He rushed to her side and took her hand in his. For the next tense thirty seconds, he held on as she squeezed the shit out of his hand while the nurse encouraged her gently to breathe.
It wasn’t until she finally loosened her grip and her muscles seemed to relax that he realized he’d been clenched and holding his breath right along with her.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she murmured softly.
“Me too,” he said, brushing a damp lock of hair from her forehead. “Why is Suzette suiting up? Are they taking you into surgery or something?"
"No." Tawny shook her head. "No, Suzette just wanted to be on the safe side."
"You should, too," a nurse said, then handed him a medical cap. He shoved it on his head, then glanced at Suzette and back to Tawny.
"How far apart are the contractions?" he asked, but this time Suzette answered.
“Just a couple minutes. It’s going very fast for a first-time mom, but she’s not fully dilated yet. We’re hoping she can start to push soon.”
He nodded, and Tawny managed a weak chuckle.
"What? What's so funny?"
"Your face. You look so terrified. It’s okay, really. I’m fine. We’re having a--" Another scream tore through her and she squeezed his hand so hard he was shocked he couldn't hear the sound of his knuckles popping from their sockets.
"You've got this, beautiful, you've got this," he soothed, and her screams echoed louder still through the room. He fucking hated it. Hated not being able to shield her from this pain or take it away. Hated to watch her suffering and feel so damned helpless.
Then, just when he was about to demand that the doctor give her something for the pain, almost out of nowhere, she sighed and laid back, closing her eyes.
"Good, baby, rest. You've got this. You can do anything," he went on. It didn't matter what happened tomorrow. In this moment, he knew that he loved her more than he'd loved any other person in his life. He wanted to be there for her and to help her, to do anything and everything in his power to somehow make this easier.
For a few moments, she lay still to catch her breath, then she squeezed his hand gently again.
"Luke, I want to talk to you," she murmured, swiping a trembling hand over her sweaty forehead.
He stared back at her and blinked, stomach still pitching with the rush of terror and adrenaline. "Right now?"
"No time like the present. I've been thinking and--Ah!" Tears fell down her cheeks as the nurse and Suzette cheered her on, encouraging her. He added his voice to the mix as her back bowed again.
"Go, baby, go. You’re doing so good!”
"I lied!" she screamed, and the nurse and Suzette watched on in sudden silence.
Luke, though? He focused in, needing to hear what she said next.
"I lied." Her words came out in a jumbled rush as her contraction ended, just as they had that morning. "I wanted to push you away because I didn't know about the bike shop and how you hated town and everything and I wanted you to be able to live your dream and not get stuck with me. And, okay, I was a little selfish because I didn't want to live my life wondering if you loved me but--"
“I don’t want to interrupt but I need to get the doctor, honey. I think it’s time to start pushing,” the nurse murmured.
Luke’s mind was reeling as Tawny’s words hit home.
She lied. His mom was right. Tawny hadn’t wanted him to feel like he had no choice in his future. God, if she only knew she would be his first choice every time.
The ice-cold pressure in his chest seemed to ease and warmth spread through him. It was all going to be okay. He couldn’t wait to prove to her how wrong she was. How much he loved her. But right now, they had work to do.
“It’s all okay, baby. We don't need to worry about any of that right now. You don't need to stress. Everything is going to be all right.”
“He’s right, mommy. You need to relax and get your strength between contractions while I get the doctor. You need all your energy for pushing.”
The nurse slipped from the room, but Tawny, stubborn as she was, ignored her and launched into another rush of words.
"I'm not stressed. I just need you to know the truth, Luke.” Her lean throat worked and she stared up at him, looking more beautiful than he’d ever seen her. “I love you. I love you, but I need you to follow your dreams and I can't be the one to keep you from--" She tried to keep talking but her words became whimpers as another contraction rocked through her.
"I see the head!" Suzette squealed, and Luke's heart flipped.
“Jesus, Suze, get the doctor,” he managed, his heart pounding a hundred miles an hour. He could hear the patter of her feet and her calling frantically down the hall. “Baby, I love you, too. And I’ll be wherever our family is. We'll find a compromise. I want you to be able to teach or do whatever it is you want to do, too. But right now we need to focus on this baby. Try not to push until the doctor—”
“I hear we’ve got a very impatient little boy in this room,” a low, calm female voice declared.
Luke shot a look to the doctor and barely managed to hold back a panicked laugh.
This was it. He was about to become a father. One magical night at the lake and his whole world was about to change.
He couldn’t wait.
“Let’s get ready to push, mom!” the nurse cried and Suzette appeared on Tawny's other side while the doctor positioned herself by Tawny’s feet. "You can do it. Ready? Push.”
Tawny grimaced and rolled forward, groaning as she bore down.
“Come on, love," Luke joined the chant. "You can do anything. You can do anything."
Tawny pinched her eyes closed as she gripped their hands and shook, pushing with all her might.
