Finding Fate

by Keelan Storm

  He turned to face his girlfriend, leaning over to kiss her, his mouth still full of the egg.

  “Ew, Tucker, no!” she squealed and dodged the kiss.

  He swallowed and then grinned. “How about now?”

  She leaned back towards him and let him kiss her. When they finished, she took his hand. “Come with me?” she asked.

  Tucker looked over to the table where the five parents sat talking and laughing, pretending to judge their chances of leaving undetected. “You think there’s enough time?” he asked mischievously, knowing full well it wasn’t what she intended.

  Izzy shoved his chest with her free hand playfully, and the laughter he hoped to bring out was thick in her voice. “Just come on.”

  She pulled him through the door that led to the main hall of his house and around the corner to the living room.

  “Wait right here,” she said, positioning him in front of the hardly used fireplace. “Close your eyes,” she instructed excitedly.

  He laughed and did as she asked, curious about what she was up to. He heard her move hurriedly across the room. “Izzy, what’s going on?”

  “Just a sec,” she responded, rushing back to his side. She took one of his hands, and he felt her press something hard into his palm. “Okay, now you can look. Happy birthday!”

  She bounced on her heels as he looked down at the basketball wrapped package. “I wanted to be the first one to give you a gift,” she explained, the excitement still thick in her voice. “Well, come on, open it!” she urged impatiently when he didn’t react fast enough.

  “Alright,” he chuckled.

  He tore the wrapping paper away and revealed a wooden box that latched closed on one side. He looked up at her, curiosity coating his expression.

  “Tucker, open it!”

  He obeyed, worried that she might burst with overexcitement if he waited anymore. When he lifted the lid, he couldn’t help but stare at what he found inside.

  “Well? What do you think?”

  He shook his head. Was he really holding what he thought he was?

  Izzy’s face fell at his lack of response, “Do you not like it?”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s great, love. I’m just surprised, that’s all. Is this what I think it is?”

  She nodded eagerly. “Do you want to wear it?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he answered, pulling Patrick Dearly’s watch from its case.

  “It looks good on you,” Izzy said as they admired the sleek, black face and white gold band on his wrist. “I’m glad you like it. It took me forever to think of what to give you. I wanted it to be special.”

  “It is. Are you sure this is okay? What did your mom say? What about Annie?”

  “Annie’s fine with it and so is my Mom. They agreed that it was better for it to be used than to just sit on the shelf forever.”

  “But shouldn’t this go to Tyler?” He still couldn’t believe that the Dearly’s had given him Patrick’s watch.

  “Tyler’s way too young to wear it, but I did ask him, if that helps. He said there are other things he wants of Daddy’s. To let you have this.”

  Tucker shook his head, in awe of the kid. He wasn’t sure he would have said the same if it had been him, and his dad had barely been gone more than a year. He wondered suddenly what Patrick would have thought of his relationship with Izzy, their father-daughter relationship so close, and it made Tucker realize more than ever that he wanted his child to know him.

  He met his girlfriend’s gaze. “This, it’s an awesome present, but are you sure this is okay?” He didn’t want to give Bridgette any more reasons to resent him.

  “Definitely. I talked to my mom about it, and she agreed it’s what Daddy would have wanted. You are a part of the family now, after all.”

  She beamed up at him, looking absolutely gorgeous with so much happy energy radiating from her. He swept her up in a kiss, holding her tightly against him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  He wished he could take her up to his room right then, but there was a slew of people in the backyard here for his birthday, and it was only a matter of time before someone would come looking for them.

  He was about to pull away from the kiss to resist his growing temptation, when he felt it. He paused, his eyes wide with surprise.

  “Tuck?” Isabel said from next to his unmoving lips. It had been a good kiss, and it wasn’t like him to just stop like that.

  He took a small step back from her to press his hands against the swell of her stomach, waiting.

  “Tucker?”

