Chapter 21
FLYNN
After I overheard my wife’s side of the conversation with her friend, I backtracked to the kitchen to give the news time to sink in. Was it the best time for her to get pregnant? Probably not.
If she’s pregnant, then I get to keep her forever.
The voice in my head was full of excitement at the prospect, for several reasons, but the main one was that we would be bound together with a connection she never had with Beckett. No matter what, we would be in one another’s lives from that point on. It gave us more incentive to make the most of our marriage. So, even though it was unexpected, unplanned, and crappy timing considering we were only just working out the details of our relationship, I was fucking ecstatic over the possibility that we made a baby together.
I took the Ginger Ale and crackers to Courtney after we both had a few minutes to process. Her smile was awkward as she thanked me for taking care of her again.
“I will always be here to take care of you, sweetheart.”
“I might just hold you to that,” She whispered.
“Please do.” I turned and got ready to leave. “I’m going to clean up our mess from yesterday. Do you need anything else?”
Courtney shook her head and then plastered a fake as fuck smile on her face. “Hadley is going to drop by in a bit with a thermometer and some other stuff.”
I wanted to laugh at her blatant lie. I took a step closer and held my arm out. “Do you have a fever? I can check to see if you’re warm.”
“No!” Did she realize I could hear how desperate she sounded to keep me at a distance? It took everything in me not to laugh. “I mean, we might as well until I can get an accurate temperature, that way I don’t get ahead of myself and end up at the Urgent Care.”
“Okay, yell if you need me. I’ll let Hadley in when she gets here, so you don’t have to get up.”
“Thanks,” Courtney called out to me as I left our bedroom. It was a good thing I already overheard their conversation, because my wife was horrible with subterfuge.
The minute I opened the door for Hadley she waved and ran straight for the bedroom. I walked that way to see what they would say, but by the time I got there, they were already in the bathroom. I moved to the door and knocked.
“Are you okay? Getting sick again?” I asked.
“Um, yeah. Hadley’s here with me. I’ll be okay.”
“Okay, well I’m not far, if you need me.”
“Thanks, Flynn.”
“Yeah, thanks to the Hubsters, now go away. Women don’t like men to hear them puke.”
“I heard it yesterday,” I called back to her. My wife wasn’t puking though. I could hear her peeing.
“Go away,” Hadley yelled through the door.
“And this morning. I even pulled her hair back both times,” I called out to her. I could have left but it was more fun to fuck with them, since they wanted to try to keep my wife’s maybe pregnancy a secret.
“Maybe your Urgent Care idea was plausible,” I pondered loudly.
“Flynn!” Courtney called out.
“Yes, Nemesis?”
“Can you please give me a minute?”
“Sure thing, sweetheart.” I called back and that time I moved away from the bathroom door, but I wasn’t about to go far. I wanted to see my wife’s face first thing after she came out. I had forgotten all about the fact that we hadn’t used protection on our wedding night, and we had fucked a lot. I dumped three loads in her before the sun came up.
I hoped like hell that meant she was for sure knocked up because if she wasn’t, we were going to have to start trying with a purpose.
When they came out, both women seemed a bit shell-shocked. “Everything okay?” I asked. “Did you have a fever?”
Hadley continued to make her way to the bedroom door. “I’m gonna,” She tipped her head toward the door and then walked out without finishing that thought. I heard her leave the house before I turned my attention back to my wife, who had taken a seat beside me on the bed. She still hadn’t found her voice, so I decided to take the burden off her shoulders.
“Is there any chance that it’s Beckett’s?” Courtney shook her head, but still didn’t say anything. “How do you know?”
“We hadn’t even had sex in two months.” She choked out a dark laugh. “That probably should have told me something, huh? I thought it was just because we were both busy, stressed with the upcoming wedding, and… You probably don’t want to hear all this,” She finally said.
“I don’t want to, but I think we both need to clear the air about a few things. What you’re saying is that it would be obvious if you were pregnant with Beckett’s kid. Right?”
“Yes. I would most likely be showing by now. I’m going to make an appointment with my doctor. They’ll be able to verify if I really am pregnant and how far along.”
“I’d like to be there, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind. If I am pregnant, it’s most likely yours unless I’m having one of those weird pregnancies where the woman doesn’t know, and I doubt that very much.” When she stopped to look at me, it finally dawned on her that she didn’t have to break the news to me. “How did you know?”
“I’m not as dumb as I look. I think I probably figured it out about the same time you did.” I laughed as I thought about overhearing her conversation. My hand was on the doorknob, ready to turn it to enter our bedroom when it occurred to me that she had been sick two mornings in a row and I for both of those mornings, I brought her the same things we kept on hand for the women who were pregnant in the office.
“Also, you and Hadley weren’t exactly quiet about it when you called her, even though you were trying to be.”
“You also don’t seem angry,” My wife pointed out.
“Why would I be?”
“We didn’t exactly marry for love, Flynn.”
“No, but what’s to stop that from happening? I love you, always have,” I admitted.
“Yeah, as friends,” My wife corrected.
I shook my head once, and then remembered she probably wasn’t ready for the whole truth about my feelings just yet. “That’s a better starting point than a lot of people have when they become parents. At least this wasn’t a one-night stand with a stranger or…”
“A pregnancy with my maybe cheating ex-fiancé,” She filled in as I winced.
“Yeah. That would suck.” I agreed. “The thing is, we’re already married. We’re friends. We’re working on our communication skills. By the time this little one gets here, we’ll be a well-oiled machine at this relationship stuff.”
“So, you want to have this baby?”
The way she emphasized the word “want” made me sit up and take notice. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that she might not want to carry the pregnancy to term, or be a mom. It wasn’t something we really talked about yet.
“If you want this baby, then I am in a million percent. If you don’t, then I’ll be okay with that because it’s your body. You get to decide.”
“What is your preference?” She asked.
I shook my head again. “My preference doesn’t matter.”
“It does, Flynn. This is our baby. If I really am pregnant, then it is both of ours.”
I took my hand and placed it over hers where she had rested it on her belly as if to protect the very idea of what might be growing inside her. “I think you already made your decision,” I told her softly, “ and that’s great because it aligns perfectly with what I want.”
“Really?” She questioned as big tears formed in her eyes and spilled over.
I caught the first one with my fingertip as it spilled over. “Really, Nemesis. I can’t think of any better news than starting a family with the one woman I trust to do the best damn job of parenting with me.”
“Thank you,” She whispered before she laid her head on my shoulder.
“Pretty sure I should be the one thanking you for being willing to bring my spawn into the world. Imagine what it will be like in a few years when your little vengeance demons start to curse us for running out of cookies.”
Courtney’s laughter made my fucking heart sing. It was like a dream come true. Not only was she finally mine, but she was also carrying my baby.