Countdown
Five days before “I do”
Henley
“Oh my freaking God! I’m going to kill Keaton.”
“I don’t think it’s advisable to talk about premeditated murder with a federal agent in the room,” Jade quipped.
“Eh. I’m off duty,” Lanie pointed out. “Besides, depending on what he did, you may need my shovel and my hole digging expertise to bury the body.”
“‘Let’s have another baby,’ he said. Like three wasn’t enough. Now I’ve got more tits and ass than a Vegas strip club.”
“For your information, lots of people pay good money to have boobs like yours.”
“Jade’s right. They’re fabulous. Now quit bitchin’ and get out here so we can see your dress.”
Stepping through my bathroom door, I was met with the smiling faces of my two best friends, both of whom looked gorgeous in their matching plum gowns.
“You look stunning, Henley.”
That’s because they couldn’t see the issue that my baby bump had created. I held up a finger and turned, showing off my exposed back because the zipper wouldn’t fucking zip.
“We can fix this.”
“How, Lanie? The wedding is in five days?”
“Are you questioning my ability to think on my feet?”
“No. I’m questioning my own sanity. Why did I agree to be a bridesmaid when I’m thirty-eight weeks pregnant?”
“I’m pregnant too, you know.”
“Yeah, Jade. Like four days pregnant.” God, I was being a bitch. At twenty weeks, Jade had the cutest little baby bump. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“When’s the last time you ate, Henley?” Lanie asked, looking concerned.
“Shit.” I knew immediately what the issue was. Hypoglycemia. Grabbing my glucometer off my bedside table, I checked my blood sugar level, already knowing what I was going to see on the screen.
“Jade, can you grab me some juice please?”
“And a peanut butter sandwich,” Lanie added. “How low is it?”
“Fifty-two.”
“Dammit, Henley.”
“I know. Don’t tell Keaton.”
“Too late.”
The man in question walked through our bedroom door with a glass of orange juice in his hand. He looked handsome as ever, in jeans and a navy polo, even if he was sporting a scowl.
“I thought you’d be gone another hour or two.” I accepted the juice, taking a long drink.
He and the other guys were building a trellis for the happy couple to stand under to say their vows. I had no doubt it would be amazing.
“We finished up early. Good thing too.” He sat on the bed next to me. “You know better than to keep shit from me, Little Bird.”
“I didn’t want you to worry.”
“I’ll always worry. Drink up.”
“Bossy. Are the kids downstairs?”
“Yes. Koen’s popping a movie in for them.”
Jade returned, carrying my sandwich on a paper plate. “Here you go. We’ll change then get out of your hair. And about your dress, I can take out the zipper and add a lace-up closure. Problem solved.”
“Oh my God, you’re the best.”
Fifteen minutes later, Keaton checked my sugar again. It had come up to one-fifteen. Much improved.
“Your diabetes hasn’t been out of whack in a while. What’s going on?”
“I just forgot to eat lunch, that’s all.”
“Henley.” He used his dad voice on me, the one that said he wasn’t buying what I was laying down.
“Today would’ve been Nana Rita’s birthday.”
We lost my pseudo-grandmother last year. Heart attack. Sometimes I still couldn’t believe she was gone.
“Baby.” Keaton pulled me into his arms. “I wish you would’ve said something.”
“I’m okay. I just miss her.”
“I know you do,”—he put his hand over our baby—“but no more skipping meals. Nothing can happen to you. I wouldn’t survive.”
“Same. Love you, Keaton.”
“Love you too, Henley. Thank you for giving me the world.”
Four days before “I do”
Jade
“Are you packed?”
“I don’t leave for six days, Jade.”
“Exactly. Are you packed?”
Six days. How was there only six days left?
I swear time was flying by. Wasn’t it just yesterday when my little brother graduated from high school?
Now he was leaving us to go to the FBI academy in freaking Quantico.
He’d never been that far away from me, not even when he went to college. I wasn’t going to survive.
“It’s best not to argue with your sister, Jett. Why not just start the process.”
“I thought you’d be on my side, Koen.” He side-eyed my husband.
“Dude, she’s carrying my baby. I don’t have a death wish.”
Most days the two of them were like peas in a pod.
It’d been that way from the beginning. When Jett had gotten in trouble, it was Koen who figured out a way to keep him on the right side of the law.
He saved him, gave him a purpose, and now Jett was following in his footsteps.
I was proud and terrified at the same time.
