40. Noah
Chapter forty
Noah
Sneaky kids and cupcakes.
“You all know?” I frown at Emma’s question, looking from one woman to the others.
“Clay told me what was going on, he didn’t feel safe letting me wander around without me knowing what was happening.” Morgan smiles tenderly.
“And Silas can’t keep a secret; you all know that.” Cecilia giggles.
“Why am I not surprised these men could not keep anything to themselves,” Julian mutters under his breath as I chuckle.
“That’s not true! I simply tell you everything because you’re my wife and best friend.” Silas narrows his eyes at her.
“Yeah, well, Greyson didn’t tell me shit. But the big gorilla of a man made himself known when Tommy cornered me at the store last week.” Emma crosses her arms over her chest and pops her hip.
“He what?” Grey glares down at her. I guess this is the first time he’s hearing about it. “Why didn’t you tell me this?!”
She waves him off. “It’s fine. For some reason he thought that we still had some unfinished business and that I was playing games with him.
I told him to fuck right off. I was even about to punch him when he grabbed my arm.
But then this muscle man came out of nowhere and picked him up by the back of his shirt.
Told him if he ever touched me or came near me again, he’d rip him in half. ” She smirks wickedly.
“I don’t even know how to process all of that,” Greyson mumbles with a frown.
“What exactly did he tell you?” Julian asks with a displeased expression. I’m guessing that was against direct instructions.
“Not much, he was about to walk away and act like he was just at the right place at the right time. But it wasn’t the first time I saw him, so I asked him to cut the crap, and that’s when he said that I had nothing to worry about, that he was hired to protect me at all costs from any harm that came my way. ” She shrugs, to which Julian nods.
“I do wish you had told us what was going on, sweetie. You shouldn’t have had to go through all this alone.” Morgan reaches out and places her hand on Veronica’s arm.
“I know, but it wasn’t your problem to deal with. And I was afraid that you would distance yourselves if you knew everything…” She looks down, vulnerability taking place in her gaze.
“Never! How many times do we have to remind you all? We’re family, and family sticks together.” Cecilia steps up, wrapping her arms around Ronnie.
“So, back to my question. Can someone fill me in, please?” Emma waits patiently, looking at all of us.
Finally, Veronica gives them a quick résumé of what’s been going on with Victor, and the more she talks about it, the more weight I can see lifting off her shoulders. This is how she’ll heal from her past, by talking about it openly.
Once all is said and done, it’s time to head in and join the rest of the celebration.
Everyone is already here, parents and the rest of our team with their spouses mingling about.
Their large entertainment room is covered in blue and pink baby-themed decorations, with little games and activities to guess what the babies’ genders are.
Veronica, Gabe, and I stand by a table set out with three different types of brooches lying all over it.
The first is a full blue pin written with, Double Boy’.
The second is all pink and says, ‘Double Girl’.
And the third is cut diagonally, pink on one side, blue on the other, with ‘Boy + Girl’ written in the center.
“What do you guys think she’s having?” Gabe asks, smiling down at the table. “I’m going with all girls.” He picks up a pink brooch and fastens it to his shirt.
I reach for an all-blue one. “I’m thinking two boys. I can totally see her being a mama to a couple of boys.” I secure it in place while Veronica continues to look over each one, her fingertip tapping against her bottom lip.
“I think you’re both right.” She picks up the boy/girl one and hands it to me. “I bet she’ll have both. It only makes sense she’d have it all.”
She smiles at me as I pass the pin through her white shirt, making sure not to poke her. When I’m done, she leans in and kisses me. I love these little tender moments between us.
We go around the room, greeting everyone along the way until we reach a beverage table filled with anything you could ask for. Despite it being a gender-reveal party, Morgan still offers alcohol to everyone, and I could kiss her for that right now.
I haven’t touched anything but the occasional beer since we started therapy, but today I’m craving it more than usual. I can’t explain why today, out of all days, I’m feeling off, but it’s weighing down on me.
Maybe it came with the realization that when I start creating my own family, mine won’t be there to see it grow. That they’ll never get to meet this beautiful, incredible woman I get to call mine and spend the rest of my life cherishing. I’m not sure, but those thoughts must not help my mood.
I walk over to the beer cooler and take three out, handing one to Gabe and another to Veronica.
