The Village
I stood by the buffet table, leaning against a stack of folded chairs, trying to look cool but mostly just staring at Aubrey across the room. Every time someone touched her belly or handed her a tiny gift, my chest felt like it was going to crack open.
Anthony walked up, handing me a soda. He'd spent the morning setting up the outdoor chairs, and he looked as tired as if he'd just finished a twelve-hour shift.
"Look at this," Anthony muttered, nodding toward the crowd. "Half the town showed up. I think the Chief actually cried when he saw the little firefighter boots Harper bought."
"It's a lot," I admitted, my voice rough. "I didn't think... I didn't expect all this."
"People here take care of their own, Nick.
You know that," Anthony said, his eyes softening as he watched Mary—his and Aubrey's mom—laughing with some of the older ladies from the church.
"And after what happened at the library?
This town made up its mind. Brandon Sterling could come back with a fleet of lawyers, and he still wouldn't be able to buy his way back into this community. "
I looked toward the gift table. It was overflowing.
There were handmade quilts from the sewing circle, a hand-carved rocking horse from Silas at the shop, and more onesies than one kid could wear in a lifetime.
But it wasn't about the stuff. It was the fact that for every person here, Lila was already a part of Willow Creek.
"Nick! Come here!" Aubrey called out, waving me over.
I moved through the crowd, nodding to the guys from the department. I reached her side and immediately put my hand on her back, supporting her. She looked tired, but her eyes were brighter than I'd seen them in years.
"Look what the girls got me," she whispered, pointing to a beautiful, leather-bound book.
I opened it. It wasn't a baby book. It was a collection of stories—handwritten notes from the people in town.
Advice for Lila, the cover read. I flipped to a random page and saw a note from the librarian:
"Always look for the truth between the lines. Your mother did, and she found her way home."
I had to look away for a second to keep my vision from blurring.
"Alright, alright! Quiet down!" Tessa shouted, standing on a chair and waving a diaper genie like a scepter. "It's time for the 'Guess the Waistline' game. Nick, you're up first. Use your hands, big guy. How big is our girl today?"
The room erupted in laughter. I felt my face heat up, but I stepped up behind Aubrey, wrapping my arms around her. My hands spanned the massive, beautiful curve of her stomach. Lila chose that moment to give a solid, visible kick against my palm, making the fabric of Aubrey's dress jump.
"She's exactly the size she's supposed to be," I said, my voice projecting through the station. "She's a Harrison. She's taking up all the space she needs."
The cheers that followed were deafening.
Later that evening, as the crowd started to thin and the sun dipped behind the ridge, Aubrey and I sat on the back tailboard of the engine. Her feet were swollen, tucked into my lap while I rubbed them, and her head was resting on my shoulder.
"I never thought I'd have this," she murmured, watching her mom and Anthony load boxes of gifts into my truck. "I thought I'd be in a sterile nursery in the city, feeling like an intruder in my own life. But here... Nick, I've never felt so seen."
"You aren't an intruder here, Aubrey," I said, kissing her temple. "You're the heart of it."
"Nick?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"She dropped today. I can feel it. The pressure..." She looked at me, a flicker of nervous excitement in her eyes. "I don't think we're going to make it to forty weeks."
I froze, my hands stilling on her ankles. I looked at the "Go-Bag" sitting in the front seat of my truck, and then back at the woman who had changed my entire world.
"Then we're ready," I said, my voice a vow. "The nursery is done. The bag is packed. And you've got a whole town standing behind that door. Let her come whenever she wants. We're home."
We sat there in the quiet of the station, the smell of woodsmoke drifting in from the mountains. The shadows of the city were gone. Brandon was a world away, tied up in the legal mess he'd created.
The siege was over. The celebration was done. Now, all that was left was the arrival.
NEW STORY JUST DROPPED
Illegal Contact is officially LIVE.
One wrong door.
One mistake.
One man she should've never touched.
If you love forbidden romance, tension, and messy choices... this one's for you ?????
Go read now let me know what you think ????
— Vera Noire