Always Yours

by Shelly Jones

  “Hey if you guys wouldn’t mind, I want to try out this new song. So if everyone has time, can you guys sit around and listen to it. I need some honest opinions,” I announce.

  Everyone nods their heads. Katie’s still sitting in her seat. I run my fingers over the strings and start to play the chords. She has no idea what song this is.

  “This song is called “Who I Am With You” by Chris Young.” I smile at her and start to play. I sing every lyric to her. I’m fighting back the tears that want to flood my eyes. Maddie and Rachel grab Katie’s hands as Katie starts to cry. She gets up in the middle of the song and sits next to me. Right at this moment it’s just her and I. She cradles her stomach and sways back and forth to my words.

  I end the song and Katie is almost bawling, “Eric, it was beautiful,” she whispers.

  “Glad you liked it,” I say putting my guitar down.

  She stands up to give me a hug and I hug her back, but I pull back and go down on one knee.

  “Eric,” she says.

  “Stop, let me do this,” I tell her. She looks around and back down at me. “Baby, I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been in love with you since we were thirteen years old, but I was dumb. I was so afraid of hurting you that I thought I should just stay away, but now I’ve realized I wasn’t just hurting you by staying away, I was hurting myself.

  “I didn’t know what it was like to live, to breathe, and to feel until you walked through those doors that night at the bar. Even with your anger towards me, that night, I started breathing again. I knew the moment I saw you again I would move heaven and earth, go to hell and back to be with you.

  “Then when I met Ava, oh my god, Ava had me the moment I met her. I love you both so much. You two are my life, my world, my everything, and now, now that we have the gummy bears coming, I feel like I just won the lottery and it’s all because of you!

  “Katie baby, I’m always yours, now and forever.” I take a deep breath and dig her ring out of my pocket, “So, Kaitlyn Michelle Brooks Tanner, will you please make my dream come true and be my wife?” I ask her.

  She’s crying, and I have tears running down my face. She gasps when she sees the ring.

  “Is this really happening,” she asks and looks around.

  “Yes babe, it is. So will you....Marry me?”

  “Eric, you have had my heart since day one. So yes, I will marry you and make MY dreams come true,” she finally says. She leans down and kisses me while everyone shouts and claps. When we break free, she turns and shouts, “We’re engaged!”

  After celebrating our good news, everyone goes home and gets some sleep. Everyone will be back in a few hours for her dad’s wedding.

  “I cannot believe you did this,” Katie says while we’re lying in bed.

  “You happy?”

  “Eric, I didn’t need a ring or marriage. You make me happy.”

  “I know, but I only plan on getting married once and I wanted that one time to be with my soul mate, my best friend,” I tell her.

  “Damn baby, you’re smooth,” she giggles.

  I roll over on top of her, “Smooth huh?”

  “You don’t have to woo me, you’ve got me.”

  “Oh I ain’t wooing you, I’m just telling you how I feel, but if you don’t like me expressing my feelings then I’ll just shut up,” I pout.

  “Shut up and kiss me fiancé!”

  “Mrs. Kaitlyn Brooks. Fuck that sounds sexy,” I say as I’m kissing her neck she starts to moan and wiggle underneath me.

  “Make love to me,” she moans.

  One month later....

  It’s the day of our ultra sound to check on the babies and to find out what we’re having. Thursday is Thanksgiving and since we’re hosting Thanksgiving this year, Katie thought it would be fun to reveal the sex of the twins then. We’re not evening finding out until then.

  The doctor has agreed to put the gender results into an envelope which we will give to Ronnie and he’s going to put balloons in two different boxes and then Ava, Katie and I will open up the boxes and find out what we’re having. I would rather know right now, but to make it special for Katie, I’ll wait two days.

