Текст книги "Cherished"

Автор книги: Kelly Elliott

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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 24 страниц)

“Why. Does. It. Have. To. Be. So. Hot? I hate Texas in July,” I said as I kicked my feet in Jeff and Ari’s new pool.

Ari was sitting on the edge with Grace, who was splashing and laughing.

“I can’t believe that Grace, Will, and Libby are going to be one next month,” I said as I tried to lean over and splash water on my face.

“I know. It goes by so fast. I still can’t believe Luke is two,” Ari said as she smiled a soft, sweet smile.

I dropped my head back and felt the hot sun on my face. The baby had been moving all over the place today. I felt a funny pain and put my hand on my stomach.

Luke and Alex both came running out of the house and started jumping around in the pool. Grace immediately began crying, and Ari picked her up and put her on her lap.

“Luke, you know better than to run around the pool and splash Grace. She’s smaller than you. You have to protect her, not hurt her.”

Luke tilted his head and peeked at Ari with his beautiful long lashes.

Oh…he melts my heart in an instant.

“Don’t fall for it, Jessie. They learn early how to work you,” Ari said. She turned back toward Luke and said, “Well?”

Luke walked up to Grace, gave her a kiss on the head, and quickly said, “Sorry,” before turning and playing with Alex.

I felt Scott come and sit behind me. He moved his body up against me and put his legs on the outside of mine, dipping his feet into the pool water.

“Damn that feels good. What is it outside? A hundred degrees?” Scott asked as he lifted my ponytail. He began kissing my neck.

“Oh, that feels good,” I whispered.

“Knock it off, you horny bitch. My kids are right here,” Ari said as she winked at me.

I let out a laugh as I watched Gunner pull up a chair for Ellie and Colt. Ellie looked exhausted but so happy. She glanced over and smiled at me. Then, she looked at my stomach and let out a giggle.

“Jessie, you have to be having a boy. You are all belly,” Ellie said.

Ari’s dog, Scarlet, came up to me and began nudging my arm. I picked up my arm and began petting her softly. I closed my eyes, and an image of Trey popped into my head. I hadn’t thought about him in months. I still felt like the accident was entirely my fault. If I had just waited for Scott, Trey wouldn’t have tried to force me to leave, and the accident would never have happened.

When I’d met Trey’s mother and father, they’d told me that Trey had been having some emotional problems. That had been one of the reasons his fiancée had left him and he’d stayed in Belize for so long. He had been hiding from a life he didn’t want to go back to.

Would things have been different for him if he hadn’t met me? Would he have gone home and led a different life? A happy life?

I opened my eyes and looked over at Ari, who was staring at me.

She has some kind of sixth sense, I swear.

She always seemed to know when I was feeling guilty.

She gave me a slight smile and shook her head. “Stop,” was all she had to say.

I did just that. I quickly pushed all thoughts of Trey from my mind.

I felt the pain in my stomach again, and I quickly looked around. Jeff was now leaning down, kissing Ari, as Grace was reaching out for him. Alex and Luke were pouring water over each other. Josh and Heather were in the water with Will and Libby. Ellie was talking to Heather while Scott was in a deep conversation with Josh about making a bench for the end of our bed. He wanted Josh to help him make it. Gunner walked around, holding a sleeping Colt. Matthew was sitting in one of the lounge chairs, playing a video game.

I turned and looked at all of our parents. They were all sitting under the covered pavilion that Scott, Jeff, and Gunner had made. Sharon, Grace, Elizabeth, and Sue were all sitting together, laughing at something Emma was saying. Jack, Brian, Philip, Mark, Greg, and my father were all listening to a story Garrett was telling.

I tilted my head and looked around at four generations of friends.

Gunner started humming, and Alex must have heard him because she got out of the pool and ran up to him. She started asking him to put the baby down and hold her. I giggled at how jealous she was of Colt getting attention from her daddy.

Gunner smiled down at her. “You miss your daddy’s cuddle straps?”

“What?” Josh, Jeff, and Scott all said at once.

Gunner smiled as he handed Colt to Ellie. “Yeah, my cuddle straps,” he said as he flexed his arms.

Ellie rolled her eyes.

Ari said, “Oh, for the love of all things good, Gunner.”

Jeff, Josh, and Scott all looked at each other and then back at Gunner as they started laughing.

Jeff shook his head. “Pussy.”

Ari smacked Jeff. “Jeff! The kids, for Christ’s sake.”

