Fulfillment

by Golland, K. M.

  There were gasps around the room and a couple of people even clapped. I sobbed a little and continued. “Yes, Bryce and I are expecting a baby and we couldn’t be happier.” I looked up at him, but he did not give me time to focus before his lips were touching mine. I placed my hand on the side of his face and savoured his embrace.

  “Geezus, you two. There’s already a bun in the oven, no need to try and make another one.” My brother’s voice cut through the room, forcing a laugh from everyone, including me and Bryce. We broke apart.

  “I’m gonna be a dad,” Bryce said to the room. He picked up Charli and sat her on his hip, and I reached for Nate who was standing not too far from my side. “We are going to be a family.” Bryce raised his glass to the room. “To a life of fulfillment.” Everyone raised their glasses and said cheers.

  A waitress lit the candles on my cake and everyone started singing happy birthday. Bryce placed Charli on the ground next to me, so I knelt down to her height and kissed her on the cheek. As I looked through the candle flames out into the room, I spotted Gareth standing next to Sam, his look eerily unreadable, and for the first time in a while I had a chill go up my spine.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I shook the eerie feeling Gareth’s obscure expression had given me and focused on the rest of our guests.

  Lucy was the first to greet us after our announcement. “I knew it! A little bit of wind, my arse,” she exclaimed. I momentarily looked at her dumbfounded then remembered my morbidly embarrassing cover up on Easter night.

  “I’m so sorry,” I laughed, “I had to fake it. We wanted it to be a surprise. I would never have forgiven myself if I ruined it by admitting I was pregnant to you that night. Oh my God, ‘wind’ was the first thing that came to my mind.”

  Lucy shook her head in amusement. “I didn’t buy it, you know.”

  “Shit! I felt awful. You had just finished opening your heart to me, and there I was pronouncing I had wind.” I put my head in my hand. “Kill me now.”

  Bryce and Nic both shrugged their shoulders, having no idea what Lucy and I were babbling on about.

  “On that Easter night, Alexis not so subtly caressed her tummy when she and I were making coffee and talking,” she explained to Bryce and Nic. “I knew straight away she was pregnant, but she tried playing it down to having wind. It was hilarious watching her face turn a shade of pink.”

  Lucy grabbed her brother and hugged him tightly, saying something quietly into his ear. I couldn’t hear it. He nodded his head at her, an expression of triumph and self-satisfaction on his face and answering her with a ‘thanks’.

  “Congratulations! You both deserve to be happy...and Alexander deserves a cousin his age to play with.” She bounced baby Alexander on her hip. “How does that sound? A cousin to boss around,” she said, in playful tone to her son.

  Bryce smiled as he let his nephew grip his finger. “Speaking of cousins, where is ours?”

  We all turned our heads, scanning the room looking for Gareth. “He was here a moment ago. I spotted him during our announcement.” I answered, concerned for where he was at that moment, and even more concerned as to his frame of mind.

  “How did he seem?” Bryce asked.

  I didn’t know whether to say good or not good. To be honest, I didn’t know if his expression was in fact bad. It looked it though, and it had left me feeling unsettled, like it used to months ago. “Honestly, I’m not sure. He didn’t seem overly happy for us, but he didn’t seem heartbroken either.”

  “I probably should’ve told him in private, like you did for Rick.” He looked out over the room again while running his free hand through his hair in exasperation. “Shit! I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Bryce, don’t worry, he’ll be around here somewhere. Go find him and talk it over,” I offered, as he seemed quite concerned.

  “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Lucy added. Alexander tried desperately to put Bryce’s finger in his mouth, Bryce playing a little tug of war with him. “We are going to head up to bed. Al needs a feed and a sleep. I just need a sleep. Do you mind if we stay?” She was looking at me when she asked.

  “Of course not.” Why is she asking me? I’m pregnant with Bryce’s child, not ruler of his world. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Because, this is your home now, not ours. We don’t want to intrude,” Nic replied.

  “You’re never intruding,” Bryce answered, finally freeing his finger from Alexander’s tight grip. He kissed my cheek. “I’m going to find Gareth.”

