“So tell us,” Mac demanded.
“Tell you what?”
“Chook,” Henry said warningly from his seated position on the kitchen bench. “She’s gonna blow!”
Henry chuckled as Mac tried to push him off.
“Jared bought a house and we’re moving in together.”
Silence reigned as they both froze.
“Sorry, did you say you and my brother were moving in together?”
“Uh, yeah, I did.”
Henry scooted off the bench and folded me in his arms. “Ah, hell, Chook,” he whispered in my ear, “we’re gonna miss you around here, but I’m so happy for you.”
I filled them in on a few brief details as Mac took her turn hugging me. “I love you, you know I do,” she told me when she pulled back, “but you know what this means.”
“I do?”
She started to chuckle slowly until it escalated into a full on wheezing, tear streaming, hyperventilating moment. “Sandwich,” she choked out.
“What?” I shouted.
“Your days of chips and chocolate are numbered. From now on, it’s mung beans and grilled chicken all the way.”
Henry also started to wheeze with laughter while I stood there ready to leak more tears, fuming at their lack of sympathy.
I flexed my jaw. “Thanks for the support.”
Henry waved a hand at me as they both gasped for air, so I grabbed my bag, muttering that I would be in the car waiting when they were ready to leave.
* * *
We didn’t wrap up for the day until later that evening. It would be the first day of many to get the footage needed. I messaged Jared earlier telling him we’d be late, and he replied saying he’d meet me over there and would take Peter with him.
Everyone having gone ahead, I arrived alone, finding the street almost full. Jared’s Porsche was in the drive, the van the boys drove parked in the street, and Mac, driving her mum’s old Mazda because she complained she never had the time to buy a new car, had the rear end sticking out in the street, showcasing her impatience of having to attempt a parallel park.
Earlier, I’d changed into a light green maxi-dress, grinning when I’d found Jared’s things littering my room. I opened drawers to find his clothes wedged next to mine and shirts hanging in the wardrobe. A small desk filled the corner next to my chair which housed a laptop and nifty little electronic devices that gave no clue as to what they were. His wallet, coins, and random receipts littered the bedside table, and I’d had to sit down and take in a few deep breaths, thinking of how much had changed since I’d woken up that morning.
“Hey, Jenna,” I smiled when she opened the door to my knock.
She returned my smile. “Genevieve. You didn’t need to knock, sweetheart.”
She took the cake box from my hands and folded me in a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“What for?” I asked as I pulled away.
“For giving my boy another chance.”
While it was touching, and the sheen of tears added authenticity to her words, I could still detect the gleam in her eyes and knew the race for grandchildren had reached new heights.
She pushed me towards the stairs. “Go get your swimmers on, dear. Just about everyone’s in the pool.”
I could see them all from where I was standing in the kitchen. Steve, Coby, and Jake were by the barbecue chatting in the man grilling meet huddle, beers in their hands while Steve turned steaks. Mitch sat poolside with Tim, Dean, and two girls I’d never met before. Jared was in the pool with Travis, Mac, Henry, Frog, and Cooper. Mac was shrieking and splashing water at the boys, and Peter was barking excitedly, running up and down the sides of the pool, evading Jared as he tried to coax him into the water.
Jenna handed me a large soft beach towel, and I made my way upstairs, bikini in hand. Instead of heading into Mac’s old room, I took a detour and went into Jared’s. I quickly pulled off my dress and put on a simple black string bikini before poking around in the stuff that still littered the room.
There were framed photos scattered along the dresser of Jared and Mac, Jared and his whole family, and even one of Jared and Casey. There were old football trophies wedged amongst books along the shelves, and I poked at the titles to see what he’d read. When I pulled out an old dog-eared Matthew Reilly book and flicked through the pages, a photo fell off the shelf. I stopped, picked it up, and frowned at an old photo of Mac and myself. It was taken at our uni bar only a few weeks after we’d met, and we were already best friends. We had our arms wrapped around each other as we grinned at Henry behind the camera.
