“Jace, how’s it going?” he asks, shaking Jace’s hand.
“I’m doing amazing, bro. Just can’t wait to meet my babies,” he responds, pulling me into him.
“You look amazing, Shay. How do you feel?” Hunter says, turning to me. I get a pain as soon as he says that and close my eyes tight.
“I’m doing well,” I tell him, but really I don’t feel very well.
“I’ve got to go.” He smiles. “Jace, you better text me when she goes to the hospital.” Jace nods, and we start walking again.
When Hunter wants to work on his guitar skills, he calls Jace now. I take on beginners in the business, preferably young brace-face kids going through that awkward stage. That’s how Jace likes it, such a jealous boy. I like it that way, too, but I only have a couple of young clients. Now with how far I am in my pregnancy, I’m off the schedule for a while.
“Jace and Shay James have joined us,” a reporter says as bright lights and screaming fans go crazy as Hunter passes us in the media line. My boy wraps his arm protectively around my waist. I haven’t felt well since we left the house. Jace doesn’t know, but I think I might have had some contractions since we got here. That was probably the pain I felt when Hunter came up to us. “Who are you wearing, Shay?” she asks.
“It’s actually designed by my best friend, Jules Thorn,” I say, smiling through another stabbing pain. Jules is finally designing clothes. I’m her first client, and honestly, her first design attempt is really pretty. I’m sure she wasn’t thinking she would be designing a dress for a pregnant girl, but she still had fun doing it.
“It’s gorgeous,” the reporter beams.
“Thank you. Pink is kind of my color.” Letting out a shaky breath, I look up at Jace and bite my lip through another pain. The pains seem to be getting closer together.
He squints at me, then softly whispers into my ear, “Are you okay?”
“And who are you wearing, Jace?” the reporter asks him.
“Whoever my wife tells me to wear,” he answers, keeping his eyes trained on me. She laughs, and he presses his lips to my ear, away so the reporter can’t hear him, and whispers, “I’m taking you to the hospital right now.” He glances over at the interviewer and nods. I smile as he leads me away from the crowd. “Look at me, baby.” I look at him with shallow breaths as another pain hits me. “I’m taking you.”
“Okay.” I shake my head. I see Jules and Beau in the distance walking toward us.
“Did you tell them you are wearing yours truly?” Jules asks with a perfect smile.
“I don’t… I did…” I try to answer.
“Shay, what’s wrong?”
“Call the family. My girl is in labor,” Jace tells them.
“Oh my God, I’m going to be an aunt.”
“God, those poor kids,” Beau chimes in. I look away from Jace, and Beau is staring at me.
“Be nice right now, Beau.”
“Yeah, Beau, be nice. Your sister is literally giving birth on the red carpet,” Jules states the obvious.
“Oh…Jace…” I say as a strong contraction rips through me.
“Get a car, Beau!” Jace says in a panic. Beau walks briskly over to the line of limos still dropping off people.
“Don’t give birth in that dress, Shay!”
“I’ll try not… Jace,” I cry out quietly to Jace, not finishing my sentence to Jules.
“I’m right here.” He interlaces our fingers as Beau waves us over to an awaiting limo.
“I’m scared something will happen. My water just broke,” I say, feeling wetness in my panties, running down my legs. His jaw tightens.
“I’ll never let anything ever happen to you. Don’t ever worry about that. I will take care of you and our babies.” He keeps ushering me to the limo.
“Okay,” I say with a tremble in my lips.
“Shay’s water just broke,” Jules says, getting inside the limo quickly.
“I’m about to be an uncle,” Beau says, laughing.
“I’m going to be an auntie.” Jules says, squealing. I put my head on my boy’s shoulder as he holds my hands on my lap.
“We’re going to be parents.” I look up with tears in my eyes. “Like any second, Jace.” I grip his hands tight. He clenches his jaw and looks from me to the front of the limo.
“Can you please hurry? My wife is ready to give birth any second.”
