Epilogue
Luke
seven years later
I slammed the front door of my truck after hopping out and shot my brother-in-law, Onyx, a look that could kill. He feigned innocence, putting his hands up in the air.
“It’s not my fault,” he said. My teeth ground together.
“She’s supposed to be on bed rest,” I reminded him.
“I know that. You think I would risk my little niece?” Just the thought of my wife or daughter in any kind of danger had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on point as sweat started to bead.
We’d had our son four years ago. Oak March was a force to be reckoned with.
Like his daddy, Olive liked to remind me.
But her pregnancy hadn’t been easy, and the recovery from an emergency C-section had been harder.
I would have been fine with keeping things as a party of three to avoid having to repeat the ordeal, but Oli had a way of talking me into anything.
Who the hell am I kidding? I had never had it in me to say no to her.
“I’ve been watching her.” He pointed towards the huge window that looked into the bakery.
Oli was inside, sitting in one of the comfy chairs she’d invested in just two years ago.
It’s going to pay off, she’d said, more to herself than to me because she had been the one who needed to talk herself into it.
Her feet were elevated by a footstool one of her employees had brought in when Oli’s feet started to swell last month.
“Oli’s always been persuasive.” He shrugged. I didn’t like the fact he’d brought her here, and irrationally, even seven years later, I didn’t like the idea of him watching her, even if he was her brother.
“What she blackmailing you with?” I asked point blank, because I knew Onyx. He’d been in charge of watching her and making sure she kept her cute little ass resting today. Not offended in the least, my brother-in-law simply chuckled.
“She’s hiding Candy’s Christmas gift for me.
” I exhaled slowly, trying to let go of the anger growing in my gut.
Anger that wasn’t anger. It was worry. For my wife and unborn daughter.
Fear was a bitch when it sunk its claws into you.
“She hasn’t stood up since I carried her in and sat her ass down there ten minutes ago, a second before I called you to tell you where she was. ”
I believed him.
Her eyes moved to the window as if sensing me. Our eyes connected, and like every time I looked at my woman, something inside me softened. And hardened at the same time.
Sweetness might have reflected in those eyes I loved so much, but my sexy wife didn’t shy away with guilt.
Nope. My sassy cookie simply crossed her arms in front of her and stood her ground.
Figuratively. I was pretty sure if it weren’t for the fact her employees were around, she would have stuck her tongue out at me.
I took a deep breath and exhaled with relief.
She might have pushed her brother to bring her here, but she wouldn’t risk our child or her own well-being by doing something that could put her at risk.
“Thanks for watching her,” I muttered. Onyx nodded his head. He opened and shut his mouth almost like he wasn’t sure he should say what he wanted. “What?” I asked, losing my wife’s gaze. Onyx scratched the back of his neck.
“I get she’s on bed rest…”
“But?” I cut him off, trying to hurry whatever he was going to say along.
“But we both know how Oli is.” He wasn’t wrong. Olive was stubborn, fiercely independent, and a serious workaholic. “Maybe if you set something up for her in the back where she can still, I don’t know… decorate cookies or something… maybe it would make this easier.”
“On whom?”
“Both of you? Oak might be the one who’s four, but it’s Oli who doesn’t know how to sit still. She never knew how to do that shit.”
“I get that.” And I did. “Maybe we can set something up for her to decorate cupcakes?” I thought out loud, and Onyx nodded.
“It would help keep her busy and make her feel… useful.”
“Did she say she didn’t feel useful?”
“I told her she’s growing a human inside her body, how much more does she need to do?” My attention moved to the window, and I stared at her little belly sticking out.
“Thanks,” I said a little too roughly. “I mean for the suggestion. It’s a good idea.”
“Whatever you need. We can rig something in my shop.” He patted my shoulder before walking away. “Candy and I will bring Oak home by eight.”
“Thanks, man!” I called out before moving inside to try and figure out how to talk some sense into my wife.
“I’m fine.” I tried to calm down so the vein at my forehead wouldn’t explode.
“Cookie,” I groaned, but one look at my wife, and I knew she was ready to argue with me.
