Chapter 58 #2
“What happened?” he asked, eyebrows knitted in concern. “Are you okay?”
“That’s Ross!”
“Ross who?”
“Tillerman—Densky’s! From hockey camp!”
For a moment, Denali genuinely had no idea what I was talking about. Slowly, his eyes lit in recognition. “Holy shit. I can’t believe—I forgot all about him.” He blinked, surprised, touching the side of my face. “Are you okay? You’re—like—shaking.”
“I’m okay.” I was hit with a wave of remorse and sadness that this happened at Denali’s birthday, and fucking rage that Ross somehow showed up today. “Denali, I want to buy our old hockey camp.”
“I…okay?”
“I want to give them therapists and fucking throw out all of the coaches—” I huffed, pulling up my hair again. In the last few days, I’d hated how it felt on my neck. It was so stifling, it pissed me off. “And if they don’t want to go, I want them dragged out of there.”
“Uh…alright. Are you sure you’re okay? You’re kind of…?”
“Uh, it’s the mood swings. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they’re driving me fucking crazy.”
“Mood swings?”
Shit. We lapsed into silence and I stumbled over my words. “It’s—uh—my time of the month.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” His lips twitched for a smile. “We can stop by the chocolate shop on the way home. They have the raspberry truffles again.”
I gazed up at my husband, a dizzying wave of love passing over me.
I didn’t know whether I wanted to lock my arms around Denali or fuck him in the parking lot.
The anger crumpled, disappearing in a flash, and I blinked dreamily at him, the new hormones in my body reminding me that my true home had just walked through the door.
“Goddammit,” I whispered. “I can’t keep the secret.”
“Secret?”
“Present time!” I shouted. “It’s present time, everybody!”
“I thought you wanted to cut the cake first?” Elijah said, confused. “And not everybody’s here. We still have another hour until people are supposed to show up—”
“Fuck them! Present time!”
Confusion rippled through the crowd as I dragged Denali to the private room, gripping his hand in mine. I’d printed out a sheet to record the presents on the table, and we were supposed to start with everyone in attendance, but I shoved him into a chair.
“My present first,” I insisted.
Denali burst into warm laughter, and when I reached for a chair to sit next to him, he pulled me to his lap. His lips found my neck as more partygoers filled the room. “Moglie mia, dove stai andando?”
My body’s reaction was instant. The stiffness in my shoulders disappeared and I finally relaxed. He was so warm. It was like a heating pad to my aching back. I nestled closer. “Marito mio, mi sei mancato.”
“Mm, I like hearing that,” he murmured.
“Are we doing presents?” Tallulah poked her head in. “Wait, why? Denali’s family isn’t even here yet…?”
I didn’t care, I wanted my husband’s attention, and I couldn’t keep the secret for long. I handed him the present before he could reply.
“Oh,” he said, surprised. “It’s…our ring box?”
“Open it,” I urged.
The crowd gathered, people placing bets on what it was, but I could feel Denali’s confusion grow when he popped it open. “It’s another ring? Huh. Is this from the typewriter too?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Denali and I both had our original engagement rings from college, and for our wedding, I had wedding bands made from more of my saved scrap metal. Combined together, that was four rings, which made this one the fifth.
I took the box from him, showing him the details in the ring. I wasn’t being a good hostess to the crowd. At best, I ignored them. “This one’s silver and gray.”
“Wow. Thank you, baby.”
Denali was being so sweet in faking excitement for the gift, but this was only part of it. “It’s a present for you to give to someone else.”
“Someone else?”
“Mm-hmm. You can give it to anyone.”
“Why would I…?” He dipped close, confused. “I thought this is kind of our thing? The typewriter rings are for us?”
“I was thinking we could expand it, make it into a family tradition.”
“Family tradition?”
I quickly nodded, dropping my voice so only he could hear. “Because there’s someone that’s thirteen weeks old and I think when they’re old enough, they’ll be pretty psyched for one.”
I had to glance back to take in the expression on his face. Denali stared at me, puzzled, and when the realization came over, it was like the sun peeking from behind the clouds. His face warmed, a flush creeping up his neck. He struggled with what to say.
“Thirteen weeks by my estimation,” I whispered. “That test we took was a false negative.”
“You’re—?” Denali sucked in a breath. “You’re—?”
“What’s the gift?” Elijah shouted. “You’re just whispering to each other, we can’t hear anything!”
Denali’s bottom lip trembled, and it was so fucking cute. “You’re…? You’re pregnant?”
“Congratulations, Daddy,” I teased, breathless.
Denali yanked me into a hug squeezing me so tight, the breath was whisked out of me. He kissed my ear, my cheek, my hair, anything he could get to.
“You’re pregnant?!” he exclaimed, way louder than he should’ve.
“Pregnant?!” June shouted.
We were swarmed by the crowd, everyone full of congratulations, but Denali tucked me under his chin, squeezing me tight. His words blurred together, almost frantic. “I didn’t want to make a big deal about it, but I was so fucking disappointed when the test came back negative—”
I shook my head. “I knew you were.”
“No, like, I was heartbroken over that test—”
“No, I knew. But it doesn’t matter now.” I leaned against him, pressing into him, because I loved my husband and his baby was a bundle of ice cubes. I was freezing cold all the time.
“Oh my god,” he breathed out, squeezing me again. “Holy shit, baby, oh my god—”
I hummed, pleased, and let Denali hug me tight. It was amazing to think of how much our lives were about to change.
Our story was just beginning once again.