Always Us (The Jade Series #8)

by Everhart, Allie

  My life is pretty fucking awesome. I have the best wife ever, who I love more than anything. I live in a beautiful house on the ocean. And I own a company that sells sports gear. I mean, shit, it can’t get any better than that.

  I’ve got some balance in my life now, too. Last year, I was working way too many hours and traveling too much. It was stressful on both Jade and me and I didn’t even realize I’d been working that much until my birthday. I’d been traveling for two weeks straight, which is the longest I’d been away from Jade since we got married. When I finally got home and we were together that night, it hit me that my life had gotten off track. I was becoming my father and that scared the shit out of me. I don’t want to work all the time. I want to spend my time with Jade. Enjoy our house. Our life. And I wasn’t doing that when I was constantly working. Now my life is more balanced. Less work, more time at home. I like it that way.

  When I get home from my meeting, Jade is waiting for me in the living room, which is odd because she’s usually in the kitchen. She still doesn’t cook much but she likes hanging out there. We have a huge kitchen with a see-through fireplace. On one side of it is a little sitting area where Jade likes to read or drink her coffee in the morning. Or she’ll just sit there and gaze out at the ocean. The kitchen is in the back of the house, which is all windows and has a great view of the ocean.

  “Hey, birthday girl.” I take a seat next to her on the couch. “What are you doing in here? The TV isn’t even on.”

  “I was waiting for you.”

  “Well, here I am.” I kiss her. “I’m taking you out to lunch. You ready to go?”

  “Not yet. I want to talk to you about something first.”

  That doesn’t sound good. But she’s smiling so it can’t be that bad.

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  “I want to go over some of the new products I think we should stock in the store this spring.”

  I put Jade in charge of the women’s merchandise in our stores. And damn, she’s good at it. She seems to know exactly what our customers want. We sell out of the women’s clothing and gear way faster than the men’s.

  “Jade, we can do this later. We don’t need to go over it now. I don’t want to talk about work on your birthday.”

  “I know, but I’m excited about this and I wanted to ask your opinion.”

  She does look excited. She’s on the edge of her seat, her face beaming.

  “Okay, go ahead.”

  “I was thinking we should start carrying baby and kid clothes. A lot of parents shop at our stores and I know they’d buy kids’ clothes if they were there. We don’t have to change the whole store layout around. I was thinking we could just start small, with some displays, maybe in the women’s section.”

  “I think it’s a good idea. At the last marketing meeting, we were just talking about this. Someone mentioned that customers were asking why we don’t sell stuff for kids. I think we should look into it.”

  She pulls a small bag out from behind her back. “I got some samples to show you what I’m talking about.”

  She hands me the bag. I open it up and take out the tiniest pair of board shorts I’ve ever seen. They’re bright green with a white stripe on the side. Then I pull out a tiny white rash guard t-shirt. “Are these for infants?”

  “Yeah. Aren’t they cute?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know if we want to sell clothing for infants. We should probably start with stuff for older kids first. See how it sells.”

  She takes the board shorts and t-shirt from me and holds them up. “If I was a surfer and saw these in the store, I’d totally buy them. Parents like to dress their kids the same way they dress. So surfers would definitely buy this stuff for their baby. I know they would.”

  I lean over and kiss her. “Well, you seem to know this stuff so I trust you. If you want to try this in the stores, we’ll try it. But we’ll need to test it at a few locations first to see how it sells before rolling it out to all the other stores.”

  “Then I’ll start looking for suppliers.”

  “Talk to Christine. She already knows all the suppliers. It’ll save you a lot of time.”

  “Okay.” Jade hands me the clothes again. “Here.”

  I laugh. “What am I supposed to do with these?” I hold up the tiny shirt that’s about the size of my hand. “It’s a little small for me, Jade.”

  She nods, nervously. “Yeah. I know.”

  I put my hand on her arm. “Jade, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. I just—” She takes a breath. “I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

  “Why would I be mad at you?” I set the clothes down and hold her hand.

  “Because I—” She takes another breath.

  “Jade. Just tell me.”

  “Um, I had something else to show you.” She reaches behind her back again and hands me another tiny shirt. Just a plain white t-shirt with some words on it.

  I hold it up. It says ‘Daddy’s Little Surfer’ and has a surfboard on it. “Yeah, it’s a cute. I’m sure the customers will love it.”

  Jade’s giving me this look and I don’t know what it means. I set the shirt down but she gives it right back to me.

  “It’s not for the customers. It’s for you.” She pauses. “I mean, not for you specifically, but for—” She stops.

  I still don’t know what she’s trying to tell me or why she’s so nervous about it. She’s looking down at my hands, which are still holding the tiny ‘Daddy’s Little Surfer’ shirt.

  Wait. Is she telling me what I think she’s telling me? That can’t be right. She’s on the pill. We had planned on starting a family this year, but we haven’t talked about it for a while. I was thinking Jade wanted to wait a little longer. Maybe she missed her period and just thinks she’s pregnant, like she did right after we got married. But if that were the case, she would’ve taken a pregnancy test. Maybe she did.

