by Natalie Ann
That damn bird screeched again. He was starting to get annoyed.
“Cole,” his mother said. “I never should have done what I did all those years ago. I never should have said what I did when you told me about the baby, either. In the last month, I’ve come to realize I’m the one that pushed everyone away from me. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose out on spending time with my grandchild.”
“I don’t want that, either. It’s going to take time for me to forgive you, though. To even trust you again.”
“I understand. All I ask is for the opportunity to be a part of your family’s life. I’ll spend the next several years making it up to you anyway I can.”
“What are you two doing here?” Celeste said, walking up and smiling.
Cole shook his head. “Just like a regular old family gathering. What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I knew you were here, so I had to come and see if you were okay.”
He didn’t bother to ask how she knew.
“Really, Celeste. I hate when you talk like that,” his mother said.
“Get used to it.”
Celeste stepped up between him and his mother, sliding her arms around each of their waists. “Well, Daddy, what do you think? You think it’s time we all forgave each other and moved on?”
Screeching filled the air, loud and long. “What is that bird’s problem?”
Celeste lay her head on Cole’s shoulder. “Daddy says it’s time to move on. Let’s go home now. Mom,” Celeste said, “Daddy would like for you to come back and visit him again. He misses you.”
“I miss him, too,” his mother said, tears running down her cheeks.
“You can forgive yourself now,” Celeste said.
“Who are talking to?” Cole asked.
“Both of you. Daddy told me a long time ago that I had to make sure you guys got through it if you ever found out the truth.”
“He knew?” her mother asked.
“He and I are pretty smart. He left me in charge of you two. Wanted to make sure you were taken care of.”
***
“You’ve had one crazy day,” Rene said to him later at dinner.
“You don’t know the half of it.”
He’d just finished explaining the fight with his mother, then the cemetery visit and Celeste, and how their father knew all along.
“I never realized it was like that for you growing up. I mean, I’ve heard bits and pieces but not the whole. I never pictured you as someone who would doubt his own self-worth,” Rene said.
“I never did. Not until my senior year. I guess I just looked up to my father so much. There was a part of me that wanted to be just like him. Not his personality. He’d always been a bit rough. But he was so well respected. Still, I blamed him for a lot of things over the years. More than I should have. It’s hard to think how those things I felt have no merit now.”
“He was respected. I remember that. You are too, Cole. You’re a stand-up person. Proof is that you’re feeling the way you do right now. You felt that way toward your father because you really believed it, and now you know it’s not true and it kills you to know you thought badly of someone that meant so much to you.”
“I’d like to think I got it from him. Maybe him being so hard on me made me work harder.”
“Nah. You would have been this way no matter what. It’s who you are.”
“My grandmother always said Celeste was the nurturer and I was the protector.”
“I believe that one hundred percent.” She reached for his hand and held it close. “Don’t you find it funny that we both wanted our parents’ approval and never thought we had it?”
“Not really,” he said. “I think a lot of people want that in life.”
“The odd thing was, we both had it and never knew,” she said. “I never thought we’d have anything in common, least of all that. And the funny thing is, we both worked hard to get where we are in life in spite of it. Or maybe because of it.”
“We’ve got our child in common,” he said, smiling.
“We do. Next week we get to find out if Junior has a stick or not.”
He laughed. He found she made him smile more than he ever had before.
Tugging on her hand, he pulled her over and put her on his lap and then pushed up the glasses she was wearing. “You know, in some ways you’re nothing like the girl I remember and in other ways, you’re the same.”
“I came here to change. I never thought that change would be in the form of bigger boobs and a growing belly, but hey, it seems to be working.”
He snuggled his mouth by her neck. “It’s a good look on you.”
“Thank you. Seriously though, for me, this move was to get past who I was and who I always thought I wanted to be.”
“Who did you think you were supposed to be?”
“I don’t know, really. Someone like Nick maybe? Someone who knew what they wanted in life and went after it. Someone who paid more attention to what was going on around them, and didn’t get lost in their own thoughts so much. I know everyone always thought I was clueless about things.”
“I’ve never thought you were clueless. I think you just took longer to figure things out. That worked out great for me,” he said, tweaking her nose.
She giggled. “Let’s make a promise to each other,” she said.
“We make a lot of promises to each other. But sure, what is this one?” he asked.
“That we don’t lie to each other. We’ll always tell the truth. I don’t like all this second-guessing. I’ve spent so much of my life doing that and it’s tiring.”
“That’s a good promise,” he agreed. “I want to know if you feel like I’m not here enough for you. If I’m not giving you what you want or need in life. I have to know that above all else.”
“Why does it matter so much?”