Huh, I’d forgotten all about that photo. I wondered what Jared was doing with it.
I opened the wardrobe door and stood staring at myself in the full length mirror on the back. The scars stood out on my torso like homing beacons. Jared had yet to see them, and frankly, I really didn’t want him to.
Unfortunately, this now meant sex would involve me having to wear a shirt. I started to reach for one when I felt someone come up behind me.
“There you are. Mum said you were up here.”
Damn. Too late. I watched him through the mirror, eyes smouldering as they raked over my bikini clad form, finishing on the angry, pink scars.
I shifted around him and started to reach for my dress.
“Don’t.” He snagged my wrist.
“Don’t what?”
Jared pushed me backwards toward the bed until my knees bumped the edges and I sat down. He knelt between my knees and pressed a gentle kiss to the scar on my chest and then the scar on my stomach. “Don’t hate these. They saved my sister's life. They’re marks of courage and bravery, and they are so, so beautiful.”
His eyes were sincere and for that I was thankful.
I nodded at his words. “They’re proof that I’m a badass, right?”
He chuckled and agreed. “Absolutely.”
“Just promise me one thing.”
“Anything, baby.”
“You have to tell that to Tim.”
His eyebrows raised. “I have to tell Tim you’re a badass?”
I grinned. “Yep. Hey!” I waved the photo about that was still in my hand. “I found this.”
He snagged it out of my hands. “I’ve been looking for this. Where did you find it?”
“You have? It was sitting on your shelf. How come you have it?”
He sat back on his heels with a smile as he stared at the photo. “Mac sent it to me just after it was taken. In fact, she emailed me loads of photos before I met you and even more after. I feel like I’ve loved you before I even showed up on your doorstep that day.”
That sneaky bitch. How could I be mad at her for her interfering ways?
His green eyes met mine and leaning forward until my mouth was brushing against his, I whispered, “We’ll have our middle, Jared, and it’s going to be perfect.”
Epilogue
I sat on the edge of the bed and ran my hand over my almost naked form. My underwear set was new and pretty: cream satin with coral and lemon roses, lace trim, and a matching thong. My breasts, already a handful, spilled out from the lacy confines, and I wondered how much bigger they would grow.
I skimmed a hand across the taut expanse of my belly knowing it would soon change and felt a flutter at my secret. No one yet knew of the little life growing in there, not even Jared. He always talked of kids, four of them, but right now? We weren’t in a rush. Trying for a baby hadn’t even hit our radar, so this wasn’t planned. I’d taken the test early this morning before my shower, and the news had come as a shock because really, I was on the pill.
Sure there were a just a couple of days missed here and there, okay, there were a shit load of them, but we were careful. Shadows crossed my eyes remembering back to a year and a half ago, when I’d been shot and almost lost everything, including my life. I’d lost an ovary in surgery, and despite having a spare, I was told conception would be difficult. The initial news had me wanting to cry with what that bastard ha
d taken from me, but then Jared left, along with the promise of children, and it became something else I had to overcome.
Jared knew something was going on because I kept smiling unintentionally as I stood at the basin drying my hair this morning. I could already see the radiance in my face with my own eyes. I tried to tell him I was just high on life, but my sudden buoyancy for no particular reason left him sceptical. The sparkle in my eye was from the relief of knowing it wasn’t some unidentifiable disease making me feel like death, just morning sickness! The initial nausea had started a week ago, rapidly declining to an all-out hell that didn’t just visit in the morning. It stayed all day and kept me company well into the night. Morning sickness, my soon-to-be big, fat ass! This was around the clock, lose your stomach lining torture.
