Chapter 29
DARCY
“Well, fuck me.” Kate Jones, wife of Jensen Jones and an all-around badass woman and lawyer, stares down into her glass of Pinot Grigio.
When I asked my mum to meet for lunch, I wasn’t anticipating Kate to come too.
In hindsight, it’s probably not a bad thing.
Kate and JJ—the nickname she has for her husband—fell pregnant with their twins unexpectedly a few years back, and I guess I could use her advice.
Although, at this point, all she’s said is three words.
We’d been in the restaurant for all of five minutes before I blurted out the news. The second Mum started talking about grandchildren and her desperation for them, I dropped the bomb, which has left her open-mouthed and with a green olive in hand, suspended midair.
I reach across and take it from her, popping it into my mouth before grabbing a napkin and disposing of it.
Bleurgh. Another food fallen victim to this pregnancy. I used to love olives.
I take a sip of water to rinse my mouth, and both Kate and I look at Mum.
“Say something,” I breathe, trying to remain calm.
Still silent, Mum rises from her chair and rounds the table. I can already feel the tears as they prick in the corners of my eyes as I stand and she wraps her slender arms around my shoulders, and everything nearby fades to a blur.
Ten, maybe twenty seconds pass with me held in her embrace. I can smell her familiar perfume and coconut shampoo, and I realize this was exactly what I needed. Not her words, but her touch.
Pushing back her chair, Kate comes to stand beside us, and Mum opens her arms out for her to join the hug. We must be attracting attention in the restaurant, but I couldn’t care less.
After a few more beats, Kate breaks from the hug and steps back a pace. “Okay, so practical-talk time. Is Liam back on the scene?”
I part laugh, part sniffle. “Umm, no,” I reply and take my seat, Kate and Mum doing the same. “I mean, he’s been in contact, and he wants to talk, but if you’re asking if the baby’s his … it isn’t.”
Mum hands me a tissue, and I dab at my eyes. She takes a sip of wine and places the glass down carefully on the pristine white tablecloth.
“Who is the father, honey?” Her voice is soft and encouraging, and I wipe at my eyes again.
Kate sits back in her seat, arms folded across her chest. Then she flicks her hair over a shoulder. “Well, if Emmett Richards is the dad, then you’re good. With the injury he sustained on the ice earlier, I’d say he’ll be out for the season. He sure took one for the team to secure a Blades win.”
I shake my head. His knee injury looked serious, and I hope he’s okay. “It’s not Emmett’s. I’ve barely spoken more than a few words to him.”
Kate leans forward, arms braced on the table in front of her. “Girl, I could barely look at my husband, and he still put twins in me. That means nothing.”
Mum turns to Kate as she begins crunching on a breadstick.
“What?” Kate asks. “It’s the truth.” She points the breadstick at me. “He still pisses me off now, from time to time. It does make for great sex though.”
“Yes, yes. We get it.” Mum waves a hand in front of her before focusing back on me. “If it isn’t Liam”—she rolls her eyes toward her friend, who’s still chomping on the breadstick—“and it isn’t Emmett, then who is he?”
“Fuck!” Kate announces. “Did you bang Archer Moore? Everyone else has, so …”
I don’t need to answer because I’m sure my face says it all.
Mum tips her head to the side, analyzing my response. “Holy moly, it is, isn’t it?”
Is it me, or has it suddenly gotten really hot in here?
“Yes.” My voice is a whisper. “I’ve been sleeping with him for a while, and … well, not taking my birth control properly. Then I got sick, and I think it failed to work altogether.”
Mum holds up a hand. “Wait. How long have you known?”
I shrug. “A little over two weeks.”
“Two weeks?!” Mum exclaims, and heads turn towards us. She clears her throat and reaches for my hand, taking it in hers. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? You told me all was fine after your latest doctor’s appointment.”
It would be so easy to chalk my silence up to shock and trying to come to terms with the news. Maybe even living in denial. But none of those reasons would be the truth, and I know it.
Twisting my lips, I look between Mum and Kate. A server approaches our table, but she must sense now isn’t a good time to take our order, and she immediately spins on her heel.
“Archer’s not the guy everyone seems to think he is.
He really cares about me. The day I found out I was pregnant, I was due to meet him after chess club.
I wasn’t planning to tell him right away, but then I got in his car, all upset and overwhelmed, and he looked at me like his whole world was about to crumble beneath him.
He thought I was going to end our hookup arrangement, and I could tell he was worried about me.
He pulled me into his lap and looked at me in a way no one had ever done.
He makes Liam look like a poor excuse for a man, and the words tumbled right out of me. ”
My eyes flick from the menu lying on the table in front of me and up to Kate.
“He’s changed a lot. Sure, he’s fucked women around in the past, but he blew all my theories about him out of the water the second he told me he wanted our baby more than anything. I think he wants to be with me. No, I know he does.”
I then look Mum straight in the eyes. “That’s why I haven’t told you before now.
Not because I haven’t wanted to, but I think, deep down, I’ve enjoyed sharing these past two weeks living in a secret and peaceful baby bubble with Archer.
In the beginning, the whole hookup arrangement was about having fun because we found each other attractive.
I think that fun might be turning into something more. It was, even before I fell pregnant.”
I stop talking, wetness balancing on the rims of my eyes, and I notice the same in Mum’s too.
“Wow, Darcy,” Kate breathes out, shaking her head slowly. “I don’t know if this is the right time to say this, but … I’m really happy for you. For both of you.”
