Chapter 33 Sage
SAGE
“Are you sure you want to do this? You really don’t look that comfortable.” Fiona winces as I waddle along beside her.
“Yes. Exercise is good for me and the baby. I just have to move a little slower.”
I envy women who make pregnancy look easy, because for me, it sure as hell is not.
“Okay, but if you go into labour, I am not delivering my niece in the woods.”
I grin and shake my head. “Trust me, I don’t want that, either.” I rub my stomach. “She’s got to stay put for a while longer. Brady leaves tomorrow for his last set of away games, then he has two final home games before the season is over. Then this little one can make an appearance.”
What I don’t admit is how I wish time would speed up just a little, so I could be done with all this discomfort, and best of all meet my daughter.
“I’m surprised he’s still going on the trip with how he hovers over you like an anxious mother hen.”
“Trust me, I’ve had to talk him out of bailing on the team more than once.”
“He loves you.” Fiona comes to a stop. She takes my hands in hers, and when I look at her face, I see emotion brimming in her eyes.
“I’m really happy for you. And at the risk of sounding like a mother hen myself, I’m proud of you, Sage.
It’s hard to explain, but it feels like you’re settled here in a way you never have before. Like you’ve found yourself.”
Her words sink into me, stirring up emotions of my own. “I think I have. I belong with him. He makes me feel safe and loved. I haven’t felt like this since Mom died.”
My own tears spill down my cheeks as Fiona pulls me in for an awkward hug, my giant baby bump between us.
“She’d be so proud of you, too,” Fi mumbles into my shoulder, making me cry harder.
“I wish she was here.” I hiccup in between sobs. It’s the first time I’ve admitted it out loud, and it sends a fresh wave of tears rolling down my cheeks.
Fiona holds me tight, whispering comforting things I barely register as I let the grief flow out of me. So much of my life has been spent holding myself together, thinking I had to do it alone, that if I let anyone in close, all it would mean is one more person to lose.
And now I’ve found myself making a life in a town I love, with a man I love, with my best friend close by, and a baby on the way.
I have a lot to lose, but so much more to gain. And I wish more than anything that my mom was still here.
Another false contraction hits, and I pull away from Fiona with a wince. Rubbing my stomach, I breathe through the pain as she looks on.
“Damn, that one was strong. Guess baby girl doesn’t like me crying,” I try to quip, but it falls flat in the wake of the contraction.
I breathe in and out slowly, waiting for it to subside.
When it finally does, I shake my head. “Wow. If that’s what practice contractions feel like, I’m not looking forward to the real thing. ”
“Better you than me,” Fiona says, taking my arm and threading it through hers. “C’mon, preggers, let’s get you home. I think you’ve walked enough today.”
Back at the apartment, Fiona makes me sit down on the couch while she puts together some lunch.
As she chatters on about something she’s dealing with at work, I nibble on a sandwich, not really hungry but knowing I need to eat something.
The Braxton Hicks are still coming, but I do my best not to let it show.
Still, I’m relieved when she leaves a short while later.
Exhaustion catches up with me, and I end up falling asleep on the couch after Fiona goes home. Next thing I know a pair of strong arms are sliding beneath me, and I’m being lifted into the air.
“Wh-what?” I mumble, blinking my eyes open slowly.
“Shh, it’s okay. I’ve got you. Just moving you to the bed so you’ll be more comfortable.”
Brady’s voice is a soft rumble, soothing and familiar. I nuzzle into his chest, feeling warm and safe. When he gently sets me down on the bed and moves to step back, I grab his arms. “Stay? I’m awake now.”
He gives me a soft smile, stroking my hair back from my face. “Sure.”
With a muffled grunt, I shift onto my side. “God, I’m like a beached whale,” I complain. “This is ridiculous.”
Brady stretches out beside me, one hand coming to rest on my belly, the other tucked under his head. “You’re the sexiest beached whale I’ve ever seen.”
An indelicate snort escapes me as I roll my eyes. “Yeah, okay.”
Leaning forward, he kisses my lips. “You calling me a liar, Hurricane?”
“No. Delusional, maybe? Hallucinating? Living in an alternate reality where I don’t have swollen ankles, stretch marks, and no belly button?”
“I happen to love swollen ankles, stretch marks, and no belly button.”
That makes me laugh so hard I have to hold my belly. “You’re crazy.”
“Crazy in love with you.” Brady leans forward and kisses me again.
“You’re beautiful, Sage. If anything, your pregnancy has made you even more so.
Those marks on your body? Those are just proof of your strength.
Evidence that you alone are capable of carrying our child and bringing her into this world.
Nothing could ever be more beautiful than that. ”
I blink rapidly, trying to stave off more tears. “Brady,” I whisper, reaching up to cup his face. He moves in for another kiss, and I clutch at him, holding him as closely as I can with my bump in the middle.
“I love you, too,” I say when we break apart to take a breath. We kiss again. And again. Until a loud grumbling, gurgling sound has us pulling apart.
“Was that you?” I ask with a giggle.
Brady blushes bright red. “Ah, yeah. Sorry. I haven’t had anything to eat since practice. Do you want to go back to sleep or get up for a bit? I stopped at the store and grabbed some stuff to make stir fry for dinner.”
“That sounds good. We better feed the beast in your stomach.” I take his outstretched arms and let him help lever me up to sitting.
“I think the thing I’m looking forward to the most, other than meeting our daughter, is being able to move my body easier. It’s wild how difficult something as simple as sitting up is right now.”
I shuffle to the edge of the bed and push up to stand. Brady drapes his arm over my shoulders as we walk to the kitchen.
“I kinda like heaving you up. Makes me feel useful.”
I slap at his chest. “Trust me, there will be a lot of ways for you to be useful that don’t involve acting as a human crane.”
Out in the kitchen, cloth bags full of food sit on the counter, along with a smaller paper bag with a familiar logo.
“Another book?” I say, arching a brow at Brady, who avoids my gaze. “Brady. The bookshelf is already full and she isn’t even here!”
“There’s no such thing as too many books,” he replies, finally looking up at me with an unrepentant grin. “Besides, wait till you see it.”
I open the paper bag and pull out a book with thick pages and a familiar cover with a little white bunny painted in watercolours.
“Oh my gosh, you found it.”
He walks over to me as I stare down at the book, the same one my mom used to read to me every night when I was a kid.
“I had them special order it. I figured you might want to continue the tradition your mom started.”
It’s hard to believe I ever thought, even for a second, that Brady wasn’t a good man. That he wouldn’t be an incredible, loving, committed father and partner. My gut instincts all those months ago, in a dark bar in Manitoba, were spot-on.
He is a good man. The kind a woman can trust. And I trust him with far more than just one night. I trust him with my forever.