Chapter 24 Maddox #2
Both of us laugh as Theo is all but drooling as he eats one of the many desserts Gabi and her staff made for today’s gender reveal get together.
Not a party. A party is big. A get together is more intimate apparently. At this point, whatever my future wife wants to call it is fine by me. I just know that almost everyone she and I love are here today, and we’re finally going to find out if Tiny Tot is a boy or girl.
Emphasis on finally. It’s a good thing Gabi gave the envelope to her newest baker, Josie, so she could make the reveal cake. Otherwise, I know for a fact I wouldn’t have been able to resist opening it. I was the same way with Christmas presents as a kid.
I’m thinking girl. She’s convinced boy. We might or might not have a friendly wager of oral sex on the line for this one. It’s a bet I don’t care if I win or lose.
“I appreciate that,” she says with a warm smile. “I’d never made them before, but they felt fitting for a party like this.”
“No doubt,” he says, swallowing the last bite of cupcake. “What’s your secret? I’ve never had one this fluffy.”
Gabi gives him a curious look. “Are you an undercover baker or something?”
“No,” Theo says a little too quickly. “Just an appreciator of good desserts.”
I have to turn my head at that one to fight off my laughter. This dude is the worst liar in history.
“Then I can safely keep my secret,” she pats his shoulder. “A baker never tells.”
“I thought that was a magician?”
“Same thing,” she says before giving me a quick kiss. “I’m going to go talk to Hannah and Shelby. You okay?”
“Of course,” I say, pulling her in for a better kiss. “Reveal in twenty?”
“Sounds good.”
Our hands stay held until we can’t reach each other anymore. When I turn back to Theo, I realize the rest of the baking—I mean poker—club has gathered around him.
“Thank you guys again for coming,” I say. “I know it wasn’t the easiest to schedule.”
Beau gives me a pat on the shoulder. “We wouldn’t have missed it.”
Once Gabi told me her idea, we immediately started planning.
And we quickly realized scheduling this was going to be a nightmare.
We did the best we could to coordinate everyone’s schedules for our Vegas-themed gender reveal, complete with cookies decorated as playing cards, cake bars shaped like microphones, and the grand attraction—a two-tiered cake that, when we cut into it, will tell us if we’re having a boy or girl.
Oh, and of course a healthy amount of bear claws. For obvious reasons.
“It was no trouble,” Asher says as he takes a quick glance to get eyes on Adalyn, who's currently coloring with my niece. “I’m in offseason mode. Fucking love July.”
“Speak for yourself,” Theo says. “This month I swear is the longest fucking month of the season. I’ve never been so happy to get a rainout game as I was today.”
“Mother Nature and her fucking rain can go fuck herself,” Beau says with a grumble.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I say, glad Adalyn’s across the room. She’d have a field day billing him for all the f-bombs. “Last weekend was tough.”
Last weekend was the first time I watched Beau play in a major tournament—and apparently it’s one of two he’s never won.
Gabi and I were glued to our televisions all weekend as Beau took the lead into the final day.
Unfortunately though, the skies opened up and rain came down hard and fast on the back nine.
Because there was never any lightning, play continued.
Beau ended up losing by two shots.
“Fucking bullshit is what it was,” he groans. “They should’ve stopped the tournament for inclement weather. It was a fucking major, not some podunk bank’s invitational.”
“Aww… is someone still upset they lost? Doesn’t matter if he’s thirty-five or fifteen, poor Beau Devereaux still can’t handle losing.”
I watch as Beau’s eyes turn to fire as Shelby walks in front of us, mocking him the way I’ve learned only she can.
I’ve only been in a room with them one other time, but I swear, if I didn’t know from Gabi that they vehemently hate each other, I’d put money on them being three seconds away from fucking.
I watched General Hospital growing up. I know that look before the enemies become lovers.
“Rich coming from the woman who withdrew from a tournament last month because of a toe injury.”
