Celeste laughed. “You should have seen him trying to do all of that. I couldn’t help but be amused by him. He handpicked every piece of clothing in that room.”
“He did?” I asked surprised. “I figured he had you do all of that.”
“He had me going in every store in New York City with him, but he did all of the shopping.”
I smiled out at the four figures, searching through sand and pebbles.
“I hope you know how much he loves you, Morgan,” Celeste said.
I turned to look at her with narrowed eyes. “What has he told you?” I asked. I would be so embarrassed if she knew everything.
“He doesn’t have to say anything. Nothing exists in his eyes when you are around. He will walk out of an important meeting to answer your call, and I have never seen any man more excited about this baby than he is.”
“Are you aware that he might not be this baby’s father?” I asked. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I did.
She smiled at me. “He never told me, but I had a feeling something was up.”
“It’s going to make things a lot more difficult if he turns out to be another man’s child. Please don’t tell him that I told you,” I begged.
“Not a chance,” she smiled as my mother and Alicia joined us again.
Jason was the only one to find any treasure, and of course he gave it to Caroline to put in her lighted bottle. We watched a movie with the two little ones on the big screen with a few other guests. Drew and I slipped off and went to our room around nine. We both showered and lay down in the, oh so comfortable bed. I hadn’t realized I was as tired as I was.
“Drew,” I whispered, lying in his arms.
“What, baby?”
“I’m very happy right now.”
I felt Drew smile on my ear. “That makes me very happy. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
My mother walked out to the deck to a full blown argument the following morning.
“No, Morgan. I want you home with me.”
I didn’t reply when I saw my mother; instead I brought her in the middle.
“Would you tell my husband how important it is to me for you to be there when this baby is born and that I should just stay here and get established with a doctor?”
“No. I can’t tell him that. I think you need to be home with him. This is your first baby. I have time to fly out there.”
“I love you,” Drew said, kissing my mother smack on the lips.
I crossed my arms, pouting. She was supposed to take my side.
“You will be here in a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving and then again for Christmas. I think you should be with Drew,” my mother informed me while standing behind me, playing with my hair.
Was I afraid of that? Was that I why I was so insistent on only being with him for short periods of time? We had never lived together as a couple, other than when I didn’t know who I was.
“Let’s eat, I’m starving,” Drew said with a big smile, rubbing in his victory. “I have a date with two little kids. We’re going on a treasure hunt.”
“We’re going shopping,” I stated.
Drew and Jason kept the kids occupied hunting for sea glass for the biggest part of the day. My mom, Celeste, Alicia, and I spent the day shopping. We were home by four and everyone dressed to go out for dinner. We had seafood by the ocean and then visited an aquarium. Drew and I couldn’t keep our hands or eyes off of each other. I had fallen asleep on him the night before, and we spent the evening flirting, and undressing each other with our eyes. I had the best time ever with my family, my husband and our new friends.
Drew and I went right to bed once we were home. We were undressing each other as soon as the door was closed. Damnit I wanted this baby out of me. I wanted all of him. I wanted him to do everything that I had despised at one time. It was a hopeless case. He wasn’t about to do anything but make love to me. I knew. I had already tried. All I got was a promise that once I wasn’t pregnant, he would take care of all of my deep dark fantasies. That was almost three months away.
The five of us flew out on the private jet the next day, heading back to Las Vegas. I slept most of the way and Drew and Celeste worked, making up for the last three days.
We did fly back, all of us, for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I loved Celeste and Alicia. I hated to admit it, but Lauren had been replaced. Dawson called every week to find out how his baby was doing. He was still calling him his baby, and I didn’t stop him. I just prayed that it wasn’t his.
We never did send for my car. Drew liked having it there when we were at my mom’s. I didn’t really need it anyway. He didn’t let me leave without him much.
Right after we had exchanged gifts on Christmas morning, Drew insisted that we had to go somewhere. I should have known that everyone was in on it. They all insisted on going, and we piled into two different cars. Drew couldn’t contain his excitement. I was going crazy, trying to figure out what the hell he was up to. Celeste wouldn’t tell me either. Caroline on the other hand was made to go with her dad. She was dying to tell me.
We only drove maybe a mile up the shore and pulled into a driveway. I knew. I knew exactly what he was up to.
“You bought this house, didn’t you?” I accused.
“You told me that you needed to live by the beach. I figured this way we could fly here when we wanted and have our own space. If you look up that way, you can see your mom’s house.”
“I freaking love you,” I exclaimed, getting out of the car.
The house was perfect. It wasn’t anything extravagant like the one in Vegas. It was simple. Four bedrooms, two baths, an eat in kitchen and a magnificent deck, overlooking the ocean.
“I thought maybe you would want to decorate this nursery,” Drew said as I checked out the best Christmas present I had ever received.
I loved the idea of decorating the nursery. Drew and Celeste had to fly to Europe for over a week. The newly pregnant Alicia, Vincent and I were staying at the beach until Vincent had to be back to school after break.