The next thirty minutes went by in a terror-filled blur, and just when Luke thought Tawny couldn’t push even once more, the doctor beamed up at him.
“Ready, dad?”
He nodded.
“Two more big ones, and you’ll be able to hold your son, mom.”
Tawny was a warrior and used every last bit of strength, pushing out the baby’s head and then his shoulders. Luke watched in awe as his son slipped out the rest of the way into the doctor’s waiting hands.
For a second, the room was silent save for their collective, harsh breathing, and then…
A wail.
The most beautiful wail ever filled the air--not Tawny's, but her son’s.
Their son's.
In that moment, nothing else mattered. Not the pain of rejection or the fear of losing her. Not money or a bike shop or what town they lived in.
This moment stood alone in time as the moment they went from two separate people to one family of three.
His family.
Joy flooded him and he kissed Tawny's head as she cried along with their baby.
"Our son," he whispered past the tightness of his throat. "You gave us a son. He’s so perfect.”
"We had a son," she murmured.
"I love you," he said.
“I love you, too. And Michael."
"Michael?" he asked.
"Michael."
"I like it." He nodded.
Chapter 24
She'd read online that skin-to-skin contact was important, but she was stunned to find that there wasn’t anything in this world that could be more rewarding than feeling her son’s squirming body against her chest as she looked down into his scrunched little face. Luke and Suzette flanked her on either side, both cooing over little Michael and commenting on what a strong little boy he already seemed to be.
And, of course, how handsome he was.
Which, to be fair, was an honest assessment.
His pink skin might have been crinkled, but there was no doubting his beautiful face was his father’s, or that his mop of black hair wouldn’t look just like Luke’s when he got older.
“He looks just like you,” Luke said. “He’s gorgeous.”
Suzette grinned at them. “I think I’m goin
g to grab some coffee. Anybody need anything?”
They shook their heads, and when she’d finally left the room, Tawny stared from her newborn son to his father and thought about exactly how stressful and scary and wonderful her day had been. About the choices she’d made.
And about Luke…always about Luke.
She'd put him in a terrible position today--not once, but twice. First, by leaving him, and now by confessing her love in the middle of giving labor. She knew she ought to give him an out, some way to back away from the mess she'd created, but looking at him now...
She'd never loved anyone so much in her life. He was the man who'd given her her beautiful, perfect son. He was the person who'd made all of this possible. And the person he was? The way he cared about his family, his dreams?
But that was selfish. She had to be practical, now more than ever.
"Luke..." she started, smoothing the hair on her baby's head. "I'm sorry for what I did. Earlier and just now, too. I shouldn't have told you all that in that way. You were right. I should have waited until there was time for you to really think over your options."
"There's nothing to think about.” He shook his head. "I just don't understand why you thought you had to leave."
"I wanted you to follow your dreams. To open your bike shop and get out of Alhouette. I know that's what you wanted."
"All I want is you and little Michael." He rested his huge hand on the baby's chubby arm and stroked the soft skin with his thumb. "I was going to propose to you today, and it had nothing to do with the baby. Tawny, I've loved you since the first moment I set eyes on you, and whatever dreams I had before, they don't mean anything if you're not there with me through it all. I can't imagine my life without you."
She choked back more tears, trying not to let the emotions of this day overwhelm her. "Are you still proposing?"
With a half-smile, he sank to one knee beside the bed and took her hand in his. "Tawny Mitchell, I love you. I love the way you care and the way you laugh and the way you put other people first. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I would be proud to call you my wife."
She gasped, then gave him a shaky nod.
“But I left the ring at home,” he said with a laugh.
"I don't care," she cried. "I know it's perfect. You're perfect. And I love you."
Her tear fell onto Michael’s forehead and she hastily wiped it away as a nurse entered the room.
"Excuse me, we need to take this little guy to be weighed and to run some standard tests, but we’ll bring him back ASAP, all right?"
They both nodded again as the nurse swept the baby up into her arms and carried him from the room. When she'd gone, Tawny turned to Luke--her future husband-to-be, she realized with a thrill--and spoke.
"I had an idea," she said.
"What's that?"
She grabbed her smartphone from the nearby end table, ignoring the soreness and the way Luke rushed in to help her.
"Careful," he said, and she waved him off.
"I just pushed a human being through my body. I'm pretty sure I can manage to twist." She rolled her eyes and he laughed.
"Fair enough."
Scrolling through her social media feed, she found the private message Suzette had sent her and opened it for him to see. "Suzette found this place. I know it'll take a little bit of doing, but it has good bones and that big shed in the back could be the perfect bike shop."
"I don't know." He frowned.
"Why? What's wrong? Because it's in Alhouette?"
"There's nothing wrong with being in Alhouette. It was just always something I said. What I thought was the mark of success. To get out of this little town. But the older I get, I’m starting to realize that I don’t need to leave to chase my dream. As long as we’re a little closer to the city, the shop can succeed. And who am I kidding? If we moved this baby far away my mother would kill me anyway. So yeah. Let’s look at it and see how it feels.”