  “Jade, are you telling me you’re—”

  “Pregnant.” Her eyes move up to mine. “For real this time.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I went to the doctor this morning.”

  I cautiously smile, not sure I believe this. “You’re not joking here, right? You’re really serious?”

  She shakes her head. “I’m not joking.”

  “We’re having a baby?” I grab her and pull her into a hug. “We’re really having a baby?”

  “Yeah,” she says softly. “Are you mad at me?”

  I let her go just enough to look at her. She looks worried.

  “God, no. Why would I be mad at you?”

  “Because I went off the pill in July and I didn’t tell you. You were out of town and when we talked on the phone, I didn’t even think about it. And then you were gone all those weeks in August before your birthday and then after that I—”

  “Jade.” I kiss her. “You don’t have to explain.”

  “I just never thought this would happen so soon. The doctor said it takes months to get pregnant after you go off the pill. But I guess that’s not true for everyone. I’m sorry, Garret. I should’ve talked to you before I went off the pill.”

  I hold her face and set my eyes on hers. “Jade. I want this. I’ve always wanted this with you. I didn’t give a shit when it happened.”

  She smiles. “So you’re happy?”

  “Are you kidding? I’m more than happy.” I hug her, then gently push her back so I can see her face. “Jade, are you happy about this?”

  She nods, smiling. “Yeah. It’s what I want. It’s exactly what I want. I just wanted to make sure it’s what you wanted, too. I mean, the timing of it.”

  “You can have as many babies as you want, whenever the hell you want them, and I’d still be happy. I’d have a thousand babies with you.”

  She laughs. “Let’s just have this first one and see how it goes.”

  I glance down at her stomach. Holy shit! There’s a baby in there. My baby.
r />   I look back at Jade, holding her hands. “What did the doctor say? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”

  “Everything’s fine so far. My next appointment’s in a few weeks.”

  “How do you feel?”

  “Okay, except for being really tired. I couldn’t figure out why I’ve been so tired the past few weeks. That’s why I went to the doctor. I thought I was sick or something.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this?”

  “Because you worry too much. I was just tired. I didn’t feel sick.”

  “So you haven’t been sick? Like morning sickness or anything?”

  “No, I didn’t have any other symptoms except missing my period, but the doctor said that might happen after going off the pill. That’s why I didn’t think I was pregnant.”

  “Do you know your due date?”

  She smiles. “May 15th.”

  I smile back. “The day I proposed.”

  “And the day you told me you were free from the organization. It was a really good day. And it’s going to be even better now. There’s something else, too.”

  “What?”

  “The doctor can’t say for sure, but she thinks I conceived on August 22nd.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Your birthday. So we made the baby on your birthday and found out about it on mine. And our baby will arrive on the day we got engaged. I guess this baby’s into celebrations, just like you. She’s just like her dad.”

  “She? You already know—”

  “No. I just didn’t want to call our baby ‘it.’”

  “Our baby.” I smile as I hug her against my chest. “I like the sound of that. Actually, I fucking love the sound of that. I can’t believe we’re having a baby.”

  “I know. I can’t either. It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

  I sit back and look at her. “I love you. I love you so much.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Holy shit. We’re having a baby!”

  Jade laughs and I hug her again. Then I take her for lunch, then a movie, then out for a nice dinner, followed by a romantic sunset cruise on a sailboat. Jade still loves sailboats.

  Later, when we’re in bed, Jade thanks me for giving her a great birthday. But the fancy dinner and sunset cruise were nothing compared to the news we got today.

  It’s Jade’s birthday, but we both got a gift. A gift that will make our life together even better.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Another Birthday

  JADE

  “Garret, you cannot be in the room with me,” I tell him as I waddle through the kitchen. That’s right. Waddle. I no longer walk. In fact, I haven’t for months. I miss walking. I can’t wait to walk again.

  “Jade, every father is in the delivery room. It’s normal.”

  “Not in the old days. Fifty years ago, men sat in the waiting room, smoking cigars. That’s what you should do. Get some cigars.”

  I’m slowly pacing the floor. I’m nervous because I might give birth today and I’m scared to death. I woke up at six this morning, worrying about it. I got out of bed, because even just lying in bed is uncomfortable now.

  “I don’t smoke cigars, and even if I did, you can’t smoke in a hospital. And I’m not sitting in the waiting room. I want to be with you.”

  “Garret, we’ve been over this a thousand times. I don’t want you in there.”

  “Jade, I swear. I will stay by your head. I won’t even look.”

  This is why I don’t want Garret in the delivery room. I went to the birthing classes. I saw the films. And I don’t want Garret seeing any of that stuff. I don’t want him down there when the baby comes out. No way. Other women may be fine with it, but not me.

  I sigh, because I can’t sit down. I’m so big in front, I feel like I’m going to tip over trying to sit in my favorite chair. It’s in a little area that’s connected to the kitchen and looks out at the ocean. I always sit here in the mornings before I start my day.

  “Here.” Garret helps me into the chair.

