Love Stung (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective Book 5)

by Brooke St. James

  He held me there, barely swaying to the slow rhythm of the jazz.

  "Do you want me to get everyone's attention and make an announcement?" he asked.

  "Nope."

  "Is it gonna feel official enough to you?"

  I pulled back so that I could stare at his face. I smiled. "If you tell me it's official, it's official."

  "Then, it's official," he said. "I've got the ring in my pocket and everything."

  "You do?"

  He nodded.

  "Is it that one you showed me?" I asked.

  He smiled. "Similar. Did that give it away?"

  "I don't really care if it did or not," I said. "I just wanted you to do it, and I wanted to say 'yes'."

  "That's what we just did," he said.

  "All that while we're standing right here?" I said.

  I glanced around at all the chaos that was going on at the party, taking in the moment for what it was. My daughter was having a ball on the couch with a baby, and I was with the man of my dreams who was telling me he had a ring in his pocket.

  "Can I have it?" I asked.

  "Uh-huh," he said.

  He made no move to retrieve it out of his pocket, so I took matters into my own hands. I stood close enough to him that I could reach into his pocket without being obvious. I was looking for a ring box, so Drake had to inform me that it was just a loose ring in his pocket. I had no problem finding it after that, and I slipped it out of his pocket easily and put it on my finger. It went on fine, but I was so full of nerves and adrenaline that I probably wouldn't have noticed even if it were loose or tight. I didn't care how it fit, and I didn't care what it looked like. I only cared that it had come from Drake and now it was on my finger.

  "I want to adopt her," he said.

  Again, he spoke so casually that the tone didn't quite reflect the gravity of the words. I gave him a questioning glance and he nodded.

  "Isabel Salinger, right? I think she comes with you, doesn't she?"

  Sheer joy rose inside me.

  I don't know if I had never been so happy in my life. My chest felt like it wanted to burst. My heart was pounding, and I didn't know how to begin putting my feelings into words. "I'm not going to really be able to talk about that stuff right now in front of all these people because it's going to make me cry, but, yes, and please, and yes to whatever you are saying."

  "That I want to adopt her when we get married."

  I put my hand to my chest, and my face crumpled in a vain attempt to keep tears from forming in my eyes. The word adopt in reference to my little girl, made an uncontrollable feeling of goodness well inside me. The word had a protective quality to it, and it made me happy and proud and he felt that way about her. I really didn't want to cry in front of these people, so I smiled and blinked away the tears that formed in my eyes.

  "Do tears mean 'yes'?"

  "Oh, my goodness, yes, Drake. She's going to be so excited, I can't even—"

  A wave of emotion hit me, and I couldn't get the rest of my sentence out, so I just quit talking and turned around as if absentmindedly moving to the music. Drake went with it, letting me spin before drawing me next to him again.

  "Did you even look at it yet?" he asked.

  "No." I reached down and touched the ring, feeling it and trying to imagine what it looked like, but for whatever reason, not looking at it.

  "Are you going to?" he asked.

  "Yep."

  "When?"

  "I don't know. Later, I bet."

  We stood there, Drake with his arms wrapped around my shoulders, lost in our own thoughts and watching everyone else have conversations.

  "I'm so glad you didn't make an announcement," I said.

  "I know. I kind of know that about you. That's why I just whispered it."

  "I'm a whisper kind of girl."

  I hadn't whispered those words because there was a lot of noise around us, but I looked up at Drake when I said it and he smiled and leaned down, giving me his ear.

  "You want me to whisper something?" I asked.

  He nodded, leaving his ear right in front of me. I put my mouth so close to it that it was almost touching. I hadn't thought of what to say, so I just whispered the first thing that came to my mind.

  "I love you." I pulled back, and he smiled and nudged his ear closer to me. I was grinning when I put my lips right next to him again and whispered, "I love you to the moon, Drake Salinger."

  Epilogue

  A year later

  Drake proposed to me in December, and we were married the following spring, at which time Isabel and I moved into his apartment. Isabel's dad gave us a hard time about the adoption at first, but he eventually changed his mind and signed the papers.