  I watched him walk away in search of his cousin. Shit, I hope Scott hasn’t returned. Shit! I hope Sam is okay. Shit! I really need to tell her about his illness. I hugged Lucy and Nic goodnight, while dreadfully contemplating how I would inform Sam of Gareth’s condition. I wondered if she were the type to take that kind of information in her stride, or whether she would run for the hills. Unfortunately, I’m thinking hill-running was more Sam’s style.

  Just as I was about to turn around and mingle some more, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders, and an unmistakeable, unmelodic voice sing Creed’s “Arms Wide Open” into my ear. I laughed, turned, and gently pushed Tash back. “You’re an idiot, you know.”

  “Geez, tough crowd! If you’re not a Creed fan, I could try a little Ed Sheeran.” She started singing “Small Bump”. Lil, Jade, and Steph joined in.

  I looked at them all, amazed. “Shut up.”

  Laughing, they all embraced me into a big group hug, congratulating me.

  “Thanks, bitches. And I say that with love,” I said sarcastically, as they all pulled away from me.

  “That better be your hormones speaking,” Jade playfully warned.

  “Speaking of hormones...” Tash said, lowering her voice. “Remind me to never say yes to a ride in the Crow. I’m scarred for life now.”

  “I’m not. That was fucking hot, Lexi!” Jade winked at me.

  “What did I miss?” Steph asked.

  “Lexi and Bryce were—”

  “None of your business,” I interrupted, the smirk on my face betraying me. We all lowered our gazes—kind of like a Western stand off—and sipped our drinks. Hmmm this non-alcoholic rose shit ain’t all that bad.

  Lil broke the stand-off. “How’d Rick take the news? Not well, I’m guessing? I saw him storm out before your announcement.”

  I closed my eyes momentarily as I swallowed my drink. “No, not well at all. He thinks the baby is his.”

  “Could it be?” she asked instantly.

  I replied just as quickly. “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Lil. I’m sure.”

  “Well, relax then, Luv. He can think it all he likes. Don’t let it stress you out. You don’t need stress right now.”

  “I know. It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m not worried about Rick. It will sort itself out. I’m a hurdler, remember.”

  Tash scoffed. “How many hurdles can one jump in such a short space of time though? Fuck.” She looked concerned.

  I hugged her. “Really Tashy, I’m fine. Hurdles were made to be jumped over. But, if you can’t jump them gracefully, kick the fuckers down with your foot and step over them. Either way, the hurdles are goin’ down.” I motioned for a waiter to come my way when I noticed his tray was adorned with macaroons. Pistachio macaroons. I’ll take about four of those, thank you very much. I loaded my napkin up with the delicious treats.

  Jade raised an eyebrow at me.

  “What? I’m eating for two, and I happen to know that baby Clark likes pistachio macaroons.”

  Jade put her hands in the air. “I’m not saying anything.”

  “Baby Clark?” Tash questioned.

  “Yes. Why? Got any better names?”

  “Well, since you like collective names what about Bark?”

  “No, Tash. No! Definitely not.”

  “I know, what about Boaab?” she asked excitedly.

  The rest of the girls and I scoffed at the horrid name.
“Seriously, Tash? What the fuck?”

  “BOAAB. Baby Of Alexis And Bryce. BOAAB. Shit, I’m smart.”

  I screwed my face up. “How much have you had to drink?”

  “Clearly, too much,” Lil interjected. I agreed.

  I quickly scanned the room, looking for Bryce, Gareth, or both of them together. There was no sign of either. I did spot Carls in the middle of the lounge room though, clearly flirting as she spoke to Derek.

  I grinned and then got a great idea. “Hey. Wanna help me stir up Carls? Bryce has me drinking non-alcoholic wine, and it’s depressing me. I need to punish someone. I owe Carls about a thousand paybacks, so she is my victim.”

  The girls all smiled. “What did you have in mind?” Steph asked, while stealing one of my macaroons. I gave her the mother of all deathly looks which prompted her to gingerly place it back my hot little hand.