  “Hold on,” he whispered. He was on the verge of something huge. He just wanted one last bit of confirmation first.

  Nearly a whole minute had passed before he felt it again. The nudge pressed into his hand this time instead of his stomach where Izzy’s middle had been pressed before.

  “Did you feel that?” he asked hopefully.

  She nodded eagerly. “All the time. You felt that? You could feel the baby kick?”

  “I think so,” he responded, staring at her swollen waist in awe.

  It was incredible. He could feel his baby moving. He had known it was there, but it was really there. It made sense now, those unbreakable feelings of attachment and love that Izzy had been feeling for months. That little nudge changed everything as his previous confusion and frustrations about the baby melted away.

  Izzy placed her hands over his, and he looked up to meet her gaze, tears glistening in her eyes as she looked lovingly down at him. She knew exactly what he was thinking. He didn’t have to say a thing.

  It wasn’t long before Bridgette stuck her head in the room. “There y’all are. It’s time for presents and,” she paused, taking in the scene of Tucker still kneeling before her daughter. “What’s going on?” she asked suspiciously.

  “He felt the baby kick, Mom,” Isabel answered softly, still in awe.

  “He did what?” Bridgette asked, but approached her daughter to feel for herself.

  When the baby kicked again, Isabel watched as her mother’s expression turned gooey, a huge smile spreading across her face. She knew that look. Her mother had been fighting it, but those nudges were hooking her mother, too, and Isabel hoped it would last this time.

  It suddenly didn’t matter that Jet said she looked bigger today. She was going to get bigger anyway, and she’d take it gladly if it meant Tucker and their families could feel even half as happy about the baby as she did.

  The rest of the afternoon was nothing but exciting for both of them, their joy spreading to everyone around them.

  Hands were placed against Isabel’s belly several more times throughout the party by everyone except Cory and Noah, who thought it was just a little too weird, and she thought that the only reason Hector did it was because Emma was there. The girls hadn’t missed how he kept looking over at her. It kind of crept Emma out a bit, but she mostly ignored it.

  Helen and Stefano were good sports and convinced a nervous Chuck to try to feel his grandchild’s kicks. When he finally did, Isabel watched the reticent man’s expression soften with a rare smile. Jenna was animated with her enthusiasm, her worries from before evaporating when she saw her son, his tension obvious lifted, and she couldn’t seem to help but gush over the watch Tucker wore, giving Bridgette the biggest hug she could manage when she heard what her friend had said about it.

  Tucker opened up the rest of his gifts after some of the excitement about the baby had calmed down, although it was definitely a topic the rest of the evening.

  He’d gotten a new pair of sneakers, a video game, and a gift card for music from his parents and sisters. Annie had put together a playlist of his favorite songs, but Jet’s gift was the biggest hit with the guys, and they jumped at the first opportunity to go play with the new ball in the driveway.

  Everyone stayed until it was dark, and that night, before Tucker went to bed, he was sure that he had just had the best bir
thday of his life. Everything seemed in place now, and for the first time in months, he felt there wasn’t much left to worry about.

  22

  Decisions

  Tucker looked over at Izzy while he waited for the light to turn green. She was flipping through the pictures again, that gorgeous smile of hers plastered to her face. Hell, he couldn’t stop grinning either. They’d just gotten out of the first appointment where he didn’t have to fake an ounce of enthusiasm.

  Izzy glanced up from the pictures that were printed for them for the first time since they’d gotten in the truck. “I think I’m going to have to get a baby book soon. So far, I’ve just been writing everything down in a notebook, but that won’t do now that we have these pictures.”

  “Oh, yeah? What have you been writing down?”

  “All kinds of things. I wrote about our first appointment. When I first started to show. When I first felt the baby move. When you first felt her move. Stuff like that.”

  “You wrote about all of that?”

  “Yeah, it’s important. I want our daughter to know how excited we are.”