I spent more money that week than I ever had in my life, furnishing our new home. There were delivery trucks coming and going for three days in a row. I even made Alicia pick out the furnishing and décor for the two bedrooms on the other side of the house. I figured they would be the one using them anyway.
Vincent’s room was done in surf décor and his bed was a floating bed in the shape of a surfboard. He was so excited about it. He stood on it moving his legs and holding out his arms, riding the waves painted on the wall that Alicia had done for him. I didn’t know until that day that she was the one that had painted the enchanted forest in my baby’s room back home.
I chose subtle for this nursery. It was painted light blue with pictures of Caroline, my mom, Jason, Drew, Celeste, Alicia and Vincent all framed in white. Justin’s framed picture hung in the center of them all.
Alicia and I had a blast. We stayed up too late talking, fed our pregnant bellies too much ice cream and shopped until we literally dropped.
I didn’t want to leave when Celeste and Drew came back to retrieve us. They loved the house and what we had done in such a short time. I was happy. I was so happy. I loved my new house close to my mom and Caroline. I loved Vincent. I loved Celeste and Alicia, and I loved Drew. My cup runneth over.
* * *
“Drew,” I called to him, sleeping beside me.
“Hmm,” he moaned, rolling over.
“My water broke.”
He jumped out of bed wide eyed and nervous as hell. “Are you sure?”
I gave him a look and then looked down at the soaked bed.
“I’ll call Dr. Long,” he stated.
“Drew,” I called before he got out of our room.
“What?”
“Where are you going? Your phone is right there.”
“Oh,” he said, realizing the obvious. He called Doctor Long, my mother and the one dreaded call to Dawson. That one caused an argume
nt more than once, but I had promised I would call before I ever left. I hoped that he didn’t come, but I was still going to hold true to my word.
I was only two centimeters dilated when we arrived. It was going to be a while. I wasn’t even allowed to have an epidural yet because they said that it was too early. The contractions weren’t too bad, and I was tolerating them okay.
By ten in the morning, my visitors started to arrive. Celeste and Alicia were there first, and then my mom. I couldn’t believe she had gotten there so quick. I wasn’t looking for her until early evening, of course my husband had a hand in on that and got her a private flight out right away.
I had been in labor for nine hours and the contractions were starting to come stronger and more frequent. Drew was great. He held my hand and talked me through every one of them. I finally got the epidural around three in the afternoon. It helped, a lot, but the pain was still there, and I was feeling a lot of pressure. My visitors except for my mom and Drew stepped out to wait for the news.
At exactly five pm, after many bouts of nausea, sweats, and downright demon behavior, I finally felt like I needed to push.
Drew stepped out for just a second to tell our waiting party that it was time. I knew as soon as he came back that Dawson was there. I could tell by the look on his face. Damnit. I didn’t want him there. Why couldn’t he just wait and see if Drew was the father before he flew all the way there.
“Is Lauren with him?” I asked, Drew.
“With who?” he asked, trying to feign ignorance. I gave him a look.
“Yes, she and Star both are here,” he answered.
“Star’s here?” I was so excited that Star was there. Dawson, not so much, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about Lauren being there. I mean, I forgave her, and I was glad that she was with Dawson, but I still felt a little betrayed. I wasn’t about to let it ruin my day. I was finally going to meet this baby that I had been waiting months for. I couldn’t wait.
I pushed for forty five minutes, and it just wasn’t happening. The baby would crown and that was it. He wasn’t coming out. I would have said at that moment he was no doubt Drew’s baby, being was stubborn as his daddy. Doctor Long explained that he wasn’t going to let me go much longer. He was going to have the operating room setup for a C-section. I didn’t want that. I wanted him to be born natural, and although I didn’t think I had one more push in me. I tried. I tried like hell, over and over until his head was finally out. Drew never left my side and my mother was the best birthing coach ever. Had it not been for her I’m sure I would have passed out at least ten times from hyperventilating.
Finally, at seven twelve in the evening, baby Nicholas was born. He came out screaming, and I couldn’t have been happier. It was no wonder he had such a hard time coming into the world. He weighed in at nine pounds, seven ounces and was twenty two inches long. He was a big boy.
Drew was the proudest papa ever, although after they laid him on my stomach I was scared. I swear he looked just like Dawson. Drew wasn’t seeing it. He was seeing his son, and that was it. His hands were as bloody as the baby. He couldn’t keep his hands off of him. He kissed me and told me that he loved me at least ten times before they took baby Nick to clean him up. Drew washed his hands and went out to give the good news.
“Drew,” I called for him before he got out.
He was by my side, kissing me again in a split second. I couldn’t help but laugh at him.
“I want to see Star,” I said.
“You’ve got it, baby,” he said with another kiss.
My mom went out, just as proud, with him. Star came in alone with a big smile about ten minutes later.
“I can’t believe you’re here, Star,” I said as she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me.
“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” she said, walking over to the baby. The nurse held him up so that she could see him. She looked straight back to me. Damnit, she saw it too.
“He’s just lucky I was going to be here in a couple of days anyway for the swap meet,” she teased, coming back to me.
“How are you?” I asked.