Jeff turned and looked at Ari. “See! See, this is why your dad gets pissed at me when the kids swear. You get mad at me when I swear, but you swear at me for swearing. Why can you swear at me, but I can’t swear? How is that fair, Ari?”

She took a sip of water and smiled as she shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t know, but in my father’s eyes, it’s fair.”

Jeff just looked at Ari and smiled as Luke dumped water over Ari’s head. She screamed and jumped up. She grabbed Luke and gave him a tickle attack.

“Are Brad and Amanda still planning on coming out?” Heather asked Josh.

“Nope. I think the move into the new house is taking its toll on them all. Amanda wasn’t feeling good, and Maegan has strep throat,” Josh said.

Everyone let out a gasp. We all looked at each other and laughed.

“Jesus H. Christ, look at us,” Ari said as she glanced around.

Everyone took a good look around and then turned back at Ari.

“We’re old. I mean, we act old. It’s like we’re our…” Ari looked over at where Garrett was still telling his story to everyone. Then, she turned back to us and scrunched up her nose. “We’re consumed by the fear of sickness because, my god, if our kids get sick, then that’s it for our perfectly planned days. Germs and running snot noses for a week. We plan a Fourth of July get-together with our parents instead of going to some country bar where we can take a few spins around the dance floor while getting drunk. It’s like we’ve grown up and become…” She turned and looked over at the older group of friends all talking and laughing with each other. She slowly smiled. “Them. We’ve become our parents.”

“Ari? Why do you say you are Mom and Dad?” Matt asked.

Ari laughed. “It’s just that we act like them, Matt, ’cause we are all older now and have kids.”

Matt nodded his head. “Will I ever have kids, Ari?”

I saw the sadness instantly fill Ari’s eyes as her smile faded for just one brief second.

“Would you like to have kids someday, Matt?” Ari asked.

Matt looked around at each of us. He was really taking in the sight of everyone before he looked back at Ari. “Hell no, I want to be a motherfucking cowboy.”

Jeff jumped up and down as he did a fist pump, and then he walked up to Matt. “Yes! Buddy, you said it right this time! Motherfucker!”

“Jeff!” Ellie and Ari both called out.

Matt stood up. “Jeff, I’m going to hug you!” He slammed into Jeff, clearly pleased that he had just made Jeff so happy.

Ari shook her head. “Wait till my father hears this one.”

I let out laugh, and then I felt the same pain, but this time, it was stronger, like the baby had kicked the shit out of me.

Scott had his hands on my stomach. “Damn, that was a big kick, and your stomach is getting hard.”

I had to take a deep breath. Wow, that really hurt.

Ellie stood up and walked over to me. “Jess, how long have you been having pains?”

Scott jumped up. “What? Pains? When did you start having pains? How long have you had them for? Why didn’t you tell me you were having pains? I’m supposed to time them!”

Josh said, “Damn, our only job, and it seems like we all mess that part up.”

“Right?” Jeff and Gunner both said at the same time.

Heather started to push Libby on the float as she made her way to the edge of the pool. “Jessie, oh my god, is it time?” She picked up Libby and walked out of the pool.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I, um…I don’t know. I mean, they feel like Braxton Hicks contractions…but harder.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…Jess, those are contractions. How long have you been feeling them?” Ari asked.

“Uh…”

“The suitcase! I don’t think I packed it in the truck! Shit!” Scott said as he took off running toward the truck.

“Jessie, did they just start, sweets?” Ellie asked me.

“Well, I felt the first one right about when Scott came out with y’all.”

“How many have you felt since then?” Heather asked as she dried off Libby.

“I think that was the third one?” I said as I watched Scott running like an idiot over to his truck.

The next thing I knew, my father was walking up. “Is it time?”

I honestly didn’t know what to say. Am I in labor? Is this it? “I don’t—”

“I’ve got it!” Scott yelled.

I looked past my father and saw Scott running back up. He had a huge smile on his face. The next thing I saw was Scott tripping over Scarlet, who had run in front of him and cut him off, while he was trying to hurdle the lounge chair, and then he landed in an awkward position.

The moment I heard him cry out in pain, my heart dropped to my stomach…and then I had a contraction.

“Oh my god!” I screamed out.

Ari and Heather were running toward Scott, but then they stopped and ran back to me.

“What?” Ari skidded to a stop in front of me.

I started shaking my head frantically. “I-I don’t know! Oh my god! Is he hurt? Ah…motherfucker!”

“Motherfucker, I want to be a motherfucking cowboy!” Matthew called out.

Sue and Mark walked up to him and started to tell him not to say that.