  The ultra sound went good. The babies were very active and I’m pretty sure baby A is a boy. I’m not expert but I’m pretty sure I saw boy parts. It was fun to watch them move around and baby B was sucking on its fist. We both laughed about that. Doctor said everything is looking good, but reminded Katie she needs to take it easy and to listen to her body. She’s feeling movement already but they said it’s normal with twins. I can’t wait to be able to start feeling them. My hand will probably be on her stomach the entire time I’m at home. I don’t want to miss it.

  “I’m so happy they’re healthy,” she says as she grabs my hand as we’re walking out.

  “Me too, and Baby B sucking on its fist, that was cute.”

  “Yeah it was. So any guesses on what we’re having?”

  “I don’t know it was hard to tell. What do you think?”

  “I think its two girls” she says.

  “Really?” ‘What? Two girls. Sorry babe, I know I saw boy parts,’ I say to myself. “It doesn’t matter to me, as long as they’re healthy.” I smile down at her.

  We get back home and Dana and Gary are there watching Ava and Jack.

  “So how did it go?” Dana asks.

  “It was good. Oh my god, they’re so cute. They were moving around and baby B was sucking on its fist,” Katie says with excitement showing them the pictures.

  “So did we get the genders?”

  “Yep, sure did. The technician said that it was easy.”

  “I just texted Ronnie to come get them right now before I open it,” Katie tells me.

  It’s Thursday and we have about fifteen or so people coming over for dinner. Everyone starts arriving; Dana, Gary, Evan and Jack are there first, then my parents, then Madison and the kids, Ronnie and James and Rachel, Brady and 3 others. Katie wants to do the reveal soon. She can’t wait any longer. Ava sees the boxes and she’s ready to open them now! So we quickly get her coat on and go outside.

  Ronnie is set up and ready for us. We just stood in the middle of the backyard and had everyone count down

  “3-2-1, ok Ava let’s open the boxes,” I tell her. She rips the paper on box one and goes over to box two. I held the lid down on box one until box two was ready and we opened them. “Baby A- blue balloons and Baby B- pink balloons!”

  “We’re having one of each,” Katie screams, and flies into my arms.

  “Awesome,” I give her a sweet, long kiss. Ava is jumping up and down. I pick her up and bring her between Katie and I, “You’re going to have a baby brother and sister,” I tell her.

  She starts clapping, “Yay! Yay,” she cries.

  “Ok babe, I need to go in! I’m freezing,” Katie cries and runs inside.

  When we’re all back inside warming up, Ronnie gives us the ultra sound pictures so we can see for ourselves.

  “I knew Baby A was a boy,” I announce.

  “Yeah I know me too. It was very obvious,” Katie giggles as we pass the pictures around so everyone can see.

  “So do we have names picked out yet,” my mom asks me.

  Katie and I look at each other. We do have names picked out, but we were undecided if we should share them. “We have a couple of names we like, but I think we’re going to wait until the babies come before we give them their names,” Katie smiles.

  “Well that makes sense I guess,” Rachel pouts.

  Dinner was one of the best I’ve had in a long time. I like this, having friends and family over for dinner and not just family.

  I was nicely shocked when the girls came in to watch the football game with us. These girls actually know about football and my girl, wow, the way she was yelling at the TV and the Referees was a total turn on.

  Ava had on her jersey and anytime someone would yell at the TV she thought she could yell too. Don’t know what
she was saying, but I’m pretty sure she was cussing the TV out in baby language.

  “So what are the wedding plans,” Dana asks.

  “We’ve been talking a lot about it and we’re going to wait until after the babies are born,” Katie replies.

  “Oh,” my dad says.

  “Hey, it’s not a bad thing waiting. I don’t want her miserable and since her first wedding was at a court house and because of a pregnancy, we thought it would be best to wait till after the babies are born so Katie can have her dream wedding,” I speak up.

  “Oh well, when you put it that way that makes sense,” my mom says.

  “We’re thinking July 19th. It gives me time to get some baby weight off and gives us time to plan,” Katie tells them.

  “Well alright, that does give us girls plenty of time to plan,” Rachel says.

