6. Chapter 6
Beck
T he sound of my phone ringing pulls me from a deep sleep. I roll over and grab it, fumbling for the button to answer. “Hello?”
“Beckett.”
“Hey, Hold.” I sit up, scrubbing a hand down my face. Goddamn, I did not get enough sleep. “Why are you calling so early?”
There’s a long pause, and then, “Early? It’s almost noon, Beck.”
A yawn damn near splits my jaw. “Oh. Doesn’t feel like it.”
“So, have you called your mom yet?”
I blink a couple of times, confused as fuck about what’s going on. “Was I supposed to?”
Holden sighs. It’s long and drawn out, and he’s clearly put out with me, but I have no idea why. “Beckett, you brought a kid home yesterday, yes?” My heart flutters as I smile.
“Yeah,” I all but sigh. Fuck, I sound like an idiot.
“Don’t you think Lydia would like to know that?”
My foggy brain clears, and mild panic rushes through me, my body getting hot all over. “Holy shit, Hold. I need to tell my parents.”
Holden laughs. “Yeah, you really do. I’m basically vibrating out of my skin every time I see Lydia. I swear she knows I know something.”
Oh God. Truthfully, she probably does. She’s entirely too perceptive. “Don’t tell her,” I blurt out.
“Damn, Beckett. Do you take me for an idiot? I don’t want to be the one to tell her. I mean, I totally do. But do you think I want to be the messenger who gets killed because her own son didn’t think to call her about something like this?”
I sigh. “I didn’t intentionally not tell her, you know. First, we didn’t even know if he’d want to come, and I didn’t want to get her hopes up. And then everything was so hectic.”
Holden hums. “Yeah, how’s everything going now that you’ve got him home? ”
I almost laugh, but nothing about it is funny.
“Not great, honestly. I don’t think any of us slept well.
Roman had a nightmare and I wasn’t there for him when he woke up because Eli was also having a nightmare and I fell asleep in the hallway trying to keep an eye on him. Fuck, Hold. It was just a rough night.”
“You can’t be everything for everyone all the time, Beck,” Holden says gently.
What’s so wrong with me trying to, though?
“How about Julian and I come over tonight and cook dinner for you guys? We’ll take the kids to Ruby and Henry for the night and hang out.”
I hate that I’m relieved by that. I really do. But I slept until almost noon, Roman is dead to the world beside me, and if I had to guess, Eli is asleep too. It really wouldn’t be the worst thing. Some help would be nice.
“It’s okay to accept help, Beckett,” Holden says when I don’t answer quick enough.
“Yeah,” I say with a sigh. “Yeah, okay. As long as you’re sure it won’t be putting you out.”
I can almost hear his eyes rolling through the phone. “You’re so damn stupid sometimes, Beckett. It’s a good thing you didn’t go to medical school. I fear you would have failed. ”
I bark out a loud laugh and Holden giggles. “Okay, wake up Ro. Call your mother before she uses her mom powers to get me to spill the tea, and try to enjoy your day until we get there.”
A relieved breath leaves my lips. “Okay. Thanks, Holden.”
He murmurs a quick, “Any time,” and hangs up, leaving me alone with silence and my thoughts. Thoughts that quickly spiral when I don’t have Holden to distract me anymore.
Roman is going to freak out when he realizes we haven’t told my parents about Eli. Hell, they’re going to freak out. I’m already freaking out.
As much as I hate to wake Roman up when he looks so damn peaceful, there’s no way I’m having this conversation without him. I gently stroke his face, wanting him to wake up to my soft touch and not my panic. My beautiful man has had enough of that already.
He stirs a bit, his lashes fluttering as I run the backs of my knuckles up and down his cheek. “Time to wake up,” I whisper, leaning in to brush my nose along his and press light kisses to his skin.
I can tell he’s waking up before his eyes actually open, courtesy of the adorable little sleepy smile that graces his lips. “Do you want to make a phone call with me?”
He hums, turning toward me and burying his face against my chest. My heart swells and he nuzzles into me, bringing his hand up to grasp my side and run his thumb along my skin. “What phone call? To the therapist?”
The… therapist? “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“For Eli,” he mumbles.
Ah, makes sense. “No. To my mom.”
He rolls to his back, not opening his eyes. His brows pull together for a second, his face frozen in confusion, and then he squints an eye open. “Your mom?”
I can’t resist leaning in to steal a quick kiss. He looks so fucking adorable. All confused and sleep-mussed. He kisses me back for a second, but then he pulls back with a gasp. “Oh fuck. Your mom.”
There you go, beautiful. “Yeah, we may have fucked up. We need to call them. But how do you say, ‘Hey, Mom, we’ve got a kid now?’”