“But Jeff and Jessie said it,” Matt said.

Mark smiled. “At least we moved on from mudderfucker.”

Sue just looked at Mark, and I glanced back over toward Scott. Jeff and Gunner both ran into each other, trying to turn and go into the house, each saying something about getting ice. Jeff yelled out in pain, and Gunner tripped. He lost his balance, and he started to fall backward.

Oh no…this is not going to be good.

“Gunner! Watch out!” Ellie called.

Gunner reached for Jack, who reached for Greg, who reached for Mark…who saw what was about to happen and took a step back before Greg could grab a hold of him.

The next thing I knew, Gunner, Jack, and Greg were in the pool. Mark walked up behind Jeff and gave him a good push. Jeff ended up going into the water as well.

“Daddy!” Ari called out.

“What? He has a swimsuit on,” Mark said.

I couldn’t help but giggle at Jeff’s expression when he was getting out of the pool. I glanced up at my father, who was standing there, shaking his head along with Garrett.

“What in the hell is wrong with you group of people? My daughter is in labor, and you’re playing around!” Drake said.

I turned my head to see Scott sitting on the ground while Josh had ice on Scott’s ankle. I made my way to Scott and tried to get down, but I was so damn big that I could hardly move.

“Scott, are you okay?” I asked as I attempted to sit down on the lounge chair.

“Don’t sit. We’re going right now. We have to get you to the hospital.” Scott said in a panicked voice.

Josh helped Scott up as Matt came walking over.

“Scott, you assmole, you made me laugh with how you danced in the air,” Matt said with a laugh.

That caused everyone else to start laughing, including me.

Then, another contraction hit, and I started to panic. Shit, they’re not that far apart.

“Come on, I’ll drive,” Josh said. He turned back to Heather and said, “Babe, can you get the twins on your own?”

Elizabeth was standing next to Heather. “I’ll help her with Libby and Will. Just get Scott and Jessie to the hospital,” Elizabeth said as she picked up Will before giving him a big kiss.

I turned and looked at Scott. Panic had taken over in his eyes. My heart was breaking because I knew how he’d wanted everything to go so smoothly.

I smiled and walked up to him. I put my hands on his face and reached up to kiss him. “You ready, baby?” I asked in a whispered voice.

He smiled, and his eyes lit up, causing me to smile bigger.

“Never been more ready, but, um…Jessie?”

“Yeah, Scott?”

“I think I might have broken my ankle.”

After Josh pulled up to the emergency room doors, I hopped out of the backseat and attempted to help Jessie out of the truck. Her contractions were not getting any closer together, and I was thanking God because I was almost a hundred percent sure I’d broken my ankle. Josh ran inside, and the next thing I knew, there were two wheelchairs.

The nurse walking up to us giggled. “Well, we haven’t seen this in a while.”

“Seen what?” Jessie asked as I helped her sit down in the wheelchair.

“The pregnant wife with the husband who broke something while frantically trying to get the wife to the hospital.” The nurse winked at me.

She started to push Jessie in as Josh pushed me in while he was laughing. Just the nurse referring to Jessie as my wife caused my heart to beat faster.

“I wasn’t frantic. I was jumping over a stupid lounge chair, and Ari’s damn dog ran in front of me,” I said, folding my arms. I was pretty sure if I could see myself, my face would be pouting.

Josh stopped at the nurses’ station and slapped me on the back. “Dude, I’ve got to park your truck. Jessie, I’ll bring your suitcase in.” He looked at me and shook his head. Then, he turned and walked off, still laughing.

Bastard. I’m sure he panicked even more when Heather went into labor.

The nurse mentioned something to Jessie about how we had preregistered, so we had to sign only a few things. Then, she turned to me and asked for my insurance card.

“What?” I asked, confused. “Don’t worry about me. My fiancée is in labor!”

The nurse smiled sweetly. “Mr. Reynolds, we need to get you down to X-ray, so we can see if your ankle is broken. Then, we will take care of it from there.”

I went to stand up and felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw my father standing there.

“Scott, just let them do this, so you can get it done and get back to Jessie. Your mother and I are here.”

“Who called you?” I asked, confused as hell.

“Garrett. Now, go on. Just let them get you fixed up, son. I promise, you won’t miss anything.”

I turned and looked at Jessie, who was holding my mother’s hand. I smiled when I looked at the two most important women in my life. They had both grown to love each other so much, and I loved that Jessie called her mom. She was the mother that Jessie had never had, and my mother adored Jessie so much. I felt tears building in my eyes as I looked up at my mother. She nodded her head, and I knew they were right.

