by BJ Harvey
“No, we’ve gotta be smart. Zan is pissed and rightly so. He needs time and he definitely needs space. Getting in his face about it isn’t going to help anyone.” Running my hands up her back, I hug her tight and bring my lips to the top of her head. “You need me, I’m here. Remember what I said—anything, anywhere, anytime.”
“Okay. I’ll text you when Emma arrives,” she says against my chest.
“Sounds good.”
I loosen my arms and she shifts back slightly, lifting her eyes to mine. “Love you.”
“Love you too. Now go help Mia, and I’ll see you later at my place,” I say, dropping my lips to hers for a soft kiss before pulling back.
“If Zander had seen that, he probably wouldn’t have slammed his fist in your face,” Noah says. I look over Dani’s shoulder to see him smirking at us. “Although in saying that, if I had a baby sister like Dani and my best friend was tapping her ass, I’d probably punch you just on principle.”
“So helpful,” Dani mutters. “I’m going upstairs to willingly get cursed at, ordered around, and possibly physically assaulted myself. You,” she says, poking me in the chest, “get Cade to clean up that cut and check you haven’t got a cracked cheekbone or something.”
“Zan can hit, but I doubt he would’ve done any damage apart from messing up Zach’s pretty face,” Noah adds, and I laugh but wince when it hurts my cheek.
“Go, now,” she says, whirling around to Noah. “And you, take him to Cade.”
“Bossy little thing, ain’t she?” Noah muses.
“Shut it or I’ll tell Zoe something bad about you.”
“Oh yeah, like what?” he replies with a smirk.
“I dunno . . . I’ll make shit up,” she shoots back, and his face falls. “See? Don’t underestimate the power of the baby sister. If I can get him to fall in love with me after wanting him for over seven years, I can do anything.”
“No shit?” he says, nodding in approval at the two of us.
“Grrr, men!” she groans, turning around to gently kiss the underside of my jaw before walking toward the hospital doors.
I look to Noah and quirk an eyebrow, waiting for him to impart some smartass wisdom on me or at least suggest a solution to the situation. Instead of that, my mouth drops open when he says, “I guess I should say welcome to the family then.”
Four hours and a hell of a lot of screaming later, Emma Meredith Taylor enters the world. My hand throbs from Meems squeezing it for dear life—and that was just between contractions.
Mom, Zoe, Matt, and I were in the delivery room, with everybody else staying in the waiting room. As soon as Mia and Emma are given the all clear, Matt leaves to go get them, and I take the chance to shoot Zach a text to update him.
Dani: Emma Meredith Taylor, 7lbs 2oz, 20in long, brown hair with big blue eyes.
Zach: Congrats, Aunt Dani. Pass on my best wishes to Matt and Mia.
Zach: Did Zander come back and is he being okay? If he says anything you don’t like, you tell me.
Dani: I haven’t seen him since you left. What did Cade say?
Zach: That I’ll live, as long as I stay away from your brother.
Dani: Noah says that it’ll all turn out okay because he’s also a member of the Zander’s Punching Bag Club.
Zach: And look where he is now . . .
Dani: Do you still want me to come over when I’m done at the hospital?
Zach: Do you think you’ll ever stop asking me if I want you to? Because if I had my way, you’d always be here.
I’m still processing his message when the door opens.
Zander tries to hide his anger when he walks through the door, but there’s no missing his tight jaw. He glares at me as he walks across the room, hand-in-hand with Kate. He makes a point of hugging everyone aside from me before letting go of his wife, leaning down into the bed and kissing Meems’s head, then finally looking down at our beautiful new niece. He gives them both a gentle kiss on their heads before standing straight again, smiling proudly down at the two of them.
He’s being a douche, and Kate’s sympathetic look my way tells me she knows it too. He can nurse his snit as much as he likes though, because there’s no way I’m going to stop being with Zach but I will get in his face if he lets this ruin their friendship.
