Leigh snorted.
“So how about this? I’ll love you, including your faults, and in exchange you just have to promise to never leave me the way that I left you. Because I’m sure as fuck not ever leaving like that again.”
“You might regret making me promise that when you’re stuck in traffic with me,” Leigh warned, but her tone was so soft and fond that I could wrap myself up in it like a blanket. “Sounds like a good deal to me.”
I ran my fingers lightly up and down her back, and I felt Leigh yawn. For a minute or two, blissful silence reigned.
Then Leigh said, “Oh, by the way… I’m sorry I forgot—I got distracted.”
“Mmm, I wonder who could’ve distracted you.”
“Sammy will often come in and join me. Not always. But he does it often enough—it’s why I wasn’t sure about you staying over. I was worried about him interrupting something.”
Ah, yeah. That made sense. Bad enough to worry about how your kid will react to the new man sleeping over, but even more tricky when the kid might walk in on you and your man sleeping naked or in the middle of a make out session. I didn’t think I’d ever get over it if Sammy walked in on Leigh and me having sex.
But then, that was part of being a father, right? You were sharing your life with this little bundle of insanity and joy. I was ready to embrace it. To have Sammy be a part of my life, including this part.
“Sounds good to me,” I chuckled. “It’s a good thing he’s older, though. I’d be terrified of smothering the poor kid in my sleep if he was two or something.”
“I used to worry about the same thing, honestly! He’d do it when he was just a toddler and I’d barely sleep because I was worried I’d squash him. They’re just so little!”
That sobered me up. “Hey. I’m… I’m sorry that I missed out on that. On all of those moments. I wish I could’ve been there to see them.”
“I’ve got plenty of videos and photos,” Leigh replied. “But I know it’s not the same. I’m sorry that you couldn’t be there, too. You would’ve loved it. Seeing him walk for the first time, hearing his first words… it’s really special. It’s not something that you can ever really replace.”
My throat closed up a bit and I had to cough to clear it. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, either. You needed a partner. You needed me there. And I wasn’t.”
“You’re here now,” Leigh pointed out softly. “And you’re going to… I mean if you wanted to…”
“If I wanted to…?”
“If you wanted another child. I never thought about it, before you came back. I had Sammy and I didn’t want another kid unless I had a partner first, and I couldn’t fall for anyone. I mean, yes, all right, it’s hard to meet new people in this small town…”
She was right. I snorted in amusement.
“…but I could’ve found someone, could’ve gone to Portland to the bars or something. But I didn’t have any interest. None of them would be you. So I didn’t think about it—but before, when we were together, before you left, I—I did want more than one kid.” Leigh’s voice was soft, open, vulnerable. “I always pictured myself having two of them. With you.”
My heart felt like it was so full I couldn’t even stand it. “I want that, too.” I wanted to be there this time, for every step, to help Leigh through the pregnancy and to hold that tiny little bundle in my arms. I wanted to be there for all the ‘firsts’: first word, first walk, first sitting up, first everything.
Leigh kissed my throat and snuggled in tighter against me. I couldn’t see her face, but I didn’t have to. I knew the expression that would be on it, the one of soft joy, the one that made her eyes light up like fireworks.
The bedroom door swung open and all peacefulness was shattered. “Mama?”
Leigh sat up, throwing me an I told you so look. “Yes, baby? I’m here. Do you want to come sleep in bed?”
“Okay.” Sammy walked over, then seemed to register that I was there. “Jace!”
“Heya, buddy.” He didn’t seem fazed that I was there, just a little confused. “I hope it’s okay I’m doing a sleepover with your mom? We didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“No, that’s okay.” Sammy grinned at me. “I like you staying over!”
“Well that’s good. Here.” I helped him up onto the bed.
“Why are you awake? Did you have nightmares?” Sammy’s face scrunched up in concern.
Now that I knew he was my son, I understood why he had looked familiar to me when I’d first gotten my real good look at him. It wasn’t just that he looked like Leigh. He looked like me, too.
