Chapter 24
RUBY
When the cold gel hits my belly, I suck in a breath.
Garrett stands beside me, one hand braced on the table near my hip as if he’s anchoring me in place, the other resting on the back of my shoulder.
He’s been quiet since we parked and took the elevator up to the third floor, where my doctor’s office is located.
He’s like this with every appointment, holding his breath until he can see and hear for himself that our baby is fine.
The ultrasound tech, Ashley, according to her badge, moves the wand slowly and carefully, her eyes flicking between my stomach and the monitor.
The room smells faintly of sanitizer, and the only sound is the low hum of the machine and Garrett’s heavy boot tapping on the tiled floor. I give his hand a reassuring squeeze.
“Okay,” Ashley says softly. “Before I turn the screen toward you, are you two still Team Surprise?”
My mouth goes dry. This is our last ultrasound, and our last chance to cave in. The last time anyone will ask me if I want to know the one thing I don’t know yet. I’m dying to know, but we’ve made it this far.
Garrett’s hand slides down to my fingers, threading through them. He squeezes once, a silent question.
“We’re still Team Surprise,” I say, and the words come out firmer than I feel.
Garrett lets out a soft chuckle. “Yep,” he adds, voice rough. “Team Surprise.”
“Got it,” Ashley says with a smile, and she swivels the monitor toward us. The screen blooms into grainy black-and-white shapes, and then there it is, our baby.
Ashley points out a curve and a flicker. “That’s the spine. There’s the heart, strong and steady.”
The sound of the heartbeat fills the room, and I see Garrett visibly relax. He leans closer, his eyes glued to the screen.
Ashley takes measurements, clicking and dragging lines across the image while she announces how the baby is measuring as expected for thirty-six weeks. “Everything is measuring right where we want it. Baby looks perfect.”
She glances at the chart. “Due date is still on track. One month, give or take.”
Just four weeks to go. I’m terrified yet excited.
Ashley prints a few pictures for us, carefully cropping anything that might spoil our little plan, and hands them over to Garrett. After I wipe the gel off with a paper towel, I slowly sit up, and Garrett’s hands are instantly there, steadying me.
Outside, the day hits me the way New Orleans always does. The scorching sun shines bright, and the early afternoon air is thick with the kind of humidity that makes your skin feel sticky.
Garrett guides me through the parking lot with his palm at my lower back. “You okay?” he asks once he gets me buckled in. “You’ve gone quiet.”
“I’m good, just tired.” I rest a hand on the curve of my stomach. The baby kicks, making me smile. “I keep thinking how this is getting real. I mean, I know it’s always been real, but with my due date approaching…” I shrug, letting my sentence hang.
Garrett nods as he understands exactly. “Good real but scary real at the same time.”
I blow out a breath, relieved that he gets it. “Exactly. I’m ready for him or her to be here and to be a mom, but I’m scared too.”
Garrett twists in the driver’s seat to face me. “You know I’m not goin’ anywhere, right, baby?”
“I know,” I quickly tell him because I do know. Garrett has been nothing short of perfect these past several months. He has proven time and time again that we are in this together. “It’s not that.”
“Then what is it, baby? What exactly has you worried?”
“I guess I’m just scared that something is going to swoop in and take my happiness away from me.
I mean, I’m so incredibly happy. I have a baby on the way, I have you, I have my parents, and my friends.
I have everything I could ever want. The thought of losing any of that scares me,” I tell him honestly.
Garrett’s face goes soft as he places his hand on top of our growing baby. “Nothin’ is going to take your happiness away, Ruby. As long as there is a breath in me, you and our baby will want for nothin’, and I’ll spend the rest of my life makin’ you happy.”
I throw myself in his arms. “I love you.”
He cups my face in the palms of his hands. “I fuckin’ love you too, baby.”
A few minutes later, we pull out of the lot, and the city slides by. The closer we get to Pop’s, the more my nerves turn into something bubbly. It’s not just a baby shower, it’s a celebration with family that reminds us we’re doing this, and we’re not doing it alone.
