by Selena Kitt
The next morning Hunter wakes me up with breakfast in bed. The food at this hotel is amazing, but I’m starting to miss cooking. That’s all about to be solved, though.
“Allison after dinner tonight, I have to fly back to meet the team. We’ll be back in a week or so, but there’s something I want to get done today.”
“What’s that?” I say and take a big bite of croissant smeared with raspberry preserves.
“We’re going to find our dream home. I’ve got a real estate agent meeting us in one hour. You and I are going to spend the day picking out our new home.”
“That sounds like fun. Dibs on the shower.” I say and rush into the master suite’s bathroom after shoving the rest of the croissant into my mouth.
“There’s another bathroom in the suite.” Hunter calls out after me.
“But, this one is mine.” I shout triumphantly back at him.
This place is like a royal palace. I barely noticed until now. I’ve been distracted by the food, diamonds, and Hunter’s gorgeous physique. I take a quick shower in the gilded enclosure, and when I step out, there’s a neatly folded pile of clothes on the bathroom counter.
From the hotel gift shop – The card in Hunter’s handwriting reads.
That was thoughtful. Up until that moment, I’d forgotten that I came here last night with nothing.
“That man is going to take good care of us.” I say to my belly.
The real estate agent, Marjorie, picks us up in a big black Escalade and drives us out to some of the swankiest neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. The first couple we see are nice, but they don’t feel like home. So, we decide to keep looking.
The next one she pulls up in front of is a brick mansion that takes my breath away. The subtle pink of the bricks is highlighted by the cream trim on the windows and the ornate center window on the second floor. Perfectly manicured bushes punctuate the front of the house, and the double entry door beckons me before I can even get my seatbelt undone.
Every room is more beautiful than the one before it, and when I get into the kitchen, I know I’m home. The professional grade appliances blend beautifully with the hardwood floors and the cheerful lemon yellow walls. One wall is entirely made of windows, and it overlooks the pool in the back yard and the perfectly manicured pond beyond that.
The master suite is gorgeous, and I can see myself sleeping there every night with Hunter. The truly magical room is the one that I know is perfect for the baby. It’s already painted powder blue, have I told you I’m convinced I’m having a boy, and the light hardwood flooring are already sparking my imagination as far as baby furnishings. There’s a huge window overlooking a garden on the side of the house too.
“Do you like this one?” Hunter says as he puts his arm around my waist.
“I love this one. Can we afford this?”
“Yes, sweetie, we can afford this. In fact, this house is at the lower end of our budget. Are you sure you don’t want to keep looking. We can afford something even nicer.”
“Absolutely not. This one is perfect, and since we don’t have to negotiate on price, we’ll make the deal happen today.”
“You don’t want some time and space to think about it?” He says teasing me.
“Shut up and buy this house for me.” I say and playfully elbow him in the ribs.
We go downstairs and find Marjorie waiting for us looking nervous.
“There’s an offer on the house, but they asked for a four hundred thousand dollar reduction. What do you want to do?” She says and chews her bottom lip anxiously.
“Put in an offer with a one hundred thousand dollar bonus above the asking price if they sign the contract within the next thirty minutes.” Hunter says, and Marjorie furiously types into her laptop.
We have to wait about five minutes before we hear back from the seller’s real estate agent. Marjorie smiles wide when she reads their reply.
“The seller has accepted your offer. Their agent is racing over to their new house to get the contract signed as we speak. Shall we go back to my office and wait?”
“Lets do that.” I say and take Hunter’s arm.
Chapter 12
Allison
We show up to my dad and Angela’s home a couple of hours early. Angela is there, but my dad is at work. Apparently he’s working on some sort of huge project, and he won’t be back until it’s time for dinner.
“Why don’t I cook instead of us going to a restaurant?” I say to Angela after she hugs me for five minutes straight.
“I assume that’s because you want to tell Will about the baby and the upcoming wedding.” She says as she examines the ring on my finger.
“Yes, and thank you, Angela, for keeping this between you and Hunter until I was ready to tell him.”
I send Hunter and his mom to the store to get the ingredients for dinner. Fortunately, the house is already stocked with the items I need to make the dessert. I set to work making the berry swirl cheesecake while I wait for them to get back.
When they arrive, we all set to work preparing the meal. The two of them help me with tasks like chopping vegetables and stirring the sauces. A little over two hours later, we have a complete meal of grilled salmon with lemon butter sauce, risotto, roasted spring vegetables, and cold potato salad. The cheesecake is in the refrigerator setting up as well.
Dad arrives home and is thrilled that I’ve cooked. He says it’s been far too long since he had a meal prepared by me, and that he’ll be right down after he changes his clothes.