“Oh my God, Starkie, you are going to be too late for that epidural! You’re having your babies naturally! That is going to hurt so bad!” Jules says matter-of-factly.
“Don’t tell her that right now, Julia! You’re going to scare her! And stop saying oh my God!” Beau tries to hush Jules.
“Shut up, Beau! I’m freaking out!” Jules says.
“Why? You aren’t the one pushing two babies out of you!” he counters.
“Chill out, people,” I tell them quietly, trying to calm them both down.
“You are going to do perfect, baby, and I’m going to be right by your side.” Jace’s lips find mine.
I HAVE SO MUCH LOVE
AN HOUR LATER, my girl brings our daughters, Stella and Scarlett, into the world.
“Holy shit, Jace, you have two little girls,” Landon says proudly. I look over at him while I hold them both in my arms.
“Don’t ever swear in front of my girls.” He laughs, but I give him a pointed face. “I’m not playing, Landon.”
“Bro, you swear all the time.”
“I never have in front of Shay, and my girls will never hear swear words out of my mouth,” I say, looking down at absolute perfection. They are so beautiful. I remember the day I met Shay and telling myself, “Is it possible to fall in love at thirteen? Because I just looked into the eyes of the girl I want to look at forever.”
I look at my girls, and that’s exactly how I feel. The moment the doctor placed them in my arms, and I looked down and saw their faces I was completely mesmerized, completely in love, just like the moment I looked at their mommy. Little cute noses just like Shay’s and pretty big round eyes and pouty lips stare back at me. They look just like Shay but with my jet-black hair. Not a lot but enough for my girl to make a comment all excited that they got her boy’s hair color. So damn pretty, and I’m head over heels in love with all my girls. I just stare at them with so much love.
“Damn, Jace, you’re going to have your hands full,” Landon says, earning another pointed look.
“I’m serious about your mouth in front of my girls.”
“You’re such an alpha,” Jules says, coming up and taking a little pink bundle out of my arms.
“Someone please save that kid from that monster,” Beau says, walking into the room, trying to take her out of Jules’s arms.
“Stop, Beau.” A little sneeze escapes my sweet baby, and Jules looks up at Beau. “It’s that cheap cologne you wear. Get away from her.”
“I don’t wear cheap cologne.”
“Yes, you do,” she sasses.
“How do you know what kind of cologne I wear?”
“It’s the same one you’ve worn since you were a smelly teenager.”
“Well, princess, I’m impressed.”
Jules sits down in the rocking chair and starts rocking my baby girl. I’m already ready to take her back, but Beau gently takes her out of Jules’s arms before I can.
“Why are you impressed?” she asks him.
“You’ve memorized my scent.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her. Those two are totally fighting a serious attraction. Jules rolls her eyes and looks up at me.
“Jace, you better get your daughter from him. I’m afraid Beau has germs, and I don’t want my little goddaughter to get sick.”
“Jace?” I turn as my mother-in-law walks into the room. “I just talked to Grace, and she can’t get here fast enough. They are at the airport now,” Melody says, taking my other pink bundle away from me.
“Mom, I want to hold her,” Tatum says, sitting in the chair next to Jules.
“You have Scarlett. She has a little more hair than Stella.”
“They look like they have the same amount of hair,” Jules says.
“Nope, I can tell. I memorized everything about them as soon as they were placed in my arms,” I tell them with a smile. I memorized Shay the moment I met her, too.
“They are just so cute. Like the cutest babies ever,” Tatum says it just like Shay, as Melody carefully places Scarlett in her arms, and I watch until she cradles her protectively like her mom shows her.
Tristan and Steven walk into the room as Shay peeks her head out of the bathroom. “Don’t move. I’m coming,” I say with quick strides. As I escort her to her hospital bed, I tell Tristan to get out of it. She lies down and two soft pink blankets, my everything nestled inside, are gently placed in her arms. Shay smiles at me, and everyone else in the room falls away when I look at my only love holding our family. Landon’s right. Holy shit, I have two more girls to love. I don’t say that out loud, but, damn, I have so much love for these three girls God has given me.