She wasn't sure if it was the rush of hormones from having given birth or just the emotion of the day, but another rush of tears welled in her eyes as she thought of a life with Luke in their little house.
A place all their own.
“Let’s,” she murmured, and he kissed the top of her head again.
"We'll see it as soon as we can, then."
She nodded and then Suzette reappeared in the doorway, coffee in hand.
"Your mother just got back with the whole gang and they’re champing at the bit to get in here.” She settled into her seat by the door. "So, you guys both stopped being idiots yet?”
She and Luke grinned at each other. "Maybe. But maybe not. We're getting married."
Suzette beamed. "That's the best news I've heard in a long while."
Tawny had to agree--that was, until the nurse returned with Michael along with the report that he was healthy as a horse and that they would be able to welcome guests as soon as they cleaned her up.
Luke pulled a chair up close by her bedside and rested his head against Tawny's arm, that much better to see their son. This--him and Michael and everything they represented--was all she'd ever wanted. This, she realized, was her happily ever after.
And it was only just beginning.
Epilogue
Three Years Later
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no.”
Tawny spun in front of the kitchen sink, and Luke looked up at her, his morning coffee still halfway to his lips.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I just—” She checked the area around the sink again, then heard the patter of tiny feet and a scream of mirth.
“Dammit, I knew it.” But how could he have even gotten it? He wasn’t tall enough to reach the counter. Unless…
Unless she’d left it on the kitchen table. It was a bad habit she’d developed when her toddler had only been a baby. But now that he could grab and run…
Well, there was no stopping the kid.
“Michael has my wedding ring and the kids are going to start getting here any minute.”
“Again?” Luke jumped up from the table, but Tawny waved him off.
“Sit. Eat. I’m fast enough to tackle him.”
She paused and listened as another peal of laughter sounded on the other side of the house.
This was, she realized, practically its own morning routine. Ever since she’d opened up the daycare in their house—Luke’s brilliant idea as a way to ensure that she was working with kids the way she’d always planned while also allowing her to be with Michael until he was ready for school—that little boy had found some way to distract her or tie her up. So that, by the time the parents arrived to drop off their kids, she looked like the last person on earth anyone would want to leave their child with.
When she made it to the living room, she found Michael sitting in the middle of the floor, couch cushions stacked around him like a fortress.
“What are you doing, little man?” she asked, though inside she was secretly hoping that girls would be easier to raise. If not, they were in for one hell of a doozy three months from now.
“Playing pirates,” he lisped back.
She breathed a sigh of relief. At least she knew pirates didn’t eat diamond rings—or stick them up their nose.
“Where’s the treasure?” she asked.
“You have to follow the map,” he said, matter of fact.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and tried again. “Michael, did you take Mommy’s ring?”
“Yes.” He grinned and his blue eyes—so much like Luke’s—twinkled up at her.
Sometimes, she found herself wondering if he looked anything like her at all, in fact. He had the same mop of dark curls his father had, the same mischievous smile. Maybe there was something of her in the straight nose, but other than that? He was a carbon copy of his father.
Which, of course, made it that much more difficult to punish him.
“Front and center,” a deep male voice sounded behind her and s
he found Luke standing in the archway to the room, giving Michael his best fatherly I-know-you-did-something-wrong look.
As commanded, their son trudged toward his father, something clearly gripped inside his chubby fist.
Luke opened his palm wordlessly and extended it toward their son, and Michael dropped the ring without complaint.
“What have we been talking about?” Luke asked.
“Not taking things without asking.”
“Right, but what else?”
Michael stared up at him.
“You and me are the men of this house and we have to take care of Mommy and the new baby. Now that you’re going to be a big brother, what’s the best thing you can do to show Mommy and your new baby sister that you love them?”
“I can be well behaved.”
“And what else?”
“I can tell them I love them,” Michael said, somewhat shamefaced, then he looked up at Tawny and her heart melted a little. He came closer and pressed his head to her still softly rounded belly.
“I love you, baby.” He looked up. “I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart.”
“Good,” Luke said. “Now put the cushions back where they belong. Your friends will be here soon.”
Again, Michael did as he was asked and Tawny turned to her husband, unsure whether it was the new pregnancy hormones or just the fullness of her love that made her want to cry.
“My boys had a little talk?” she asked, eyebrows raised.
Luke shrugged. “Older brothers have responsibilities.”
“You would know.” She nodded.
“I would. Besides, you need all the help you can get. I’m telling you, close the daycare for a few months. We can easily survive on just the bike shop. It’s been an amazing year and it looks like it’s only getting better. You need some rest. Stress isn’t good for you or the baby.”
“I’m not stressed,” she said, and it was true.
She knew, of course, that they didn’t need to run the daycare—that they could survive without it. But, well, Luke had his dreams and she had hers. And spending her days surrounded by children, never having to miss a moment of her son’s—and soon, her daughter’s—upbringing? That was worth everything to her.
Knocked Up Page 16