  The adoption was final by the day we were married, so Isabel and I both got to become Salingers on the same day. I made dolls of the whole family, including Mack. I had so much fun making Mack and his leash and things like Drake's camera, that I had made a few other accessories to go with our family dolls. Drake brought the whole set, including accessories, to one of his photo shoots, and his client asked me to make a set for her family. Seeing as how this certain client was Amy Ambrose, she paid me an arm and a leg to do it.

  My little doll business had taken off from there, and in the last year, I had been splitting my time between working with Natalie as a stylist and making dolls, but more and more, I was making dolls. I had a system now, which made it a much faster process than it was at first. I called my tiny little operation Happy Wasp Toys, and I used the shape of Zoe's painted wasp for my insignia. Drake had ordered me some beautiful embroidered tags with the name and logo, and I carefully hand stitched one onto the back of each doll.

  I had just finished felting a baby. It was basically an oval shaped piece since it was a baby wrapped in a swaddled blanket. I sewed the final stitch on the baby's tag and turned it over, noticing at how cute and cozy it looked. I had given it chubby cheeks, and I smiled at it as I set it in the mama doll's arms.

  It was just then that I heard the apartment door open. "Hello?" I called.

  "Hey," Drake said.

  I heard him, but I hadn't yet seen him. I had a little workshop area set up in the dining room, and I couldn't see the door from where I was standing. Drake rounded the corner wearing a smile, and I walked straight into his arms.

  "How was your day?" I asked.

  "Good. You?"

  "Good. I got a lot done."

  He leaned in and kissed my cheek, and I let out a little laugh.

  "What?" he asked.

  "Nothing."

  "Where's Isabel?" he asked.

  "Macy picked her up after school. She and Ethan wanted to take her out."

  "What about Mack?" Drake asked, looking around the corner in the direction of Mack's kennel.

  "They took him, too. Ethan loves him. He's trying to talk Macy into getting one."

  "They can have him," Drake said.

  He was just acting tough. I knew he loved Mack and was just kidding. "I'm the one who asked them to take the kids," I said.

  "Oh yeah?" His eyes sparkled mischievously, and I grinned at the sight of him.

  "Yep."

  "I wonder why you did that?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. He stepped closer to me leaning down to kiss my neck. I stretched my neck to the side, allowing him full access. My breathing shallowed and my anticipation began to rise. I cleared my throat.

  "I wanted to talk to you," I said.

  "About what?" he asked. He kissed my neck before and after he said it, and I almost completely forgot what I was supposed to be saying to him.

  "About what?" he asked again.

  "Oh, I, uh, I finished a doll. I was gonna tell you about a doll I finished."

  He kissed my neck again, and then my cheek. "What doll?" He glanced around my little workshop area as if searching for it. I gestured at the area where our family dolls were set up. They were on a shelf that was lower than the rest so that Isabel could get to them.
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  "Those are ours," he said.

  "I know but—" I was about to finish my sentence, but he cut me off.

  "What is that? Who is that? Who made that? What is it?" Drake stepped around me so that he could get closer to the little dolls. He reached out and picked up the little oval shaped ball of wool. It was totally obvious that it was a baby, but he still looked at me with a perplexed expression and said, "What is this?"

  "It's a baby," I said.

  "Who's baby is it?" he asked.

  "Yours," I said.

  "Mine?"

  I nodded, and Drake stared down at the toy with a completely unreadable expression. He set it down carefully and then he stared directly at my stomach before looking at me. "Is there a baby in there?"

  I smiled and nodded.

  "Mine?"

  I narrowed my eyes at him, which made us both laugh.

  "Is my baby in there?" Drake asked, coming closer and closer to me. I nodded, and he carefully dropped to his knees in front of me. "Are you in there?" he whispered directly at my tummy.

  "Uh-huh," I agreed in a tiny high-pitched voice since I couldn’t bear to leave Drake hanging.

  Drake looked at me with a smile before picking up my shirt and placing a kiss on the bare skin of my stomach. "Are you sure?" he asked.

  "I'm about eight tests sure."

  "And they all said there's a—"

  I nodded, so he trailed off.

