Ever Over After (The Over Duet #2)

by J. A. Derouen

  “Only fifteen minutes left, everyone. Start putting the finishing touches on your pictures,” Alex calls out to the class. “Careful, Jackson. More paint on the paper than the table pl—oh!”

  I look up to see a horrified Alex, clutching her belly and looking down at her soaked blue jeans, getting more soaked by the second.

  “Miss Alex, you peed!” Jackson cries out, pointing an accusatory finger.

  The entire class breaks out into a chorus of “eww” and “gross.”

  “Pack up our supplies and put them away, will you, Libby?” She nods as I stand and walk over to Alex.

  I make eye contact with Caroline, and she gives me a thumbs up, letting me know she’s got the class under control. I scan the room and find a rumpled drop cloth on a side counter. Alex looks frozen in place and makes no attempt to help me as I wrap her bottom half in the drop cloth.

  “All right, kids, all right. Let’s pipe down,” I call out, quieting their declarations of disgust. “I’m taking Miss Alex and her pee pants home. Miss Caroline will finish up today. See ya next week.”

  I give Alex a gentle shove toward the door, and she falls into step with me. “Did you have to call me pee pants?” she whispers.

  “Would you rather me tell them a whole lot more than pee’ll be flying out from between your legs shortly?”

  After a brief pause, she nods. “Good call.”

  “You hurting, hon?”

  She shakes her head. “Nothing but the awful sting of humiliation.”

  “Baby’s movin’?”

  “Yeah,” she whispers wistfully, running a hand over her belly as her eyes fill with happy tears.

  “Then call your soldier and tell him we’re coming. We’ll grab him and your bag and head to the hospital. It’s time to meet Miss Avery Adler!”

  That’s when Alex bursts into full-on tears—snot, hiccups, and all. I wrench the phone out of her hands.

  “Oh, give me that, ya big baby, I’ll call him. Dry it up, buttercup.”

  “I-I-I’m having a b-b-b-baby,” she wails.

  “Could’ve fooled me, ‘cause it looks like you’re having a breakdown.”

  The phone rings twice before West picks up. “Everything okay, baby?”

  “Grab the bags, baby. The Hot Mess Express is coming your way.”

  Marlo

  “THAT’S IT ALEX, you’re doing amazing. The contraction should be easing up any second now,” I say as I ready the delivery room and keep an eye on the baby’s heart rate. I cut a second baby hat and thread it through the other, making a fluffy pink and blue striped bow on Avery’s newborn hat. The baby warmer is on, blankets at the ready, and the delivery table is set up for the doctor.

  Alex’s tears had dried up with the arrival of West, and the two of them have been the best birthing team I’ve seen in … well, ever. West had been a medic in the Army, and that unflappable calm he’d undoubtedly needed in war is coming in handy today. He is sitting behind Alex, knees drawn up on either side of her, both of their hands laced together on her belly, with his dog tags dangling from the baby warmer across the room as her focal point.

  The contraction releases Alex, and she lets out a shaky breath, her head falling back onto West’s shoulder. He brushes the wet strands of hair from her forehead and kisses her temple, whispering calmly into her ear the entire time. With closed eyes and an almost imperceptible smile playing on her lips, she nods at his words and brushes her lips to his.

  I touch Alex’s arm, and, when she turns to me, her eyes are brimming with love, determination, and the strength of ten men. Or maybe one man … West.

  I feel like an intruder.

  I feel exposed.

  I feel an aching in a part of my heart I’d thought I’d lost long ago.

  “Um, I’m gonna go update your waiting room entourage and grab a few supplies I’m missing. We’ll check your progress in about thirty minutes, okay?”

  Before she can answer me, another wave rolls in, seizing her attention. Her gaze turns to the dangling dog tags, and she takes in a slow, deep breath.

  West gives me a nod. “We’ll call if we need. Thanks, Marlo.”

  I rush out of the room, and shuffle down the hall in the opposite direction of the waiting room. I lock the door of the employee bathroom and shut my eyes as my fully-clothed ass falls onto the toilet seat. What the hell? Birthing babies is my job—I do this shit on the daily, and I never get choked up like this. I feel like the Grinch and my growing heart is pushing on the confines of my thorny ribcage.