In the past week, Jared watched as my face slowly turned a shade of green so deep I began to resemble the sheets on our bed. I told him it was a wonder he could find me under the covers such was my unsightly camouflage, but he wasn’t amused. His concern evolved from a furrow in his brow, that I did my best to smooth away with soothing kisses, into flat-out fear at the thought of something being seriously wrong with me. His behaviour was starting to get a little exasperating. I would wake in the night to find him watching me, unblinking, and then his hand would come out and rub my belly, his touch firm and warm. He would close his eyes as his fingers traced the faded scars, and I knew he was remembering the fear of almost losing me, and swallowing hard at the thought of it happening again. I promised him I would see the doctor on Monday, which was tomorrow, but it would simply be for confirmation now that I’d taken the test.
I inhaled noisily and let it out in a huff. All I had to do was tell him.
“Evie!” Jared’s voice carried up the stairs of our house in Bondi.
We’d finished renovating it just over five months ago, and the party that resulted from what was now known as the Epic Renovation was mammoth: caterers, drinks flowing freely, big white tables with Tiffany chairs, a marquee, and a wedding.
I couldn’t count the amount of times I moved back to the duplex during the restoration, much to Jared’s disgust. No plumbing? Move. No floors? Move. No tiling in the bathroom? Move. It got to the point where I would roar into the driveway of the duplex in my Hilux with my bags, and Henry and Mac would just shake their heads and not even ask. I’d found out the hard way that renovations brought out irritation in people.
Jared soon got tired of my complaints with the hot water system, but frankly, I couldn’t see why my whining wasn’t forcing him to get anything done. The fact that the system seemed to be set at either Arctic Ice or Fiery Hell, with no apparent in between, and no immediate rush to fix it, was grounds for a hissy fit. Then he got irritated at me when I refused to walk on dirt after he ripped up all the floorboards downstairs. Dirt! I was sure that was where the rats had set up base camp. We did bomb the place for infestations though. It had involved another move back to the duplex, but with the both of us that time.
Somewhere in between all the irritation and the moving, there was love and a proposal. My birthday party found Jared up on stage with the microphone in front of the hundred odd people at the Florence Bar and me watching on with wide eyes and a hand to my cheek.
He’d been nervous because I’d heard the slight tremor in his voice as he spoke.
“Thanks everyone for coming tonight and sharing Evie’s birthday with us.”
The crowd of people clapped wildly and all eyes turned as the spotlight hit where I was standing, lighting me up for everyone to see. I smiled brightly and waved my glass in a jaunty salute.
“All of you know how lucky we are to have her standing with us today.” That was the point his voice went a little hoarse and tears burned my eyes. I took a gulp of wine as I blinked them rapidly away, and Henry, to my left, took hold of my hand and squeezed.
“But I want you all to know how lucky I am to have her living in our house...” There were titters because it was at a time when I’d just moved back in from having the floorboards replaced. “...sleeping in our bed...” he winked at me, and this time there were wolf whistles and catcalls “...and holding my heart.”
My pulse, racing from his words, kicked up a notch when he’d called me over to the stage. I climbed the stairs carefully in the gold skyscrapers and red strapless number Mac had me wearing, and he took my hand in his and drew me close. Then he turned and spoke to me rather than all our friends and family.
“Evie, one time I said to you that when you’re not with me it’s like someone’s turned out the lights.” I heard a few drawn in breaths and caught Jenna raising a hand to her chest, a tissue clutched tightly in her fingers. Steve’s arm was around her shoulders, rubbing her arm gently as he smiled up at us.
“And when it looked like we were going to lose you, I thought I’d live the rest of my life in the dark.”
A loud sob came from the audience. I didn’t know who it was because Jared’s eyes were locked on mine, and I wouldn’t have been able to look away if a bomb had gone off.
“Evie Jamieson.” My heart tripped over at that point because I realised what was coming. Jared’s chest starting moving up and down a little more rapidly, and his hand around mine squeezed tight enough to almost have me wincing.
“You’re the light I can’t live without and the only one that has ever held my heart. I want to be the man standing beside you, laughing with you, crying with you, holding you, and loving you. Will you marry me?”
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I said yes. So overwhelmed at his words, my voice was a shaky whisper.
Naturally, no one but Jared heard my response, and there were yells for me to say it louder.