  A few hours later we’re saying our goodbyes to everyone. Katie and I are in the kitchen cleaning it. “Do you think we’re doing the right thing? By getting married after the babies are born,” she asks me.

  “Katie, this isn’t the old days where we have to get married before we have family. If you want to get married right now, ten years from now or whenever, I will marry you whenever, wherever. I just want you happy and I want to give you the wedding you’ve always wanted, not marry you because we’re having babies. That’s not the reason why I asked you. You know this right?”

  “Yeah I know, but I feel like I’m disappointing our families by waiting.”

  “Well it’s not their choice and they can be pissed all they want, this is our relationship, our marriage. We’re doing this for us, no one else.” I wrap my arms around her and kiss her on the forehead

  “You’re right! This is for us and Ava. No one else matters.”

  “So about this spare room here, I’m thinking we should turn it into a nursery. What do you think?” I grab her by the hand and lead her to the spare room.

  “I was thinking that too. Now that we know what we’re having,” she says walking around, “What about light brown walls, and then our little man can have blues on his side and our little girl can have pinks on her side. Divide the cribs by a changing table,” she says staring at the walls.

  “I like that idea,” I tell her.

  “Eric, since I had a C-section with Ava, I’m going to have one with these guys too. Doctor Westbourne and I talked about it already and she thinks it might be safer for me to go that route. So I’m thinking we’ll have to get a pack and play or portable crib and put it in our room until I’m healed.”

  “That’s fine, whatever is going to keep you and my babies safe. I’ll agree to anything,” I tell her. I honestly have no idea what she really just said, but it’s her body and she’s the boss. “Come on let’s go to bed.” I stand there holding my hand out for her.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” she says as she grabs my hand and wraps herself in my arms and we walk into our bedroom.

  Chapter 24

  Katie

  February 13th

  Holy shit! I cannot believe I’m thirty weeks pregnant. Six to eight weeks more to go. The time is flying by but it’s also dragging ass. These two are so active, even to a point that they make my clothes move. Eric had a bowl of ice cream sitting on my stomach last night and one of the twins kicked it off. I laughed so hard, but it kind of hurt too.

  Eric’s been amazing; reminding me how beautiful I am, even though I don’t believe him. I feel like a cow and I am so sick of people coming up and saying, “Wow girl you look like you’re ready to pop”. It used to be cute now it’s just annoying.

  Rachel bought me a shirt that says, “I grow Twins, What’s your super power?” I about died laughing when I saw it. I of course wear it almost every time we go to the store or anywhere. People give me weird looks, I just laugh it off.

  Tomorrow is Eric’s birthday and Valentine’s Day. Instead of doing something tomorrow with everyone, we’re going to celebrate tonight with our friends then tomorrow I’m turning off our phones and it will be a night of just him and me. We’ll go over to his parents for dinner, but other than that, that’s it. He’s been so busy working as many hours as he can, spending time with his parents and making sure I’m getting rest, I want us to have just a night to ourselves.

  “Hello,” I answer my phone.

  “Hey, what time are we meeting for dinner?” Rachel asks.

  “Six.”

  “Ok, cool.”

  “So how did the doctor’s appointment go?”

  “Good, baby is growing like it’s supposed to. He/she/it is measuring right on point,” Rachel says.

  “Awesome,” I reply.

  Brady’s Christmas present was a positive pregnancy test. Rachel is thirteen weeks along. I’m so happy for them. It’s nice that I have a juice drinking buddy. “Yeah, it’s so cute. The doctor said I was doing good.”

  “Awesome! I’m so happy for you.”

  “Thanks. I’m going to be huge for your wedding in July though, but it’s worth it.”

  “You’ll be beautiful!”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, but hey, I’ll see you in a couple of hours!”

  “Ok, see you soon. Love you, bye.”

  “Me too, bye babe.”

  I’m in our room getting ready. I slip on my skinny maternity jeans, a cream colored sweater that’s roomy, but hugs my belly and shows off my bump. As annoying as it is for the comments, I love showing it off. I wear a pair of black suede mid-calf boots. I leave my hair down, and keep my make-up minimal.

