Chapter 32
Lacey
Iwatch Cas writhe around the floor, slapping at his legs and screaming.
Poor little Bandit manages to wiggle himself free and bounds over towards Ethan.
He runs up his leg in a spiral and leaps up to his shoulder, where he perches looking out at all of us.
Ethan doesn’t seem phased. Huh, interesting.
Before I can overthink his reaction, the laughter dies down, and Emmy rushes to Cas to help him get his pants up. She is trying so hard not to laugh.
“Having fun?” Cole’s deep timbre flows through my ears, and I shiver as he wraps his arms around me. He lifts my bump ever so slightly as I lean back into him and relax. That’s what he is, my strong rock, always.
“I am.” I smile up at him. “I wonder what else they have planned for today?” But he doesn’t need to answer, because Hayleigh has finished laughing and is standing, holding a bag.
“Okay, everyone, now we’ve all had a good laugh.
” She looks at Cas and shrugs. “I’m sorry, but that was freaking hilarious.
” She seems like she’s going to start again, so instead she takes a deep breath.
“Okay, I’m calm now…I’m done. If you could all please remove your nappies and count up your goods! ”
Everyone wiggles out of their adult nappies, and they count how many baby items they each have collected.
Cole managed two, and I shake my head at him in mock shame.
Cas collected six, Ethan seven, Rafe ten, Archie four, Nate thirteen, Daisy five, May eight, Daniel three and then my Dad, last but not least, collected a whopping twenty rattles and dummies.
He does a little happy dance, and Emmy rewards him with a little gold trophy and a box of chocolates.
“What do you think about that, sweetpea? Your old dad won!” It’s in this moment, seeing him smile and carefree, that I realise he really has grown. Somehow, he looks younger, freer.
“Next game!” Hayleigh shouts, and everyone stands to attention. “I’m sorry– Actually, no. Scrap that. I’m not sorry for this game. This game is called ‘Which Chocolate Bar Is That?’” She looks around at everyone’s faces and lands on Ethan. “You okay with that, Ethan?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Oh, no reason!” Her voice sings across the garden as she herds everyone inside the tent to sit at the picnic tables. They’ve arranged the tables in a long row, decorated with pink and white balloons and baby confetti.
I sit at the top of the table while everyone else takes their seats.
Cole sits to my right and grabs hold of my hand, tracing small circles with his thumb on the back of my hand.
Once everyone finds a place, Emmy and Hayleigh start walking around the table, handing out wrapped nappies, paper and pens.
When we all have the items in front of us, they stand back.
Emmy claps her hands together and bounces on her feet.
Hayleigh looks at her and laughs, placing a hand on Emmy’s shoulder to stop her from bouncing too much. She looks at each of us, a gleam in her eye, especially when it lands on Nate.
“Now that you’re all sat comfortably, you have in front of you a wrapped nappy, a piece of lined paper and a pen. When I say go, you have to unwrap your nappy, taste what’s inside and write down on the paper what you think it is.”
“Pfft, easy!” Nate’s cocky voice floats through the air, and he looks at Hayleigh with a smug expression. “I thought you said this would make me–” Nate chokes on his words and starts gagging.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Nate, I didn’t quite catch what you said there? Was that a gag?” She smiles at him sweetly as he closes the nappy and takes a deep breath.
We all begin to untie our nappies, and sure enough, these wonderful friends of mine are devious. Inside the nappy, they have melted a chocolate bar, and it unfortunately looks like something I will be changing soon.
“Oh, this is…this is just…I don’t think I can…” Ethan looks like he’s turning green.
Cole shakes his head. “You’re such a big baby. Pretty soon, this is going to be our lives, only less chocolatey.” He shrugs and brings the nappy to his nose, sniffing the chocolate.
Cas is being methodical, as always, trying to figure out which chocolate bar this is.
Archie picks at bits of the chocolate and brings them to his mouth; he sticks the tip of his tongue out to taste them.
A giggle falls out of me when I see that Nate has noticed what Archie is doing, and unfortunately for him, he starts gagging again.
May and Daniel work together to figure out which chocolate bar it is, and my dad is happily playing along with the game, laughing and joking with Daisy.
Rafe has chocolate around his mouth, and he looks at Ethan, who is staring back at him with a look of disgust on his face. The whole room stops to watch Rafe.
