Chapter 14
Hazel
“These are adorable.” Folding a tiny giraffe onesie, I tuck it back in the box. “Brooke, thank you. You must’ve known there’s a jungle-themed nursery at Luke’s place?”
“I didn’t.” Kaleb’s fiancée flashes her kindhearted smile. “The giraffe is the land mammal with the largest heart, so I’ve always had an affinity for them. Besides, like you said—how freakin’ cute are those? I bought six more so I can give them to other friends having babies.”
“Brooke, my favorite sister-in-law.” Cassidy winks as she logs the giraffe gift on my thank-you card list. “Please say I’m getting one, too. If not, I need you to tell me where you got those, because that’s seriously the cutest thing ever.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Brooke says. “There’s one for you and one for Calliope and Parker. They’re also getting one covered in tiny salmon.”
“Oh, they’ll love that.” I pass the box of giraffe onesies to my left so everyone else can admire them. “I’ve never done a remote shower. Did somebody figure out a system?”
Zoe raises her hand like a good little librarian. “I booked us the big upstairs conference room. It’s got all the good tech for a virtual event.”
“And I’m sending our gifts to Alaska in one shipment.” Cassidy looks up from her clipboard. “Parker and Callie can open them together while we watch.”
“Perfect.” I love how my friends have been handling this onslaught of baby celebrations. Even winter troll chinook season can’t derail everyone’s unflagging excitement for new family members. “Are Parker and Callie registered anywhere?”
“Jake’s Bait Shop,” Erika quips. Actually, I don’t think she’s joking. She hands me the next gift from the pile. “Open mine next. Hurry! I’m dying to see how you like it.”
“All right, all right.” I gently peel back the paper, taking care not to rip it. “This is too pretty to tear.”
“Oh, for the love of Pete.” Erika snatches the package and shakes out the box from the end I’ve just opened. “I’ll give you the entire roll of wrapping paper and tell you where I bought it. Let’s get this show moving.”
“So impatient.” I love her, though. And she obviously put lots of thought into her gift. “Oh, Erika—these are cute.”
She pokes at the onesie on top. “Organic cotton. All of them are.”
“All of them?” Looks like there’s more than just baby clothes here. I study the word emblazoned in pink on each onesie. “Blame it on pregnancy brain, but what does proof mean?”
“You’re supposed to read the grownup ones first.” She tugs an adult-sized t-shirt from the bottom of the box. “See?”
Scanning the words, I laugh. “I make beautiful babies.” I hold it up so everyone else can read it. “That’s true, and I haven’t even met them.”
Erika beams. “There’s one in there for Luke, too.” She gives me a salacious wink. “Extra-large, right?”
“Shh.” I’m blushing, though I’m pretty sure nobody heard. Or assumed I shared intimate details with Erika, which… Okay, maybe a little. What? Having regular sex with a gifted guy is kind of a new thing for me.
I pull out the extra-large shirt and laugh. His has the line about making beautiful babies on the front pocket, but the back has a second message. “Dad of twins,” I read. “Classic overachiever.”
“I know you said he loves clever shirts, and these made me laugh.”
“Thank you.” I hug Erika tightly. “I picture the four of us wearing these to plenty of family outings.”
“That’s the idea,” she says.
Across the room, Zoe and Cassidy’s mother looks befuddled. “You’re dating the baby-daddy?” Ruby Brooks frowns. “I thought the two of you were just—”
“Mom,” Cassidy hisses.
“What?” Ruby looks confused. “There’s nothing wrong with raising babies by yourself. I did it with you girls, and if that’s what Hazel wants, there’s absolutely no shame in it. She’s a strong, capable woman with a community of other strong women to help her.”
Zoe pipes up to rescue me. “I already declared Hazel an official Vulvarine.”
“Thank you.” My eyes sting with gratitude, or maybe that’s pregnancy hormones. “I agree that single parents are superheroes, and also that couples can co-parent beautifully without romantic entanglement.”
“Bravo,” says Erika, nodding. “As the daughter of the world’s most badass single dad, I’m with you there.”
Ruby smiles sweetly. “Very true.”
I’m not sure if Ruby’s agreeing that single parents rule or that Erika’s father—Ruby’s new husband—is, in fact, Superman. Either way, she seems pleased.
And curious, naturally. “So you can do it on your own,” Ruby says. “And while there’s absolutely no reason on earth a new mother shouldn't play hide the salami with the father of her children—”
“Good God, Mom.” Cassidy buries her face in her hands.
“Well?” Ruby remains undeterred. “All I’m saying is that women have needs.
And if you can get those needs filled by a handsome man who’s kind and generous and also the children’s father, that seems like winning to me.
” Ignoring the mortified looks from her daughters, she gives me a motherly smile.
“How about it, Hazel? Are you getting the best of both worlds?”