I pour everyone except me glasses of perfectly chilled white wine, and we dig in. The conversation is light at first, and I decide to wait until dessert to tell dad about Hunter and I. After I serve the cheesecake, I sit back down in my chair and take a deep breath.
“Dad, Hunter and I have something to tell you.”
“What’s that, honey?” He says right before he takes a bite of his cheesecake. “This is delicious, by the way.” He has no idea what’s coming, and I had hoped he’d already figured it out by now.
“Okay. Dad, Hunter and I are engaged, and the baby is his. Sorry we didn’t tell you sooner.” I blurt it out as fast as I can.
He drops his fork.
“Well. I didn’t see that coming.” He says and picks his fork back up. “Um… How long have you two been an item?”
“That’s the thing, dad. We started dating right before you told us that you and Angela were getting married. I freaked out and broke things off, though. We got back together on the island, but I broke things off again before I went back to Paris. I’m having his baby, now, and we’re getting married. We bought a house today a couple of miles away from here.”
“They bought the Pembroke Mansion, dear.” Angela says to him and smiles.
“You knew about this?” He asks and raises an eyebrow.
“I did, but the kids wanted to tell you, so I kept it to myself. I would have told you eventually if they didn’t, but I wanted to give them some time.”
“You guys didn’t have to keep this from me. It’s not like you two are related. You were practically adults when Angela and I got married. I mean if you’d stayed together in high school, Hunter would have had to live in the guesthouse until you graduated. We could have worked it out.” He says and takes a sip of his wine.
“So, you’re okay with all of this?” I say hopefully.
“Honey, I’m thrilled. Hunter’s a good man, and I know he’ll be a wonderful father and husband.”
“Now that’s out of the way, we have a baby shower and wedding to plan.” Angela says to me.
One Month Later
I know baby showers are usually at the end of the pregnancy and not in the middle, but I wanted to have mine before the wedding. Hunter and my dad are going fishing off the coast today, and they’ve left the house to Angela and I for the shower.
We’ve been working on the food and desserts for a couple of days, and I have to say that I am in love with my new kitchen. I th
ink I might love it almost as much as I love Hunter. Almost.
Jen shows up an hour before the shower with the cake, and I sneak her in through the back door. Angela almost catches us, but I play it off that I’m just getting some extra condiments from the pantry. Terri’s husband is home between tours overseas, but he drops her off at the shower because I promised not to keep her too long.
The doorbell starts ringing at around one, and the guests start arriving. I’ve invited the wives and girlfriends of the entire team over, and much to my surprise, they are all coming. Angela promised me it will all be fine, and I squeeze her hand as I watch my house fill up with women.
Just when I think everyone has arrived, the doorbell rings one more time. When I open it, I have to squeal with delight. My friends Annette and Lucinda from Paris are here at my shower.
“Hunter flew us in, honey.” Lucinda says when I ask her how they got to Atlanta.
“I told you guys about the party two weeks ago. You never said you were coming.” I say and give them feign anger.
“Hunter told us to keep it a secret.” Annette says and pops a shrimp puff into her mouth. “God, these are delicious Allison. I miss your cooking.”
Everyone mingles for a while, and I introduce Terri to Annette and Lucinda. I catch up with the girls and find out they are both thinking of moving to Florence together. Annette has a rich Italian boyfriend who wants to front them the money to open a café.
“So, he’s your boyfriend?” I ask Annette. “But, he wants you both to move there to open the café.”
“Yep, but I doubt he’ll be just my boyfriend once we get there. He likes Lucinda too. Which is fine with me. I don’t mind sharing and the dudes a billionaire.”
“You girls are a trip.”
“Hey, if you ever get tired of being the wife of a famous football star, you could always join us in Italy. The more the merrier.” Lucinda says and pours herself a glass of champagne.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen, but thanks for the offer.” I say and toast her with a glass of sparkling white grape juice.
“Speaking of that, when is the wedding?” Annette asks.
“That’s one thing I wanted to talk to all of you about.” I say and wave Jen over to our group.
Once we’re all assembled, I begin.
“Terri is going to be my maid of honor, but I want the rest of you to be my brides maids. Now, before you accept, I need you to know that I want the wedding to happen within the next couple of months. I want to get married before the birth and before I’m as big as a house.”
“In” They all say at once.
“I can bring my niece, Theresa, and she can be your flower girl.” Annette says. “But who are we going to get to be ring bearer. None of us have any sons or young male relatives.”
“We could ask one of the wives or girlfriends.” Jen offers.
“No, I have an idea.” I say and get my phone.
Taken any more cool pictures of snakes? – I push send on the phone and wait.