When we turn onto Pop’s street, I know before I see the backyard that everyone is already here.
The sound reaches us first—voices, laughter, the distant sound of music, and a familiar lineup of motorcycles angled along the edge of the yard.
Tucked in among the bikes is a white rental car.
Garrett’s parents are in town. His mom and dad flew in for us, and his brother came with them.
His family has been over the moon ever since we told them about the baby.
Garrett kills the engine and jogs around to open my door before I can even think about it. I slide out, slower these days, and the moment my feet hit the ground, the enticing aroma of grilled burgers and crawfish fills my senses.
Pop’s backyard has always felt like its own little world, cut off from the city even though it’s right there.
The grass is patchy in the places people always stand, greener along the edges where nobody steps.
The whole yard slopes gently toward the river, and at the back, the land just gives way to the water’s edge.
Old cypress trees push up near the waterline. A couple of willows lean in, their long branches dangle, nearly touching the water below. Palmettos and thick shrubs crowd the fence line on one side, and above it all, moss hangs off the oaks like curtains.
A wooden deck walkway runs from the back steps toward the water, boards sun-bleached and smooth in the middle from years of bare feet and boots. It splits at the end, leading to a boat deck where a couple of beat-up chairs sit.
Today, the yard is transformed. Folding tables are spread out resembling islands. One long table is dressed in paper cloth and stacked with plates and napkins, another is crowded with aluminum trays and bowls, and a third is buried under wrapped baby gifts.
Pop stands near the boil pot, stirring a crawfish boiler that’s sending up clouds of steam.
Nobody does crawfish better than Pop. Off to the side, Nova mans the grill.
The smell is mouthwatering. Cayenne, garlic, and lemon, that sharp peppery bite mixed with the sweet smoke of charcoal.
The smell clings to the air, making my stomach growl.
On the porch, Piper sits in Kiwi’s lap. Kiwi’s laugh carries brightly and quickly, while Piper’s smile is softer, her gaze tracking the chaos in the yard.
Promise, London, Sadie, Luna, and Jo swarm the food table.
Promise keeps moving things around to make sure the setup is perfect.
London sets out a pack of cups while Sadie stacks plates.
Jo and her daughter, Sawyer, carry platters of grilled food over to the table.
Everest is by the cooler, with its empty ice bags over bottles and cans.
Off to the side of the yard, the kid zone is in full effect.
A tire swing hangs from a thick branch, and kids shriek with laughter.
A blue kiddie pool sits in the shade where Tequila’s niece is supervising.
Wick stands nearby with his arms crossed and a watchful eye while Tequila hovers closer to the pool with a towel in hand as she helps Damien out.
For a second, I stand there and watch. Garrett’s fingers lace with mine. “You ready?” he murmurs.
“As I’ll ever be,” I say.
We round the side of the house, and the backyard opens up. Luna spots us first, and she nudges Jo with her elbow.
“There she is!” Jo hollers.
Promise claps her hands once, victorious. London whistles. Sadie throws up her arms. Piper hops out of Kiwi’s lap, and Kiwi swings his legs off the porch step and starts down. Piper follows at a calmer pace.
Pop looks up from the boil, face splitting into that grin. “Ruby girl!” he booms, and the words cut through me. Nova lifts his tongs in the air in a greeting salute.
I barely get two steps into the grass before Jo is on me, hands on my shoulders, eyes immediately dropping to my belly before pulling me in for a tight hug. “You look beautiful, Ruby.”
“Easy,” Garrett warns, but he’s smiling as the girls crowd in. Promise is the next to hug me, followed by London, Sadie, and Luna.
The guys are a little more chill. As soon as Garrett steps fully into the yard, a couple of them call him over with that head nod.
Everest tosses him a drink. Fender claps him on the shoulder, then immediately goes back to helping Pop with the crawfish.
