26. CHRISTMAS EVE — THE REED LAND, NORTH CAROLINA #2
Josie let out a small, miserable groan, dropping her forehead against my shoulder.
“I think it’s already starting. I’ve been fighting horrible morning sickness.
I wake up at four in the morning, and I can’t even look at the kitchen without gagging.
And the fatigue… I feel like I haven’t slept in a month.
I have these intense, weird cravings that hit me out of nowhere, and if I don’t eat right then, I get so sick to my stomach. ”
I frowned, my hand automatically smoothing over her strawberry-blonde hair. “Have you been to a doctor yet?”
“No,” she mumbled. “I’ve just been using the drugstore tests.”
“Alright, we’re leaving.” I stood up. “We’re going to the urgent care or the outpatient hospital downtown. We need to make sure you’re healthy, and we need to know exactly how far along you are so we can map this out.”
She blinked, a small flash of relief crossing her eyes. “Okay, okay.”
The atmosphere was quiet, and a bit awkward at first. I had lived on the Reed land for less than a year, but the reality was, I had never been completely alone with one of Silas’s relatives before.
Usually, we were a pack, a loud, chaotic sea of bodies at Sunday dinners or training sessions in the garage.
Sitting in the enclosed cab with his cousin felt entirely foreign, but I was trying my absolute best to make her as comfortable and relaxed as possible.
Jesus, I thought to myself, a sudden realization hitting my gut as I checked my mirrors. The last time I took the twins off the Reed land without giving a heads-up, we ended up at a courthouse, and Maverick almost tore mine and Silas’s heads off.
“Cal?”
“Yeah, kid?”
“Can I ask you something? Just…to get my mind off things?”
“Ask whatever you want.” I kept my eyes fixed on the highway.
“How did you meet Si? And…when did you know you were in love with him? Like, really in love?”
I smiled, a soft, warm nostalgia flooding my chest. “We met at the Performance Center in Orlando. It was my first day there. Everyone was treating me like I was some kind of hazard, but Si didn’t look at me that way. I think he saw potential in me before anyone else did, our trainers included.”
I chuckled, the memory vivid. “We were scripted to hate each other from day one. But the second we locked up in that ring…it was like the whole world went quiet. I knew I was falling in love with him when we wrestled our first Man Overboard. We were at this insane resort. Si fell asleep as soon as we got to our room, and I went looking for any excuse to wake him so we could spend time together. I ended up stumbling across the resort pool. It was at least two AM when I woke him up. He was so nervous we were going to get caught and get in trouble, but he went with me for God knows what reason. He kissed me for the first time that night, and I knew I would never be the same again.”
She watched me, her eyes shimmering with soft, romantic awe. The conversation was doing exactly what I’d hoped, pulling her out of the vacuum of her own terror.
“He loves you so much. The way he looks at you… iI’s like nobody else is even in the room.” She paused, her voice dropping into a quiet, heavy register. “I hoped I would have that someday.”
I glanced over at her. “Do you want to talk about the dad?”
“It was a one-night stand at some stupid college party in Wilmington. I met this guy. I thought he liked me. The second the test turned pink, I called him. I told him the truth.”
She swallowed hard, her voice cracking. “He ghosted me. He blocked my number, deleted his social media profiles, and vanished into thin air. I’m completely on my own from a relationship standpoint.”
My knuckles went white on the steering wheel, a lethal, dark fury flaring in my chest. If I ever find out his name, I thought to myself. “You aren’t on your own. You have a valley full of Reeds, and you have me. That kid is going to have more uncles and protectors than he knows what to do with.”
“Can I ask you another random question?”
“Go for it.”
“What’s your middle name?” she asked, her tone light and curious.
I adjusted my glasses with an index finger. “My middle name? It’s Ian. Callum Ian.”
Josie chuckled, nodding her head. “My name came from our grandmother. But Callum Ian… God, your name is so painfully Irish.”
I snorted, letting out a defensive huff as I turned the truck into the parking lot of the Regional Medical Center. “It’s not Irish, kid. It’s Scottish. I’m Scottish. My bio parents moved to the States just before they got pregnant with me.”
Josie raised her eyebrows in mock confusion. “Huh. Scottish? Are you sure? Because I don’t see the resemblance.”
I cut her a sharp, amused glare as I threw the truck into park. “Are you kidding me? Did you not see the formal kilt I wore in Puerto Rico for Heatwave? The one the dirt sheets talked about for three days?”
“Honestly? I thought that was just an Irish thing.”
I shook my head in mock exasperation. “I am surrounded by uncultured southern heathens.”
The nurses were efficient, running the standard blood panels and conducting a quick, routine ultrasound to verify the viability of the pregnancy.
“Alright, Miss Reed,” the doctor said kindly, turning off the monitor.
“The blood work looks great. You are officially ten weeks along. The fetal heartbeat is strong and perfectly healthy. But you are entering your second trimester soon, which means you need to be seen by an OB/GYN for a formal prenatal routine within the next two weeks.”
Josie scrambled off the examination table, her feet hitting the linoleum as she began to pace the small room. Her breathing escalated into a frantic, short, hyperventilating wheeze. Her eyes went wide and vacant, staring right through the drywall.
It was a total mirror image of Silas’s panic attacks.
I stood there, a profound sense of bizarre recognition washing over my brain.
It was a genetic trait. The Reed DNA carried a specific, volatile brand of anxiety that completely short-circuited their logical minds when the pressure got too high.
“Josie, stop. Look at me.” My voice was a deep, unyielding rumble of pure calm.
“Right here, kid. The baby is healthy. You are healthy. The hard part is over. Sync your breathing with mine. In through the nose. Out through the mouth. Come on.”