“I love you, baby,” I tell Shay, pressing my lips to hers, then kissing my sweet little girls on the forehead. “They’re so soft and smell so good.” I breathe in our love as Shay looks at me through tired eyes. “Pretty girl, you did so good.”
“Thank you,” she says in that voice that I’ve put to memory the day she drove off in that limo at the center.
“I have something for you.” I nod, looking over at everyone. “Who wants to hold my girls for a minute?”
“I want Scarlett back. I only held her for a minute,” Tatum says as a very proud grandpa walks over.
“I would love to hold my granddaughters,” Steven says, reaching down to pick up one of our babies.
“Let me help you, Steven,” Melody says. She walks over to the other side of Shay and scoops up one baby as he gets the other.
“Give me your palm,” I tell Shay. She gives me her hand, and I take out of my pocket two little baby charms that I’ve carried around with me the last few days. I knew she was going into labor soon, and I wanted to put them on her wrist the second the babies were born.
“Jace, they’re so cute.”
I take off her charm bracelet and slide them on next to her moon and stars.
“I love you. Thank you for giving me the most beautiful little girls.”
“They are the cutest ever. I think they look exactly like you, perfect boy.”
“Yeah, baby, they are the cutest ever.” I smile my favorite grin and kiss her soft lips. Now I have Shay, Scarlett, and Stella, the three prettiest girls in the world to love. “I can’t wait to hear their little voices, all sassy and sweet just like you.”
TWO YEARS LATER
TWO TALL PINK CANDLES
I PLACE STELLA AND Scarlett’s heart-shaped cake my mom made in front of them. To say my mom and Grace are excited about being grandmas would be putting it mildly.
My mom can’t get enough of them, spending hours in her orange grove teaching them the proper way to remove oranges from the trees. They already know how to squeeze their own juice, always wanting to make it for my dad when he comes into the kitchen. My dad gets a kick out of my mom and the girls walking up from the groves with their mini crates to carry full of oranges.
Grace and Jason moved here to be closer to us, and we are close, all of us. Jace and I even stood by their side as they said “I do” not long after my boy and I were married. I watched Jace’s face the entire ceremony as he watched his parents get married. He was all smiles, and when he looked over at me and mouthed he loved me, I could see how happy he was that his childhood dream was fulfilled.
Between both of the grandmas wanting time with their granddaughters, my boy and I get lots of free time to spend in each other’s arms. We love our alone time, but we love being together as a family, too. Put it this way, my boy smothers all his girls.
The girls wiggle all over Jace’s lap, as I get ready to light their two tall pink candles. The entire family gathers around them—Mom, Dad, Grace, Jason, Beau, Tristan, Tatum, Jules, and Landon. Jace’s hair falls in his face, and Stella pushes it back like she always does. Jet-black hair and three sets of pale blue eyes stare back at me. A camera flashes behind me at the perfect moment, and I know I will be framing my boy with our girls. I look over my shoulder, and Grace smiles.
“That was a good shot,” she says. Jace’s dad wraps his arms around her from behind.
“Damn, Gracie, we really have a beautiful family.”
“I know,” she agrees quietly, staring at Jace. I smile at her as she watches her son with his daughters, and I’m just so thankful Jace has the mother he always deserved. I look back over to my little girls jumping all over my boy. I light their candles before Jace gets hit with their enthusiasm on his cute, very sexy face.
YELLOW DRESS AND PINK FROSTING
THE PRETTIEST GIRLS you will ever see bounce on my lap and giggle like their mom as I hold on to their chubby tummies before they fall over. I look up at Shay as she lights their birthday candles and stare as the flicker of light casts a glow upon her face. So in love. She literally takes my breath away as sixteen candles and pretty pink bikinis flood my mind. She will always be the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, and she will always captivate me. “I love you,” I mouth to her from across the same table she blew out her candles while sitting on my lap.
