Chapter 50
Four Months Later
I ’m going to be a dad.
Essie and I are going to be parents.
Holy shit. I still get excited each time I think about it.
My dream life keeps coming true.
Essie and I are together.
We share a firm.
We’re in a town we love.
“All right, just in case some of you don’t know, pink means they’re having a girl, and blue means a boy,” Ava explains as Callie carries out a cake.
One side of the cake has blue frosting with a blue bootie drawn in icing.
The other side is the same, only pink.
River relaxes in his chair and grins. “Thanks, Doc. We really needed those medical terms.”
He shares the same excitement for Essie’s pregnancy as we have. He keeps saying he can’t wait to be the best uncle ever and introduce the kiddo to video games.
Ava stares at him in annoyance. “I still don’t miss you, FYI. ”
Today is our gender reveal party, and we’re having it at Callie’s Bake Shop. Callie closed the shop down. While she didn’t have to add anything pink to the interior, she did hang some blue banners and streamers from the ceiling.
It honestly doesn’t matter to me whether we have a girl or a boy.
All I want is a healthy baby.
Yes, some people might say that is cliché, but I don’t care.
Essie is next to me, absolutely glowing. I can hardly tell you who’s at our party because I’ve barely kept my eyes off her. While she doesn’t look like she’s grown much in her dress, I see it when the dress is off.
When we’re lying on our bed, her in only panties and a bra, and we talk to our baby. I know Essie’s body so well that I see where it’s growing.
She throws her head back, laughing at something Callie said.
I grin. She takes my breath from my lungs every time I look at her.
Sometimes, I have to pinch myself—a reality check that this is real and I’m not dreaming.
“I can’t wait to have someone to play with,” Jasmine says, jumping up and down with a cupcake in her hand.
“The baby might be a little too small for you to play with for a while,” Easton comments, grabbing a napkin to wipe the frosting from her cheek.
“Why?” Jasmine frowns. “I play with baby dolls all the time.”
“She does,” Ava confirms, a smile cracking her lips. “I saw her hanging one upside down from the couch the other day. As your aunt, that’s a big no-no, babes.”
“Hannah will help me with her,” Jasmine says with certainty, smiling over at her nanny.
Hannah stares at Jasmine with affection.
“Ahh, that’s the nanny,” I hear my abuela say to my mother. I’m pretty sure it was meant to be said much quieter, but my abuela, apparently, isn’t capable of quiet voices.
“She’s also his employee,” my mom comments.
Her tone is lower, but from the way Hannah’s eyes widen, I’m sure she heard her.
“That’s just asking for a lawsuit,” my mother adds.
We’re still working on warming her up.
It’s getting there—slowly but surely.
I dip my head toward my mother. “This isn’t a company. I don’t think we need to worry about HR.”
She holds up her hands. “Don’t blame me for always considering liability.”
“You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t,” I murmur.
She shrugs, shooting me an exactly expression.
Callie holds out cake cutters to Essie and me. “Are you ready?”
We take them, but Essie grabs my cutter before I can make another move.
She sets both on the table and captures my hand in hers. “Can we have a minute in private?”
All eyes are on us.
Callie tries to pretend she doesn’t think what Essie did was awkward but is doing a bad job at it.
Carolina and Rex scoot in closer in their chairs, as if they know something is wrong.
“Yeah,” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose in nervousness. “Of course.”
For some reason, some weird dread flows through me.
This feels almost like a bride walking down the aisle and then telling the groom they need to talk. I actually attended a wedding where that happened once.
Essie’s hand is clammy, and her boots click against the floor. My steps are slow, my body tense, as she guides me out of the room. She walks us into the employee room and shuts the door .
Her back rests against the door, as if she doesn’t want to risk anyone else coming in.
“Essie,” I say, taking a startled step toward her, “what’s going on?”
“I don’t want us to find out with everyone else.”
I squint, unsure what she means. “What?”
She sticks her hand inside her bra and whips out a small envelope. It looks the same as the one we gave to Callie—the only person, other than the doctor, who knows our baby’s sex.
“I want us to do this privately,” she says with full certainty. “Just me and you. I know it was important for our families to plan this, and I didn’t want to break their hearts.” She inches closer, putting the envelope in both our hands. “This should be intimate. Let’s do it right here, right now, and then we’ll go back out there and pretend we didn’t know.”
A smirk stretches across my face. “Sounds good to me, babe.”
I’m cool with whatever she wants.
She slowly exhales a breath. “All right, on the count of three.”
We count together, “One, two, three.”
The noise of the envelope ripping open sounds like my future is bursting through it. We hold the paper in our hands, neither of us looking before the other.
I run my thumb along her hand, our gazes locking, and she nods.
Her hands tremble, and mine shake as we open the paper and read it.
“A girl,” she whispers.
I’m glad she wanted us to experience this moment in private.
Because, damn, do emotions take over me.
We’re having a baby girl.
A baby girl.
My face softens as happiness washes through me, and I swipe at my nose to hide how I’m getting choked up .
She climbs on her toes for a kiss. “We’re having a baby girl.”
I kiss her back. “I can’t wait to meet our little angel.”
She shoves her face against my chest. “Now, we need to go back out there before we worry everyone.”
As she pulls away from me, I keep her at arm’s length. “Wait, how is my surprised face?”
I pinch my face together, then open my mouth, then clasp my hands over my cheeks—very Home Alone –style.
“It’s terrible.” She laughs. “But it’ll have to do.”
The first room we paint in our new home is the nursery.
We decided on yellow, like sunshine.
We’ve yet to select a name.
We’re waiting to meet our little girl before choosing one.
We haven’t fully moved in yet. The real estate market is limited in Blue Beech. Only four houses were available, and all of them needed rehabbed. Fixing the place up has been my job for the past few months, along with our family’s help.
I not only gained friends in Blue Beech.
My family also grew.
Rex and Carolina have been nothing but supportive of us.
I’ve even started to look up to Rex like a father. I go on trips with him and River, and we try to watch games together when we have the extra time. They’ve even introduced me to video games, though since I prefer hanging out with Essie to gaming, they always whoop my ass when we play.
Essie’s face radiates as she admires the nursery.
She stands in front of the window, sunlight shooting through the blinds, and I lean back on my heels.
Fuck, she radiates beauty in every single way.
This weekend, River and Easton helped me put the nursery furniture together. We also managed to move some of our bedroom furniture. If we want, we can start sleeping in our new home.
She runs her hand along the crib. “I can’t believe you guys got all this done in only a few days.”
While we worked here, I arranged a spa weekend for Essie and her friends.
Essie is strong as hell, but pregnancy is fucking hard. I’ve always known it was a lot, but after reading the books, I admire her so damn much.
She’s doing most of the work—the hardest job—carrying our baby. The least I can do is spoil and pamper her as much as I can.
She steps toward me, straight into my arms, where I always want her.
“This might be the biggest test we’ve prepared for,” she says, turning to rest her back against my body.
I snuggle her in my arms and kiss the top of her head. “I think we might ace this one.”
“If we struggle, we have each other to lean on for support.” She clasps her hand over my wrist and gently sways us from side to side.
“I love you, Essie.”
I lower our hands to her belly. My palm is large over hers, and we both laugh as the baby kicks.
“I can’t believe that just happened,” she says, tilting her head back to stare up at me. “I think she approves of her nursery.”
Here we are, forming our own little family in Blue Beech.
Essie and I have gone through so many ups and downs.
Our journey together made me become a better man for her.
It made me open my eyes and learn from my mistakes.
It helped me find a love that I’ll cherish forever.
Fate brought us back together.
It gave us our happily ever after.