  "I love you," he said. "And I love Isabel and this baby."

  "Me too," I said.

  ***

  It was two hours later when Macy and Ethan brought Isabel and Mack back to the apartment. I wanted Drake to be the first to know, so none of them knew that I was expecting.

  They all came in and told us about their walk. We gave Mack some water and made fun of him for being so worn out. He fell onto the floor, lying on his side and breathing heavily. We all stood and sat around, staring at Mack and laughing.

  I came to stand near Drake, and he pulled me into his arms. "Your mama made a new doll," Drake said.

  "What is it?" Isabel said, instantly looking in the direction of my little makeshift workshop.

  "You have to go look," I said. "It's with our family."

  "I know what it is," Ethan said, without even going over there. I looked at him and his face broke into a grin. I smiled and he chuckled and shook his head at me. "I can see it from here," he said, peering at the shelf where our dolls were sitting.

  It took Isabel and Macy a minute to get over there and put together what was going on. Macy figured it out before Isabel did. "Oh, my goodness, are you serious?" she asked. She reached down and picked up the little baby doll, handing it to Isabel. "You know what that is?" Macy asked.

  "A baby," Isabel said.

  "I think it's your baby." Macy said.

  "You made this fow me?" Isabel asked, looking at me.

  I nodded.

  "I don't think it's just any baby doll, though," Macy said.

  "No, it's not," I said.

  "What is it?" Isabel asked with precious curiosity.

  "I think your mom might have made it because she's gonna have a baby." Macy looked at me as if to get confirmation. "Am I right?"

  I nodded.

  "You awe?" Isabel asked. "Am I gonna have a baby bwothew or sistew?"

  I nodded. "But we don't know which one yet."

  Isabel's face crumpled pitifully as she walked toward me. She walked into my arms, latching onto my waist and holding on tightly. After a few seconds, I realized she was sobbing.

  "Are you okay?" I asked.

  "I'm just so ha-a-p-py," she said, gasping for air. Her precious tears made both Macy and me cry, and then we all ended up laughing because of it.

  Macy and Ethan admitted that they were thinking about starting to try for a baby soon, and we talked about how cool it would be if our little ones were close in age.

  Isabel luxuriated in the thought of being a babysitter for both of us. She instantly started searching on her iPad for baby clothes.

  Parenting is simultaneously the scariest and most gratifying thing you can do in life. Maybe it's love in general, because they both caused me to feel terrified and elated in a continual cycle.

  The thing I try to remind myself is that the scary parts aren't really so scary if you look at them just the right way. Sure, maybe there were wasps buzzing around in the world, but how many of them really ever sting you? And even if they do, it will all be okay eventually. As the saying goes:

  It'll all be okay in the end.

  If it's not okay, it's not the end.

  In my case, everything was extremely okay, and coincidentally, it was also the end…

  …at least for now.

  The End

  (till book 6)

  (Theo's story will be the sixth and final installment in the Shower & Shelter series.)

  Other titles available from Brooke St. James:

  Another Shot:

  A Modern-Day Ruth and Boaz Story

  When Lightning Strikes

  Something of a Storm (All in Good Time #1)

  Someone Someday (All in Good Time #2)

  Finally My Forever (Meant for Me #1)

  Finally My Heart's Desire (Meant for Me #2)

  Finally My Happy Ending (Meant for Me #3)

  Shot by Cupid's Arrow

  Dreams of Us

  Meet Me in Myrtle Beach (Hunt Family #1)

  Kiss Me in Carolina (Hunt Family #2)

  California's Calling (Hunt Family #3)

  Back to the Beach (Hunt Family #4)

  It's About Time (Hunt Family #5)

  Loved Bayou (Martin Family #1)

  Dear California (Martin Family #2)

  My One Regret (Martin Family #3)

  Broken and Beautiful (Martin Family #4)

  Back to the Bayou (Martin Family #5)

  Almost Christmas

  JFK to Dublin (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #1)

  Not Your Average Joe (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #2)

  So Much for Boundaries (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #3)

  Suddenly Starstruck (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #4)