So much of me wants to leap from my seat and hug Kate again. I knew she’d get it. Instead, I stay planted in my chair, staring at Mum as more tears emerge, casting wet streaks down her flawless makeup.
“How many weeks are you?” she asks, voice thick with emotion.
“Seven.” My hand is still in hers, and I squeeze it tightly. “I have my first scan at eight weeks.”
She nods once, picking up a napkin and using it to swipe at her cheeks. “Do you want me to come with you?”
If I’d fallen pregnant with Liam’s child, I know my answer would’ve been an unequivocal yes. But I’m not carrying Liam’s baby, and I’m so damn relieved he isn’t the father, even if, at one time, he was the only future I could imagine.
“I want you to be involved in my pregnancy journey, and I’m going to need you and all your experience and love. I know this isn’t going to be easy.”
“But you want Archer to be there with you?” she asks, no bitterness or upset in her tone, only understanding.
“Yes. And I don’t think he’ll want to be anywhere other than at my bedside.”
“He’s in love with you.”
My gaze moves to Kate as she speaks, twisting her wineglass around with the stem between her fingers.
“Head over heels, in fact.” She looks up and smiles at me.
It’s possible she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.
“I speak only the truth, Darcy. I’m also only repeating what my husband has told me.
He’s said on multiple occasions that Archer’s in love.
He can tell by the way Archer’s game has stepped up a gear.
After all, the same happened to him when we started dating.
” She eyes me carefully. “With that in mind, just do me a favor, okay?”
Emotions are high around the table. Even Kate’s stoic eyes wear a gloss.
“What’s that?” I ask.
Kate swallows. I can’t tell if there’s regret or she’s simply reminiscing.
“Don’t waste the next seven months of pregnancy convincing yourself that you want to co-parent with a man who would do anything and everything for you and his unborn family.
Embrace it, girl. Embrace him and all that he is—because trust me when I say there are women out there who would kill to be in our position.
Being a mother—from conception to the day we leave this earth—shouldn’t be something we do alone.
The person who should step up to the plate is your man or partner.
I know Liam—the fucker—ripped your heart out, but don’t let that stop you from loving Archer with everything you have.
Life’s too short, and pregnancy is too special. ”
If I wasn’t sitting in a packed restaurant, I’d let the sobs break free. In thirty seconds, Kate has nailed exactly how I’m feeling, hitting right at the heart of my fears.
“You know what I think?”
“What’s that, Mum?” I croak out.
Her tears are flowing freely now. “I think I’m the luckiest woman alive.
” She wraps her spare arm around Kate’s shoulders.
“I have the best friends and the strongest, smartest, and most beautiful daughter I could’ve ever wished for.
I also think you should heed every single word Kate said because she’s one thousand percent correct, and I couldn’t have said it better myself. ”
We sit with our words and my reality, one that feels more exciting with every passing second. I’m not naive enough to believe that my short- and long-term future won’t be full of difficult moments. However, I am wise enough to believe and trust in the people around me.
I have to trust them. I have to trust Archer.
“I’m assuming Jack doesn’t know?”
I shake my head at Mum, a kernel of unease reappearing.
“No, he doesn’t.” Emotion is replaced by insistence when I speak again.
“And that’s the way I want to keep it. I think we all know that regardless of Archer’s intentions with me and the baby, this is going to go down like a lead fucking balloon.
Jack thinks his goalie has a girlfriend over in Dallas when, in fact, he’s been hooking up with his sister behind his back, and now we have a baby on the way.
It could tear the team apart, and I’m not going to share anything about my pregnancy until at least twelve weeks.
The only people who do and will know are you both, my girlfriends, and Archer. ”
“Jon shouldn’t know either. It would be unfair and awkward as fuck if he did.
Having to coach and keep it a secret from Jack—I know he’d hate that,” Mum says, and relief floods through me.
“Plus, you are my daughter, and you come above everything for me. Always. So, if you want to wait on telling people, then we wait.”
I twist my hands around in front of me. “Do you think Jack will go crazy?”
Mum shrugs. She isn’t dismissing my worry, but she clearly doesn’t see it the same way.
“Probably. But that’s something the boys have got to work through.
You are your own woman, making a decision for yourself, your pregnancy, and for your man.
If Jack wants to get into it with his friend, then that’s on them.
As are the consequences that the new GM will rein down on anyone who steps out of line. ”
I wince. “He rules with an iron fist?”
Mum raises her brows. “Between the three of us, Jon isn’t so sure about him.
He’s making some changes that aren’t going down well with the non-playing staff, and his ideas for the direction he wants the team to go in aren’t exactly conducive with Jon’s.
I don’t think the GM has loyalties to anyone on the team, regardless of how long they’ve been working with or playing for the Blades.
So, if Jack and Archer want to get into it over their egos, then let’s just say, it might not sit well, and they could find their asses on the bench, on the farm team, or worse still, on the trade list before the March deadline. ”
In a roundabout way, Mum’s only confirmed what Jenna said to me, and my stomach rolls. The thought of Archer being shipped off to another team, maybe even the other side of the country, brings a whole new level of fear.
And comprehension—Kate’s right. I don’t just need Archer; I want him too.
My mobile pings on the table next to me. It’s face down as my eyes fall to it.
“One hundred dollars says that’s your obsessive baby daddy.”
I roll my eyes at Kate. Giddy excitement courses through every artery as I pick up my phone and open our message thread.
Thigh Boy
That’s so weird because Mom likes you too, along with the fact that you’re having my baby.
Anyway, enough about parents. When can I come get you and take you back to bed? I have Taco Bell on speed dial and an entire night free to be at my girl’s beck and call.