Change Up

by Ann, Natalie

  “Of course I’ll believe for her,” she said.

  “Come on and let’s go open our gifts.”

  She laughed. “Can I go to the bathroom first? This kid is using my bladder for a step stool.”

  “Go on,” he said. “I’ll meet you in the living room.”

  When she walked out a few minutes later, he had the lights still off in the room but the Christmas bulbs on the tree were shining bright.

  “What’s that?” she asked, walking forward.

  “A bassinet. I hope you’re okay I picked it out without you. I wanted to surprise you and figured we’d want the baby in our room for a while.”

  “Yes,” she said, running her finger along the white lace on the outside. “Your room is big enough for it. I know we haven’t talked much about those things yet.”

  “No, we haven’t. There is something else we haven’t really talked about either.” He reached into the bassinet and pulled out a little box.

  “What’s this?”

  “Open it up.”

  She pulled the red paper off, saw the ring box and gasped, then lifted the lid. “Is this what I think it is?”

  “Again with the crazy questions,” he said, laughing. He pulled the large square-cut diamond out of the box and slid it on her finger. “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  He knuckled the tear from her cheek. “Do you know why I waited so long to ask?”

  “No.”

  “Because we’ve both made a lot of assumptions about each other. I didn’t want you to think I was only asking you because you were pregnant. I know you know I love you, but...”

  “I understand. I can be difficult. My trust has always been fragile. You saw that.”

  “Mine has been too.”

  “But I jumped the gun and I might have again if you asked months ago. This is better. This means more.”

  “Good,” he said. “Then pick a fast date because I don’t want to wait. I’d love to get married before our daughter makes an appearance.”

  She tilted her head. “Really?”

  “You probably had dreams of a big wedding and gown your whole life. The works?” He wanted to give her that.

  “I kind of did. My parents more so.”

  “How about we do a small ceremony before the baby comes and then have your big wedding shortly after. Nothing but a massive celebration.”

  “That I can agree to.”

  “I always thought the best and worst day of my life happened in one night. But now I know it was just the best.”

  He tilted her head up and kissed her on the lips. “Why is that?”

  “Because that accident brought me to you and you’re more important than any career I ever had or ever will have.”

  She put her hand on her belly; he laid his over hers. “This is the most important thing. Us. Our baby.”

  “Our family,” he said. “And our future.”

  The End!

  Keep reading for the prologue and first chapter of Starting Over

  Intro to Starting Over

  “Blair, stay out of trouble.”

  “I always do, Nana,” Blair said back as she rushed out the backdoor of her grandmother’s house to play in the garden.

  It wasn’t a traditional garden. Even at five years old, Blair understood that.

  No, Nana had beautiful flowers that most had never seen or heard of. She had herbs and spices that she was always mixing in foods and jars, doing things she told Blair she would learn about someday. And she had food in the garden too. Lots and lots of vegetables. Blair went running over there to check on them first.

  Nana told her she could pick out the vegetables for their salad tonight. Daddy was away for the night and Blair loved spending time with her Nana. Really the only woman in her life.

  As she made her way through the rows of cucumbers and peppers, tomatoes and zucchini, she heard a noise.

  Moving closer, she saw a bird on the dirt, just a small blue one. A blue jay it was, Nana had told her one day. Nana was the smartest woman she knew.

  “It’s okay, little birdie. Are you hungry?” she asked, assuming it was looking for worms just like Blair was looking for her dinner too.

  The bird looked up at her, its eyes dark and appearing almost...in pain. Blair wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she just felt it deep inside.

  “Are you hurt?” she asked, glancing closer and noticing the wing seemed to be missing some feathers...and tilted at a funny angle.

  “Nana will know what to do. You stay right here.” She turned and went running back to the house. “Nana! Nana!”

  “What’s wrong, Blair?” her grandmother asked her as she came rushing out the kitchen door.

  “My dream,” she said. “My dream. Remember I told you this morning that a bird was lying on the ground and it looked funny to me.”

  “Yes,” her grandmother said. “What about it?”

  “It was red in my dream, but it’s blue now.”

  Her grandmother looked confused. “What bird?”

  “The one in my dream,” Blair said with her hands on her hips. “I mean it was red in my dream, but it’s blue in the garden.” She grabbed her grandmother’s hand. “Follow me. It’s hurt.”

  She raced back to where she’d seen the bird and noticed that it’d moved and wasn’t there where she’d left it. “Blair. I’m baking. I need to get back inside.”

  “There was a bird here. I know there was. It was hurt.” She was moving around, looking. “Here. It’s right here. Look at it.”

  Her grandmother looked over the bush and saw the blue jay lying on the ground and moved closer to it, only to have it lift its wings and fly away. “It doesn’t look hurt to me. I bet it was just sunning itself.”

  “Like getting a tan?” Blair asked.

  Her grandmother laughed. “I guess you could say that. Some birds do that. But it’s fine. You saw that.”

  “Why did I dream it was hurt though?”

  “Do you know it was hurt in your dream?”