“Me? How are you? You’re the one that just gave birth to a football player.”
“He is a little football player,” I said, smiling down at him as the nurse placed him swaddled in a blanket back in my arms. I loved him already.
“How’s Dawson been?” I asked not taking my eyes from my bundle of joy.
“He’s been good. I have told you before. Things tend to work themselves out.”
“Yes, you have. I still can’t believe him and Lauren though. It’s so hard to picture the two of them together.”
Star didn’t know what to say. They were both her friends as much as I was. I respected her for that, and knew that she would stay loyal to both sides. That’s just how Starlight was.
Drew came in, still smiling, of course. He kissed me, and then took the baby from my arms. He held him like he had done it a million times before. Celeste and Alicia came in next. They made as big of a fuss over him as my mom and Drew.
Everyone had been in except for Dawson and Lauren, and once Drew, and I were alone again, I brought it up.
“Drew, you have to let him see him,” I said
“I know. I was just hoping to wait until we got the test results back.”
“That could be two or three days.”
“Not when you just donated a quarter of a million dollars to the hospital,” he grinned.
“Drew, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything, just wrote a check and let them swab the inside of my jaw.”
“There’re doing it now?”
“Yup, four hours, tops,” he said, staring down at sleeping Nicholas. “There is no way I was going to wait for two or three days. I want this behind us, today.”
“Drew,” I started to say. He stopped me.
“Don’t, Morgan. We’re not even going to discuss it.”
I could tell that he was scared shitless that baby Nick was going to be Dawson’s and not his.
“Okay, Mom and Dad. What are we putting on the birth certificate for this little guy’s middle name?” the nurse interrupted.
Drew and I looked at each other. Why the hell didn’t we talk about any of this before now? We couldn’t give him Drew’s name yet. Dawson would never let him have Drew’s last name.
“We’re waiting on a paternity test for that,” I was the one to say. There was no easier way to say it. I was glad that she didn’t ask any more questions.
“I’m going to take him to the nursery for his newborn screening, and then I will bring him back. Do you want to carry him to the nursery?” she asked Drew, no longer calling him dad.
“Yes, absolutely.”
“Drew,” I called.
He turned and smiled a warm, scared, smile. “I’ll send him in,” he said, knowing what I wanted.
Dawson walked in without Lauren. I was glad. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see her. He was wearing the same sacred smile. I wondered if he was now hoping that the baby wasn’t his.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi,” he said, kissing my cheek. “I think this has been the longest day of my life. How are you?”
I snickered a little. “I’m good. Happy. Scared.”
“I bet. You look good,” he smiled.
“Thank you. How are you?” I wanted to know if he was happy. It meant a lot to me that he was.
“I have been good, nervously waiting for you to have this baby.”
He didn’t call him my baby. That was the first time I had ever heard him not say his baby.
“Did you see him?”
“No, but Star said he looks just like me.”
I looked down. I didn’t want him to look like Dawson. I wanted him to look like Drew. I wasn’t sure what to say. “Drew put a rush on the test. We’ll know before the night’s out.”
He nodded. He already knew that.
We shared an awkward silence. N
either of us knew what to say.
“Lauren wants to see you,” he said, kind of in a question.
I smiled and nodded. He left. I never thought that I would see the day when Dawson and I couldn’t talk. It was sad.
Lauren on the other hand acted like we were still best friends. She hugged me with a big smile.
“Congratulations,” she said. “I just saw him through the window. He is beautiful, Ry.”
“Thanks, how are you?”
She held up her left hand.
“Engaged!?” I said, shocked. Wow. That didn’t take long. “Are you pregnant, Lauren?” I just spit it out. Why else would he be jumping into that again already?
“Dawson proposed on Christmas Eve, and yes, Ry. I’m pregnant.”
“Oh, my God.” I squealed, grabbing her and hugging her. I was ecstatic for her. It was weird. I felt no bitterness toward her whatsoever. “I’m so happy for you, and I’m sorry I am making things so difficult for you guys.”
“You stop that. This is a happy day for you. It will all work out, besides if the baby is Dawson’s, we’ll have to stay friends forever,” she stated.
I smiled. I really was happy that she was there. I could see me back in my little house in Maine while my son was next door with her and Dawson. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. It would take Drew some time, but I knew he would love him like he was his own. Maybe I was just trying to place a little sunshine on a bad situation, but in the meantime, it seemed to be working.
Drew came in carrying our baby with a happier smile than he had left with.
“Do you want to hold him?” I asked Lauren.
“Yes, of course.”
She held him, playing with his little fingers. “Ry, he is beautiful.”
I was trying to read her face. Was she seeing Dawson in him too? If she was, she hid it well.
She talked about the shop, the radio station, Star dating John, my beach friend. I was glad she was talking like nothing had ever happened between. I laughed when she said she had to take up cooking and how the first time she tried to make Dawson a nice meal, it all had turned out to be a nightmare. They ended up going to Millie’s for supper.
She handed me my baby when he started to fuss. The nurse came in with a bottle and Lauren hugged me.
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