Nope, but I did take this. – Wesley texts me back the message with a picture of a huge bug on a wooden fence.
That’s cool buddy. How is Ben?
He’s good. He says to tell you hello – That message comes back with another bug picture.
Can you give me your mom’s number. I have something I want to ask her.
He texts me back his mom’s cell number, and I give her a call.
“Hi, is this Ben and Wesley’s mom?”
“It sure is. What did they do?’ She says and laughs.
“Nothing. This is Allison. I met them on the jungle tour a while back. I don’t know if you remember seeing me or not. They kept me company.”
“I do remember. They talked about you for days.”
“That’s good. I like them a lot. That’s actually why I’m calling. I want them to be my ring bearers at my wedding in a month. I know it’s short notice, but my fiancée and I will fly your whole family down to Atlanta for the wedding. Actually, I’m thinking the wedding will be in Savannah. You guys can use it like a vacation. I just need the boys for one evening.”
“Hang on. Let me ask them.” She says and covers the phone. “Do you guys want to go down to Georgia and be in Allison’s wedding?” I hear her muffled question.
Next I hear them shouting yes.
“It appears that they would love to be in your wedding.” She says happily.
“Great, text me your email address and I’ll get you all the details.”
I get off the phone and gather everyone together out on the back deck. There will be time to plan the rest of the wedding after I make my announcement. Once I get everyone’s attention, I send Jen into the house for the cake. She wheels it out, and I prepare to remove the cover.
“Okay, everyone. I have an announcement. Hunter and I went to the doctor a couple of days ago for the sonogram, and I have news.”
I pull off the cover, and Angela gasps. The cake is bright blue with two dark blue birds on top. It’s four layers, and one layer is decorated with the word two and another layer has the word twins made out of sugar. The layers in between have baseball bats, sail boats, and puppies made out of sugar icing.
“It’s twins!” Angela says and comes over to hug me. “Does your father know yet?”
“Hunter was going to tell…” But before I can say it she’s dialing her cell phone.
“Will, did Hunter tell you yet?” She nods her head and utters a couple of uh huhs. “No, honey that’s not what I meant. It’s twins. Allison is having twins.”
Chapter 13
Hunter
Since Allison wanted to have the wedding in Savannah, her dad talked her into holding the wedding and reception on a big white yacht we saw while we were passing through for our fishing trip. She agreed to the idea when she saw pictures of the boat, and we set a date for our sunset wedding one month from the day she announced we were having twins.
Terri, Jen, and my Mom help her pull the wedding together in a flash, and before we know it, our wedding day is here. I fly her friends Annette and Lucinda in from Florence, and I fly the boys we met on the jungle tour in to be our ring bearers.
Before the wedding, we have the inside of our wedding bands engraved with tiny pictures of coiled snakes. Wesley and Ben think that is the coolest thing ever. I’m still a little bummed that they don’t like football, but Allison adores them.
She’s so big now, Allison looks even more beautiful to me with my boys growing inside of her. I found a dress maker who tailored her a gown on short notice. She calls it a tent with lace, but she’s magnificent.
My whole team comes to the event, and I’m glad Allison’s dad rented such a big yacht. This things is like a traveling resort, and we’re even able to have the reception on board. As much as it killed Allison, she let a caterer make the food. Jen did bake the cake, and I swear that thing is twenty tiers of gilded sugar rush.
“A pastry chef can’t have one flavor of cake at her wedding.” Jen said to me when I asked her if it was big enough.
“Does a pastry chef need to have every flavor of cake at her wedding?” I teased her back.
“Yes” She answered flatly.
Do not mess with these women and their cake.
The ceremony itself is beautiful but short. Allison said if it went on for too long she’d have to have somebody stand in for her. Twenty minutes from start to finish and the woman of my dreams is my wife.
Like I mentioned earlier, the reception is also on the yacht, but several of my teammates brought their boats too. We’re all docked in a row so that party goers can spread out. It’s a beautiful evening, but I can’t wait for it to end. Before we leave for the night, Will pulls us aside.
“I haven’t given you your gift yet.” He says to us.
“Oh dad. I think you’ve given us enough.” Allison says and hugs him.
“Well, I have some news too. That company out of New York signed the contract to buy my busines
s a couple of months ago, and I’m officially retired.”
“That’s great, Will.” I say and shake his hand.
“Now, where you come in is your wedding gift. You see, I got a sizable chunk of money in the deal. You might even call it a fortune. So, I bought something slightly extravagant for my only daughter and my new son-in-law.”
“What is it dad?” Allison says and raises an eyebrow.
“It’s the boat. I lied when I said I rented it for your wedding. I bought it for you. Surprise!”