“How are you feeling, Mia?” Noah asks, taking his place behind his wife and wrapping his arms around her growing baby bump.
“Like I just gave birth to a prickly pineapple.”
Mom grins, Kate and Zoe giggle, and I out-and-out laugh, considering that during her labor, Mia may have cursed Matt more than once for implanting a two hundred-pound linebacker inside her vagina—among other creative slurs.
Zoe rubs her belly. “That’s the one part I’m not looking forward to again. These Taylor babies have big heads.”
Mia, Zoe, and I snort, Noah and Matt grin, and Mom’s eyes lift to the ceiling, shaking her head with an ‘I don’t wanna know’ look.
“Time for my cuddle,” I declare, making my way over to Mia, not missing her blissed out expression as she looks down at her daughter. She carefully—and definitely begrudgingly—puts Emma in my cradled arms.
“You happy?” I whisper, standing up straight.
She looks up at Matt who’s now standing next to her on the opposite side of the bed, and her smile grows brighter. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”
“Mia, not in front of my granddaughter.”
“You think she won’t hear that word a lot with Matt as her father?” Meems says with a smirk.
“And you as her mom,” Matt adds.
She giggles. “That too. Then there’s Nat and Jase . . .”
“I think I might have to steal her away to protect her soul,” Mom mutters.
“You gotta get through me first,” I warn, lifting my hand up and gently running my thumb down Emma’s smooth baby cheek.
“Shit, that’s all we need. Dani getting baby fever,” Matt teases. As soon as the words are out of his mouth, the atmosphere in the room electrifies. His eyes go from Mom, to Noah, then Zander, before looking at me. “Too soon.”
“Too fucking right,” Zander growls. “Sorry guys, gotta go. We’ll come by and see you tomorrow, Mia.” He gives Mom a hug before dropping his lips to Mia’s head and shaking Matt’s hand, and together with Kate, walking out the door.
When the door closes, I look up from Emma to see everyone glaring at me—well, not Mom, because she’s awesome. I’d filled Mia and Matt in on everything Zach and me related in between contractions. “What?” I ask.
“Are you going to fix that?” Zoe asks, tilting her head toward the hall.
“It’s not me that’s got to fix anything.”
Mom crosses the room and holds her arms out for the baby. I hand her over and watch her walk back to her seat. “Baby girl, I know you’re not that blind. You and Zach didn’t do anything wrong, but you not telling Zander wasn’t exactly right.”
“What do I do? He punched Zach; that wasn’t right either.”
“Know what that feels like,” Noah chimes in, and Mom spins around to give him her trademark glacial glare treatment. “Not helping, Noah.”
“Just saying, look how well that turned out, Mom.” Zoe grins and the rest of us chuckle, the mood lightening instantly.
“Just saying, Zoe, that Zander might come around a lot quicker if your sister explains it all to him. Just let him cool down first”
“And what I’m saying is can we all talk about this when my coochie doesn’t sting like a bitch and my husband doesn’t have the sight of destruction between my legs fresh in his mind?” Mia says curtly, earning the attention of everyone in the room including her husband, whose eyes bug out of his head.
“Mia!” Mom gasps.
“What? Blame the hormone surge or some shit. But Matt’s parents are due any minute, and I would like them to meet their granddaughter without all this tension in the room,” she says, looking at Mom, then her head whips toward me. “And
Dani, you need to go tend to your man’s wounds and give Zan a few days. He’ll calm down. He always does. He’s blindsided, a lot hurt, and a hell of a lot more angry, but he will get over it. Zoe and I put him through far worse—well, maybe Zoe more than me—but he hasn’t disowned us yet, and you were always his favorite so you’ll be sweet.”
My eyes start to sting and I blink rapidly to stop the inevitable tears, but they all but dry up when Mia spears me with her own mom glacial glare. “Don’t you start that shit,” she says, pointing at my face. “If you start, I’ll start, and Mom’s barely holding them back so I don’t need you setting Zoe off either.”
