Chapter 42 Jada
I lay in Bryce’s arms, completely naked and looking up at the ceiling in my bedroom. We’d moved here after the couch made cuddling impossible. My mind was spinning with thoughts of the future, and this time, they didn’t all end with the fallout of him finding out I was pregnant after our wedding.
Now, I let myself dream of what it would be like to be his wife. To lay with him like this every night, feeling so safe and supported in his arms while baby girl sleeps in her bassinet. It was like a dream, to finally get the man and the child I’d thought were out of reach.
Inside this bubble, it was hard to imagine anyone else penetrating it. But Bryce wasn’t exactly a wallflower. “What will everyone think when they find out I’m pregnant?” I asked him. His friends and family might not have the same reaction Glamma did.
I turned in his arms, watching him roll his lips together. “Who’s everyone?”
“Your family, for one.”
He twisted his lips to the side. “They’re used to blended families, remember?”
I gave him a look. “Come on, Bryce. I know they’re good people, but they’re not oblivious.”
“They don’t have to know whose baby it is,” he said slowly.
My lips parted as I processed what he was saying. “You want to let everyone think she’s yours?”
He reached up, brushing my cheek with the back of his knuckles. “It’s no one’s business what her DNA is. They’ll assume what they want to. I’m saying we let them.”
I looked up at the ceiling, at the dusty fan spinning in lazy circles. “How would that work? I’m already so far along.”
“No one knows when we started dating, only when we went public.” Bryce covered my hand at his chest with his. “And the people who do know wouldn’t tell anyone, right? The guys will be discreet, and isn’t Rei your close friend?”
I stiffened at the thought. Of course Rei would know that Bryce and I hadn’t been together long enough to have a baby so soon—she’d seen him trying to convince me to go out with him. And yet... “I still have to tell Rei.”
“Oh, babe...” he said softly.
“I know.” I buried my face in his chest, feeling the prickles of his close-cut chest hair. Then I looked up at him. The soft smile on his lips met his eyes. “Can you distract me?” I asked.
He bit his bottom lip. “I think that can be arranged.”
The next day, I asked Rei to meet me at my favorite park. It had miles of walking trails where I used to go on training runs, but now I just walked them when I had time. I arrived early with a couple of wrapped presents and sat at a picnic table near the parking lot.
The weather had cooled off a bit, but in my thick sweater and leggings, I was warm enough. My stomach churned with nerves, reminding me of the morning sickness I was glad had passed for the most part.
Most of my friends from college had dropped me after my parents died. I was too sad to be around, and our lives quickly veered on different courses. They had engagements and weddings and babies, and I had a calendar full of Grandpa’s medical appointments.
A silver car pulled into the parking lot, and I noticed my friend waving at me through the windshield.
I lifted my hand in a wave, despite the ratcheting pace of my heart. Now I realized I wasn’t just nervous about Rei’s reaction to my pregnancy news, I was worried I’d lose another friend.
She got out of the car and walked toward me, wrapping her coat tightly around her. “It’s cold as balls out here,” she yelled at me. Luckily, we were far enough from the playground that no children would be able to hear us.
“It’s fifty-eight degrees,” I tossed back.
“Exactly,” she said. “Can we sit in my warm car?”
I laughed. “Sure.” I gathered the wrapped presents I had on the table and then followed her to her car. She was already getting back inside, and when I got there, she was holding her hands in front of the vents.
“Have you always been this cold-blooded?” I asked her once I got in. My knees were bunched up by the dash.
“Yes—lever’s under your feet.”
I had to hold my breath as I bent over to give myself some room, but finally the seat was back.
“Is it my birthday?” Rei asked, gesturing at the presents.
“That’s not until April,” I reminded her. I already had it marked on my calendar because it would be her first birthday since we became friends.
“Oh, right, well what’s with the gifts?”
I twisted my lips to the side. “You’ll see.” I passed one to her. It was wrapped in white paper with a silver satin bow.
With a giddy expression, she tugged the ribbon back and then lifted the lid. Her eyebrows pinched as she squinted to read the script on the coffee mug.
It said, Bestie, Godmother, Legend. And then there was a bag of coffee beans with a label that said, Pairs well with becoming Twyla’s godmother.
The more she read, the more her expression pinched. She looked at me, saying, “Who the fuck is Twyla?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “She’s my daughter. I’m telling you that I’m pregnant and that I want you to be the godmother.”
Her mouth fell open almost comically. “WHAT?”
I nodded.
“You and Bryce?”
“Well...” I tried, and failed, to hide my smile.
She hit my shoulder. “Tell me!”
“We did, and it was amazing, but he’s not the father.”
Rei slumped in her chair. “Bitch, you’re gonna give me an aneurysm.”
I let out a strangled laugh. “Rei! This is serious.”
“No shit! Tell me everything,” she ordered. “And start from the beginning.”
Filling her in took longer than I thought it might.
Glancing at the clock, twenty minutes had passed from me telling her about my one-night-stand with Mr. Horrible to going on a date with Bryce and falling for him.
I didn’t tell her about the marriage agreement, because my NDA wouldn’t allow it, but that didn’t matter.
To me, I was marrying Bryce because I had fallen for him and would do what it took to help him save his business.
Just like he’d do what it took to make me feel supported for the rest of this pregnancy.
Rei seemed more concerned than shocked by the end. “You’re not marrying him for financial reasons, right?”
There wasn’t a hint of judgement in her voice, which made it easy for me to say, “I mean, that’s how it started, like I said, but it’s more than that now.”
Rei set the gift aside and held my hand. “I know I’m usually joking with you, but I need you to know I’m one hundred percent serious when I say this. I will help you with this baby. Food, rent, clothes, anything. You will not be destitute by any means if you don’t go through with this.”
“You mean that?” I asked her. She worked as a janitor. She couldn’t be making much more money than me. And at least Glamma had a little social security coming in to help with the bills.
She nodded. “Money is not an issue.”
I arched an eyebrow. “You have a rich uncle or something I don’t know about?”
Her lips twisted to the side. “Something like that.”
“Wow...” I turned my head to look out at the yellowing grass of the park. “This was not how I expected this conversation to go.”
“How did you think it would go?” she asked.
I rolled my head to the side on the headrest to look over at her. “I kind of thought you’d yell at me for not telling you right away. Or maybe judge me for having a surprise baby at my age. Or tell me I’m stupid for marrying someone so quickly.”
She smirked. “Who says I’m not judging you?”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Please.”
“I’m not perfect,” she said simply, like that explained it all. “And I know what it feels like to make a choice that no one understands.”
I tilted my head in question, but she waved her hand at me. “Story for another day.”
That made me realize we still had so much to learn about each other. Maybe we’d never know it all, but we were there for each other, and that’s what mattered most. So I reached for the other gift that I had put in the back seat and handed it to her.
“Is it twins?” she asked with a worried look.
Laughing, I said, “No, it’s not twins.”
With a small smile, she opened this gift and pulled out a silk robe with Maid of Honor stitched above the breast pocket.
“Holy shit,” she said. “This is really happening, isn’t it?”
I laughed. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes, but I think you should know, I don’t look good in orange.”