Dangerous Summer (Summers In Seaside)

1. Mara

Chapter 1

Mara

Today was a day set aside to bless the union of our friends Dana and Nicholas. The actual ceremony was on the promenade facing the ocean. The coolness of the day did nothing to spoil the beauty that bringing those two souls together brought us all.

Every second of this day has been full of love, laughter, and let’s face it, our men were all thirteen mentally, so it’s been full of jokes, pranks—and I must say, murder was on the table there a time or two. Yes, that was where my mind went with a few of their jokes. Abel, and even Noah, had to be reined in every once in a while. Today it was talking about the size of my swollen feet. Look, I was super pregnant, which means everything was swollen; I was hormonal and slightly unhinged. Childish jokes on a normal day didn’t bother me, but when I was the literal size of a water buffalo…I couldn’t deal.

A sigh escaped me as I wrapped my arms around my belly, my hands doing all they could to hold up the baby weight for a moment.

Putting my attitude aside, I watched Dana and Nicholas taking pictures before they came back into their reception to cut the cake. They wanted to catch the sunset, and let me tell you, it was simply gorgeous out here tonight.

I couldn’t help but smile seeing them so damn happy. Love that started in a bakery over some delicious treat. I took in the area around me. Dana and Cindy had made sure our special day was perfect last year, so this go round, Brenna and I returned the favor. There were flowers and plants lining the street in front of both shops and the cafe, where the reception was being held tonight. It was a sea of yellow, blue, and white. Greenery was draped over every light fixture, and the windows to the shops all held lighted wreaths with the same greenery and flowers.

It looked like a fairy princess was getting married. I guess that was a fitting theme though. Simple, elegant, and memorable.

Arms wrapped around me from behind, his hands replacing mine. The relief I felt at this moment…I could cry. Pregnancy was great. Knowing that I was able to grow a tiny person that would hopefully have their daddy’s eyes and my personality—I couldn’t wait to meet them.

Before you ask, we decided to not find out the baby’s gender until they were here. So our sonograms only show the baby. No identifying parts or anything. We have the ones that show those, but they are sealed in an envelope and that envelope was entrusted to Cindy to hold. Let’s face it, if Brenna had it, she would peek. The woman was horrible with secrets. I’d be tempted to get it back and see for myself what we were having.

The anticipation was making this the ultimate game of ‘Guess Who’ for sure.

We had names picked out for a boy and a girl though. The nursery was set up; the animal theme of the room was cute as hell. Noah spent a few hours last weekend putting furniture together while Abel and Spencer drew a mural and got it painted. Giraffes, elephants, and a slew of smaller creatures take up an entire wall. The baby will have its own little safari every day.

We had gender neutral onesies, socks, pants, and t-shirts ready. More diapers in about four different sizes and enough wipes to clean this kid for a year were in the closet. There was more than enough time to get what else would be needed, ya know, gender specific things that kids need.

“They look so happy,” I said, relaxing back into Noah’s broad chest.

“They are. I’m happy for them.”

“Me too. I am happy we could do this for them, but on the other hand?—”

“You’re ready to go put your feet up and sleep.”

“Yes,” I laughed with him.

“We don’t have to stay long.”

“I know. I’ll stay as long as I can. This kiddo is active, and my hips are killing me. They’re playing soccer with my liver and kidneys. Jumping double-Dutch with my intestines…and probably laughing their little ass off at my need to pee every 8.5 seconds.”

“That’s a little graphic, heffa. Don’t be talking bad about my little niece or nephew there.” Brenna came up and rubbed my belly. “Don’t you listen to your mama.”

I snorted. “You know, I will ban you from seeing the baby.”

“The hell you will, I have a key.”

I sighed, putting my hand to my forehead. “Oh, what shall I do?” I dropped my hand and stared at her. “Oh, I know, change the locks.”

“Sheesh. You’re a little meaner than normal tonight.” Abel ambled over, a bowl of fruit in his hands. He held it out to me and grinned. “A bribe for the hangry preggo monster.”

You know, I never understood when others would say that your emotions would be all over the place while pregnant. But I could go from mad to happy to irritated in the blink of an eye. So I was blaming that right now as the reason that tears started to roll down my cheeks.

“Hey, don’t cry. Jesus. Noah, make it stop,” Abel said, taking a step back, his hands going up. “I didn’t do that.”

He did, but it wasn’t really his fault. I brushed the tears from my eyes and shook my head. “I’m okay, it’s okay. Damn.” I let out a long, frustrated sigh. “I need to splash water on my face.” I waited for Noah to slowly release my belly and winced. This kid weighed a ton, I swear. This was the bad part about being pregnant. Ugh.

I excused myself and went to the back office and to my private bathroom. I would be more than glad, grateful, when my emotions stabilized again. I was giving myself whiplash. I didn’t know how the others dealt with all of these swinging around like bubbles on a breeze.

I took a few minutes just leaning against the bathroom counter, catching my breath and calming my frazzled nerves. My hand rubbed a circle over my baby bump while my hips and lower back ached. I was so ready to not be pregnant, but with a flip of the same coin, I knew I was going to miss this so much.

Feeling the life that Noah and I had created growing inside of me was the biggest adjustment. The soccer games where my bladder and kidneys played goalie. The nights of restlessness sleep where I had heartburn for hours. And who could overlook the completely bizarre cravings that hit at 2:00am. This kid couldn’t give them to me at a normal time of day?