I reached out my hand for Jessie’s. “I’m so, so sorry I did this.”

She let out a giggle. “I love you, Scott. I’ll hold the baby off for as long as I can.”

As the nurse began taking me down to get an X-ray, I turned around and saw Jessie staring at me. She lifted her hand and waved, and I blew her a kiss. I watched as the smile spread across her beautiful face.

I turned back around and cursed all lounge chairs and dogs.

We are never getting a pool. Ever!

I was impressed that the doctor in the emergency room had worked so fast to get me fixed up. The X-ray had shown a small fracture, so the doctor put a cast on and gave me crutches. He told me to follow-up in a few days with my doctor.

I swore Jeff was having a grand ole time, pushing me in the wheelchair as fast as he could, as I held on to my crutches while telling him to hurry the hell up.

By the time we got up to the labor and delivery area, my heart was pounding so hard that I was beginning to have a hard time breathing. I saw our family and friends in the waiting room and smiled. I have the best group of friends ever.

“Where are all the kids?” I asked, looking at Heather, Ari, Ellie, Gunner, and Josh all sitting around, drinking coffee.

Ari laughed. “That’s the best part of having the grandparents over for a party. If we all need to leave, we’ve got built-in babysitters!”

“Ellie, you left Colt?” I asked, knowing Ellie had yet to leave Colt with anyone.

She smiled and nodded her head. “Well, I figured five grandparents could take care of him and Alex.”

“Mr. Reynolds? Your fiancée is getting closer,” the nurse said.

I jumped up and out of the wheelchair with my crutches. “Shit! Shit, this it!”

Everyone let out a laugh. Jeff, Josh, and Gunner walked me to the door.

Before I went in, I turned and looked at them. “I don’t know what to say, but thank you. Thank you for being more than just a friend. Y’all are like my brothers, and I…I…”

Gunner put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. “We know what you’re saying, dude. Go welcome your baby into the world, and don’t forget to tell Jessie what a great job she did.”

“And tell her she looks beautiful,” Jeff said with a wink.

I looked at Josh, and he smiled. “Oh man, dude…take it all in because it will be one of the most amazing moments in your life. Just make sure she knows how happy you are, Scott.”

I nodded as I looked at all three of them. I opened the door and heard Jessie cry out in pain. I quickly shut it and turned back around to them.

“Holy fuck, I can’t do it.” I started to hobble away.

Gunner grabbed me and opened the door. He turned me around and gently guided me into the room.

The moment her eyes caught mine, I didn’t need any help. I needed to get to her. She looked down at my ankle in a cast, and she started crying.

“No…no, baby, don’t cry.” I tried my best to make my way to her side.

My mother was standing on the other side of Jessie, and she smiled at me when I finally made it to Jessie’s side.

“Honey, I’m going to step outside now that Scott is here,” my mother said.

Jessie reached for her. “No! Mom, please stay with us. Please,” she said as her voice cracked.

My mother smiled and pushed Jessie’s sweat-dampened hair away from her eyes. I saw tears building in my mother’s eyes as she nodded her head.

“Of course I will stay with y’all, baby girl,” my mother said.

My heart felt like it was going to burst. I was so happy.

My mother looked at me. “You have one very strong and brave young woman here. She is doing this with no drugs.”

I instantly felt like shit, remembering how I had just begged the ER doctor to give me something strong to take away the pain. Some cowboy I am.

“Looks like you made it right on time, Scott. I think a few more pushes, Jessie, and we will get to meet this baby of yours,” Pete said.

The next few minutes felt like a lifetime, yet it all happened so fast. Jessie pushed about five more times, and she never once complained about the pain. She cried out in pain each time, but I could tell she was trying to be so strong. I leaned down after each push and told her how proud of her I was and how much I loved her.

Then, it happened. Jessie let out a long and loud scream with the last push.

Pete looked up at us and smiled. “You have a beautiful and healthy baby girl.”

I busted out in tears and looked at our baby girl as Pete held her up.

“Oh my god! She’s the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen,” Jessie said.

Pete handed the baby to the nurse, who moved our girl to a table. I watched the nurse do all kinds of weird-ass shit to the poor little thing. She was crying away, and my heart had never felt like this before. I thought loving Jessie was amazing, but this…this was beyond amazing, just like Josh had said.

I glanced down at Jessie as she cried and tried to see what the nurse was doing to the baby.