“Nah, we were just having a tickle fest.” I grinned and snuck my hand down to tickle Leigh right behind her knees, where I knew she was super ticklish.
Leigh shrieked in surprise and kicked at me. “Stop that!”
“I’m not sure that I should…”
Sammy giggled, apparently delighted, and I winked at him.
“But it is late,” Leigh added seriously, in her Mom Voice. It was adorable, and kind of funny to me, how she could switch on that particular tone of voice with Sammy. I wondered if eventually I would have a Dad Voice that I switched on when talking to him. Would I even notice it? “So the tickle fight’s over and we’re going to sleep. You can join us if you want.”
Sammy nodded. “I want to.”
“Well then hop on in, join the party.” I held open the covers for him so that he could crawl in between us.
My heart thudded in my chest. I assumed he’d crawl over on Leigh’s side, since that was his mom, after all. I was still kind of new in the kid’s life. But Sammy snuggled up in between like it was nothing.
I looked up at Leigh and saw her gazing softly at me. An almost-smile was tugging up the corners of her mouth and I smiled back at her, my heart feeling incredibly full.
As we settled down to sleep together, I couldn’t wait to see what the future held. My head was so full of ideas and plans already—for moving into our new house, for the wedding, for making pancakes for breakfast tomorrow morning—and I just knew that it was all going to be fucking amazing.
Epilogue: Leigh
It was amazing, the difference that a single year could make.
I’d figured that out already when I’d gotten pregnant with Sammy. One minute I was this heartbroken girl ready to go on to her new life at art school in the big city, the next I was still heartbroken over Jace but with a baby to take care of and raise. And yet, here I was, marveling at it all over again.
Of course, it felt like less of a marvel when I was feeling like an overstuffed penguin, waddling up the stairs like this. I was eight and a half months pregnant, and I was desperate for this baby to be out of me. I was due in about a week, and I kept telling myself that as I grunted and waddled around, taking forever to do even the smallest of tasks. Just one more week, Leigh, you’ve got this.
Thank God that Rachel had wanted her laundry room on the second floor of the house. I hadn’t thought much about it at the time but now it was a lifesaver. I didn’t have to go up and down the stairs to do the laundry. After all, our clothes and bedsheets were all on the second floor. Why go all the way downstairs?
I hadn’t been able to believe it at first when Jace had told me he’d persuaded Rachel to give him the house. It wasn’t the house that I had pictured for us, because I hadn’t gotten that far along in my thinking. But the moment we’d moved in and I’d thought about it as ours, I had realized how perfect for us it truly was.
Sure, it had been a bit difficult to do the work all over again for Rachel in her new house, for free, but it was worth it in the end. And Jace’s contracting business was taking off just as he’d thought it would. I was contracted to do murals for people a lot in those houses, although as I’d gotten more heavily pregnant I’d had to put a stop to it. It just wasn’t physically possible, not until I had the baby.
I got the sheets out of the dryer and went to Sammy’s room, smiling at the mural. Sammy w
as excited as all for his little sibling to arrive. Andy had insisted I take time off the hardware store when I was in my sixth month. “You need to take care of yourself and relax. Business is fine.”
Business was busy, because we supplied Jace with everything he needed, and Jace’s business was booming. But Dawn, thank God, was able to help out.
“It’s good,” she promised me when I’d asked to make sure it was okay. “Gives me extra cash and something to occupy my time.”
She had been delighted when I’d told her the news about Jace and me. She was the maid of honor at the wedding. Honestly, it was such an amazing day. We kept it small and simple and had the reception double as a housewarming party. Rachel had actually shown up and gifted us with a hotel reservation in New York City so that Jace and I could take Sammy for a weekend and visit the art museums.
Now that she wasn’t after Jace, I was liking her a lot more.
Dawn had cried, so had my mom, and Andy had teased both of them about it forever. Everyone had made jokes at our expense once we’d announced the pregnancy, teasing us about how we’d been smart to tie the knot this time.