  “Our daughter…” he thought in amazement. He was going to have a daughter. They were having a little girl. He hadn’t thought about it much before, but a daughter sounded great. He hoped she would look like Izzy.

  “That’s a good idea,” he agreed.

  The light turned green, and they continued down the road in silence for a minute. Izzy was looking at the pictures again. Finding out the gender today had been an accident, and he started thinking about how surprised and excited their families would be at the news when a thought occurred to him. “You know people are going to be hounding us about names now, don’t you?”

  Izzy smiled. “They might not have to for long.”

  “Why’s that?”

  She blushed some, tugging a little at her over the shoulder braid before explaining. “Because I kind of already have a name in mind. Only if you like it, though.”

  He looked at her curiously, wondering why she seemed embarrassed. “Are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.

  She looked uncertainly at him. “What do you think about Destiny?”

  He pressed his lips together and considered it for a moment, swishing the idea around. “I like it, but what made you pick it?”

  “I thought for sure you’d get it,” she sighed. “It was something you said a few weeks ago after school. The day everyone found out, and we talked.”

  “We talked about a lot that day,” Tucker hedged, shaking his head slowly when he failed to remember.

  Izzy rolled her eyes, her frustration at his lack of recollection obvious.

  “Think about what you said when I was upset.”

  He concentrated, picking his brain for the words she wanted him to recall. “Oh…”

  “You remember?” she asked hopefully.

  Tucker nodded. “Yeah, I said that the baby was further proof that it was our destiny to be together. I like it. It’s perfect, love.”

  She smiled. “I think so, too. I just hope we don’t have to explain it.”

  “So that’s why she seemed embarrassed about it,” he grinned to himself. “Don’t worry. I don’t think we’ll have to. Anyone that knows us well enough will probably figure it out.”

  She groaned, and he laughed. “What? Are you afraid of blushing to death?” he teased as he pulled into the drive at his house.

  “Definitely,” Izzy replied as he turned the engine off. “I’m drowning in embarrassment just thinking about it.”

  “Drowning, huh? If that’s the case, then you have nothing to worry about.”

  Giving him a curious look that was just a little too innocent, she asked, “Why’s that?”

  Tucker leaned towards her, his arm resting against the back of the seat as he flashed her a playful grin. “’Cause I’d know exactly what to do in that situation. Certified professional, remember?” he said, tapping a finger against his chest.

  Her answering grin was playful in return. “And what exactly would you do?”

  “This,” he replied as he moved in to catch her lips with his.

  After the kiss, Izzy sat back against the seat and frowned thoughtfully up at him.

  “What?”

  “Just wondering how worried I should be.”

  “Elaborate?”

  “I was always under the impression that the kind of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation you were trained for involved a lot less tongue,” she said, a cheeky grin appearing on her lips.

  Tucker grinned back. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? That’s how I’ve been keeping the lines of obsessive ladies down at the bare minimum the past few months. Now that I’m off the market, you know. You see, the girls just pretend to have a drowning episode, and then I swim out,”

  “Oh, shut up,” Izzy cut him off, laughing, her crooked grin spreading even wider across her face. “I was just kidding.”

  “I know. But I wasn’t.”

  “Yes, you were, you jerk,” she retorted, still laughing. “It’s not even beach season. Come on, our parents are inside waiting to see these pictures.”

  “Alright,” he replied, laughing, too.

  He reached into the backseat of the cab and grabbed his Letterman while Izzy pulled on her red and black dance team jacket.

  “I think I’m going to have to buy a new coat soon,” she commented, attempting the impossible feat of pulling the jacket closed around her belly.

  “You still look cute, though,” he mused.

  She sighed and gave up. “Yeah, okay, but this one doesn’t really work too well anymore. And more cool fronts are starting to come in.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed and opened his door, letting a gush of cold air fill the cab. Wishing he could help, he added, “I’d let you wear mine, but I think it would just swallow you.”