  Shooting daggers at Steph one more time, I turned to Tash. “I need some songs about fires.” I gave her a mischievous grin, knowing full well my human-jukebox of a friend would come through for me.

  After Tash rattled off a few ‘fiery’ songs, we were set to put our plan into action. Trying to keep a straight face and looking completely casual and inconspicuous, I slowly walked past Carly while softly singing “All Fired Up” by Pat Benatar. I stopped at the waiter who was only a meter from where Carls and Derek were standing, grabbed a glass of pink rose shit—or whatever it was called—then made my way back to the girls, singing the chorus slightly louder as I strolled past Carls. Tash then did the same thing, only her song of choice was “Light My Fire” by The Doors. As she made her way back to me, she raised her voice and danced while gently patting at her snatch, as if it was alight. I cracked up laughing and noticed Carly turn slightly in our direction with an unsure look on her face. I quickly looked down desperately fighting back the hysterics and trying not to make eye contact with her, knowing that if I did, I would crumble.

  Phase two in the Let’s-get-Carls-all-fired-up game, consisted of all five of us walking over to the waiter and staying put, this now giving us the excuse to remain in Carly’s earshot so that we could continue to sing rather than walk away. As we stood in a circle with our drinks, I started us off by humming “Girl On Fire” by Alicia Keys. Tash joined in moments after and hummed along with me right up until the pause before the chorus. I nodded my head at her and the other girls then we all sang the lyrics in the chorus together, rather loudly.

  Now, if you’re not familiar with the song, the chorus is what you would describe as a ‘belter’, meaning one: you have to be relatively good at singing—which we weren’t. And two: you needed to belt it out really loud—which we did. Needless to say, it got everyone’s attention—mainly due to the fact we sounded awful.

  Before I knew it, Will had grabbed a couple of forks from a serving platter and started drumming the beat on the top of the bar, assisting our charade. I smiled at him as I laughed and continued to sing the song—I think the drum beat actually helped our tone. Carls had caught on to our game at that point and was pinching the bridge of her nose and screwing up her face. Derek just seemed highly amused at our apparent flash mob performance. This behaviour was not out of the ordinary for us girls, so after we had finished, we received a small round of applause then the room went back to its normal small talk chit chat.

  I hadn’t noticed Bryce return until we had finished our sing-along. He was standing next to Jake looking pretty comfortable and relaxed. I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

  Jake shook his head at me. “Are you sure you want her to have your baby?” he asked Bryce, pointing toward me with his beer. “She’s slightly crazy.”

  Bryce kissed my head. “I like crazy.”

  I pulled away and gently elbowed him in the ribs. “Did you find Gareth?”

  “No. He’s obviously taken off. I’ll speak with him tomorrow.” I shot him an apologetic look. “Alexis, it’s not your fault, so don’t.”

  “What’s not her fault?” Jake asked.

  “It’s nothing, Jake. Gareth is just not a fan of me and Bryce as a couple.”

  “Why? Does he have a thing for you, Lexi?”

  I scoffed. Um, no not me...the sexy father of my child, more like it. “It’s a long story Jake. I’ll fill you in another time.” Now was not the time to enlighten Jake that Gareth was Bryce’s mentally ill cousin who had an altering personality, one that was in love with Bryce and wanted me out of the picture. No, now is definitely not the time.

  “Fair enough.” Jake seemed to let it go, but knowing my brother, he would re-visit it at some point in time. “I’m gonna hit the sack. I have a late run up the Hume Highway to Sydney tomorrow. If I get my shut-eye now, I will be able to do the round trip without stopping.”

  “Drive safely, okay? I hate when you do long trips.” I gave my brother a big hug.

  “Of course, this little tacker in here...” he gently placed his hand on my tummy, “must be dying to meet its uncle. I have no choice but to stay safe, wouldn’t want to disappoint the little rugrat when it’s born.” He removed his hand and shook Bryce’s. “Congratulations, Mate.”

  “You are so full of yourself, you know that right?” I teased.

