CHAPTER 41 KAYLEE
Jeb drove separately, and I’m sitting on the bench seat of Ben’s Scout as he navigates toward Jack’s. I twist my fingers together, and he rests a hand over mine.
“Come here,” he says quietly, and I scoot over on the seat a little closer to him. He tosses an arm around my shoulder as he pulls to a stop at a red light, and he leans over and kisses the top of my head. “Why are you nervous?”
I lift a shoulder. “I don’t know. I’m excited, but it’s weird telling my family I’m pregnant. It’s like advertising we’ve had sex.”
“Correction,” he says, and I glance over at him. He smirks. “We’ve had a lot of sex.”
I giggle.
“And there’s more where that came from, by the way.” He shrugs. “Tonight, even, if you’re up for it.”
More Ben inside me? I’m always up for that.
“Can you tell?” I ask.
His brows dip as the light turns green. He moves his arm from around me to my leg for easier access to the wheel just in case he needs it. “Tell what?”
“That I’m thirteen weeks pregnant.”
His brows dip and he shakes his head. “No. You did look different when I first saw you, but it was this, like, beautiful glow I didn’t remember.”
“Yeah, that’s the sweats from vomiting all the time.”
“Way to ruin the magic.”
I laugh. “I’m just kidding. The nausea actually passed pretty much right after I moved to San Diego.”
He scrunches up his nose. “Coincidence?”
I twist my lips. “Yeah, I think so. It’s different for everybody, but I think having a new life to focus on helped.”
“I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t tell me.” He shakes his head regretfully.
“Don’t be,” I say. “Everything happened exactly the way it was supposed to. I was terrified you’d only come back to me out of obligation, but instead you made the discovery on your own.
And that means more to me than I can even say.
To know you want to be with me, with us…
” I settle my hand over my stomach. “It means everything.”
He squeezes my thigh. “Thank you.”
My brows dip. “For what?”
“For being you. For understanding, and for everything you’re going through for them. For us.”
I set my hand on top of his and squeeze. “I’ll do anything for the three of you.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
We pull into Jack’s driveway, and it looks like we’re the last to arrive based on the cars already parked here. I draw in a deep breath.
“How do you want to do this?” he asks.
I shrug. “Let’s just walk in like we always did before and see who notices.”
He laughs. “No big plan? We’re just going to walk in?”
I shrug. “Do I seem like a big plan, high maintenance kind of girl?”
He tilts his head as he studies me for a beat. “You seem like the perfect girl for me.”
I smile, and he drops a sweet kiss to my lips. He holds a hand on top of mine where it still rests over my stomach, and his eyes meet mine.
God, that look in his eyes when I know he’s thinking about our babies…it just kills me every time.
I’m overwhelmed with love for him.
We both turn and get out of the car at the same time, walk hand-in-hand up the sidewalk to the front door, and let ourselves in using the keypad code we both memorized.
Our hands are still linked when we walk into the kitchen where everybody’s already gathered, and it’s my mom who spots me first. She lets out a loud gasp followed by, “Kaylee!”
She practically sprints across the room toward me, and I can’t help but giggle at her dramatics. It’s only been seven weeks. We were apart longer than that when I was in college.
But times are different now. We all live within a ten-mile radius. We’re closer than we’ve ever been. We’re a family, and as I look at each face gathered in this kitchen, every single one of them smiling at me, I can’t help but realize how grateful I am for each of them.
Jack is behind my mom, and he hugs me next. “Good to have you home, kid,” he says affectionately.
Luke is next. “Glad you’re here, Kay Kay. Are you staying a while?”
I just smile. I’ll answer everything after we get all our hellos out of the way.
Ellie is behind Luke. “I knew he was coming for you,” she says with a mixture of giddiness and mock smugness, like she’s responsible for all of this. “I got him in touch with Carla and the rest is history.”
Oh, dear. The rest is certainly not history. I just offer a laugh. “Thanks, Ellie. You’re the best.”
“Love you, Kay,” she says, hugging me again.
“My turn!” Kate complains, practically pulling Ellie off me to hug me. “I missed you!”
“I missed you, too.”
I give Jeb a hug next, and then I kneel down to hug JJ and Nolan.
“So how long do we have you for?” my mom asks.
I twist my lips and glance over at Ben. “Um, forever?” My mom gasps again, and I love that I’ve made the stoic Carol Dalton gasp twice in the last sixty seconds. I hold up my hand and brace myself for the third. “Ben and I are getting married. For real this time.”
He grins. “And I’ve already promised to show up.”
I roll my eyes. “He will,” I say confidently. “It’s not just me he’s showing up for this time.”
I see a series of confused faces around the kitchen.
“Who else is there?” Jack asks.
Ben comes in behind me and wraps his arms around me, splaying his hand on my stomach.
Ellie and Kate’s eyes widen, and, yep, there’s number four right on cue as my mother gasps again. She covers her mouth with her hand.
“You’re pregnant?” Luke asks.
I nod.
“How far along?” Ellie asks as she wipes a tear away.
“Thirteen weeks,” Ben says proudly.
“Thirteen weeks?” my mom practically yells. “And I’m just finding out now?”
“It’s a long story.” I glance behind me and up at Ben. “But these little ones are progressing nicely. They’re perfectly healthy.”
“They?” “Little ones?” Confused voices come at me from every angle.
“We’re having two babies,” I say. “Twins.”
Shrieks follow that announcement, and everyone seems to spring into action at once as Ben and I are assaulted with hugs and love and words of congratulation.
Once the excitement calms down, we sit to eat a meal together as one big, happy family.
As I look around the room at the people I love most in the world, I can’t help but wonder why I ran away and thought I could handle all this on my own. I never needed to. Everyone I love is here at this table, and together we can face anything.
Anything.
I glance at Ben. A broken heart made me do it, I suppose. That’ll cause anyone to act in ways we might never understand.
“Oh my God! Did Nolan just say broccoli?” Ellie asks, and everyone’s attention turns to Nolan as they all start yelling broccoli over and over at the poor kid.
I giggle. Our time will come, and we’ll have two kids to yell foods at.
Ben turns to look at me, and when our eyes connect, the fire is there in his. Heat practically combusts between the two of us, and he chuckles. “Pick up your taco,” he says softly. I do as instructed, and he slips his hand under the table and onto my thigh.
A million thrills light up inside me. This is where it all began—under this very table less than five months ago when we both gave into the crazy sexual tension that had been building between us.
So much has happened since then—fighting against being with a football player until I couldn’t fight it any longer, changing my career path, getting pregnant, falling in love, all among a whole lot of ups and downs, but somehow we landed in the place we were always meant to.
We may have started because he was in a tight spot, but now I can’t imagine a future without my tight end.