I brought the sheets over to the bed and started making it. Sammy would be so happy to have warm, clean sheets to sleep in. Kids always hated cleaning things up but the moment those things were clean, they were ten times happier. It was one of the adorable frustrations of raising them.
I bent over to tuck in a corner, and when I straightened up—
Was that a spider running down my leg?
No, not a spider, I realized after a moment as it spread against both of my inner thighs. It was liquid, wet, running down my legs. Soaking my underwear.
I looked down and my stomach lurched as I realized—my water was breaking.
Okay. Okay. This didn’t mean that the baby was going to pop out right this second. I’d done this before, I knew the drill. It could actually still take me hours to get the baby out from here.
Grabbing my cell phone, I called Jace first.
“Hey, sweetheart, what’s up?” he asked. I could hear hammering in the background. He’d had to hire a couple of extra men, good men that his uncle had known, to help out with jobs to make sure that they went faster, given the high demand he was in.
“You’ll want to tell Todd to take over things today,” I said, breathing deeply so that I wouldn’t sound panicked. “My water just broke.”
“Holy shit.” Jace sounded panicky, and I almost burst into laughter. I understood that it was because he felt helpless, and he was about to see me yelling and in pain and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, but it was still kind of amusing—the idea that I was the one going into labor, not him, but he was the one freaking out.
“Yeah, I’m going to call Dawn—could you come over and get me?”
“Right away, honey, of course. You stay right there, remember your breathing exercises.”
“Of course. I have to call Dawn, I’ll see you in a minute.” I could hear Jace yelling at his helpers as I hung up and punched in Dawn’s number.
“Hey!”
“My water broke.”
“Well fuck me,” Dawn said, her tone immediately switching from a carefree cheerfulness to serious concern. “You all good?”
“Yup, I called Jace and he’s on his way, but could you pick up Sammy from school today and entertain him? I don’t know how long we’ll be.”
“Of course, hon, no problem at all. I can bring him to the hospital whenever you’re ready.”
“You’re the best.”
I could hear the squeal of tires outside, and a car door slamming. “That’s Jace, I have to go!”
“Good luck!” Dawn sounded amused and I had a feeling she wasn’t talking about delivering the baby.
I hung up the phone as the door was all but wrenched off its hinges and I heard Jace yelling for me. “I’m up here!”
He took the steps two at a time and I waddled out of the bedroom, nearly bumping into him on the landing. Jace immediately grabbed my shoulders. “Are you all right? How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay,” I said, laughing a little. You’d think I’d been stabbed the way the poor man was acting. “Honestly, Jace, we have time. We don’t have to panic.”
Jace looked me up and down like he was checking me for signs of injury. “Do you want anything to eat or drink on the way there? Are you doing your breathing?”
“I don’t even have any contractions yet, I think I’m doing okay.” Contractions should be starting soon, but honestly, it wasn’t like the baby was about to fall out of me and onto the floor.
Jace couldn’t carry me while I was pregnant, it was far too awkward for that, but he looked like he desperately wanted to just scoop me up in his arms and carry me to the car himself. I had to bite back more laughter. He was worried for me and that was so sweet. He was being attentive, and I knew that not every mom was so lucky to get that from her husband. But this really didn’t warrant a five-alarm crisis.
“Here, take my arm,” Jace said, offering it to me. Like I’d broken my ankle and needed assistance while walking.
I swallowed down the joke I wanted to make and let him guide me down the stairs and out to the car. Jace opened the door for me and even tried to buckle in my seatbelt for me. I playfully elbowed him. “Babe, seriously, I think I can get it myself. I’m not an invalid.”
Jace put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “If you’re sure…”
I laughed. “Jace, honey, just drive the car, I’m going to be fine.”
To be honest, I was kind of tempted to wait until after the baby was born and then fake a really bad injury to see if Jace would freak out as much. Perhaps as an April Fool’s Day joke?