He throws his hands up. “What are you all looking at? I haven’t had my breakfast. Don’t be such a baby, Ethan, it’s just chocolate.”
Ethan rolls his eyes in return, and I look down at my nappy and happily dig in. I am going to win this thing.
**********
Turns out I didn’t win that thing. I majorly underestimated how competitive Cole and Rafe were. Thankfully, Cole won, and that means in turn I also won because now he can share his chocolates with me. Did I say share?
It’s late now, the sun bid us goodbye a while ago, and Daniel turned on the outdoor heaters, but I’m still wrapped in a blanket, snuggled next to Cole.
“Oh my god! I forgot your last surprise, Lacey!” Emmy jumps up and runs inside, coming out with a ukulele and handing it to my dad.
His cheeks tinge ever so slightly, but he takes the instrument from her and begins to play ‘You Are My Sunshine’.
It only takes a few moments before we all join in singing along as he plays the one song I remember from when I was a little girl, before the drink had taken him away from me.
I smile, knowing that our little girl will get to know all of her family, especially her granddad.
**********
“Lacey…Lacey…” Ugh, why can’t people leave me alone to sleep? Don’t they know it’s dangerous to wake a sleeping bear?
I crack one eye open and see Cole standing over me. “Why have you woken me up?” My voice is still thick with sleep, and I could close my eyes and fall right back in.
“Because it’s almost 11 am and you’re supposed to be going to lunch with the girls in an hour…and because I have to go into work.”
I sit up, stretch and yawn. “Okay, that’s not bad. Why do you look like someone’s died?” Knots form in my stomach.
He shifts his feet and looks out of the window.
Grabbing the back of his neck with his hands, he blows out a breath before looking me in the eyes, “Because– I– they need me at a new site for a few days. It’s over four hours away, so I’ll make it there and back every day, but it means you being on your own for a portion of the day… ”
I scramble to my knees and hold my hands out. He takes them and sits next to me on the bed.
“Cole, there is no way I am going to let you drive four hours each way; that’s an accident waiting to happen.
Especially given you’ve just gotten your cast off.
” I give him a pointed look, and he hangs his head because he knows I’m right, “Stay a couple of days, fix what needs to be fixed and then come home to us…okay?” I try to give him my best ‘everything will be fine’ smile, and I think it works because a corner of his mouth lifts and his hand finds my cheek as he softly kisses me.
“I’m going to miss you,” he murmurs against my lips, and I let out a gasp as he moves to my neck, sucking on that sensitive spot where it meets my shoulder.
“Cole?” My voice is barely a whisper, but he hears it anyway.
“Mmhmm?”
“Show me how much you’ll miss me.” I smile when he lifts his head, and I see that competitive smirk of his. Before I know it, he bunches the oversized T-shirt I wore for bed and finds that I’m not wearing anything underneath.
He groans. “Fuck me, Lacey, you look so good spread out like this. Lean back for me, baby.” He trails kisses down my stomach, and his head dips between my legs as he flattens his tongue against me.
My legs shake at the touch, and I know it won’t be long for me.
Especially not as he says, “God, you taste so fucking sweet, I could do this all day if you let me.”
A whimper escapes my lips when he closes his mouth on my clit and sucks, hard.
My stomach tightens and the pleasure builds inside of me as he picks up the pace, alternating between sucking, licking and flicking the tip of his tongue against my already sensitive bud.
When he slowly puts two fingers inside of me, it’s game over.
Everything tightens, and I fight to close my legs as my orgasm hits me full force.
Cole doesn’t stop, he pushes my legs further apart and slowly licks until I come down from the high.
He sits up and wipes his mouth with his T-shirt and smirks at me. “That’s how much I’m going to miss you.” Before I can think about repaying the favour, he’s up and off the bed, getting ready for the day ahead.
**********
After an emotional goodbye to Cole, Emmy phones to let me know they are on their way to pick me up. I only have to wait a few minutes before Emmy’s car stops in my driveway with Hayleigh reaching forward from the backseat to beep the horn.
“Come on, you sexy, glowy bitch! The fake margaritas are calling our name!” she shouts out of her window, and I’m thankful for not having any neighbours too close by.
I climb into the front of the car and put my seatbelt on, and all three girls are looking at me.
I pull down the visor and check the mirror, paranoid that there is something on my face.
When I confirm there isn’t, I twist as far in my seat as my giant stomach allows.