“Listen, I’m not going to have time to help you this week. I’ve got too much on my plate with the wedding preparations. Please don’t wait until the last minute, okay?”
“Pheebs will help. Won’t you, babe?” Jett flashed a wide smile to his best friend-slash-girlfriend.
“No Pheebs won’t,” she sassed. “You’re an adult, most of the time.”
Where one went, so did the other. Jett had followed Phoebe to West Virginia University, and now Phoebe was moving to Virginia to be with Jett.
She’d been a permanent fixture in our home for as long as I could remember.
Soon, Jett would be popping the question, or I hoped he would.
They were a match made in heaven. But he seemed off since getting home from college and I didn’t think it was because of the pregnancy.
“What’s going on with you, Jett?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Cut the crap. Are you having second thoughts about going into the FBI?”
“What? No. Never.”
“Then what is it? Not that I mind having you around, but you’re always home. That’s not like you.”
My worry grew as I watched Phoebe and Jett communicate silently. Something was definitely up.
“Tell her, Jett, or I will.” Phoebe crossed her arms over her chest.
“Fine.” He blew out a breath. “Mom called me.”
I should’ve braced. We hadn’t heard a peep from our shitty parents since the day they relinquished their parental rights over Jett to me in order to save themselves from serious jail time.
They spent a year behind bars and I assumed they left town when they got out.
Apparently, that was not the case. I used to be afraid of them, but now, I was pissed.
“What did she want?” I growled.
Koen laced his fingers through mine, calming my fury. “Easy, Angel.”
“She asked if we could meet up.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her to fuck off.”
“Language, Jett Mica.”
My brother grinned. “I’m twenty-two, sis. I can cuss if I want to.”
“Did she say anything else, Jett?” Koen asked.
“She said she was sorry.” He swallowed thickly. “I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you, but I didn’t want to upset you.”
“If she tries to contact you again, I want you to tell me immediately, okay?”
He pulled me into a hug. “I will, I promise.”
“Now that that’s settled, we’re going to head out. Come on, Angel.” Koen tugged on my hand.
“I’ll meet you there,” Jett called out.
“You’re sure you want to come?” I laid my hand across my baby bump.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
I was midway through our first pregnancy, twenty weeks along.
We tried for years to have a baby and had nearly given up hope when we were blessed with our little miracle.
Koen scheduled us for a 3-D ultrasound at a radiology place in town.
If we were lucky, the baby would cooperate, letting us see if we were having a boy or a girl.
It didn’t matter to me, but both Jett and Koen had a very clear opinion. They wanted a boy.
An hour later, with my bladder so full I thought I’d pee myself at any time, the ultrasound tech placed the wand on my exposed stomach. Koen was on my left, Jett on my right, with Phoebe at his side. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the big TV hanging on the wall.
“Let me turn up the volume so you can hear the baby’s heartbeat,” the tech, Angela, said.
Seconds later, the room was filled with the best sound I’d ever heard and an image appeared on the screen. You could see everything so clearly, not like those old ultrasounds where the baby looked like a blob.
“There’s our baby, Angel. He’s gonna be so strong.”
“He could be a she, Koen.”
“Nah. It’s a boy,” Jett interjected. “Look, he’s even making a fist.”
“Would you like to know the sex?” Angela asked.
“Yes,” four voices said simultaneously.
She maneuvered the wand around a bit, then held it perfectly still.
“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Banks. You’re having a girl.”
“Shit. Are you sure? Can you look again?”
“Why would she need to look again, Koen?” I cocked my head to the side. “There’s either a hot dog or a bun.”
“I bet Lanes fifty bucks we were having a boy, also we’re never having hotdogs again.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“You love me anyway.” He kissed my lips.
“I do. I love you so much.”
“Love you too, Jade.”
“Hey, baby girl. I’m your Uncle Jett.” My head jerked to the side when I heard my brother’s voice crack. He was bent over, hands on the bed, talking to my belly. Tears sprang to my eyes when he repeated the words I’d been saying to him his whole life. “Don’t worry about anything. I’ve got you.”
Three days before “I do”
Lanie
He found me.
Not that I was hiding.
I felt his presence right before he wrapped his hands around the top of the fence, caging me in from behind.
“Hey, darlin’.” He kissed the top of my head. “How’s she doing?”
The “she” Noah was referring to was my mare, Smoke. My sweet girl was due to give birth to her first foal any day. I was on baby watch.
“She’s pacing more, getting restless. I think she’s close.”
“We should think about bringing her into the barn then.”
“Maybe.”