When I hold the last in my hands, I instantly feel guilty taking it, but I need something to take the edge off.
I look up to find Veronica watching me. “Is it okay?” I’m not sure why I feel the need to ask her permission, but I do it anyway.
“Of course, babe.” She comes up, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I know it might feel like I’m punishing you sometimes by not letting you drink more, but I only want to help you.” She pecks my lips. “I know today isn’t a great day, so tell me what I can do to make you feel better.”
I place my free hand on her hip, brushing my lips against hers. “Just being here with me, like this, is enough.”
“Okay. But if ever you want to sneak off into a room later, I promise to make you feel so much better.” She giggles against my smiling lips.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
She pulls away smiling. “The offer stands all day.” She winks and heads off to join the girls in their conversation.
Two hours later, it’s finally time for the big reveal. Everyone is seated or standing around the room while Morgan and Clay stand in the center, surrounded by their guests.
“We wanted to take the time to thank you all for being here today, to celebrate with us something we’ve all waited patiently—” Morgan giggles when the girls clear their throats the moment she says the word. “Or not so patiently for.”
Clay rubs up and down her back, his other hand resting on her belly as her eyes tear up with emotions.
“We decided the best way to do our reveal today was to have you all participate in it,” he says with a smile as his mother, Johanne, and Aubrey come into the circle, carrying large platters filled with cupcakes with blue and pink swirled icing.
“You’ll all be given a cupcake—please wait until we tell you before biting into them!
” He glares at some of our teammates who were just about to devour theirs.
“Amongst all of them, two contain colored icing inside the treat. Either pink or blue, determining the gender of each baby. When you find it, please let us know.”
Aubrey comes over with her tray, letting us pick out the ones we want. They’re all identical on the outside, but it’s fun to get to choose the one that’s calling to you, in hopes that it will be the right one.
Gabe, Veronica, and I are all seated at one end of a couch, with little Gracie in my lap.
She walked up to me thirty minutes ago and stretched out her arms in the air, clearly letting me know she wanted to sit on me.
I didn’t hesitate to pick up the little princess, placing her back against my chest, and she hasn’t tried to leave since.
Every few minutes she turns her body to the side and pats my cheek with a warm and tender smile. It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, and I swear Veronica melts in her seat a little more with each time it happens.
Gabe groans beside Veronica as he looks down at the sugary treat in his hand. “Do I have to eat it?”
She smacks him in the arm with a glare. “Yes, you do. It’s one cupcake, Pretty Boy. You aren’t going to die.” She rolls her eyes at him as I chuckle, then she refocuses her attention on the couple in front of us, waiting for everyone to have their baked goods in hand.
“Okay, is everyone ready?” We all nod, a chorus of ‘yes’ tumbling around the room. “All right then, dig in!” Morgan clasps her hands together over her chest as she waits for someone to say something. Clay’s eyes bounce around the room, looking at everyone’s reaction.
“OH MY GOD! I got a blue!” Cecilia shouts from the opposite side of the room, bouncing in her seat.
Morgan and Clay hug each other, happy to find out one of the babies’ gender. I look to my left, finding Veronica and Gabe already taking a bite of their cupcake and looking disappointed when it comes up empty.
I quickly peel back the paper cup from mine while trying to keep it away from the toddler in my lap, then bite into the moist cake. Instantly, I feel my teeth sink into something gooey in the center of the small cup, and I pull it away. A big pink blotch of icing right in the center catches my eye.
“Pink,” I say out loud without even realizing it as I continue to stare at the soft color.
Morgan gasps as tears roll down her cheeks; her hands are now covering her mouth as she tries to control her emotions. Her eyes bore into mine when I look up at her, something flickering through them, but I can’t tell what it is.
“Oh! I’m so happy!” Johanne reaches the happy couple and hugs them both. “I can’t believe I get one of each.” She sighs happily. “Now I know you’ve talked about boy names, but you haven’t mentioned any girl ones. Did you have any in mind?”
Morgan beams widely at her. “Yes, actually we had one.”
She then turns her gaze to me, and without her even needing to say it, I know the words that are about to leave her mouth. “We agreed that if we had a daughter, we’d like to name her Trinity… for you. If that’s okay?”