Jace got into the driver’s seat and I buckled myself in (just fine, thanks, although the seatbelt pressed down on my stomach and always made me have to pee, ugh). Then he floored it out of the driveway, shooting backwards into the street in a way that made me immediately clutch the dashboard.
“Honey if you get us into a car crash before we even get to the hospital… I will kill you.”
“You shouldn’t do that,” Jace said, whipping the car around and making my stomach lurch. “Stress is bad for you and if you kill me, you’ll be stressed.”
That was somehow the funniest, most appropriate, and least appropriate response to my statement all at the same time. “Jace, honestly, it’s fine. I’ve done this before, remember? It’s all going to be okay.”
“So much could go wrong though…”
“Trust me, I’m aware of how much could go wrong. Like us getting pulled over for speeding because you were going ninety miles an hour. Or you running over Withers and Jenkins as they try to cross the street because you’re going too fast.”
“I would never dare hit Withers or Jenkins. They’d find a way to haunt me. Their ghosts would never give me a minute of peace.” Jace’s joking was a good thing, but then a contract hit and I let out a small noise.
Contractions were not fun, no matter how prepared for them I might be. I started to brace my feet on the floor and gripped the door handle so that I could prepare myself. I wasn’t sure how fast the labor would start to come on. Sammy had taken a while, stubborn as always, but this baby might come much faster. Who knew?
“You okay!?” Jace’s voice literally broke like he was a teenager again and I burst out laughing.
“You’d think you were the one having the baby.”
“No, if I was the one having the baby, I’d be calmer.” His knuckles were white where they gripped the steering wheel.
“It’s sweet that you’re so concerned. It really is. But we’re going to be fine. All three of us.” I paused, trying to stifle a giggle. “Well. The baby and me are going to be fine. I think we might want to get the nurse to check your blood pressure.”
Jace rolled his eyes, but I could finally see his muscles starting to relax a bit, his hands loosening slightly around the steering wheel.
And t
hen another contraction hit me and I groaned, and Jace tensed right back up again.
Jace sped the entire way to the hospital and I was actually kind of grateful that he was being so worried. It was an amusing distraction from the intensifying discomfort I was in. Labor wasn’t fun, even though I knew what I was getting into this second time and was prepared for it, and Jace was really just trying to be sweet and take care of me.
We screeched to a halt in front of the hospital and Jace helped me out of the car, looking like he was ready to storm the nurse’s desk like it was a barricade and he was in the French Revolution. “Cool your heels, Valjean.”
“Enjolras.”
“What?”
“Enjolras was the leader of the revolutionaries in Les Miserables, Valjean just wanted to live in peace and for these damn kids and the police officer to get off his lawn.”
I snorted with laughter. “How do you know more about Les Mis than I do?”
“The cast is almost all men, one of the guys in my unit was a choir director back in the day and we’d sing the songs when we were bored.”
“Oh my God.” Things like this were why I loved Jace. He could build houses and had served in the military but he also sang along to musicals.
My phone was ringing as we got to the front desk and checked ourselves in. Andy. Of course. “Hey!” I tried to sound cheerful. Last time I’d given birth Andy had been giving me well-meaning but misplaced advice the entire time despite the fact that he had never given birth to a baby before and was never going to.
“Dawn told me it’s started!?”
“Yup, I’m okay, here’s Jace!” I handed my phone over to Jace and swapped him out for the forms I needed to fill out. The bewildered look on Jace’s face was priceless and I chuckled to myself.
Andy and Jace had made up a few days after Jace and I had gotten engaged. Jace had gone over to Andy’s place and apologized again, this time knowing that he’d knocked me up, and Andy had conceded that he’d been unfair. I hadn’t been there, but Jace had told me that Andy had admitted that he’d been more of a jerk than Jace, and that he should be asking Jace for forgiveness instead of the other way around. Which Jace had thought was bullshit, and so they’d gone back and forth arguing about who was actually supposed to be the bad guy here, before just giving it all up and being friends again.
Second Chance with Brother's Best Friend: A Single Mom Secret Baby Romance Page 17