Wick lifts two fingers in greeting from his post by the kids.
Tequila catches my eye and gives me a small wave.
Then I see Garrett’s mom and dad coming down the porch steps, and beside them, his brother.
His mom’s face is soft, open, and her eyes go straight to my belly, causing a wide smile to stretch across her face.
Garrett turns at the same time and breaks away from the guys and heads in my direction.
His mom reaches me first. “Ruby,” she says, wrapping her arms around me.
“I’m so glad you could make it.”
She beams. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away.”
His mom pulls back just enough to get a good look at me, hands sliding to my arms like she can’t help but fuss. “Where are your parents, sweetheart? I was hoping to meet them.”
“They took a trip up to the Smoky Mountains. Mom and Dad have been wanting to go for years, and I finally convinced them to go. They’re due back next week.” I rub my belly. “They wouldn’t miss the birth of their grandchild for the world.”
It took some heavy convincing on my end to finally get them to say yes.
After the whole ordeal with Robby, after the fear, the mess, and all the ways it tried to sink its teeth into our lives, I’d looked at my parents and realized how much of their joy they’d kept putting off for ‘later.’ Later, that never comes if you don’t make it.
So, I pushed, begged, and guilted my mother with pictures, trip ideas, and told my dad he’d earned every second of peace that mountain air could give him.
They both deserved it after everything they’d carried for me.
“This shower is all your mother has been talking about for weeks.” Garrett’s dad steps in next, offering his own hug, while his brother gives me an easy grin and nod.
Garrett steps in behind me and wraps his parents in a tight hug, the kind that makes his mom’s shoulders lift in a way that tells me she’s holding back her emotions.
Then he turns to his brother, gives him that firm handshake, and claps him on the shoulder.
Before any of us can say much more, Riggs’ voice carries from the food table. “All right, y’all, come and get it!”
Suddenly, all the kids come running. Little feet pound across the patchy grass, shrieks and laughter bounce off the trees as they come barreling toward the tables as though they’ve been starved for days.
Adults follow more slowly. We crowd around the table, shoulders bumping, hands reaching over one another.
Nova starts passing plates down one end while Promise barks playful orders about who’s sitting where. By the time I lower myself into a chair, Garrett’s hand is already at my back, steady and warm, and the table is full.
Just as the first bites start and the chatter rises again, Pop pushes himself up from his chair at the head of the table.
He’s ninety and somehow still solid as an old oak—back a little bowed, hands marked up with time, eyes sharp and bright like they’ve seen every kind of storm and never once forgot how to find the sun afterward.
The whole table quiets without anyone even having to ask.
That’s the thing about Pop, when he speaks, people listen.
He lifts his cup, and his gaze drifts over all of us before it lands on Garrett and me.
“I ain’t gonna keep y’all long…” he says, voice smooth, “… but I’m gonna say what needs sayin’.
Life’ll hand you good days and bad days.
It doesn’t ask permission before it knocks ya down. The important thing is ya get back up…”
He pauses, and for a second, his expression goes softer.
“I loved a woman once… with everything I had. Still do. Losin’ her near took me with it.
But love like that is never wasted. It teaches you patience and tests your limits.
It also teaches you lifelong lessons. Something it taught me is never to squander the love of a good woman.
The second thing it taught me is she’s always right. ”
Giggles and chuckles can be heard around the table.
Pop continues, “The love of a good woman will make you a better man. It teaches you how to hold on when the world tells you to let go.” His eyes flick to Garrett.
“So, you take care of Ruby and never let her go.” Pop’s attention is back to me.
“Ruby, you let Catcher take care of you. Takin’ care of a woman feeds a man’s soul, gives him life.
Y’all choose each other every day, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.”
Garrett and I look at each other, and he gently kisses my lips. “Love you, baby.”
“I love you too.”
Pop raises his cup a little higher. “To Ruby and Catcher.”
“To Ruby and Catcher,” our family says in unison.