  “Yep, that shall do,” I say out loud.

  “Fuck baby, are you trying to keep us home all night looking like that?” Eric startles me. He’s standing in the doorway staring at me, hungry, like he wants me for dinner.

  “Jesus, didn’t you know it’s not nice to scare your baby mama!”

  “Sorry, I was just admiring the view,” he says coming up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face in my neck.

  “How was your day?”

  “It was alright; better now that I’m home.” He kisses my neck and sends chills down my back I start to get a pull between my legs and I feel the warmth.

  “Too bad you weren’t home thirty minutes ago; we could have had some fun before dinner.” I turn around and kiss him.

  “What, no fun now?”

  “Nope, we have an hour before we have to meet everyone.”

  “Awe, you’re not fun!”

  “I’ll remember that come tomorrow!”

  “Fine, I’ll go get ready,” he whines.

  I smile and shake my head and walk out of the room.

  We meet everyone at the steak house and get seated right away. Our usual group is here except we have added Evan to our group. He’s been awesome about coming over every once in a while checking on my blood pressure. He and Madison have been keeping a close eye on me and I love it. It’s helped me bond with my new brother.

  “Anyone up for some singing and maybe some dancing?” I ask the group.

  “You sure you’re up for it? I mean, you ain’t going to pop them out are you?” Brady says sarcastically.

  “I hope you get sympathy symptoms with Rachel.”

  “Oh fuck that! I’m already getting the food cravings.”

  I start giggling, “Just wait, sometimes men get labor pains too,” and I stick my tongue out at him. He of course returns the favor by flipping me off. Eric just laughs at us and doesn’t say a word.

  We get to our favorite bar and it’s crowded like always. Josh is behind the bar and waves at us. We pick our table and the guys order our drinks.

  “This sucks we can’t drink,” Rachel pouts.

  “I know! Whiskey sounds so good right about now.”

  “Awe poor babies, I’ll drink them for you,” Brady says.

  “I hate your husband right now.”

  “Yeah join the club. Bastard is sleeping on the couch.”

  “I’ll be right back, going to go throw my name u
p there,” I tell Eric and head to the DJ. He puts my name down twice and tells me it’ll be a little bit.

  “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex, Sex and Violins plays, “Fuck I love this song,” Rachel says and starts to shake her ass.

  ‘There is no way in hell, I’m shaking my ass,’ I think to myself.

  We hang out for a while, and then my name is finally called to come up on stage. “Be back in a bit,” I squeal and walk up to the stage. I sing “Perfect” By Sara Evans. Eric is down there smiling at me. Mouthing ‘I love you’ to me.

  Eric was up after me, “Well this song is going out to my beautiful fiancé and our twins she’s carrying,” and he sings “Me and You” By Kenny Chesney, and then like clockwork, the damn pregnancy hormones are raging full force and I start to bawl. I finish off my singing with “Makin’ Me Fall in Love Again” by Kellie Pickler and Eric returns the favor by singing “Whatever She’s Got” By David Nail.

  “You guys are so fucking cute,” Madison says.

  “Thanks,” I say as I put my head on her shoulder. “How are you doing with the divorce and everything?”

  “Perfect, I’m enjoying being me and getting to know me again.”

  “Good! Evan seems to like it.”

  “Oh god! Please, no way.”

  “What? My brother ain’t good enough for you?”

  “Katie, I don’t want a man. I’m so fucked up right now. I’d bore you with the details, but have you noticed Brody and I can’t be around each other?”

  “Yeah well that’s been like that for a while.”

  “It’s gotten worst. He’s now blamed me for Morgan having doubts about them.”

  “I had no idea.”

  “It’s ok. I just need to be alone for a while.”

  “I’m sorry sweets. I won’t bring it up again.”

  “No biggie. And trust me, it’s not like I haven’t noticed Evan. But right now, not a good time.”