  “No. It was just lying on the ground, but I thought birds only sat in a nest or flew.”

  “Well, now you know otherwise.”

  “Okay. At least I know that not all parts of my dreams always come true like I told you. Just little bits and pieces.”

  Her grandmother sighed like she had in the past. Just like her father did too when she would tell him she’d have dreams and pieces would come true.

  “Blair, you really shouldn’t tell too many people about these dreams. It’s okay to say it to your father and me, but I hope you don’t tell anyone else.”

  “But it’s cool when they come true. Except when they are sad. Then I don’t want them to come true.”

  “Do they always?” her grandmother asked. “Or just sometimes?”

  “Just sometimes. But when I wake up I know if it will come true or if it was just something funny or what I watched on TV.”

  Her grandmother put her hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Just keep them to your father and me or yourself, okay.”

  “Why?” Blair asked.

  “Because people will look at you funny. They will judge you. You don’t want that, do you?”

  “You mean like they judge Daddy.”

  Her grandmother’s shoulders dropped. “What do you hear about your father?”

  “That he’s never been with a lady. That he likes men.”

  Nana’s chest heaved in and out. “You’re too young for this conversation, but it’s one Daddy should have with you. All you need to know is everyone is different, but that doesn’t mean they love people any less.”

  “Just like me being different because I see things in dreams and they sometimes come true?”

  Her grandmother laughed. “Yes, Blair, just like that. Go pick out your vegetables for dinner. I’m sure this batch of cookies is more than burnt right now so I need to get some more in the oven.”

  “Thanks, Nana.”

  �
�For what?”

  “For not saying I’m being silly. Daddy doesn’t say it either, but I’ve had other friends tell me that.”

  “And now you know why you should sometimes keep those dreams of yours to yourself.”

  Chapter One

  Just a Touch

  Twenty-five years later

  Blair was in her backyard tending to her garden. The garden her Nana taught her to cultivate. She had everything imaginable here. Vegetables, herbs, flowers.

  Things her grandmother always had and more. Times had changed. Nana had taught her everything she knew, but Blair had also gone to college and studied even more. She’d studied floriculture, she’d studied herbalism, and she’d taken business classes.

  What she’d wanted more than anything was to run her grandmother’s shop on Central Avenue in Albany. The one that had been around for years. And since Blair had been the only grandchild to show interest, she’d known it would be hers.

  How did she know it’d be hers? Because she’d dreamed it most of her life. She saw herself standing there and waiting on customers. The changes she wanted to make. The things she’d do to help the business thrive.

  Just like it was now.

  The Healing Touch sold everything from essential oils and herbs, to health supplements and handmade candles and lotions. Plants and diffusers, energy stones and more. It was a gift shop that was both whimsical and fun to be in each day.

  But it was more too. It was her life…almost her child in a way.

  And though her grandmother put the shop in Blair’s name, she still asked Nana’s opinion. And one of those opinions was whether she should spend more time at home working on product than waiting on people. With the store in her hands, she literally wanted the products to be mostly her creations.

  Since the business was much more successful than it was when Nana had it, Blair knew she was doing something right.

  She lived in the town of Colonie in a development called Paradise Place in Upstate New York where her creations came to life. She was lucky to have enough money from her mother’s life insurance to purchase this house outright a few years ago. It was in the older part of the development where the prices weren’t as high, but still pretty steep, especially this house because it had some more land that allowed her to put up a small greenhouse for herbs to grow year round.

  The bonus was a huge garage in the back that she used as her shop for candles and lotions, pottery and plants. The majority of what she sold at The Healing Touch came right from her own backyard.

  Today she was in her fenced-in yard that butted up against the neighbor’s yard. The neighbor’s house that had been empty for four months.

  She’d always gotten along with them—she’d gotten along with everyone—but they relocated out of the area and hadn’t sold their house before they left.

  When she saw the sold sign a month ago, she’d been waiting to see who her new neighbors would be, and by the sounds of it, they were moving in.

  “Livi,” she heard. A nice strong male voice that made the hair lift on her arms like a caress. Interesting. “Stay out of trouble while I move these boxes in.”

  “Can I play in the yard, please? They left a swing set.”

  “That’s fine. But don’t wander.”

  Blair smiled to herself thinking she remembered those days. Days when she was told to stay out of trouble but wanted to explore.

  With her head down, she went about clipping some sage and rosemary to put into her lotions. She also carried a line of “potions” in the shop. Novelty items that people had asked for. Over the years many thought it’d be neat. It was a commercial item she had to talk her grandmother into doing, but they’d been a big hit. Why not make money if she could?

  But the truth was, there was a meaning behind everything she did. And though it was a novelty item, she valued and appreciated folk culture. That many believed in it. That’s what her shop was, healing properties and whimsical items.

  That is what she was. Or who she was. Her dreams that she had, many didn’t believe in her or what she’d said but that didn’t stop her from having them or sharing from time to time either.

