The Secret Baby

by Harper, Leddy

  “You do remember Lizzie, don’t you? Marlena’s child? Your granddaughter?”

  She waved me off just before wrapping me in her arms. “This is excellent news.” Without releasing her hold on me, she craned her neck to see Tatum over her shoulder. “So you’re having a boy, then? A baby boy and a baby girl. I feel so blessed.”

  “I guess there’s no point in having the party now since everyone already knows what we’re having,” Jason muttered with an exasperated shake of his head.

  “Sure there is.” Tatum was amazing at getting out of trouble. I loved her for it. “We can use it to celebrate Aaron and Kelsey’s wedding that no one was invited to.”

  Tatum had a big mouth. I couldn’t think of anything other than shoving a sock into it.

  “Your what?” Mom’s tears returned, though this time, they weren’t filled with happiness. “You got married and didn’t tell anyone?”

  “For the love of—”

  “All the things,” everyone around me called out, finishing my sentence.

  “Yes. As a matter of fact . . . for the love of all the things.” I quirked one side of my upper lip, which was the universal facial expression equivalent to the middle finger. “This isn’t about me. It’s about Tatum and her impatience to dig into the cake before everyone got here.”

  I had to be delusional if I thought I’d get out of that one.

  “Your father is going to be heartbroken, Kelsey.” Mom’s dramatic, tear-filled remark would’ve worked better had she not waited until my dad had approached. “You stole his chance to walk his daughter down the aisle.”

  “Seriously, Mom . . . do you not remember Marlena? Your other daughter? Dad walked her down the aisle, so I didn’t steal anything from him.”

  Dad cocked his head to the side and held me in his stare. “Why can’t I walk you, too?”

  “She ran off with this handsome doctor and got married without any of us there.”

  A beaming smile stretched across Dad’s lips as he turned to face Aaron. “That’s excellent news. Congratulations, son! Welcome to the family.”

  I couldn’t do anything except roll my eyes and groan as they shook hands.

  And when Aaron turned his attention to me, likely analyzing how I was holding up now that everyone knew the secrets we’d agreed to keep to ourselves—or questioning how I’d been able to keep the baby a secret for so long, yet had spilled the beans on the first chance I got—I just shrugged. “Too late now, Aaron. You’re stuck with this. Forever.”

  Rather than answer, he winked and returned his infectious smile to my dad. “I couldn’t be happier.”

  Me either.

  Epilogue

  Aaron

  “It’s too early. She’s not ready,” Kelsey cried as she cradled her round stomach in her arms, sobbing in the passenger seat.

  “No it’s not, and she’s okay.” Her due date wasn’t for another two weeks, though at the last checkup, we’d been told it could be any day. Apparently, any day in pregnancy terms meant two days. “Just keep up with the breathing; you’re doing great. We’ll be at the hospital in no time.”

  I grabbed my phone from the center console and tried Jason again. I’d called Kelsey’s parents several times, but no one had answered, and I didn’t have Marlena’s number in my phone. It wouldn’t have been a big deal had we not accidentally left Kelsey’s cell at the house, but I wasn’t about to turn around for that. Someone had to answer a call at some point, and once that happened, I trusted the news would spread like wildfire.

  But again, Jason’s voice mail came on, and I hung up. I didn’t want to drop Kelsey off at the hospital doors without anyone with her; I didn’t want to make her walk up from the parking lot, either.

  Luckily, I spotted an empty parking spot in the first row as soon as I pulled in. It was the best compromise I could’ve come across. Although, with as close as her contractions were, I doubted she’d make it to the front doors without having to stop and curse me out.

  She’d gotten really good at that over the last hour.

  By some small miracle, we made it inside and up to the second floor, where the labor-and-delivery unit was located, without much incident. But just as we came to the front desk, all hell broke loose. Ironically, it had nothing to do with the baby that fought to break free from Kelsey’s womb.

  No. The commotion was caused by none other than the Peterson clan. Her mom sidled up beside us, flanked by her dad and Marlena. A quick glance over my shoulder proved that the others—Jason’s mom, Nick, and Marlena’s kids—were all in the waiting room.

  “It’s about time you got here,” Kelsey’s mom said with concern lining her brow.

  “Uh . . . we came as fast as we could.”

  “She’s been in labor for hours!”

  I glanced at Kelsey, who currently had my hand in a viselike grip while she spoke to the nurse behind the counter, and then back to her mother. “It’s only been bad for the last hour or so. I wouldn’t say it’s been that long. And you’re not supposed to get here until contractions are closer together anyway. Once that happened, we headed straight here.”

  “Oh . . .” Her eyes lost the bewilderment and opened wide. “You’ve been in touch with Jason?”

  I shook my head and winced at the finger that my wife had likely just snapped in two. “No. I haven’t been able to get ahold of him. I’ve tried to call him ever since we left the house.”

  “Then how would you know how close her contractions are?”