After seven years together, I was just as obsessed with my woman as I’d been from the moment I first laid eyes on her.
Mabe even more. Thankfully, my girl got off on that.
She loved being the center of my universe.
“Don’t Cookie me,” she mumbled. “I’m good. I’m fine.”
“Babe,” I groaned, kneeling in front of her and taking both her hands in mine. “Will you please let me carry you?”
“No, because you’re just going to take me home, and I should be here.” Her lip wobbled. It felt like a goddamn knife to the heart.
“What if I promise I’m not taking you home?” She opened and shut her pretty mouth and stared at me.
“Like… really promise?” she asked, almost incredulously, while her eyes still shimmered with unshed tears.
I tried not to be offended by it. We had been together for seven years now, had one kid and another on the way. I was a man of my word.
“Really, I promise.” I nodded, trying to find patience.
But honestly, with Olive, it wasn’t hard to find that bit. Especially now that things were… delicate. I’d folded to Onyx’ idea, which, if I was honest, despite my grumbling, worked out well.
Great even.
We had set up a chair with a working table attachment that helped keep Oli’s feet elevated and she could lean against while she worked on cookies and decorating cupcakes.
One of her sisters was usually sitting with her, handing her things to decorate and taking the ones she’d finished, but it had worked out great.
Until last week, when the doctor had told her our little girl more than likely would be making her grand arrival a little earlier than expected and to stay home until her water broke or it was time.
But my beautiful, stubborn wife hadn’t done that.
This time, with the help of Coral’s husband, Oleg, my sneaky little wife had run right back to her bakery.
Even as I stared at her as she sat in front of me, I could see the worry in her eyes.
The fear. The helplessness she felt about what was to come.
Our lives were about to change, and because of our son’s difficult delivery, I knew Oli was scared.
I was, too, if I was honest.
“When have I ever broken a promise to you, baby?” She sighed and swallowed.
“Fine.” She shifted in the recliner in front of the bakery that hadn’t even opened yet. I turned and looked at the huge, darkened SUV, where I knew Oleg and Coral sat watching over Olive and me. She shifted and froze.
“Olive?” I said, but she didn’t look at me. “Baby, I told you I wouldn’t take you home, but let’s at least get you on the chair in the back? That way, you can recline all the way back and rest your legs.”
“I don’t think that’s going to work,” she said softly. Her eyes settled on her belly before her hand rose and gently rested over her baby bump.
“Why?” I asked, and her pretty stare connected with mine.
“I think it’s time.” Everything inside of me froze.
“What?” That was the last thing I had expected her to say. It was four in the morning. I had just come off a shift when Oleg called to give me a heads-up about my wife’s stubborn shenanigans.
“My water broke,” she said, and sure enough, my eyes moved down, and I heard the soft sound of droplets hitting the hardwood floors of the bakery.
“Okay,” I breathed. It was showtime. Get your shit together, March . “It’s okay.”
“Okay? She should still have another three weeks!” I could see the panic and anxiety building.
“Cookie, we made it a lot longer than the doctor thought we would. She’s in the safe zone. Her lungs are okay and?—“
“But what if…” Her eyes searched mine, like she couldn’t get the words out, too afraid to voice them to the universe in case it somehow made her concerns come true.
“Olive, you’ve taken care of our daughter, making sure she’s happy and healthy so far. What did the nurse say at your last appointment?”
“She hardly sees babies dancing around like our little ballerina does this far along,” she repeated.
I smiled, kneeling in front of her, holding her hands.
Her eyes, fuck me, those big, beautiful eyes rose to meet mine head on.
“I’m scared,” she whispered. I leaned closer, holding the side of her face.
“I know, baby. I know. And it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes,” I stated with all the confidence I could muster.
“You’re not going to start breaking promises, right?” She asked with a half-smile and a slight tremble to her voice.
“Not today, not tomorrow, not ever,” I vowed, and she nodded.
“Okay. Let’s go to the hospital.” I rose and bent, lifting my pregnant wife, and hurried to the parking lot, thankful that Oleg and Coral hadn’t left.
They gave us a ride there, where Aspen March was born not two hours later in an unexpectedly easy delivery.