Chapter Fifty-Five
Melonie
I ’m sitting with Linc’s mom as he’s saying goodbye to his friends from work. There is a pile of gifts in the corner across the room, everything from diapers to burp cloths to a portable crib, and even the tiniest Bruins jersey with “Millie” across the back. The venue staff is clearing dishes, and I’m exhausted.
“This was so lovely, Melonie. Your friends are so sweet, and all the gifts! I think you and Linc have everything you need.”
“I know. Although, now I’m wondering if this will all fit in the apartment.”
“We’ll find a place for everything.” She pats my shoulder as Linc approaches.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Linc, get Melonie home. It’s been a long day. We’ll clean all this up.”
Gigi walks up behind me and starts rubbing my shoulders. “We got this, pretty boy. Marcus can drop all the gifts off tomorrow morning.”
“Are you all sure?”
“We’re sure. Take her home.”
I stand up and hug Gigi tightly. “Thank you for everything today.”
“Anything for you, Melonie.”
Audrey and Jax walk up. “Are you leaving, babes?”
I hug her. “Yeah. Thank you so much for organizing all of this. It means so much to me.”
“I had fun planning it. Pleasure was all mine.”
Marcus joins the group, standing next to Gigi. “Prince, I volunteered for you to take the gifts over to Linc and Melonie’s in the morning.”
“Gladly. Linc, let me know when you want to put the furniture together.”
“I’m thinking I’ll do it next weekend. We can talk about it when you drop everything off.”
“Sounds good.”
Jax wraps his arm around Audrey. “Guys?” We all pause, giving him our attention. “While we’re all together, we have something we want to tell you.” All of our attention moves to Audrey.
She looks up at Jax with a grin on her face. “We’re pregnant.”
We all gasp, and Gigi and I run for Audrey. Linc and Marcus hug Jax, and there’s a lot of fist bumping.
I start crying. “Audrey, you didn’t even tell us you were trying.”
“We didn’t want to tell anyone in case it never happened.”
Gigi finally lets her go. “How far along are you?”
“Four months next week. We wanted to make it through the first few months. With my age and being high risk, we kept it hush until we made it through the scary part.”
I look at Linc, and he has tears in his eyes. “Our kids are going to grow up together. This is awesome.” He hugs Jax again.
I feel a tear fall from my own eye and wipe it away. “I swear living with Linc has made me more emotional.”
Everyone laughs, and he puts his arm around my shoulders. He leans down and whispers, “You love it.”
Yeah, I do.