  “I can’t believe how huge I am,” I say, looking down at my belly.

  He leans down and kisses me. “You’re beautiful.”

  “I’m huge.”

  “You’re not huge. From the back, people don’t even know you’re pregnant.”

  It’s true. The rest of me looks normal but my stomach is huge. Like I swallowed a giant beach ball. And all that weight in front throws me completely off balance.

  “How can a tiny baby take up so much space?” I ask.

  Garret sits on the arm of the chair. “Maybe it’s not a tiny baby. Maybe it’s a big baby.”

  “Garret! Don’t say that! I’m already freaking out about getting it out of me.”

  He reaches down and holds my hand. “Don’t worry about it. You’re gonna do great.” He smiles. “Especially since I’ll be there coaching you through it.”

  I smile back. “Fine. You can be in the room. But if you glance down there even once, I swear I’ll—”

  He kisses me before I can say it. “You know what?”

  “What?”

  “By tomorrow at this time, we could be holding our baby.”

  “I don’t think so. I think this baby plans to stay in here a while.” I rub my belly. “And that’s fine with me because I don’t think I can do this.”

  Garret laughs. “It’s a little late for that, Jade. The baby’s coming and I bet it comes today.” He said ‘it’ because we still don’t know if we’re having a boy or a girl. We wanted it to be a surprise. “You should’ve read the books, Jade. If you did, you wouldn’t be so freaked out.”

  When Garret found out I was pregnant, he went out and bought every pregnancy book he could find. And then he read them all. But I wouldn’t. It was too much information. I read a few pages of one of the books and all it did was freak me out even more.

  “Between you and Harper, I got more than enough information. I didn’t need to read the books.”

  Harper is also pregnant, with baby number two. She’s due in a couple weeks. She’s having another boy. She thought for sure she was having a girl this time. She even started buying pink baby clothes, but then found out it was a boy. I just laugh because she’s such a girly girl and she ends up having boys. But she loves her little boy and she can’t wait to have another one. And Sean is a great dad and a great husband. He always has these dad and son days so Harper can get a break and go shopping or get a massage or do the other girly stuff she likes doing.

  “You two are up early.” Karen walks in the room, with Frank right behind her. “It’s only six fifteen.”

  “I couldn’t sleep,” I say, as she comes over to me.

  Karen and Frank got here a few days ago. I asked them to come stay with us because Karen’s the only person who’s able to calm me down whenever I panic about the delivery. Karen’s been a labor and delivery nurse for more than 30 years, so she’s seen pretty much everything. She keeps telling me that giving birth is no big deal. That it’s natural and my body will know exactly what to do and that women have been doing it forever. It’s all stuff I know, but the way she says it always makes me feel better.

  I love Karen. She’s awesome. She treats me like the daughter she never had. She and Frank come out and visit all the time. Frank really lucked out when he found Karen. He’s so much happier with her in his life. And she takes such great care of him that now he has way more good days than bad.

  She smiles and rubs my arm. “All ready for the big day?”

  “Not really. I’m kind of freaking out.”

  Frank leans down and kisses my head. “Relax, honey. You’ll be fine.”

  “You may not deliver today,” Karen says. “It could be tomorrow or later this week. How do you feel?”

  “I feel okay. But I feel like I should do something. Maybe I’ll clean out the refrigerator.” I try to get up, but can’t.

  Garret laughs. “The refrigerator doesn’t need to be cleaned, Jade.”

&
nbsp; “She’s still nesting,” Karen says to him. “I’m going to go make some coffee.” She and Frank walk into the kitchen.

  Karen’s nesting comment is referring to my need to clean and organize the entire house. I’ve been doing this for weeks. Apparently it’s something pregnant women do before giving birth.

  “I’m not nesting,” I insist. “I just need to clean.”

  Garret kisses my cheek. “What you need is breakfast. What do you want?”

  “Could I have some donuts? I’m dying for a donut.”

  Garret’s been making food runs for months. My cravings are out of control. My donut cravings, especially.

  “Jade, I’m not leaving you on your due date. What if you go into labor and I’m not here?”

  “According to your books, labor goes on for hours and the donut shop is only a few minutes from here. Nothing’s going to happen while you’re gone.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea. How about some toast instead?”

  “But I’m really craving donuts. Please.” I give him my sad eyes, which I know he can’t say no to.

  He sighs, then leans down and talks to my stomach. “Stay in there until I get back.”

  I laugh. “You’re funny. Hey, get me the chocolate ones with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.”

  He shakes his head. “I hope this doesn’t mean our baby’s going to be born addicted to donuts.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with donuts.” I try to sit up to kiss him but I can’t reach him and now I’m stuck in this chair. It’s a deep, squishy chair that’s hard to get out of.

  Garret notices me attempting to move. “You want help getting up?”

  I sigh. “No, I’ll just stay here. If I need help, Frank or Karen will help me.”

  He leans down and gives me a kiss. “I’ll be back soon. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  He leaves.

  And a few minutes later, my water breaks.

  GARRET