Everyone’s eyes swing to me. Swallowing hard, I feel heat fill my face. I expected to be in the spotlight at my baby shower, but maybe not this way.
“Hey,” Erika whispers, touching my arm. “You don’t have to answer. I can play guard dog if you want me to—”
“I’m okay.” Clearing my throat, I address the whole room. “So yes, it’s true. Luke and I are…” How do I put this? “We’re seeing each other.”
Ruby smiles. “That’s sweet.”
But it’s more than that, isn’t it? For some reason I need them to know. “We’re in love and we’re extremely sexually compatible.” They didn’t need that detail, did they? “Um, we’re taking it one day at a time. Not putting labels on things, you know?”
“That makes sense.” Ruby looks at Zoe. “Great sex is so important, isn’t it?”
Zoe rolls her eyes. “Nice, Mom.”
“What?” Ruby fluffs her hair. “I’m a newlywed, aren’t I? And Greg is absolutely exquisite in bed.”
Beside me, Erika groans. “I’ll take ‘Things I Didn’t Need to Know About My Father’ for five thousand.”
I hand her the gift box to add to the stack behind her. “Would you rather she complained that he’s lousy?”
“I’d rather pretend my dad only had sex to make me.” She fakes a dramatic shudder. “And I’m sure he’d prefer to believe Mason and I have separate bedrooms.”
“Nothing beats the power of denial,” I muse as she hands me the next box to open. “Who’s this one from?”
“There’s no tag?” She turns back and digs through the pile. “Oh—looks like it’s from Mr. and Mrs. Hartman.”
“How sweet of them.” Harry Hartman is the guy who crashed through my gate, and Mrs. Hartman—God bless her—babysat half the kids in Cherry Blossom Lake. She’s in memory care now, and Mr. Hartman rarely leaves her side. “They didn’t have to get me anything.”
“Harry insisted,” Lucy says. “I went to see them Tuesday, and they asked me to bring it. He said he felt bad for wrecking your gate.”
“Please tell him he shouldn’t.” Smiling, I tear through the wrapper. “If he hadn’t crashed through my gate, I wouldn’t have ended up pregnant.”
“Whoa.” Ruby sits up in her chair. “There’s a story I need to hear.”
“Later, Mom.” Rolling her eyes, Cassidy whispers to me. “Don’t worry. She’ll forget.”
“I don’t mind.” It feels nice to be open with female friends. “Luke fixed my gate, and we got to know each other better afterward.”
“Much better.” Erika grins, since she knows the whole story. She watches me open the Hartmans’ package. “More adorable onesies,” she says. “What do they say?”
I hold up the first one, which looks identical to the other. I peer at the print, which features tiny pink handcuffs. “Um—”
“Oh my.” Erika blanches as she stares at the words printed in pink by the cuffs. “Partners in crime,” she reads. “That’s cute for twins.”
A few of the women shift in their seats. Does everyone know about Luke’s former life? I should probably say something.
“It isn’t a secret.” I fold up the onesie, squaring my shoulders. “That Luke spent time in prison? He’s okay with everyone knowing.” Here’s the part I very much want to be true. “I’m totally fine with it. Luke has a past, so what? We all do.”
“That sounds very healthy.” Ruby looks conflicted. “I dated a man with a criminal conviction. It didn’t end well.”
Zoe sighs. “Bruce had a felony record for indecent exposure.”
“Repeated indecent exposure,” Cassidy adds. “Mom dated a serial flasher.”
Erika frowns. “Since when is flashing a felony?”
“When you flash a California senator.” Cassidy looks pained.
“Multiple times,” Zoe adds. “She wasn’t impressed.”
“Neither was I,” Ruby huffs. “Bruce was hung like a hamster.”
“For God’s sake, Mom,” Cassidy mutters.
“But I tried not to judge him,” Ruby says. “We all make mistakes. Hazel, honey, I’m glad you can look past Luke’s checkered past.”
The urge to defend him overwhelms me. “Luke’s crime was a motor vehicle offense when he was barely out of high school. He’s paid his debt to society and put that whole chapter of his life behind him.”
“Wonderful.” Ruby smiles. “Good for him. And for you two.”
“Thank you.” I don’t know why I’m still talking. “He’s severed all ties to the criminal life. He’s a model citizen who hasn’t even had a speeding ticket since he got out.”
“That’s promising,” Ruby agrees.
“Which means there’s no reason we can’t have a drama-free, perfectly legal future together, with no criminal element whatsoever.”
“Attagirl.” Erika takes the box with the handcuff onesies and sets it aside. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, should we open more gifts, or take a break for pie?”
“Pie,” I say quickly. “Definitely pie.”
On the phone later, I bring Luke up to speed on the baby shower. We agreed to sleep at our own places tonight, since he has some projects to finish. Projects with paint fumes pregnant women shouldn’t breathe.