  Again, I turned to assess Kelsey at my side, then swung my attention back to her mother. “Because I’ve been timing them?” It came out as more of a question than an answer, simply because I had no idea what this woman was getting at, and if she didn’t hurry it up, I’d have to learn how to change a diaper with one hand.

  “Why in the world would you be timing Tatum’s contractions?”

  Confusion stunned me silent, but as soon as Kelsey released her hold on me, it tore me from the news of Tatum’s labor and brought me back to why we were here in the first place. I glanced to the side to see what was going on, and I noticed the nurse had come around the counter and had one hand on my wife’s lower back. I wasn’t sure what they were about to do, but either way, it required my attention and focus. But before I could ask what was going on, Kelsey peered over her shoulder, glared at her mom, and said, “My contractions, Mom.”

  And then I followed the nurse and Kelsey down the hall, leaving the frantic crowd behind.

  A little over two hours later, I sat on the side of Kelsey’s hospital bed, completely lost in the sight of my daughter in her arms. I’d never known a love like this, nor had I ever imagined it possible. But here I sat, happily drowning in the emotion.

  “Did you know that all the nurses are convinced that we did this on purpose?” Tatum asked as Jason wheeled her and their new baby into our room. “I laughed and told them that if they thought I’d hold this giant of a baby in for an extra week just to deliver on the same day as you, then they were insane.”

  Kelsey laughed softly, as if she worried she’d wake the baby if she were any louder. “If I remember correctly, when you found out I was pregnant, you were most excited about having someone to share the experience with. You can’t share it more than we just did.”

  “It would’ve been better to have had you at my side, and then to be at your side a couple of weeks later. But I guess you’re right . . . best to have just gotten it over with so we can start sharing the experiences of motherhood together.”

  Jason helped Tatum onto the other side of the bed so that both women could sit side by side, each holding a baby in her arms. Once we had them situated, Jason looked at me and nudged his head to the side, motioning me to follow him to the other side of the room.

  “They’ll be here in about sixty seconds,” he muttered beneath his breath with an eye on his wife, likely to make sure she didn’t overhear him. “It’s best to stay back and blend in with the room. They go after the women a
nd children first.”

  I tried to keep my composure, but I lost the battle. Humor rattled my shoulders and burned my cheeks. And before it waned, the door opened, and in came a flock of Petersons, all cooing and smiling, oblivious to the two of us against the wall.

  “Who do we have here?” Jason’s mom asked as she approached the bed, as if she had no clue who those babies were.

  I joked, but in all honesty, I was one lucky son of a bitch to be included in this group of people. My parents had planned to be here next weekend, not expecting Kelsey to go into labor two weeks early. And rather than change flights and Mom’s doctor’s appointments that had been scheduled for before their trip, they decided it would be best to come after we’d gotten back home and the local excitement had settled some.

  Tatum shifted the little blue bundle in her arms and said, “Meet William James Watson.”

  And when Kelsey’s mom slid around to stand next to her daughter, Kelsey glanced down at the pink swaddle in her arms and said, “Mom, meet Kimberly Diane Baucus.” Even though we’d agreed on names long ago, my heart still grew larger at the sound of my mother’s name. “But we’re going to call her Kimmy.”

  “Why would you do that? Diane is such a lovely name.”

  “I’m not calling her Diane, Mom. You’re lucky I even used your name in any part of it.”

  With a smile, her mom stepped back and held up her phone, causing the whole room to groan. “Just a few snapshots . . . please?”

  “You’ve had a few. Now put the camera away.”

  Diane waved her daughter off and went back to fussing over the babies. “When might you give me a grandson?”

  Kelsey pointed to the little boy at the foot of the bed standing next to his mother and sister. “Really, Mom? Connor’s right there. Would you like me to introduce you to your grandson, since you seem to have forgotten him?”

  “Don’t be silly.” My mother-in-law shook her head. “Of course I haven’t forgotten him.”

  Jason leaned against my shoulder and lowered his voice so no one would overhear. “You’ve been around long enough to have an opinion on this . . . does it seem to you that Kelsey’s the favorite and Marlena’s the forgotten child?”

  I bit my lip to keep from drawing attention our way. “Yeah, but for some reason, Kelsey believes her sister’s the golden baby and she’s the redheaded stepchild.”

  He slapped my shoulder with a smile stretched across his face. “Good luck with her, bro.”

  I didn’t need luck.

  I had all I’d ever wanted right here.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Leddy Harper had to use her imagination often as a child: she grew up the only girl in a family full of boys. At fourteen, she decided to use that imagination to write her first book, and she never stopped. She often calls writing her therapy, using it to deal with issues through the eyes of her characters.

  Harper is now a mother of three girls, making her husband the only man in a house full of females. She published her first book to encourage her children to go after whatever they want, to inspire them to love what they do and do it well, and to teach them what it means to overcome their fears. You can learn more about Harper at www.leddyharper.com or find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LeddyHarper.