  “Hi,” she heard and looked up to see a little angel with long blonde hair in two pigtails staring at her as she tried to look over the fence. “I’m Livi.”

  “I’m Blair,” she said, moving forward and offering the little girl her hand. “It looks like you are my new neighbor.”

  Fascinating to her that she’d dreamed of a little girl with pigtails last night but had brushed it off as she’d seen someone in the shop this afternoon with them. Still to this day, it amazed her that parts of her dreams ended up a reality.

  “Daddy and I are moving in now and I’m going to start school in a few months too. I’m going to be in the second grade. Do you have any children that I can play with?”

  What a sweetie. Livi would have no idea how that question caused a little pang in her heart. “No, it’s just me.”

  “It’s just me and Daddy in the house. Mommy is in heaven.”

  Oh dear. “I’m so sorry to hear that. My Mommy is there too.”

  “It’s okay because I know she is watching over me every day like Daddy says.” Livi picked up a little necklace she had on. It looked to be a silver locket on a leather string. Probably something sturdy for the active child. “Mommy’s picture is in here on one side and I’m on the other so she can watch me.”

  “And I’m sure she is. I often feel my mother watches over me too.”

  Not that she remembered her mother much since she’d died when Blair was only one. That was when she moved in with Tyler McKay, the man who would adopt her and become her father. The man who had been her mother’s best friend in college, but nothing more.

  Nope, Tyler McKay was married to Jake Roberts-McKay now. So she really had two dads and had for most of her life. Though they hadn’t made it official until a few years after the same sex marriage law had been passed in New York. She never asked why they waited and figured it was none of her business.

  “Livi!”

  Blair turned to see a tall man standing on the back deck, his eyes searching the yard for his daughter, the panic visible as his head swiveled around.

  “Here, Daddy,” Livi said, waving her arms around wildly.

  The little girl’s father started to march forward, a frown on his face, but the relief clear in his eyes, even if his shoulders were still tense. “Livi, I told you to stay on the swing set where I could see you, not go all the way to the end of the property and talk to strangers.”

  “It’s not a stranger, Daddy. This is Blair. She’s our neighbor. She doesn’t have any kids for me to play with either.”

  “You shouldn’t be bothering the neighbors. Especially on our first day here.”

  Blair felt a smile tugging at her lips. She reached her hand out over the fence and held it. “I’m Blair McKay and you’re my new neighbor. Please, Livi is fine. I’m just tending to my garden and she popped her head over the fence to say hi. I’m surprised she even saw me here.”

  “Livi likes to wander, but I’m sure your hat was a big indicator someone was here.”

  Blair reached up and touched the bright pink straw hat she put on her head when she gardened.

  “Point taken.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m Philip Aire.”

  He placed his hand over the fence for hers and she took it, then held on longer than she should when she felt how warm it was. How it made her feel. The instant spark upon touch was enough to make her want to hold on all night long.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Philip, and you, Livi.”

  “My name is really Olivia, but I like Livi better,” she said, then reached her hand down to pick at her knee.

  “I think Livi is a very sweet name. What happened, honey, did you hurt yourself?” She was craning her neck to see a Band-Aid starting to come off of Livi’s knee. A big one. And there was a matching one on the other knee.

/>   “Livi is going to be the death of me. She is always running and chasing after things, then tripping and falling.”

  The little girl looked up at her. “I fell chasing a butterfly yesterday when Daddy was helping the movers load the boxes and I skinned my knees.”

  “We’ve got stock in Disney Band-Aids,” Philip said, grinning.

  Wow, he was handsome when he smiled. Dark hair and dark eyes that lit right up, a huge amount of love right now as he gazed at his daughter too.

  “I bet it hurt, didn’t it?”

  “Just a little,” Livi said. “I didn’t cry much at all. But it did bleed. Daddy said I’m a tough girl.”

  Livi was in jean shorts and sneakers, a yellow T-shirt with a kitten on the front, and her hair was starting to fall out of her pigtails now that Blair looked closer. She was guessing Livi could be quite the handful.

  Philip turned his head to see the movers putting furniture on the deck. “I’m sorry to bother you,” he said again. “Livi, why don’t we leave Blair alone and go in and help the movers. I asked them to put the boxes in your room first. You can go in and start putting toys away. How does that sound?”

  “Okay,” Livi said. “Nice to meet you, Blair.” Then she turned and took off lightning fast.

  “Watch your step,” Philip said when she tripped and caught herself. “It was nice to meet you, but I should get back.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll see you around.”

  Blair watched him walk away. What a tall drink of water he was on a hot summer day. She was guessing Livi got her coloring from her mother. The blonde hair and hazel eyes the little angel sported didn’t scream Philip by any means.

  But Livi did have her father’s smile and the shape of his face. Even the build of his body, she could see.

  Hmm, her new neighbors might just spice up her life. She did live in Paradise after all and maybe for once she could experience that here…mixed in with the herbs she knew so much about.

  She shook her head for those silly thoughts. But that was what she’d always been told that she was silly. Not as a compliment either.

  Also by Natalie Ann