“Legs, cool it,” Matt says.
She looks to her husband to see her daughter now safely cradled in Daddy’s arms, her face going slack and her eyes glazing over. “Fuck,” she says roughly. “You look good with our baby, Daddy.”
“You look good after having our baby, Mommy.”
“Stop being sweet!” she whispers, and a lone tear falls down her cheek. “Shit, now look what you’ve done.”
Matt hands Emma back to Mom and rushes to the bed and hops on, stretching out and curling Mia into his side.
“I think we should go,” I whisper to Noah and Zoe. They both nod and we quietly exit the room, not stopping until we reach the waiting area.
“You owe me a gossip session,” Zoe says with a sly smile. “One where my husband isn’t around and you can tell me everything.”
God, I love my oldest sister. “Sounds good,” I reply.
“Zan will come ’round, I promise you. He forgave Noah, didn’t he?”
“Hey, I’m still here, you know,” Noah says, as if any of us could forget.
I take two steps toward him and wrap my hands around his waist, burrowing into his chest. “Thank you.”
His arms close around me and his lips come to my ear. “Always, Dani,” he says, before letting me go.
“Now let’s get home.”
I’m sitting at home on my couch, a glass of bourbon in one hand, an ice pack held to my cheek with the other, watching the Bulls play an away game when my phone vibrates beside me.
Dani: Just leaving hospital. Noah and Zoe are taking me home.
Zach: I thought you were coming here?
Dani: I’ve got work tomorrow so I need a change of clothes. Seems I’m staying at my boyfriend’s house tonight.
Zach: Is he cooking you dinner?
Dani: He’s quite a good cook, but he was in a fight today so I think I should take care of my man and order in.
Zach: He’ll like that. I bet he’d like it even better if you were quick.
Dani: Be as quick as I can, I promise.
There’s a loud knock at the door. After the day’s events, it could literally be anyone. I check the time and given it’s after eight on a Sunday night, I have no idea who it could be.
I drop the ice pack on the couch and stand up, making my way to the front door. Swinging it open, I’m shocked as shit to find Zander frowning back at me with a bottle of Jack in his hand.
His eyes widen when he catches my face. “Shit, I really did a number on you.”
“Yeah, thanks, asshole.”
“I’m not the one who got involved with your baby sister.”
“Considering I don’t have a baby sister, that’s a moot point,” I shoot back.
The corner of his mouth twitches, the first sign I’ve seen of my best friend since this afternoon when he sucker punched me.
I sigh and move to the side to let him in. “Come in, but if you’re here to warn me off, save your breath.”
Stepping inside, he holds up the liquor bottle. “What do you think this is for? If I’m going to hear you out, I figured I’d need some liquid strength.” He nods to the half full glass in my hand. “Looks like you’ve got a head start.”
“My day went from fucking fantastic to shit, so I’m trying to even things out before your sister gets here.”
Zander grits his teeth. “Can we wait till I have a few under my belt before we talk about this?”
“Fair call,” I concede. “The game’s on. I’ll get you a glass. You want soda with it?”
“Might slow me down so I’ll have to say no.”
“Right.” I turn away and grab a glass from the kitchen before returning to the living room, finding him on the couch.
I hand over the glass and take my seat. We sit in silence, the only noise being the drone of the commentators discussing the third quarter.
“Why’d you do it?”
I turn my head and quirk a brow. “That’s your first question?”
“Yep.”
“She’s Dani,” I reply, as if those two words say it all. Unfortunately for me, they don’t.
“I fucking well know that,” he says, pinning me in place with his eyes. “But at some stage you made the decision to risk what you’ve got with me for a chance at something with her, so I wanna know why.”
“Because it’s her, man. Every fucking thing about her is amazing and there was no way in hell I could stay away anymore.”
“Anymore?”