  Marriage, family, all of it—I don’t want that. It’s an indisputable fact I’ve known for years. I tell myself this, over and over, as unwanted emotions clog my throat. The unwelcome thoughts bubble to the surface, refusing to be ignored for a second longer. My uninvited tears well in my eyes, betraying my long-standing position, bringing the big questions front and center.

  What if I’m wrong? What if I have no idea what I want?

  Man, I need to get my shit together, and fast.

  “Hey, hey, hey! Eyes up here, people,” I shout as I wave my hands. The raucous waiting room quiets down to a low roar, and a roomful of expectant eyes turn to me.

  The room is filled to the brim, and they are quite the ragtag bunch. Alex’s parents stick out like sore thumbs, dressed in their Sunday best, or at least my Sunday best, Mrs. Fontaine’s lipstick expertly applied and her pearls perfectly in place. She’s fanning herself with a magazine and gripping the leg of her son, Emmett, who’s a resident here at the hospital. He’s got the wrinkled scrubs, five o’clock shadow, and under-eye circles to prove it. West’s mom and sister are beside them, a bundle of excitement and nerves. Caroline and Celia are milling about the room checking on everyone, always the therapists, while Cain and Adam occupy the twins. Cain is in full camouflage, having probably come straight from his job as a game warden, and Lily and Gage are climbing the mountain of a man like a tree. Gage’s fingers are looped in his mouth like a hook, and Cain keeps talking to Adam like he can’t even feel it. The only people missing from the mix are Sara and me, since we both came into work to be a part of the delivery.

  “Well?” Caroline asks, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “Do we have a baby yet? Can we meet little Miss Avery?”

  They all scoot to the edge of their seats, and the room holds its breath.

  “Not quite yet, but she’s almost ready to start pushing. Alex is such a trooper, and she’s doing a wonderful job,” I say with a smile, and the whole room deflates, like I just informed them there was no Santa Claus.

  “I wanna meet baby Avery,” Gage growls in a surly monster voice, and Lily nods her agreement beside him, her brown curls bouncing as she pouts and crosses her arms.

  “I know, bud, but Avery’s decided to be fashionably late. She’s running the show here,” I say, giving him a sympathetic smile.

  Adam tags him around the waist and pulls him onto his lap. Not to be outdone, Lily jumps on her dad’s other leg. “Patience, dude. Birthing babies is a tough business,” Adam says with a laugh.

  Lily squints her eyes at Adam. “What’s going on back there, Daddy?”

  Adam’s eyes widen. “Well, uh…”

  Caroline extends her hands to the twins, taking their mind off Lily’s question. Adam breathes a thankful sigh. “Come on, my sweets, let’s visit the vending machine. I bet we can find some chocolate to share.”

  As Caroline disappears around the corner, Emmett huffs. “I don’t see why I can’t be in the delivery room. I start my OB rotation next month,” he mumbles under his breath.

  “Um, doctor or not, dude, you’re the brother. Ew,” I say, shaking my head at Emmett.

  “You and Sara are her friends!”

  “Let it go, Elsa, you’re sitting the bench on this one,” Cain calls out from across the room. Celia slaps his shoulder. “What?”

  I shake my head and laugh.

  “Marlo,” someone calls from behind me, and I turn to see Sara crooking her arm at
me. “Come on, I just called the doctor.”

  I wave to the waiting room as I race back to Alex, and the crowd behind me goes wild.

  Avery Caroline Adler lays nestled on her mother’s chest, her wisps of dark hair peeking out from underneath Alex’s hospital gown as she eats like champ. She’d let out an ear-splitting wail when she was born, then latched on to Alex’s breast, and hasn’t come up for air since. I hear the natives getting restless behind the closed delivery room door, and I know Alex and West only have a few quiet moments left.

  The happy family is scrunched together on the tiny bed, with West on his side. His head propped on his elbow, stars dance in his eyes as he watches his two girls in wonderment. He alternates between kissing Avery’s head and kissing Alex anywhere he can reach. Avery’s head finally peeks up from the gown, and she whimpers.

