Seventh Heaven: Whychoose Contemporary Romance (The Allendale Four Book 4)

by Angel Lawson

  “She needs to take it easy. I’m not surprised she got sick. She’s been running herself ragged for weeks now.” I heard the tap of metal on metal and the waft of something rich and warm. Soup. Despite feeling like shit, my stomach growled.

  “We talked about everything last night—having kids. What I wanted.”

  “What did you say?” Jackson asked.

  “The truth—that she was more important to me than growing our family. You guys are more important to me. I don’t want that to change unless we all do.”

  “That’s how you really feel?” Jackson sounded skeptical. “You really don’t want kids?”

  “It’s not about what I want, Jax. It’s about this family and how we move forward. Sacrifices aren’t easy but we’ve all made them before.”

  There was movement in the kitchen; cabinets closing, the sink running. I took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway. Hayden saw me first, a deep line forming on his forehead.

  “Hey,” he said, crossing the kitchen. “You’re up.”

  “I am.” I leaned against the wall. “But still not feeling great.”

  Jackson looked me up and down. “I made you some soup. Want it in your room?”

  The idea of soup made me equally starving and repulsed. I’d try to force some down. “Yes, please.”

  Then I had a massive coughing fit that brought Hayden to my side and he wrapped an arm around me. “Babe, you look like you need to get back in bed.”

  I nodded.

  He touched my forehead. “You’re hot.”

  “Thank you.”

  His eyebrow raised. “Like, you have a fever again.”

  I leaned against him. “Is that why everything hurts?”

  “Probably.”

  His next move was swift, bending and picking me up bridal style. My head spun. “Woah. Give me some notice.”

  “Sorry.” He kissed my cheek. “But you look like you’re out of it and the last thing we need is for you to fall and crack your head.”

  I touched the back of his neck. “You would know.”

  He chuckled. “Damn straight. It’s not fun.”

  Hayden carried me back to the bedroom and set me on the bed, pulling the covers up. Jackson followed with a tray of soup and a few crackers. Pain meds sat next to a bottle of something green.

  “What’s that?” I asked, picking up the pills.

  “Gatorade.” I made a face. “It’ll help with your electrolytes.”

  I tossed the meds back and swallowed a mouthful. Yuck.

  Anderson appeared in the door, his eyes searching and landing on me. “Everything okay here?”

  “Yep,” Jackson said. “She’s just had her some medicine to reduce her fever and I made her some soup.”

  Hayden gave me a stern look. “She needs to stay in bed.”

  “Got it,” Anderson said, walking into the room and over to a chair that was closer to the wall. He dragged it closer to the bed.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, looking between them.

  Anderson spoke up. “These two are headed into work. I’m going to say with you.”

  “I just have a cold and a little bit of a fever. I can be on my own.”

  “You could be on your own, but why should you when I’m here?” he asked.

  “We’ll be back later today. Message me if you need anything from the store,” Jackson said, kissing the backside of my hand.

  “You can take the other pills in about four hours. It’ll help keep the fever down,” Hayden said, bending over and pressing his lips to my forehead. It was a testimony of how sick I really was that I didn’t drag both of them into the bed with me.

  They left the room and I snuggled under the covers.

  “You want this soup?”

  “Maybe just the crackers.”

  He passed them over then brushed my hair off my face and stared at me with those deep, green eyes.

  “What?” I asked, nibbling on the tasteless crackers. Oddly, they settled my stomach.

  “Just thinking about how amazing it is that even though you’re super sick, you’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

  “If you’re trying to make me feel better—it’s working.”

  “Good.” He smiled, bringing light in the room like sunshine. “Anything else I can do for you?”

  “Could you come lie next to me? I don’t want to get you sick, but…”

  He didn’t wait for the rest, he was already circling the bed and lying on top of the covers. He scooted next to me and lifted his arm, giving me room to lay against his chest. God, he felt good. Warm and safe. Drowsiness overtook me and as I drifted to sleep I had the realization that although I knew my boys were great at taking care of me in moments of crisis, this was something different.

  19

  Anderson

  She slept for hours, sometimes fitfully, twisting up the linens. She had a few coughing spasms, never fully waking. I checked her temperature, smoothed the blankets and kept an eye on her all afternoon. I didn’t like her sick—helpless. I wanted to do more to make her feel better.

  The soup sat cold next to the bed, uneaten other than the few crackers I saw her consume. I kept a glass of ice next to the bed for when she woke. She needed fluids if she wanted them or not.

  The doorbell rang and Sadie barked, racing out of the room. I paid for the delivery and came back in the room. She was awake, rubbing her eyes.

  “Did the door wake you?” I asked. “Sorry.”

  “I feel like I’ve been asleep for days.” She glanced out the window. It was still daylight.

  “Just a few hours. Do you feel any better?”

  “Maybe.” She coughed again.

  I held up the package delivered a few minutes before. “I got you some new meds.”

  “What? How?”

