CHAPTER 20 KAYLEE
I’m still sore in the morning, but I’m feeling a lot better and the nausea seems to have dissipated. I’m starting to wonder if it was all mental now that his mom’s wedding is over. Maybe it was just a nervous tummy in anticipation of being around her and his ex-girlfriend.
When we pull onto the road that leads to Ben's house after he enters the gate code, from a distance I can see two cars in the driveway that weren't there yesterday.
I don't recognize either car, but I assume these visitors belong here considering the gate at the entrance of Ben’s street would keep out strangers.
“Who’s here?” I ask. Ben just shrugs mysteriously. The sly smile on his face tells me he knows exactly who it is and he's not telling.
The mystery is solved a minute later as I bound through the mudroom door and into the kitchen. My mom is standing there with a big smile on her face and Jeb stands beside her. Just behind her, I spot Jack with his head bent close to Kate as they watch JJ run the show with Nolan and Warner close by.
A wave of emotion plows into my chest. My whole family is here together.
Maybe Ben and I can finally tell them what’s been going on between the two of us.
I rush to my mom first and throw my arms around her. After the craziness of the last couple days, I feel tears pinching behind my eyes at the comfort and familiarity of my mom's warm arms.
I glance over at Ben as I turn to give his dad a hug next. “Did you do this?”
Jack finally turns as he notices that we’re home. “Actually,” he says, “I did.” I rush into his arms next and he squeezes me hard. “We decided to fly here straight from San Diego. Kate wanted to do whatever she could to help with the planning and we were excited to spend the week with family.”
“I love you guys so much,” I say.
“Love you too, Kay Kay,” Jack says.
I hug Kate next, and she tells me how she can't wait to help with every last detail and then she glances over at Ellie. “Ready?”
My brows dip as I wonder what the dynamic duo is up to now.
Ellie nods. “We wanted to wait until everyone was together and it wasn't Jack and Kate's wedding and it wasn't Ben and Kaylee's quite yet…” She glasses over at Kate as she trails off. “One, two, three.”
“We’re pregnant.” They say the words in unison, and while I already knew about Ellie, does this mean…
My mom gasps. “Both of you?” She practically squeals, and anybody who knows Carol Dalton knows she is not a squealer. “Two new grandbabies?”
“Two new grandbabies,” Kate confirms with a grin.
Hugs and squeals abound at the exciting news.
“When are you due?” my mom asks.
“January,” they say in unison again.
“I’m a week ahead of Kate, but we’ve got our fingers crossed they’ll share a birthday,” Ellie says, and they both giggle.
So by the end of January, this family will grow by two.
I’m thrilled for my brothers and their wives.
I just wish I didn’t have this strange, gnawing feeling of jealousy inside at their total giddy happiness. It’s paired with a big old dose of guilt, of course. They deserve this, and I’ve made my choice.
“Am I having a granddaughter or a grandson or do you not know yet?” my mom asks.
“We don't know yet,” Kate says.
“We do,” Ellie says. She glances at Luke.
“But instead of telling you, we were thinking we could make it into a game,” he says.
“A game?” my mom asks.
“Anybody up for some soccer?” Luke asks.
I giggle as I push down those feelings inside so I can be more present in this moment. Leave it to one of my brothers to somehow turn a gender reveal into a competition.
We draw for teams while Elizabeth watches the babies, and it’s Jack, Ben, Nicki, Jeb, and me against Luke, Ellie, Kate, my mom, and Josh out back in the huge field behind Ben’s house.
He had some soccer goals in the garage, so he sets them up while Luke goes over the rules, mostly for my mom’s benefit.
My team gets the first goal—from Jack, of course, who is the most competitive person I’ve ever met in my life. He practically plows my mother to the ground to get the goal, leaving everyone behind him laughing our asses off at his antics even at a fun, family game.
Luke gets competitive against him, and of course Ben and Josh join in on that considering they’re all professional athletes on the same team and they can’t just play a game for fun without playing to win.
To be honest, I feel the same way. I get in the thick of things with the boys and put my old soccer skills to the test as I remember how much I used to love playing this game in high school. I gave it up when I went to college because I didn’t want to be like my brothers.
I make a mental note to include soccer as a part of the kids program I build for Tight Fit.
I score a goal when I steal the ball from Ellie, and Ben’s right next to me. He tosses his arms around me in victory, and I very nearly plant a kiss on his sexy mouth when I realize my entire family is watching.
This is fun…but I’m not exactly sure how it’s leading to the gender reveal.
And then Nicki kicks the ball out of bounds. It lands right next to a few spare balls. Ellie grabs a new one and tosses it into the middle. “Carol, you kick it!” she says. “Hard as you can into the air!”
My mom winds up and kicks it good, and as it sails into the air, it pops open and pink confetti rains down onto the ground. My mom starts crying, and Luke and Ellie meet in the middle of the field for a quick kiss before the rest of us attack them with more hugs, more laughter, more love.
Luke and Ellie are in for some trouble with a cutie like Nolan and Ellie’s mini-me on the way.
I continue to push down the feelings tightening my chest. I won’t let them drag me down in what’s a very happy moment for the Dalton clan. And then Ben’s merry eyes meet mine, and the roller coaster takes me back up to the top. He’ll be worth it.
I hope.
I head to the kitchen to grab some more water since everyone’s bottles are empty, and Jack joins me with his and Kate’s bottles while everyone else keeps playing outside.
“I see the way you look at him,” Jack says completely out of the blue.
“At who?” I ask, playing dumb as I use Ben’s water dispenser to fill my bottle first.
“Ben.”
“I have no idea what you're talking about.” I finish filling my bottle and fill Ben’s next. “We're keeping this up for the media and we've just gotten good at acting.” And frankly I'm getting tired of telling the same lie over and over, but obviously I don't add that to my statement.
“I know,” Jack says. He hesitates before he adds, “But to be honest with you, Kay, I see the way he looks at you, too. You two can fool a lot of people, but you can't fool me. Not when I know you both as well as I do.”
My brows dip as I try to come up with some defense for that. I fall short and he keeps talking anyway.
“I just want to remind you of two things.
Number one, be careful. And number two, Ben is one of my best friends.
I love the guy, but he's not the settling down type.
I know you want a big family and he doesn't. He's never talked to me about why he doesn't want that, but he just doesn't and he's not going to change his mind for you.”
He’s right.
Ben won’t change his mind for me.
But what Jack doesn’t know is that I changed my mind for Ben.
“I'm a big girl, Jack. I know you still see me as a little girl, your little sister, the sweet innocent one. I’m not that little girl anymore, and while I do appreciate the warning, it’s unnecessary. We’re just acting.”
He reaches around my shoulders and tugs me to him before giving me a noogie.
“I know you’re all grown up, but I will always worry about you, kid.
” He backs away. “And for the record, it’s not just you I’m worried about.
If he ever hurt you, I’m not sure what that would do to my relationship with him.
It’s not just a friendship. It’s colleagues.
We read each other when we play together, and I need that open line with him.
If he ever hurt you, I don’t know if I could work with him the same way. ”
“I get it,” I say instead of hopping to the defensive even more. “You have nothing to worry about.”
Besides, he loves me, too.
I wish I could say that part aloud, but between the warning he just gave me and the news of babies that everyone is sharing around me, it's not the right time.
Hopefully the right time will present itself soon, though, because I’m starting to get really tired of the lies.