“Okay, what’s with the weird staring contest? ”
Emmy and Daisy start laughing as Hayleigh holds out her hands. “That’s five each you owe me.” Then she points at me. “You got some this morning.” She smirks at me like the cat who got the cream as my cheeks blaze.
“Let’s not all gang up on the pregnant lady. Like you said, the fake margaritas are calling our names.” I smile sweetly at her as she whoops.
“I knew it! God, I have a nose for these things.”
Emmy looks in her rearview mirror, wrinkling her nose.
“Hayleigh, sweet, that sounded wrong.” Then she glances my way and, not quite at all, fake whispers, “She’s going through a sex ban at the moment.
She’s kind of like a dog in heat…” She yelps and trails off when Hayleigh pinches her arm.
“Ouch! Bitch.” We all dissolve into laughter as Emmy drives us to our destination.
I've been craving a burger and fries all day, so the girls have taken us to a smokehouse that serves the best cuts of meat. We sit in a booth close to the bar and pick up our menus. I’m deciding what to have, arguing with myself on whether I want a beef or chicken burger, when someone clears their throat.
All four of us look up to see our server, waiting patiently with his notepad and pen.
He has the emo look going for him, a hint of eyeliner to make his baby blues pop.
His black hair is short and spiked ever so slightly, and he has more wrist bands than any other person I have ever seen. Hello Emo Heartthrob!
“What can I get you ladies?” His voice has a northern twang to it.
“Uhm…we’re not quite ready yet.” Emmy, utterly oblivious to his unmistakable charm, politely lets him know.
He laughs. “That’s fine.” He looks around as if checking that the coast is clear. “How about some magic while you decide?”
We all look at each other as Hayleigh bursts out laughing. “Is that a euphemism?” She snorts.
He rolls his eyes. “No, smart arse. Real, honest magic.” He seems so genuinely excited, I can’t say no, so I nod and roll my hand for him to carry on.
“Okay, take this orange.” He gently throws the orange to Hayleigh, who catches it. “Look at it, make sure there are no marks on it.” He nods to her, and she scrutinises it before nodding back. “Okay, now throw it back to me.” She throws him the orange, and he places it on the table.
He takes out a pack of cards and shuffles them about before fanning them out and holding them out in front of Emmy.
“Pick a card.” He smiles at her, and she closes her eyes and picks out a card.
“Now look at your card and show your girls.” He dramatically covers his eyes and gives us his back as Emmy shows us she has the eight of hearts.
He turns back around. “Now I want you to hand me the card face down.” She does as he asks, and he takes the card from her, then rips off one corner before handing it back to her.
“Keep that to one side.” He winks at her and takes the piece of card in his left hand, and with his right, he picks up the orange.
Holding them both out, he focuses on me. “Now say the magic word.”
For some reason, I blush and blurt out the first word that comes to mind, “AbrACADAbrA!”
“I was thinking more of ‘pretty please’, but that will do it.” He smacks his hands together, and when he brings them apart again, the orange is nowhere to be seen.
Hayleigh’s mouth is open wide, but she soon recovers. “Fuck off. Where did that go?” We all look around but can’t see the orange.
He scoots into the booth right next to Daisy. “Look in your bag, beautiful.” He winks at her, and she blushes, but does as he asks – and wouldn’t you know it? She pulls out the orange.
Did he pull that from his arse?
He plucks it from her hand, holding it up. “Now for the magical part.” He stands back up and reaches into his back pocket, producing a knife.
“I’m just going to cut around the orange.” He slices around the orange and then twists each side, pulling it apart. When he does, we notice something in the centre of the orange rolled up tight.
“If you tell me that is the fucking corner of the card, I am going to lose my ever-loving shit!” Hayleigh shakes her head in disbelief as he hands the half with the piece sticking out to Emmy.
“Pull that out and show your girls what it is.”
She carefully pulls out the rolled-up paper inside the orange and then opens it to see the eight of hearts. Her mouth falls open. “Oh my god, that's freaky…how…what…huh?” He laughs at her stuttering and takes the piece and the card, and perfectly matches them together.
Suddenly, a man’s voice bellows from behind Anthony, “Anthony! Stop harassing the customers with your magic tricks and get back to work.” Anthony the magician winces ever so slightly.
“Okay, now can you please order something before my boss kicks me out?”