  “Called in a favor from the team doctor. I looked to see what kind of antibiotics you were on before. He thinks maybe you need another round.” I fished out a fat, white pill and placed it on her hand, then offered her the glass of water.

  “Thank you.”

  I touched her cheek. It felt a little cooler. “You’re welcome.”

  Sadie, hearing her mom’s voice, jumped on the bed and snuggled in by her side. “She’s been looking for you.”

  “Probably missing out on our daily run.”

  “About that…”

  “Anderson, I’m not going to stop running with the dog.”

  “I think maybe you need to rest a little more. Until you’re sure you’re healthy.”

  She pouted. “Fine. I realize maybe I pushed it too hard too fast, but running makes me feel better.”

  I watched her for a minute, wanting to say something else, another concern I’d had on my mind. She noticed my quiet and said, “What? I can tell you have something to say.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because you get this little line right here,” she gestured between her eyes, “and it’s like a red flag letting me know you have opinions.”

  “It’s not so much an opinion as a worry.”

  She rubbed Sadie’s ears. “Spit it out.”

  “I don’t want you to think I’m undermining your thoughts or decisions, but this behavior has been going on ever since you found out about Amber having a baby.” I leaned closer and took her hand. “None of us are going anywhere and I think you know that. I think you’re the one still struggling with this decision and I think it’s making you restless and extreme and ultimately sick.”

  She stared down at our intertwined hands.

  “I’ve made this decision not because I want to, Anderson, but because I have to. I can’t saddle a child with my baggage.”

  I exhaled, a million responses running through my head, but none of them were appropriate for the moment. She needed rest and healing.

  “Fine. If you’re comfortable with that decision, then so am I.”

  She looked up and eyed me skeptically. “What about wanting
to have kids? With me?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe that would have worked in another life—one where it was just the two of us, where there was no mental health issues, where everything was perfect. We’ll never know, but what I do know is I’m not going anywhere.”

  “That’s what Hayden said too.”

  “Then that’s two of us.”

  “And the others?” Her eyes droop. She was tired and needed to stop talking about heavy topics, and rest.

  “You think Jackson Hall is going anywhere? Or Oliver?” I shook my head. “Stop worrying about it and take care of yourself.”

  Her hand tightened in mine. “I want to. I do. I just can’t…”

  “Stop?” I stood and kissed her forehead. “I know. That brain of yours doesn’t like to let things go. But you’ve got to. Once you’re healthy, we can dig into this again.”

  She sighed but didn’t argue, sleepiness rolling back over her like a comfortable wave. She was exhausted. God knew how much time she’d spent stressing about all of this. The late nights, the long runs, the excessive hours at work.

  “I love you, Anderson Thompson,” she said, turning her face to the pillow.

  “I love you too, Heaven Reeves. Always and forever.”

  Those words were enough for me and I settled back in my chair to keep watch over her as she slept, hoping they were enough for her, too.

  20

  Jackson

  After work we swapped places, with Anderson heading out for a late workout. I settled in the bed next to her, checking emails on my phone.

  It wasn’t long before she shifted in the bed restlessly, flinging an arm over my hip. I didn’t move, not wanting to wake her, but she blinked. “Jackson?”

  “Hey.” I touched her cheek. God she was burning up. “How are you?”

  “I don’t feel good.”

  “No, I bet you don’t.”

  “Anderson gave me medicine.” Her words were a little slurred.

  “He did, and it should totally kick in the next day or so.” I started to move. “Let me go get you a cool cloth.”

  She flung her arms around my waist. “No. Stay.”

  “I’m coming back—right back.”

  I wiggled out of her arms and soaked a rag in cold water before coming back. I laid it gently over her forehead and got back into the bed next to her.

  “You came back.”

  “I told you I would.”

  Her eyes closed and I held back a laugh. She was totally out of it.

  “When have I lied to you?”

  “Never,” she whispered. Her hand moved to my chin, playing with my stubble. “Tell the truth; do you really want me if I can’t give you a baby?”

  I frowned. Anderson told me this came up earlier that day—that he sensed a possible wavering in her conviction. “I always want you, Heaven.”

  The truth was that I didn’t know how I felt about the kid thing. It’d never crossed my mind. I’d been focused on work and building the business, living happily with my girl and best friends. Kids—they seemed like something far in the future. Something other people did. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want kids. I just wasn’t there yet, and I certainly wasn’t in the position to make a life-changing decision about it.

  “Do you think I’m being dumb?”

  I thought about it as she watched, through glazed eyes. I had no idea if she’d remember this in the morning and I decided to do as I’d said. Tell her the truth.

  “I don’t think you’re being dumb. I think you’re being rational—safe. But if you want to know what I really think, then I’ll tell you.” I inhaled and exhaled. “I think you’d make a fantastic mother. I think that all the struggles you’ve been through will make it so you know how to handle the worst kind of shit. You’re strong and brave. I don’t think you should let your fears—or the past—hold you back.”

  “You think I’d make a good mother?”

  I nodded. “If you wanted, yes.”