He was shocked she asked that. “That’s a stupid question. It matters because I love you. Do you love me back?” He held his breath. “We just promised to tell each other the truth,” he said, holding her stare. He finally realized what Celeste meant before about not having it all figured out. Now he did.
She smiled. “I do. I love you a whole bunch.”
“As much as the ice cream you’ve eaten in the last week?”
She poked her finger in his side. “More than that.”
“Then I know it’s a whole lot!”
Epilogue
“Are you two ready to see your child?”
Rene was lying on her back, her shirt lifted up, her tiny belly bared to them with Cole next to her.
The doctor grabbed some lubricant and squirted it on her belly. “Oh that’s warm. I expected it to be cold.”
“We try to be considerate and warm it up for the belly.”
Cole was holding her hand, his foot shaking up and down on the floor next to her. His excitement was contagious.
“Do we make a bet?” Cole asked her.
“If it’s a boy you take me out to dinner,” she said.
“If it’s a girl, you make me dinner.”
She frowned. Cooking dinner seemed to take forever now. She ended up snacking and sampling half the meal before it was done. “Deal. But I know it’s a boy, so no worries.”
They both looked on while the doctor was pointing everything out to Cole. “Look, it’s our child,” Cole said, his voice cracking slightly.
“It is,” she agreed. She felt her eyes welling up.
“And this right here,” the doctor said. “Can you guess what that is?”
“It’s a stick!” Rene said.
“I guess you were right all along,” Cole said.
“I know my body. I knew it was boy. Just like his daddy,” she said.
After the doctor left, they made their way out of the office. “Do you want to get some lunch first?”
“You’re going to buy me lunch and dinner. Wow, my lucky day.”
“I’d say it’s our lucky day, but yeah. Let’
s grab some food and go home to eat it.”
Once they were back at home, Cole left her to set the food up at the table and ran upstairs. When he returned, he put a box in front of her.
“What is it?”
“Open it.”
She reached forward and ripped the paper off fast, then lifted the top.
Inside was a tiny blue shirt that said, “Will you marry my daddy?”
“You knew it was boy, too?” she said.
“That’s your response? What about my question?”
“Where’s my ring?” she said first, laughing.
“Have you always been this greedy?”
“This is the first gift you’ve given me, now you know. I like gifts.”
He stood up and pulled a ring out of his pocket, got down on one knee, and reached for her hand.
“I love you. I realize now that’s why you didn’t want to get married when I suggested it before. Because you were waiting for me to say this, right?”
“Yes.”
“So I’m saying it now. No, I’m asking you, not suggesting or saying. Will you marry me? You’ve been in my heart for most of my life, but I never realized it.”
“I had the biggest crush on you when I was kid, but it wasn’t love. This is love, Cole. What we have now, it’s all about love. So, yes, I’ll marry you.”
He slid the ring on her finger, watched her stare at it, then slid another on top of it. “What the heck?” she said. “Where did the second one come from?”
“What do you mean by that statement? Did you know I had this ring? Did you find it in my drawer?” Her face started to flush. “Don’t lie to me,” he said, laughing.
“I saw it when your mother dropped that box off.”
“Well, this other ring was in that box. It was my grandmother’s. I didn’t want to give it to you, but decided that you can pick the ring you want. It won’t bother me if it’s not the one I bought you.”
“I want the one you picked out, because it came from you.”
“It’s not because it’s bigger?” he asked, laughing.
“No. Though that is a nice side benefit. I want it because you picked it out with me in mind long before you got anyone’s approval, and that means more than anything ever could. It means it was always about you and me.”
“Always. Soon it will be about you, me, and Junior.”
“Thomas John,” she said. He looked up sharply. “Has a nice a ring to it, don’t you think? To our fathers, the men that have had our backs all along.”
“To our fathers,” he said, leaning forward and kissing her belly.
Never miss a new release, a sale or an update on future books by signing up for my newsletter.
You can also read interesting facts on my book by following me on my website.
And as always, I appreciate your loyalty and would love if you’d leave a review. A few words are sufficient. Reviews help build rankings and support Indie Authors.
More Books
The Road Series
Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery
Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption
Mac and Beth’s Story – Road to Reality
Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story - Road to Reason
The All Series
Ben and Presley’s Story – All Or Nothing
Phil and Sophia’s Story – All Of Me
Alec and Brynn’s Story – All The Way
Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want
Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love
Finn and Olivia’s Story— All About You
The Lake Placid Series
Nick and Mallory’s Story- Second Chance
Max and Quinn’s Story – Give Me A Chance
Caleb and Celeste’s Story – Our Chance
Cole and Rene’s Story – Take A Chance
Zach and Amber’s Story – Deserve A Chance