I drop my head into the little girl’s hair that sits before me, emotions quickly taking over as I try to swallow them down. I take deep breaths as my eyes fill with tears, and I squeeze them shut, not wanting to cry in front of all my friends and teammates once more.
I feel Veronica’s hand gliding up and down my back soothingly as she sniffles a few times, just as many emotions coursing through her as well.
Suddenly hands press on my knees and when I lift my head, I find Morgan kneeling at my feet.
“I know we didn’t get to personally know her, but I wish we had.
And I wanted to do something in memory of her, for you.
To show you just how much you mean to us, Noah.
” She cups my cheek, stroking my cheekbone tenderly.
“Your family is our family. When you miss them, we miss them too.”
“Thank you,” I croak out, then tilt my head up, pressing the thumb and finger of my free hand into my eye sockets as the tears slip out. I use the hand that still holds my half-eaten cupcake to tighten my hold around Gracie’s body as Morgan stands and returns to her husband.
“Little Tulip, no!” Emma shrieks, hands fisting her own hair, while Greyson drops his head back and groans loudly.
“Oh, no…” Veronica giggles at my side when I finally look down at the sweet little girl. I find her face buried in my cupcake, icing all over her nose and cheeks; hell, she even has some on her eyelashes.
I quickly try to pull it away, but her grabby hands latch onto it, refusing to let go. “No, princess. You’re gonna get all dirty. Damn it, I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking.” I look up to her parents.
Greyson finally laughs with a shrug. “It’s fine. We expected this to happen.”
“Clearly, she knows what’s good for her.” Cecilia giggles.
Veronica snorts. “And she’s not the only one apparently,” she says, nodding her head toward Dante, who just finished a small cupcake that was made especially for him and is now licking away at his father’s cupcake, who isn’t paying attention.
“Oh God! Dante!” Cecilia quickly grabs him.
Silas bursts with laughter. “Damn, you sneaky kid.”
Laughter erupts around the room as we decide to just let the kids be. Eventually when it dies down, Cecilia leans into her husband, bumping him with her shoulder. “See, honey. This is how you properly do a gender-reveal party. Take notes!”
He frowns at her. “Hey! It’s easy to not spill the beans if you don’t even know the sex yourself! No one knew, so how did you expect someone to find out before time?”
“I knew,” Aubrey says from her seat near Gabe.
“You did?” Emma asks her.
“Yeah, I was in charge of the cupcakes. They gave me an envelope that revealed the gender of each baby.” She nods, slightly flushing now that the focus is on her.
“Wow… your parents were right, you really can keep a secret. Damn, I wonder what else you know and haven’t told anyone.” Emma narrows her eyes as if she could magically see inside Aubrey’s mind.
“Here’s a trick for the future, Cece. Next time you get pregnant, don’t tell him the gender. Like that, you’re sure he won’t spill it to anyone until you’re ready,” Greyson tells Cecilia with a chuckle.
“Or better yet, don’t find out the sex at all and wait until the birth.” Em shrugs.
Greyson turns to her. “That’s a good idea. We should do that, Bunny.”
“Absolutely not! It’s a good idea for them, but not for me. I want to know what’s hiding in there so I can plan in advance.” She shakes her head.
“Would you want to wait until the birth to know?” I ask Veronica when everyone goes back to their own conversations and congratulates the couple on their new discovery.
She puckers her lips as she considers the idea before a heart-stopping grin transforms her features. “No, I don’t think I could wait the whole nine months. I’d want to know what we’re having. I think I’d be too excited.”
She then looks over at Gabe, who’s now holding Dante’s spare hockey stick and playing the goalie as he pretends to stop the puck from sliding between his legs. “And I know someone who’s going to go crazy with shopping once we know what we’re having.”
I chuckle, passing Gracie over to her mother to get her cleaned up. “You have no idea. Our house will be filled with kids’ toys and clothes. We might even go bankrupt.”
“Well, we can’t have that, can we? Who’s going to fund my hair dyes every month?” She giggles. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” She takes my hand and laces our fingers. “But I have been thinking about what we talked about not too long ago.”
I frown in confusion. “What’s that?”
“About starting my own organizing business. Once we buy a house, I’d like to look more into it seriously.” She smiles.
“Then we’d better get moving on finding our forever home.” I lean in, capturing her lips with mine.