Jared grinned and held the microphone to my lips, and I shouted yes. Then he tossed it over his shoulder and yanked me into his arms. I heard Mac scream, and turning my head, I saw her jumping up and down with Henry. Coby was smiling and Jenna was openly sobbing in Steve’s arms, no doubt knowing her dream was getting that much closer.
Jared slid a huge, princess cut diamond solitaire onto my finger, and the boys got up and played Beneath Your Beautiful by Labrinth as I wiped at tears while getting twirled around on the dance floor.
After several cut-ins and the band moving on to another song, I found myself in Casey arms.
“Organizing a wedding isn’t grounds for me losing a surfing buddy is it, Kook?”
They were spoken lightly but there had been heaviness in his eyes, and for a moment I’d wondered if he was feeling regret. I hadn’t given up my quest to hit the pro-circuit, but it still wasn’t looking like it would happen any time soon. Unfortunately, I found surfing a bit of an addiction that was hard to let go, and I shared two or three mornings a week in the surf with Casey. Mostly it was horsing around and laughing, but other times I actually caught waves, Casey watching on as I rode them to shore, fist pumping the air like a lunatic.
I snorted at him in response to his words. “You’re kidding right? A wedding is just a giant party with food and alcohol. Not much to it, Hotdog.”
He raised his eyebrows in apparent surprise at the words that eventually came back to haunt me.
Who knew that it took two hundred and seventy-four different people to put a wedding together? Obviously not me. The weeks leading up to the event had me reeling, between the organizing, the last minute renovations, Tim faffing, Mac frothing, and our first ever released album going platinum, I thought I would lose my mind.
The two days prior to the wedding left me thinking we should have just eloped. It was a hard lesson learned, and I vowed to issue warnings to all other engaged couples I knew to save themselves.
It had started off the day before with Henry, Mac, Tim, Cam, and our new band assistant, Quinn staying over at our house and descended from there.
“Jared!” Mac shrieked as she made her way up the stairs of our house. “I’m going to kill you!”
I barged up the stairs, shoving Mac out of the way on my way past. She stumb
led as she hit the wall, and I surged ahead in the advantage. “Not if I get to him first,” I hissed.
Henry muscled his way in front of both of us. “Form a line, ladies.”
We reached the bedroom in a tussle of limbs to find Jared sitting comfortably on the bed, computer on his lap as he tapped away. Whatever it was must have been important because he had that adorable furrow in his brow. However, this was the day before our wedding and work was not allowed.
I pointed my finger at him accusingly. “You’re working!”
Henry pointed his finger at him accusingly. “Where the hell are my barbecue shapes?”
“What did you do with the chocolate?” Mac ground out, flushed in her fury.
Enduring a sleep over at our newly renovated house, they knew to bring supplies.
Jared calmly ignored my accusation as he shut down the laptop, putting it on the side table before raising a brow at me. “Do you want to tell Henry or should I?”
My eyes widened at him, and I shook my head.
Henry turned his horrified gaze to me, looking at me as though I had just run over his dog and crushed all his prized matchbox cars in one hit.
I cringed under the condemning glare and hung my head in shame.
“Sorry.”
Henry sucked in a breath at the damning admission. “Chook. How could you?”
“You don’t know what it’s like,” I choked out.
“Oh, I think we have a fair bloody idea what it’s like, but you chose him, and now you have to lump him. It’s not right we have to suffer along with you.”
“Everyone out,” Jared said to the room. “I have to get going soon, and I need to give Evie a proper goodbye.”
“No way, Jared. We have shit to do so save it for tomorrow night. Your bag is packed and in the car, and you need to leave now,” Mac ordered.
“Mac! Evie!” Tim shouted up the stairs. “The only reason why you two aren’t down here helping me better be because you’re dead.”
Jared and I both looked at each other and sighed. “Fine. At least give us a minute so I can kiss her properly without you all watching on.”
Give Me Love Page 36