  “I hate to interrupt, Alex, but the door is about to collapse from the sheer weight of the ears pressed against it. Can I take Miss Avery for a moment and get her ready for her company?”

  “Of course,” she says with a weary, but blissfully happy, smile.

  I extricate Avery from the gown, wrap her in blankets, and bring her to the warmer. Sara’s right behind me, helping to get Alex cleaned up and the room back into some semblance of order.

  I wipe the bottoms of Avery’s feet with the footprint paper, and she jerks away from me.

  “Hold on there, sister, your mom and dad want keepsakes, so I need you to help a girl out, ‘kay?” I roll her feet over the papers. Perfect little feet with five toes on each show up on the birth certificate.

  She furrows her tiny brows at me, and I turn off the light on the warmer, making her open her eyes wide. She blinks and wraps her fingers around my thumb.

  “You and I have only a few minutes of peace and quiet left, tiny one, and I feel an obligation to impart some sort of wisdom to you, being as this is your first conversation and all,” I whisper, sliding her hat over her head as I ponder what I want to say. I crook her bow hat off to the side and swaddle her in the baby blankets. “So this is the lowdown. Accessories are king, cupcakes cure everything, and men are like tissues. One use only. Except for your dad, of course. I’m pretty sure he’s a keeper. Remember those things, and you’re golden.”

  “Marlo, you done? We’re gonna have a riot on our hands,” Sara says from across the room.

  “Yeah, just a minute,” I toss over my shoulder as I inch the baby hat over Avery’s ears and cinch her blanket tight. “Head up, tits out, girlfriend. There’s a lot of people waiting to meet you out there. Even when you’re scared, keep that head held high. Fake it ‘til you make it—that’s our motto, little one.”

  I tap my gloved finger to her button nose, and I swear, Avery smiles.

  “I believe we’re the last of the caravan, Marlo,” Caroline says.

  “I’m in it for the long haul,” I say, keeping my eyes shut. “They’re short nurses tonight, so I volunteered to stay and work.”

  “You keep an eye on my Avery, you hear me?”

  I open one eye to see her smiling at me from behind the counter of the nurses’ station. Even though it’s close to midnight, she’s positively glowing.

  “You’d swear you had the baby, looking at that goofy smile on your face,” I mutter, rubbing my eyes and sitting up straight.

  “Can I help it if my godchild and namesake is the most beautiful baby in all the land?”

  “Leave it to you to make it sound like a freaking fairytale. What is it with you people and your happily-ever-afters?”

  Caroline crooks her head and motions behind me to Alex’s hospital room.

  “Fairytale or not, nothing about that was easy. Those two worked their bee-hinds off to be together. You can’t begrudge them this, can you?”

  I cringe, realizing what a gigantic ass I sound like. God, what’s wrong with me tonight? I don’t begrudge my friends anything, least of all happiness, but, for some unknown reason, what’s always been easy to take feels like a bitter pill tonight. Alex and West had fallen in love again, gotten married, pregnant, and I’d cheered them on through it all. Well, except in the beginning, when I’d chosen to be the skeptical voice of reason. But after a while, I’d jumped on board and even grabbed a set of pom-poms. Sure, I’ve been known to make the occasional hilarious, albeit snide, remark, but there is never any venom behind it. Tonight, I’m a ball of backslaps and spite.

  “You know I love Alex, and I want what’s best for her,” I say with a frustrated groan. “I think I’m just tired and filled to the brim with cuteness for the night. I gotta say, Caroline, your namesake is all kinds of beautiful.”

  She wrinkles her nose and smiles, more with her eyes than her mouth. “She’s every single thing, isn’t she? I was so honored when they asked me to be her godmother. When they told me her name?” She sighs, and her eyes turn misty.

  “I assure you, there was no doubt who Avery’s godmother would be. You were the only choice as far as they were concerned. That’s the truth.”

  “You know,” Caroline says, then stops. She shakes her head, starts, then stops again.

  “Spit it out, Caroline. You know you wanna,” I say with a humorless chuckle.