“Fuck you. It wasn’t a toe, it was my finger. How the hell am I supposed to grip a golf club with my finger double in size?”
“You wouldn’t hurt your finger if it wasn’t always stuck up your ass.”
Now it’s Shelby’s turn to narrow her eyes. As for myself, Theo, and Asher? We just take a step back, and I think we all wish we had some popcorn.
“Fuck you, Devereaux.”
“You wish, darlin’.”
“Shrew.”
“Asshole.”
The two stare at each other for a few more seconds, before Shelby spins on a heel and storms back to Gabi and Hannah. Beau doesn’t say anything else and bolts off in the other direction, leaving the three of us slackjawed.
“We’re asking him about this next Poker Club, right?” Theo asks. “Because there definitely was a thing there.”
“Fuck yes we are,” Asher says just as Adalyn starts sprinting across the bakery. “Adalyn! No! No more candy!”
Theo and I share a laugh before we part ways. Since I’m by the cookie table, I do a quick once over to make sure nothing needs replacing, when I feel an arm come around my waist.
“I can’t believe my baby boy is going to be a dad.”
I smile as I turn to my mom, wrapping her in a tight hug. “Believe me, neither can I.”
When Gabi and I were planning this, we wanted to do it quickly.
Even though it was killing both of us that we didn’t know, we also wanted to make sure we had time to get our families and friends here.
Unfortunately for Gabi, her parents couldn’t make it as they had a summer-long travel schedule that they were in the middle of.
They did say they’d reroute through Tennessee on their way back to Louisiana to make sure they were here for the baby shower, though.
Yes, Gabi was disappointed, but both Shelby and Hannah were able to make it.
The three of them had a girls’ night last night, my only duty being to bring them pizza and refreshments before seeing myself out.
Which was fine. I hadn’t seen my mom, sister, or niece in months, and it gave us the time we needed to catch up.
“I’m proud of you,” she says as Hannah starts gathering everyone together for the reveal. “You did good.”
I laugh. “That wasn’t your tune when I told you what happened.”
She shrugs. “I’ve had time to process. And meet Gabi. That helped a lot. She’s wonderful, Maddox.”
“She’s one of a kind,” I say, smiling, as Gabi winks at me from across the room.
“She’s the one for you,” Mom says. “And that’s what matters.”
“Even if she’s the one you warned me about all those years?”
She laughs. “I’m just glad it happened after college.”
Since my dad wasn’t around, all of the big “talks” in my life came from my mom. The one that no teenage boy of a single mother will ever forget is the sex one. And in her case specifically, the importance of a condom. I remember her words like it was yesterday.
“Just please. Use one. Every time. The last thing you need is a child you didn’t ask for with a woman who might or might not be only using you for a potential chance of being a pro football wife. Just…wrap it up. Please, Maddox. For the love of God.”
The irony of it happening while I was wearing a condom is not lost on me.
But once Mom met Gabi, every one of those fears of her son getting the wrong girl pregnant—or the worries I know she had when she heard that Gabi was nearly eleven years older than me—melted away.
She saw the woman I’m in love with. The mother of my child.
They laughed and shared stories. Mom told embarrassing tales of me as a kid, and Gabi made her bear claws and a strawberry pie that sealed the deal.
“Thanks for being here, Mom,” I say, giving her a kiss on the head. “Are you ready to find out if you get a grandson?”
“Absolutely,” she says, patting my chest. “And if it is, I already have a list of things ready to give to Gabi. Raising a mini Maddox isn’t for the weak.”
I laugh and give her one more hug before I meet Gabi at the table with the cake displayed on it. We each say a few words before taking a champagne flute in our hands that we’re going to use to scoop out the cake.
“Ready?” I ask, the anticipation about to boil over.
“So ready.”
We share one emotional but relatively chaste kiss before silently counting to three. We do our best to keep looking at each other, not wanting to accidentally see what the filling is. Except I see it. She does too. And I immediately burst into the happiest tears of my life.