  She ran a lazy hand down my chest. “You’re sweet. And cute.”

  “And you’re delirious.” I kissed her knuckles. “Go back to sleep, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Her eyes fluttered closed—for good this time—and I stayed close in case she woke up again.

  21

  Heaven

  Finally, I felt better.

  When I got out of bed and my stomach rumbled, a real, hungry rumble, it propelled me to the kitchen for the first time in days. I saw familiar broad shoulders that tapered down to the curve of a muscular ass, just inside the refrigerator door. Oliver’s head bobbed up and down.

  “Are you fucking kidding me? I get sick and you turn into a barbarian?”

  He jumped a mile, dropping the fork covered in cold spaghetti sauce on the floor. “Holy shit.” He waited for his heart to catch up. “You’re up.”

  “Yep. And you’re eating straight out of the refrigerator.”

  He grabbed a napkin off the counter and wiped his mouth. “I was hungry.”

  “And too lazy to work the microwave?”

  He grinned sheepishly, placing the bowl of leftover spaghetti on the counter and walking over. He pressed a warm hand against my forehead, then neck. “No fever.”

  “Nope. I think it’s gone.”

  “Cough?”

  “Just a little.”

  He looked relieved. “I was worried about you.”

  “I’m okay now.”

  “Do you want to talk about why you were working yourself so hard.”

  “No.”

  “Sure?”

  I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade out of the fridge. There were three. Along with a huge container of soup, more crackers, pain meds, and anything else I needed. The doctor’s number was taped to the fridge. These boys…the Allendale Four, never count them out when something needs to be done or someone needs taking care of. I owed Oliver more than what I was giving him.

  “I don’t know what happened to me. I just…I was freaking out about Amber and the baby. Me having a baby. What you guys wanted. What I wanted. It didn’t help that I was hormonal and weird at the same time and like, really horny.” He smiled at that. “So, I just made myself busy, working and running and well, spending time with you guys, because it seemed like it was making me feel better when it was really just making me into a mess.”

  “You’re not a mess, Heaven. Your immune system just was low from the bronchitis and you relapsed.”

  “I feel like a mess. Like I’m all twisted up and confused about everything.”

  He walked over and gathered me in his arms. “It’s okay to not be sure about things. We’re young and we have time and it may just mean that we need to take our time on a few decisions.”

  “You mean like having kids.”

  He kissed my forehead. “Exactly like that.”

  “But what if…what if you stay with me and you want kids and I don’t change my mind?”

  “Then we’ll deal with it.”

  “What about the others? They’ve already said they’re okay with it.”

  “Then trust them. Accept their word. And stop stressing out about it so much. You’re making yourself crazy for no reason, do you know that?”

  I laid my cheek on his chest and felt the warm weight of his hands on my back. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

  “That’s the truth.” He squeezed me tight. “We love you, Heaven. Just exist in the now and stop stressing out about the future. Who knows what it will hold.”

  Oliver always had a way of calming me down, making me see things differently. He’d talked me off the ledge a million times and I should have just gone to him first. I didn’t know why I tortured myself like this.

  “Change is going to happen, you know that, right? One day I’m going to get gray hair and you’re going to get wrinkles—”

  “Hey!”

  “And Anderson’s going to have a potbelly.”

  I laughed. I tried to imagine it and the weird thing was tha
t I could—not imagine him fat—god no—but a little older—like his dad. He’d definitely be handsome. They all would.

  “Life isn’t stagnant, Heaven, but I think one thing that’s true is we’re each other’s constant. Good, bad, ugly, old. We’ll figure it out, when life brings it our way.” He pushed a hand under my hair, cupping my neck. “You’re jumping the gun on this. Worrying about something that isn’t even an issue.”

  I gazed up at him. “How did you get to be so wise?”

  “Someone around here has to keep a level head.”

  I loved this man so much. Loved them all, and they’d shown me that all week by taking care of me. I felt a slight stirring below my belly, one that had been suppressed by my illness. It was too soon to act on it—I’d probably fall asleep—but soon we’d all be back to normal and he was right. I needed to let this go and move on. They’d made their intentions clear—they wanted me more than anything else.

  22

  Heaven

  With my sickness finally gone and my fears put to rest, we settled back into a normal daily life. I was still on hiatus, but the opening of the new gym was fast approaching. A party was scheduled for the night before it opened to customers—mostly current members and ultra-high list celebrities that used A5 when they were in town.

  I offered my assistance but Oliver and Jackson hired most of the party planning out to professionals. They wanted me to rest, but I was tired of being in the house. So, I called up Amber and asked if she wanted to go shopping with me. I needed something to wear to the party.

  We hit our favorite shops, many still around from when we were in high school. This time, things were different. Amber’s pregnant, her tiny belly just beginning to show. I wasn’t there to buy the perfect dress of revenge. As our lives changed, they seemed to get less complicated. Thank goodness for that.

  “What about this?” Amber asked, holding up a red, body-hugging gown.