“I’d been avoiding her ever since she moved back to Chicago—for you.”
“Did you stop and think that it might’ve been smart to talk to me about it before making a move?”
“You really want to hear this?”
“Yep,” he replies curtly, as if he’d rather have his pubes pulled out with tweezers than hear about me and Dani.
“It wasn’t me who made the first move, but I did make the second.” He watches me like a hawk, his eyes studying my face before nodding at me to continue. “It wasn’t planned, but it wasn’t out of the blue. I’d been keeping my distance out of respect for you.”
He scoffs and takes downs his drink in one gulp before pouring another. “Yet we’re still here now.”
“I love her, Zan.” There, I’ve said it. It’s not like I’m not proud as punch that I’m in love with her and I’m lucky as fuck that she loves me back, but in close proximity to the man we’ve been hiding it from for so long, it’s weird to say it out loud.
“You’ve loved women before,” he notes.
“And none of them were her.”
He nods once more, and I take it to mean I’ve at least made some headway, especially since he’s not jumped to his feet to pound on me again.
He spins his glass in his fingers, watching it turn. “When did it start?”
“The night of Matt and Mia’s wedding party.”
His head snaps up and his eyes darken. “You’re telling me this has been going on behind everyone’s back—behind my back—for more than five months?”
“It wasn’t intentional.”
“Things like that don’t just happen. Seems fucking intentional as fuck right now.”
I sigh, realizing that Dani and I aren’t going to get the opportunity to explain this to him together so I might as well lay it all out now for him before she gets here. “Dani wanted time to make sure it was something real. She wanted us to get to know each other with just us, with no pressure from any of you guys, and definitely with none of the shit she knew she’d cop for dating your best friend.”
He jerks his chin up this time. “And you?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What about me?”
“You were happy to keep it secret?”
This time I give him a ‘what the fuck’ look. “You know me—you know that in any other fucking situation, I would not keep this kind of shit from you. But Dani has carried the weight of expectation on her shoulders for a long fucking time, and the only thing she asked me was that we didn’t tell you until we knew that it was going somewhere.”
“And is it?”
“I’m not going anywhere. She’s it for me.”
“Right. But you—of all people—know from what I went through with Kate and almost losing her because of my lies, what deceit can do.”
“We didn’t deceive you; we just kept it to ourselves.”
“For five fucking months?” he spits out, but definitely without the venom I saw earlier at the hospital.
“Believe me, I’ve been pushing to come clean for months. Definitely since Daniel’s birthday.”
“Why then?”
“Because Mac walked outside and caught us.”
“Don’t want to know,” he mutters, taking another swig of his drink.
“She told us to tell you before you found out from anyone else. But honestly, I wanted to tell you,” I say, matter-of-factly.
“And look how well that turned out,” he says with a chuckle, nodding at my black eye.
“You’ve got quite a left hook.”
“Might pay to remember that if you ever decide to fuck Dani over.”
“I’d lay down my life before ever doing that.”
“I’m gonna hold you to it.”
“Good to know, but you won’t need to,” I reply honestly.
He looks back to the game and waits a few moments before speaking again. “So Mom knows? She was giving me weird looks at the hospital but didn’t say a word.”
“Yep. Dani went home on Friday to see her because I forced her to make a decision about coming clean to you.”
His head jerks back and his hold on his glass tightens. “You were going to walk away?”
“Not a fucking chance in the world, but Dani was stuck and she needed a push. I was shitting myself all weekend that she’d put it in the too hard basket and walk away.”
“From what I saw today, which—for the record—I don’t need to see again any time soon, it turned out all right for you in the end.”
“Helen worked her magic,” I reply with a grin.
He throws his head back and laughs, something I didn’t think would happen for a while. “She’s good like that.”
At that, we both look toward the door when a key is inserted in the lock and it swings open. “Ah shit,” she murmurs, her eyes glued to her brother. “Did you come back to finish the job?”
