might have.”

  He cupped her jaw, his voice hoarse. “I don’t want you to be high risk.”

  She put her hand on top of his, holding it there. “Me either. It’s just the way it is.”

  He blinked a few times, his eyes watering with unshed tears. “Now I know how you felt when you said you didn’t like my high-risk job.”

  “Sucks, doesn’t it?”

  He blew out a breath. “Yeah, it does.”

  “You see why I need you safe.” She put a hand on her stomach. “For both of us.”

  He rested his forehead against hers. “We need a plan for all contingencies.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ll take care of everything.” He slid her off his lap and onto the sofa.

  “We should make a plan together.”

  He snagged his crutches. “Don’t move,” he ordered. “You’re going to stay off your feet as much as possible.”

  “Ty, don’t be silly. I feel fine. I took a run this morning.”

  His gaze cut to hers. “Nope. I want you to sit still for the next nine months so you don’t shake anything up in there.”

  “Are you serious?”

  He jabbed a crutch in her direction. “Stay.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “I’m taking over cooking and cleaning.”

  She covered her delight with a quick frown. “I don’t know—”

  “I know,” he said in a voice that brooked no argument. “Relax. That’s your job now.”

  She put her feet up on the coffee table. “If you insist.”

  His jaw was set with determination. So sexy. “I do.”

  “Thank you.”

  He stared for a moment like he wasn’t sure if she’d really conceded the point before crossing back to her and giving her a quick kiss. “Thank you for the best gift ever.”

  She had a feeling they’d be thanking each other for this gift for a long time.

  ~ ~ ~

  Charlotte was enjoying a cooking show when the doorbell rang a short while after her big talk with Ty. She opened it to find her friends gathered on the front porch. “Hi,” she said, surprised to see them. They’d already hung out last night at the movies and the night before at book club.

  Hailey spoke first. “Ty texted me with the message, and I quote, emergency smut club meeting at Charlotte’s house.” She pursed her lips. “Does he know we’re call
ed the Happy Endings Book Club? Please explain we’re classy ladies.”

  “Yeah,” Mad said. “We could’ve been called SLUTS.” That was her idea for the book club, Super Lovers of Underrated Terrific Stories.

  Hailey whirled. “Would you stop reminding everyone of that awful name?” She turned back to Charlotte. “May we come in?”

  Charlotte stepped back. “Of course.” She’d been planning on telling her friends her big news, but she’d wanted Ty to be the first to know. She was just bursting with the news, though, and very happy to share. The moment she knew she was pregnant, something in her shifted, a cause greater than herself, that made her want to open up to her friends. Sure, they’d had a lot of good times together, but Charlotte had always held part of herself back, her natural protective reserve after her fucked-up past. Now it was all about the future.

  Ty appeared in the living room from the kitchen. “Hello, ladies.” He crossed to Charlotte. “Let’s get you back to the sofa.” He inclined his head.

  “What happened to you?” Mad barked at Ty.

  Ty tucked his crutches under one arm and answered even as he gave Charlotte a nudge toward the sofa with one hand. “Motorcycle jump gone bad,” Ty replied. “Six weeks and I’m all good.”

  “How big a jump?” Mad asked.

  “Obviously too big,” Ty said. He made his way over to where Charlotte now sat in the center of the sofa. “You okay? Can I get you anything?”

  She smiled. “I’m okay, thanks.”

  He nodded once. “I’ll be in the bedroom, making some calls.” He maneuvered out of the way so her friends could join her. Hailey sat on one side of her, Mad on the other, and everyone else—Lauren, Carrie, Ally, Missy, Sabrina, and Lexi—sat cross-legged around her coffee table.

  Lauren’s eyes bugged out, spotting the pregnancy test. “Omigod! Are you pregnant?”

  Charlotte laughed and exchanged a happy smile with Ty before turning to her friends. “Yes.”

  “Make sure they’re part of the plan,” Ty said before heading down the hall toward her bedroom.

  The women erupted in conversation, talking over each other as they showered her with congratulations quickly followed by questions. She held up a hand. “Please, one at a time.”