Grace gets out her camera we bought her and takes a picture of me with Stella and Scarlett. “Come here, baby,” I tell Shay. “I want you next to me when we sing to our girls.” With hips that were made to only move with mine, she walks around the table and finds a place next to me. She places her hand on my thigh. Like always, Melody starts the birthday song, and everyone joins in while I gaze into her dark blue eyes. “I wished for this,” I say as she finishes singing to our girls.
“Wished for what?”
“To have this life with you. Right here on your sixteenth birthday, when you blew out your candles, I wished for this life.”
“Did you get everything you wished for, Jace?”
“I got you. I only ever needed you, but what you’ve given me…our girls.” I get choked up. “Do you love me?”
“I love you more than anything.” She smiles the brightest smile. I tilt my head at those words.
With our girls blowing out birthday wishes, Shay pulls me down to her mouth. “Give me your lips,” she says with the softest, sweetest tone, and I do. We kiss, and then I silently beg her to open up to me. As she does, I let my tongue slip past her lips, making the quickest love to her. “Best quickie ever,” she says, and I want my girl home now to make the sexiest music with her. She looks so damn pretty in her dress.
The girls put their hands into their heart-shaped cake, and as they take them out, they rub them on Shay’s yellow dress. Pink frosting smears everywhere, and then my girl looks up at me and smiles. The girls giggle loudly as about five flashes of cameras hit our face. My girl just got an epic moment captured.
ONE YEAR LATER
FLUFFY PINK HEARTS AND THE CUTEST TOOTHLESS GRIN
I GUESS YOU COULD say opposites attract. Jace and I didn’t know that when we first met, or maybe we did, but we didn’t care. I had everything I ever needed, and only wanted him. Jace has given me my entire world. He came into my life on a warm October day, and I can tell you every detail about that moment. The day I met my soul mate is engrained so deep in my heart. I didn’t have a care in the world before I opened the door to that field behind the community center. But, the moment my eyes looked into his, I cared about everything. He has made every day of our lives together calendar-worthy. Even through our hardships, he’s always shown me strength and love.
I hold our precious baby boy who looks exactly like Jace in my arms. Pale blue eyes and jet-black hair and the cutest ever little toothless grin. My baby boy is absolute perfection, and the way he holds on to me, I know he is
going to be just as protective as his daddy. With two beautiful daughters, I prayed under every star that lights the sky when I found out I was pregnant again that I would get my mini Jace, and I did. That’s exactly what we named him—Jace, just like his daddy. Beau is named after our dad, but goes by his middle name because when he was little my mom used to always call him by his full name, Steven Beau Stark, and I always called him Beau.
I wanted our son to be named after his dad, too. Jace Steven James is named after the two best men in my life, and Jace loves that his boy is named after him and my father. Stella and Scarlett call him Jacey, so I’m sure that will be what he ends up going by, but he’s my mini Jace. I hold him tight as I tuck our girls into bed.
“Where’s Daddy?” Stella asks.
“He’s with Grandpa at the studio, but he’s almost home.”
“Is Daddy on his motorcycle?” Scarlett asks lovingly, clutching a little pink heart pillow on the bed.
The girls have so many fluffy pink hearts all over their beds. Jace says he can’t even see their little bodies from all the pillows. I told him he shouldn’t have bought them so many. I always throw them on the floor when they fall asleep just like my mom did with me. We like fluffy pillows, and my boy loves pink hearts, as long as they aren’t on our bed.
He makes them feel special and loved by giving them the cutest little homemade cards, like, seriously super adorable. When they make him his favorite heart-shaped sandwiches, he always tells them they are the best he’s every had no matter how messy they are.
“I can’t wait to ride on Daddy’s bike,” Stella says, lifting herself up off the bed and placing a soft kiss on her brother’s cheek. Jace laughs and Scarlett leans over Stella. “I want to give Jacey a kiss, too,” Scarlett says, raining little kisses all over his chubby face.
“Mommy, can I ride on Daddy’s bike?” Stella asks. I think she might be our rebel girl.
Questionable Love (A Love Beyond Labels #2) Page 50