  “Yep, full of shit hotness! Don’t forget it.”

  “Ewww. Go. Go to bed.” I nudged him toward the door.

  “Night,” he called behind him.

  “Night,” we replied.

  The kids had already taken themselves to bed. Mum, Dad, Jen and Steve all followed shortly after, leaving only Live Trepidation, the girls and their husbands and kids—who were beginning to turn feral—and of course, Carls. Carls, who was on a war path, heading directly for me.

  “Shit! I think I’ll take you up on the security guard offer,” I said quickly as I wrapped myself in Bryce’s arms for protection.

  He seemed a little concerned. “What? Why?”

  “It looks like Carls wants my head on a platter.”

  She stormed right up to me, her face desperately trying to hold tight. “You are hilarious,” she said sarcastically.

  “I know,” I answered honestly.

  “No. That wasn’t funny. I was so fucking embarrassed.”

  “Relax. He had no idea.”

  “Who had no idea?” Bryce asked.

  “Derek,” we both answered.

  Bryce looked over at his lead singer, slightly confused. “What does he have no idea about?”

  I jumped in before Carls had a chance. “He has no idea Carly has a burnt burger.” I cracked up laughing.

  “You’re a bitch, Alexis Summers.”

  “No, I’m not, Carly Henkley. Your burger is burnt and you need it thawed out, I was simply trying to begin that process.”

  “I can thaw out my own burger, thanks,” she hissed under her breath.

  Bryce took a step back. “I’m not fucking sure if you are talking about a BBQ or something entirely different. Either way, I don’t want to know about Carly’s burger, so please excuse me.” He headed toward the other men in the room.

  “There is nothing wrong with my burger, Bryce,” she called out after him. “Just so you know, it’s a good burger.”

  “Carly!” I playfully hit her on the arm. “Don’t offer your burger to my man.”

  “Why? Is he a vegetarian?”

  “No! God, no!” I laughed. “The man is a carnivore through and through.” I bit my lip as I remembered our encounter in the Crow.

  “I hate you, you know,” she admitted, while taking in my hungry expression.

  “You should. Every woman should. I’ve scored big time.”

  “Good. I’m glad you know it, Hun.”

  “Oh trust me, Carls. I know it alright.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The next day our family and friends checked out of the hotel at staggered times of the day, most of them popping up to the penthouse to wish me a happy birthday and to thank us and say goodbye. Mum and Dad took Nate and Charli back to th
e farm with them as it was school holidays for another two weeks. The kids were so excited. They adored the farm and spending time with their grandparents.

  Rick had arranged to be off work for the second week of the holidays, so that the kids could stay with him. I assumed that was still the case, but after last night’s heated exchange, I couldn’t exactly be sure. I would have to contact him sooner rather than later to find out. I was still kind of reeling from his outburst and accusation, feeling like I now had to prove my innocence—so to speak. That feeling really pissed me off; I did not have to prove anything to him. I did not have to prove my child was Bryce’s, and I did not have to prove that I had done nothing wrong.

  Anger over the whole situation was simmering away deep within me, and I could feel myself begin to get worked up, so I thought I would take out my frustration and stress on the cross trainer. I quickly changed into a pair of knee-length gym pants, a singlet top and a pair of runners and made my way downstairs.

  Bryce was sitting on the lounge with his guitar, strumming some chords and writing down what I assumed were notes. Fuck, he looks sexy holding a guitar. Too sexy for his own good. I almost changed my mind about taking my frustration out on the cross trainer, instead thinking I could take it out on him—sexually. He just looked so God damned tasty.

  “Havin’ a workout. Just thought I’d let you know in case you wanted to hold my hand.” I gave him a sarcastic cheeky grin as I waltzed past him.

  He raised his eyebrow at me and put his guitar down. I continued out through the bi-fold doors and onto the balcony where the home gym equipment was situated. As I stepped up onto the cross trainer, I watched him casually stroll up to me with his hands in his pockets, stopping at the weight machine and leaning up against it.

  “Can I help you?” I asked him, playfully.

  “No.”