Chapter Thirty-Five #3
“Absolutely not,” Tyler barks. “You’re the last thing he needs the minute he gets out of prison.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks, offended, and it takes everything in me not to laugh at their antics.
“It means he needs to focus on rebuilding his life, not getting mixed up in a relationship.”
“Who said anything about a relationship? We can be friends with benefits.”
He points at her. “Exactly. No.”
“What’s friends with benefits?” Owen asks, and we all turn toward him.
“Thanks, Everleigh,” Katie deadpans.
“Sorry,” she mouths.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Katie tells Owen.
“I’m gonna grab dessert,” I interject, hoping to shift the conversation since everyone’s finished eating.
“While he’s doing that, I have a couple of gift bags for y’all,” I overhear Katie tell them.
I take the peach cobbler out of the oven, then find the scooper and grab the ice cream. Once I have everything, I bring it all to the table and set it down in the middle.
“That smells heavenly.” Gemma inhales deeply. “Baby agrees.”
“What’re these for?” Everleigh asks when Katie hands her one of the bags.
“I didn’t know we were exchanging gifts.” Gemma takes hers.
“Stop worrying, it was a surprise.” Katie smiles as she takes her seat. Her knee bobs under the table, and I place my hand over it to calm her. “Anyway, open them up!”
The first item they take out is a candle.
“Oh my gosh, I love the smell of baby powder.” Gemma sniffs. “So fresh and clean.”
“Well, I’ll just light this to scare off Archer. Most men run at the hint of babies.” Everleigh snorts. “Problem solved, brother.”
Tyler shakes his head, not amused.
The next thing they remove is a tin.
“Cinnabuns!” Gemma takes a bite. “Ohmagawd, these are so good,” she says around a mouthful.
“And cookies!” Everleigh grabs the next thing. “Y’all tryin’ to fatten me up or what?”
“Oh, what cute pink and blue hearts. Did Mrs. Wright make these?” Everleigh asks.
“No, Mom and I did,” Owen says, and seeing his face light up brings me hope that he’s just as excited as we are. “They’re sugar cookies.”
“Mmm…delicious,” Gemma says, shoving half of one into her mouth.
“Are you gonna share with me?” Tyler chuckles.
Gemma glares. “I’m already sharing with your child so—” She stops mid-sentence and looks at Katie. “Wait. Baby powder candle, cinnabuns, and pink and blue cookies…”
“Are you pregnant?” Everleigh shouts.
On cue, Owen stands and removes his zip-up hoodie. Underneath is the T-shirt Katie and he made.
Only Child Expiring Soon
“Oh my God, no way!” Gemma jumps out of her chair.
Owen spins around so they can read the back of his shirt.
“Reid Twins coming November,” Everleigh continues as her voice goes an octave higher.
“TWINS? Shut the front door!” Gemma rushes over at the same time as Everleigh, and they lose their minds.
Soon, the three of them are teary-eyed and squeezing the hell out of Katie.
“Be careful, my babies are in there,” I tease.
“Congrats, man,” Tyler says.
“Thank you.”
“You too, Owen. Are you excited?”
Owen shrugs. “Yeah, I guess. It’s probably gonna smell bad in here, though.”
We all laugh.
“I totally called it,” Everleigh says moments later.
“Called what?”
“That you’d be knocked up in no time. The way you two…” She quickly stops herself, remembering Owen is in the room. “Anyway…congrats. I couldn’t be happier for y’all.”
“We get to be pregnant together!” Gemma beams. “How far along are you?”
“Just turned thirteen weeks today.”
“You’re three months?” Everleigh shouts. “You hid this for that long?”
“We wanted to wait until we had our scan and knew they were healthy. Plus, we needed some time to process it ourselves,” I explain.
“We only found out a month ago after the incident when I was already nine weeks,” Katie adds.
“Wow…I’m still in shock you’re having twins,” Gemma says.
“You and me both,” I muse, wrapping my arm around Katie and pulling her in for a kiss. “But we couldn’t be happier.”
“Are you gonna find out the genders?” Tyler asks.
“Yeah, at our twenty-week scan,” Katie says.
“What’re you hoping for?” Gemma asks Owen. “I bet you want brothers, huh?”
He shrugs. “Maybe one of each. That way, I can have a brother and a sister, but I guess it doesn’t matter either way.”
Katie smiles. “You’ll be the best big brother regardless.”
“For your sake, I hope it’s boys. I grew up with a sister…” I tease.
“And I was an angel,” Gemma declares.
The four of us laugh.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Katie says, smiling. “I’m already the happiest woman in the world to have my amazing son and you in my life.”
She has no idea how much that means to me because only months ago, I was hoping to have a place in her life at all. Now here we are—madly in love and expanding our family.
I’ll do anything to keep her this happy and will continue to prove to her how much I adore her and Owen, but my biggest fear is disappointing her.
I worry about not being able to get a better-paying job and not being a good enough partner or parent, but I’ll always try my best no matter what.
After all these years of wanting and wishing to be with her, I’m giving us my all.