CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX Cole
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Cole
“ M arried?” CeCe’s jaw falls open across from me at the dining room table. Everyone is staring at us, speechless. Even Nash has nothing to say. Mama smiles and leans back in her chair, sipping at her glass of spiked lemonade.
Ginger gives her a small smile back. I place my hand on Ginger’s thigh under the table, and no one speaks for at least a minute. We let them absorb the news.
“You guys have been married for longer than I have?” CeCe, the only one who apparently knows how to talk, asks. “You’re my sister ?”
The table erupts with laughter as Wade pats me on the back.
“Most people date first,” he chuckles.
“Of course, if anyone would do things the totally ass-backward way, it would be them,” Liv says, smiling at us then at the rest of the table.
“We weren’t planning on staying married,” Ginger says softly. “We didn’t want to take anything away from your big day, CeCe. But then, something just happened …”
She delves into the entire story from start to finish. I speak when appropriate, adding in my take here and there, plus the wedding Polaroids to prove it, which make everyone howl with laughter. Pop says things like “this one’s a framer for sure” as he holds up one of me kissing Ginger on the cheek while she flashes the camera her champagne and a peace sign with her tongue out.
Finally, we finish the tale with how I ended up confronting Brent.
“So, if Brent is gone and you don’t have to worry about him, what’s the next step?” Mama asks.
“I fucking knew that guy was a piece of trash,” Nash mutters, gritting his molars.
“He isn’t gone yet,” I tell them. “But last I heard he was staying at the Motor Court Hotel after Gemma kicked him out.”
“Gemma kicking him out makes sense. She can’t get anything from him anymore,” CeCe scoffs.
“Enough about Brent and Gemma. I want to bring up the question no one has asked yet. Are you two just going to stay married?” Liv says abruptly, directing her gaze toward me and Ginger.
“Oh, we haven’t really worked that out yet,” Ginger trails off, the faint blush of her cheeks making my cock twitch. “We’ve known each other for so long, and it’s always been …”
“You against the world?” Ivy finishes, a soft smile on her face.
“Yeah … sorta,” Ginger answers with a sigh.
“Watching Ginger with Mabel has been amazing,” I chime in, looking at Ginger while I say it. “And the three of us together, it feels … like we’re already a family. There are times when I think I can breathe easier when Ginger is with me. I love her. With everything I have.”
“Holy fuck, break out the violins,” Nash chuckles.
“This from the guy who handpicked almost four hundred silver Hershey’s Kisses out of the damn bin at the Candy Shack so they would match the colors at his wedding reception,” I reply.
Nash mutters something about being a good husband as Mama reaches across the table to put her hand on mine.
“You two have always been like family to each other.” She wags a finger between us. “And if you all think I didn’t know about this secret friendship you’ve had going on all these years, you’re wrong,” she says, polishing off the rest of her lemonade.
“Same,” Wade says, raising his hand. “Knew it when I drove by one night after Gemma left and saw you two sitting on the porch eating takeout. Drove by a week later and you were there again.”
“I had my assumptions too,” Ivy adds with a giggle, “and I’ve only known you a year.”
“I knew something was up when Cole’s face went from zero to a hundred in one second flat when Chris asked you to dance in Vegas,” CeCe says, raising her glass toward Ginger and letting out a laugh.
“I knew it when you said ‘fate’ while you were talking about him at the Horse and Barrel,” Liv pipes up.
I smile. “Well, aren’t y’all so fucking smart then,” I say, squeezing Ginger’s thigh.
“Ah well. Eloping, weddings on a whim, happens to the best of us,” Pop says nonchalantly as he sits forward.
Every eye in the room turns to him in question.
“What? We all have our secrets.” He grins as he turns to Mama. “I was nineteen when I married your mother. Who has money for a wedding? So we eloped. Pissed your grandad right off. Even though everything turned out just fine. We were married for over fifty years when she passed.” He slaps both his thighs like he didn’t just drop a bomb on us. “So, who wants a drink?”
“Jesus, Pop,” I say, scrubbing my face with my hand.
“What? Back in those days you waited until your wedding night to … you know …” he says as he stands. “And your grandmother was a little devil.”
Ginger leans over to me. “I can’t unhear this.”
I shudder.
“I’ll take a drink,” Ivy says as she gets up to make her way to the bar.
As she does so, a gush of water hits the floor. We all look down and it takes us a second to realize what’s just happened.
Ivy turns to Wade, a horrified expression on her face.
“I think my water just broke,” she says, clutching her massive bump.
It’s at this declaration that several things happen at once. Mama and Ginger sprint for the linen closet in search of towels to clean up the mess off the wood floor. CeCe rushes to Ivy to offer reassurance. And Wade … Wade goes into dad mode instantly.
“What do you need, bro?” I ask him, clapping him on the shoulder.
“I’m not leaving her for a second,” he says, turning to Nash. “Go to my house. When you get there, open the front closet and grab the blue bags. They have everything we need. Get two waters from the fridge and bring my truck up here.”
“On it,” Nash calls out, already making his way over to the door. Ginger and Jo move about the kitchen while Wade and I help Ivy to the comfortable chair in the den.
“And get my mama!” Ivy adds. “She should be almost home now. She was at the local market with her blankets this afternoon.”
Nash nods and heads out.
Ivy’s face winces in pain. The expression tells me she might not be in the early stages of labor. I was trained for deliveries when I became a cop and I’ve witnessed a handful during my time. Including Mabel’s.
“Ivy, have you been experiencing discomfort today?” I ask, offering her a cup of ice Ginger has just handed to me.
“You said your back was sore,” Wade cuts in, looking down at her. “I thought that might have been the start of it.”
“Well, that’s a good thing. You could have been in labor all day,” I tell her. “Which means this should be faster than expected.”
“Doc told us that, since it’s her first, it might be on the long side,” Wade says.
I nod. Gemma was in labor with Mabes for twenty-six hours. But Ivy’s face is contorted in that strange way again and it’s only been five minutes. I pull Wade aside after another ten minutes goes by.
“As soon as Nash gets back, you should take her to the hospital,” I say. “She’s had three contractions in a row less than five minutes apart. Has her back been bothering her all day?”
“Since this morning,” he says.
“She could have been in labor the whole day then,” I tell him. “Gemma had back labor with Mabel.”
Wade’s face is half panic, half determination.
“You’re gonna be a father today, man,” I say, smiling wide.
“Yeah,” he says. “You’re all coming, right?” he calls to the room, then he looks back at me.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I say.
Forty minutes later and we’re all pulling into Pendalton Community Hospital in our respective vehicles.
“Never a dull moment,” Ginger says, looking so beautiful I can barely stand it. Who wears a pink sundress that fucking tortuous to a family dinner? I take a moment when we pull in to kiss her.
“I’ve been waiting to do that for hours,” I tell her, sliding my hand up her thigh. “We did good tonight, telling them everything.”
“They all seem, dare I say, happy about it,” Ginger says as I trail my lips down her delicious neck.
“Yep,” I murmur, not fully listening to what she’s saying because, fuck, she smells like goddamn dessert and the thought that we have the whole night alone makes my cock throb in my shorts.
“You better cut that short, Sheriff, or we’ll be in the backseat before we can get inside,” she scolds.
“Shouldn’t have worn this dress then.”
She laughs and turns her caramel eyes on mine. A look of warning before she opens her door.
“Fuck …” I say, selfishly hoping this baby comes quick so I can have my wife all to myself.