  “Maybe you’re feeling undone with everything tonight for a reason.” She looks from side to side, then walks around the counter and takes the seat beside me. “Maybe you’re ready to move on, Marlo. Find a relationship of your own.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s not get crazy here.” I push away from her, my chair rolling across the floor. Unfortunately, she catches me before I make it very far.

  “I’m not saying tomorrow, or next week, but maybe soon. When was the last time you had a fire in your belly?”

  “Fires are good for nothing more than burning down the house. Thanks, but I’ve already checked that box,” I say with a huff.

  “I know you think you can ignore that scarred part of yourself. But maybe someone will come along and make you want to show them your hand. Maybe someone will love you not only in spite of what’s happened to you, but because of the way you’ve overcome it.”

  I scan the nurses’ station, surprised Caroline and I are the only ones at the desk, wishing someone would walk up and interrupt this conversation. She’s never pushed me this way before. She’s always allowed me to stay in my comfort zone, and I wish like hell she’d go back to that.

  “What happened to me is mine and mine alone. I don’t need to share it with anyone,” I say, shaking my head. “And before you say anything, I’ve come to terms with it. All of it. I’m not afraid to wear those scars on my heart. I just don’t think I need to plaster them on my forehead.”

  “No need to plaster anything to your forehead. If you open your heart to someone, they’ll see everything they need to see.”

  And maybe that’s what I’m so afraid of…

  Marlo

  I MASH MY pillow over my head and burrow into the covers, but the banging only gets louder. I pad around the bedside table for my phone and sneak a peek at the time.

  11:30 AM … Oh, hell no.

  Bang, bang, bang!

  With a feral growl and fire blazing in my sleep-encrusted eyes, I rip off the blankets and storm toward the front door. I throw it open with such force, the wind catches the bottom of my shirt and blows it up to my waist. It dawns on me I’m wearing nothing but a T-shirt and a thong right when I meet Ever’s laughing eyes. I stretch the shirt to my knees in an attempt to hide the goods, and his gaze shifts to my newly exposed cleavage.

  Shit.

  “What in God’s name do you want at this hour? Is something on fire?”

  “You keep tugging on that shirt, my lap will most certainly catch on fire. Wanna give me a hand with that?”

  “If you want me to stamp out the flames, I’ll be happy to grab my stilettos and go to town,” I spit out, hip cocked and bleary eyes blazing.

  He cringes for a split second before his lazy smile falls back into place. He rests his shoulder on the doo
rframe, casual as you please, but keeps his hungry eyes fixed on me.

  “I think I’ll pass on that particular tap dance,” he says with a chuckle. He brushes a thumb across my exposed upper thigh. “It pains me to say it, but you need to throw on some clothes. It’s time to pay the piper, girl.”

  “The only thing I’m throwing on today is the covers over my head. I’m working on a couple hours of sleep here. Before that, twenty-four hours of wide-ass awake. I don’t know who this piper is, but he gets an IOU today.”

  I push the door shut, but a stubborn man’s shoe wedges itself between the door and the frame, blocking my escape to dreamland. I narrow my eyes at him and huff, but he just shrugs.

  “A deal’s a deal, Low. I told you I’d keep my mouth shut to Adam and Sara, and I kept my end of the bargain. I’m calling in my favor, and it’s time sensitive. Suit up, or I’ll throw you over my shoulder and moon the world with that gorgeous ass.”

  I mentally scroll through my options—try to run, tell him to fuck off, or suck it up and do what he says. Unfortunately, the first two choices come with repercussions, and my ass may be fine, but it needs a little more sun before it makes its public debut. So I turn on my heel and get busy changing.

  Jackie O sunglasses perched on my nose and a permanent scowl gracing my face, I meet Ever at the door.

  “Let’s get this over with, assface,” I say as I pass him on my way to my Jeep. “And I’m driving.”

  I park across the street from Holy Cross Church and turn to Ever.

  “It’s not Wednesday. Why the hell are we at Holy Cross?”

  Ever chuckles. “Vespers isn’t the only meeting I attend here. Come on. And try to keep the cursing to a minimum. I don’t want to be collateral damage to your lightning strike.”

  “Ha, if that’s enough to conjure lighting, I’d induce a meteor shower with the shit I’ve pulled,” I mutter.