  “It really would,” Isabel agreed, reaching for her own door when her phone went off in her pocket. Pulling it out, she read the text Annie had sent, “We did it ‘cause we love you!”

  She stared at the screen in confusion. “Huh… That’s weird.”

  “What is?”

  Isabel leaned over the cab’s seat and showed Tucker the message.

  “Huh,” he muttered. “That is weird.”

  “Right?”

  “Yeah, but can we not worry about it yet? It’s cold, and as you just pointed out, we’ve still got to tell the parents.”

  She realized she was shivering a little then and nodded her agreement. They hurried inside where it would be warm and found their moms sitting at the table with cups of coffee in hand. They could hear the sports channel in the den where they suspected Chuck was watching a game.

  “Hi,” Isabel greeted them. Tucker waved before he went to dig through the refrigerator. He handed her a snack size bag of baby carrots, his mouth full of leftover rolls. She seemed to be hungry all the time now, a fact that her boyfriend was overtly aware of.

  Jenna motioned for them to come to the table and went to grab Chuck from the den. Tucker was pulling out a chair for Isabel as his parents reentered the room.

  “Where’re the girls?” Isabel asked when she realized she couldn’t hear Chelsea or Victoria anywhere. She missed her hugs.

  “The kids are all at Jet’s house with Helen and Stefano. We wanted to make sure we could talk without being interrupted,” Jenna explained.

  “Oh, okay,” she replied uncertainly, sensing they were missing something.

  “So,” Bridgette urged, “Pictures?”

  Isabel happily slid the pictures over to her mother, and their parents all leaned in to fawn.

  “Look at these!” Jenna gushed. “I wish they had 3D ultrasounds back when I was having my babies.”

  “What’s this?” Chuck asked as they flipped to the last picture.

  Bridgette gasped, “Is that?”

  Isabel looke
d at Tucker, giving him the go-ahead as she popped a carrot into her mouth.

  “That last picture was a surprise. It’s a girl!” he announced.

  “What?” Jenna gaped, grabbing the picture from her friend. “You found out?”

  Tucker held his hands up at his mother’s tone. “Totally by accident.”

  “Yeah, the tech had actually just warned us we might accidentally see, and she just sort of rolled and spread her legs,” Isabel explained.

  “Bam, all girl,” Tucker added.

  “I’m just so happy. A granddaughter,” Jenna said to Bridgette as she leaned over to squeeze Isabel around the shoulders.

  “A granddaughter, huh?” Chuck mumbled to himself.

  “She’s so sweet,” Bridgette chimed in, still looking over the picture. “I think she has Tucker’s nose.”

  He groaned and Isabel laughed. “You have a nice nose.”

  “But on a girl?”

  She shrugged, happy.

  “So do you have any ideas for a name yet?” Jenna asked, flipping through the pictures again.

  Isabel felt Tucker give her a ‘What did I tell you?’ look, and she grinned sheepishly. She hoped they wouldn’t catch on to the significance behind the name too quickly as Tucker thought they might. It was special to them, but a little embarrassing to disclose with parents.

  He nudged her arm. “Tell them.”

  She took a bracing breath and said, “We like the name Destiny.”

  “What a pretty name,” Jenna complimented.

  Chuck just sat there quiet as ever and nodded.

  Isabel saw the understanding in her mother’s eyes. Her smile was genuine, but her look still held the slightest implication of disapproval. Her mother might be excited about the baby now, but she still wasn’t thrilled about the situation, seeming to blame Isabel and Tucker’s sexual activity on their early pledges of devotion.

  “Ugh, why does Tucker have to be right about these things?” she wondered in frustration.

  “Are you ready, ladies?” Tucker’s dad suddenly asked. Their moms nodded, setting the ultrasound pictures aside as Chuck got up to grab something from the far counter. Isabel exchanged a suspicious look with Tucker, fully confused when the thinning redhead came back to set thick envelopes in front of each of them.