I leaned down, placed my finger under her chin, and moved her face over to look at me. “I love you more than anything. I never in my life thought that I could feel so much love in my heart, and you just proved me wrong…again. You amaze me. I’m in awe of you right now, and you…you’ve made me the happiest man on Earth. Thank you for loving me.”

I gently kissed her, and she moved her hand to the back of my neck, pulling me in for a deeper kiss.

When we parted our lips, she smiled and looked me in the eyes as she said, “I love you to the moon and back.”

She began crying again, and I wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“And I just want you to know…I’m never doing that again,” she said.

My mother busted out laughing. I smiled and nodded my head as I looked up at my mother, who winked at me.

“Are you ready to meet baby girl Reynolds?” the nurse asked.

She walked up to me and gently put my daughter in my arms. The moment I held her, she immediately stopped crying.

“Hey…look at that. Already a Daddy’s girl,” Pete said.

He walked over to the sink and did a few things with the nurses, and then they slowly sat Jessie back up.

Looking down at this beautiful miracle in my arms, I couldn’t help but smile. When she yawned, my knees about gave out.

“I promise to always love and protect you and your mommy. You two are my whole life now, baby girl.”

I turned to see Jessie watching me. The smile on her face was like nothing I’d ever seen before in my life. I carefully took our baby and placed her into the arms of the woman I’d loved since before I could remember.

I would lay my life down for this woman and for our daughter.

I watched as Jessie brought our baby girl up to her lips, and she began kissing our daughter all over her little face. One peek at my mother, and I saw she was crying like mad. I smiled and wiped a tear away.

“I’m so, so happy to finally meet you. I’ve waited so long to hold you, and I thought for sure with how much you kicked and punched me, baby girl, that you were going to be a boy!”

We all laughed.

My mother lightly brushed her hand across the baby’s head. “Do we have a name?” she asked as she looked at Jessie and then at me.

I looked down, and we both nodded.

“Lauren Ashley. Her name is Lauren Ashley Reynolds,” Jessie said with a smile.

“It’s perfect. She’s perfect. Let me give y’all a few minutes. Before I go, Scott, would you like to go tell your friends it’s a girl?”

I quickly looked up at my mother. “Oh yeah! Let me go real quick, Mom…on my crutches and all.”

I made my way out of the room and down the hall. Everyone stood up at once. I knew the moment I opened my mouth, I was going to start crying again, and Jeff would probably call me a pussy. I looked at each of them standing there with smiles on their faces. These were my six friends who had stood by me through everything. I knew there wasn’t a damn thing we wouldn’t do for each other. My life would be empty without them in it. I knew this wouldn’t be the last time we were all going to be waiting to hear the news of another new baby. Our lives were just starting. So many more happy memories were waiting for all of us.

“Well?” Ari said. “Are you going to tell us, dickwad? Or make us all stand here and guess?”

I let out a laugh. Only Ari could make me laugh when all I wanted to do was cry.

“It’s a girl—Lauren Ashley,” I barely said.

They all made their way over to me. With every handshake and hug, my heart grew bigger and bigger, and my love for my friends grew tenfold.

“Congratulations, dude,” Gunner said as he took me in for a hug.

Each of the girls took turns giving me a kiss and wiping away my tears.

Josh smiled as he gave me a hug. “I told you, didn’t I?”

I nodded my head. “Yeah. You weren’t kidding either.”

When Jeff walked up to me, I braced myself for what I was sure was going to be an onslaught of snarky comments.

“Welcome to fatherhood, dude. It’s one of the coolest things ever. I’m glad you had a girl because if you had a boy, I would have to worry about him going after my Grace. If your son were anything like you…”

I started laughing and shook my head. “Thanks, Jeff.”

He smiled, and to my surprise, he brought me in for a quick hug and slap on the back. “I’m really happy for you and Jessie.”

As everyone stepped back, I saw my father walking down the hall with Starbucks coffees, and Bryce was following behind him with more coffees.

Dad stopped and smiled as he looked at me.

“A girl—Lauren Ashley,” I said.

He handed Josh the coffees, walked up to me, and pulled me in for a hug. “Son of a bitch. Well done, son. Well done. I’m so damn proud of you and Jessie.”

I smiled, and Bryce reached out and shook my hand. Things hadn’t been the same with us ever since the whole Chelsea incident, but we were trying to work on it.

“So, I’m an uncle. Pretty damn cool.”

“Dad, would you like to see her?” I asked.

“Do horses shit?”

I laughed and shook my head. I turned and made my way back into the room as I listened to my father talk about all the things he was going to teach Lauren.

I never want this feeling to end.