Roman chuckles, dragging his hand down his face and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Uh, I’m not sure. Probably just like that, right? Or, ‘Congrats, you’re a grandparent again.’”
Sleepy brown eyes lock on mine, and my heart stumbles at the brightness there. I’m so glad that it seems none of the demons from last night followed him into this morning. “Jesus, beautiful. ”
He raises an eyebrow. “What?”
Tangling my fingers in his thick hair, I brush my lips along his collarbone and work my way to his mouth, smiling at the hitch in his breath. “I’m just thinking about how apt your nickname is. You really are so fucking beautiful.”
His face flushes bright pink. “Okay. Let’s call your mom,” he says, sitting up.
I chuckle at his clear dismissal of my compliment and sit up with him.
Grabbing my phone, I turn it over in my hands while I think about how this call needs to go.
This really is nerve-wracking. She probably gave up hope that Roman and I would ever give her grandkids.
Not that she isn’t grandma to Wren and Warren.
Lord, she has those two spoiled. Even worse than I do, I dare say.
Roman cocks his head at me as if to ask what the fuck I’m doing.
I have no idea why I’m so nervous about this.
Unless it’s because part of me fears that Eli won’t want to stay with us.
“Baby.” I turn fully to Roman, and he reaches out, taking the phone from my hands. “It’s going to be okay. Let’s call, yeah?”
I nod, exhaling a shaky breath. “Okay, yeah.”
He unlocks my phone and dials the number.
My heart jumps into my throat the second it starts ringing and my pulse skyrockets.
When Mom answers, I can’t even talk. “Give me a second, love. I’ve got to get to an exam room.
” I try to swallow. Once, twice, three times.
It doesn’t help. “Okay, I’m good. What’s going on? You guys okay?”
Roman’s eyebrows raise and he stares at me. “Yeah, Lydia, we’re okay,” Roman says, saving my ass.
“Oh. Hey, darling. It’s nice to hear from you.” The genuine happiness in her voice brings me so much joy. I love how much she loves Roman.
“We have some news,” he says, gripping my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I’m all ears.”
Roman watches me for a second, and I force a deep breath into my lungs. “Roman and I are fostering.”
She’s quiet for a second. “That’s wonderful.”
That’s not all, dumbass. Tell her the rest. My throat closes up. Why is this making me so nervous? I look at Roman with what I’m sure are wide, panicked eyes. He clears his throat. “We’re hoping to adopt him. If he’d like for us to.”
“What?” Her voice is whisper-soft and full of disbelief. Roman opens his mouth to speak, and thank God because I can’t , but Mom cuts him off with a scream. A happy scream. But a loud scream, so loud that it cuts out the phone speaker and sounds like her voice is cutting in and out.
Roman laughs, happiness lighting up his features, and my stomach does a wild flip .
When Mom’s finally done screaming, she laughs. “Perfect. I need all the details. Tell me about my grandchild.”
Roman smiles, his eyes soft and gooey. Good God, you’d think after all this time, I’d be less enamored with this man and not more, but no. He’s constantly in my thoughts. Always. It’s like every day that passes, I love him more and more. It feels impossible, and yet… it’s so fucking true.
“His name is Eli,” I say. “He’s fourteen. He came to the Hart Foundation a couple of days ago. We brought him home last night. He’s still a little overwhelmed with everything, but we’d love for you and Dad to come meet him soon.”
“And just in time for the wedding,” Mom muses, her voice dreamy.
I’d almost roll my eyes, but she really does love all of us so much.
She’s going to shit herself when she finds out that Julian and Hold are getting engaged soon too.
And I can say this with confidence since Julian told me that he was going to ask Hold and Hold told Roman he was going to ask Julian.
We both decided to let them have their fun and may the best man beat the equally best man to pop the question first.
“Yeah,” Roman says, smiling at me. “We’ll have to work on getting him a tux. ”
Mom squeals again, like she’s a teenager and not a woman in her mid-fifties. “Okay, I’ve got to get back to work, but we’ll come meet him soon.”
“Sounds good. We love you,” I say.
“I love you boys too.”
Roman taps the button to hang up the call and all but throws himself into my lap, and if there’s one thing I will never complain about, it’s a lap full of deliciously naked Roman.
His warm skin presses against mine and my cock hardens instantly as I cup his jaw and slam my mouth to his.
Fuck, I’m so happy. I didn’t even know this kind of happiness existed.
And if you had told me five years ago this would be my life right now, I would have laughed you out of the state.
“Mmm, I love you, beautiful. Let’s get dressed and go make lunch. I’ll let Kassie out if you wanna start.”
He brushes his lips over mine one more time and nods.