Rolling my neck, I contemplated it all. The stuffed cheesy bread topped with cream cheese and jalapenos. Ranch-style steak tacos full of onions and green peppers, with—you guessed it—ranch. They’d be accompanied by either spicy Cajun rice or refried beans with cheese and jalapenos. Or all of the above. Not to mention the vast amount of vanilla ice cream, dill pickles, and Doritos that I had consumed over the last five months.

It’s no wonder that I was the size of a house right now. My swollen feet, sore ankles, rickety feeling hips: it was a lot to grow and carry a little one for sure. It would all be worth it though.

The baby started kicking, and I grinned. Think of food and the little monster demanded it. Totally weird. If I was being honest, I could definitely use a big plate of food. Right. Now. The cucumber sandwiches or maybe some of the steak bites with roasted potatoes. If I did that, I’d need green beans to balance it out. Yeah, that sounded right.

I finished in the bathroom, emptying my perpetually full bladder, washing my face, and calming my sudden bout of nausea.

“Hey, stop doing that or no food. You hear me? I can’t eat if I’m puking.” My hands rubbed over my belly until things seemed to settle down in there. Tell me kids didn’t comprehend before they’re out. Or maybe they just interpreted the feelings and emotions we sent to them? Either way, this kiddo knew Mama was on a mission now. Find the food my body just had to have right this second.

I searched the buffet table, wincing at a sudden sharp pain in my belly. I guessed all the food I’d eaten today had finally caught up to me. Lord knew being pregnant has made me some kind of gassy every day. If you didn’t know already, gas pains were no joke. It was unfair, I couldn’t reach down to touch my toes right now. This meant I couldn’t make the air—well, let’s just say, I would just be uncomfortable for the time being.

I grabbed a plate and added a spoon of the roasted potatoes to it, fighting off another pain.

“Back again, I see…” Abel chuckled, coming up beside me.

“The baby demanded more food.”

“Here, you need something green. And fruit. Hurry.” He took my plate and put strawberries and grapes next to the potatoes. My eye literally started to twitch.

“Um, eww. No, sir. You put fruit and sweets on a separate plate. Who raised you…”

“It all goes to the same place, ya know.”

I just stared at him. He quickly grabbed a new plate and slid the fruit to it. “Here,” he offered, handing the fruit to me with a fork. Before I could ask him why, Brenna popped up and looked at my plate.

“Good girl.” The heffa patted me on the head and sauntered off.

“Why do I tolerate her, again?” I asked him, making a face.

His chuckle made me smile.

“She means well, ya know.”

“I know. With the way my blood sugar has been a slight pain in the ass, I get it.” I shoved a strawberry in my mouth and reached for the plate of potatoes when my body decided it was going to double me over in pain. That wasn’t the only thing that happened. The plate in my hand slipped, dropping to the floor. The sound reverberated around the room, drawing everyone’s attention. That wasn’t the worst part of this…oh no. My water also decided to break, right there at the buffet table.

Abel tried to catch me as I tipped over, but the fluids took him down. He hit the ground hard and me, well, I let out a string of curses that would have my Nan washing my mouth out with her bar of Ivory soap and a splash of hot sauce.

“Noah!” I shrieked as another pain shot through my hips and back.

“I’m here, baby. It’s okay, come on.” He wrapped an arm around me.

“Mara’s baby juice is all over me!” Abel got to his feet. The look on his face had me smiling until pain hit again.

“Abel, you’ll wash,” Brenna stated as she got in my face. “Breathe. Remember what the lady in the class said. Deep breath in, let it out slowly.” The tears in her eyes matched mine. This was really happening.

“I’ll call for an ambulance,” Nick announced, pulling out his phone.

“No. We can drive her. Abel, go get the car door open!” Brenna ordered. She had her birthing coach face on. He turned without hesitating and took off toward the back.

“Oh sug, you’ve got this. I promise it’s worth it.” I took the offered hug Dana gave. “We’ll come check on you as soon?—”

“Don’t you dare…leave…” I let out a ragged breath then continued, “until your reception is done.” I panted out the last word.

“It’s over. Just go, don’t argue.” Dana shook her head.

Someone had put a lightning rod up my hoohah without me knowing or something ‘cause, sweet Christ. It felt like I was on fire and being torn in two at the same time.

“Mara, just focus on your breathing,” Cindy said, hugging me. “We will be coming to the hospital, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

I wanted to argue, but there was no use. They were all stubborn as a herd of jackasses. Brenna got under one arm, while Noah had his arm around me, and we made our way to the back of the building. I counted to myself between the pains, trying to keep myself from spiraling into nutcase territory. I was excited and scared at the same time. It was overwhelming me, and between the tears and the water that seemed to still be leaking from me, I was a literal hot mess.

With Noah’s help, I got into the backseat, him beside me, and laid my head back. My hands went to my belly, and I did all I could to relax, breathing through the pains.

I—we would be okay. He or she would be here soon, happy, healthy—I manifested it so. At this point in my life, I would accept nothing less. The prayer I silently shouted to the heavens wouldn’t hurt anything either.

I knew Nan and my parents were looking down on us right now, along with Noah and Abel’s parents. They’d be here to see this little miracle.