by Eden Finley
“Please, I found it like a month ago. I thought you had more balls than to wait that long to propose. Your mother warned me you Erikson boys don’t know how to do slow.” She shook her head and tsked me. “You disappoint me, Ryan.”
I laughed. “Well, I must be a bigger disappointment than you realise because I bought the ring two months ago, so ha … wait …”
She smiled. “I don’t care when or where or how you do it. My answer will always be yes.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too.” She leaned in and kissed me. “Always.”
“Okay, you two, break it up. You’re squishing my baby,” Spence said, coming over to take Elliot off me. “Go make your own baby to squish.”
“Yeah, let’s.”
***
- SARA -
TEN MONTHS LATER
I only made it halfway down the aisle before I knew I couldn’t go through with the ceremony. The distraught look on Ryan’s face as he stood at the altar almost killed me, but there was just no way.
“Paige!” I called out as I turned and ran. She scrambled to get to me, ditching her bridesmaid’s bouquet as she chased after me.
Shocked faces of the last few rows of guests greeted me, along with gasps from those behind me.
“I’m here for you, hon,” Paige said, catching up to me.
“Good, because I swear to God these twins are using my bladder as a squeeze toy. Can you message Ryan or Cole and tell them I had to pee?”
We were getting married at a function centre at the marina. Tall windows overlooked the water Ryan and I swam in almost six years ago on the night we met. The whole place was beautifully decked out in white wedding decorations, and the ceiling was covered in twinkling fairy lights, but clearly, my boys didn’t want their parents to enjoy the moment.
Paige and I had only made it out of the ceremony room when Ryan came through the doors with us.
“Babe, what’s up?”
“Baby Garrett just kicked me in the bladder. I really have to pee.” I was officially doing the toddler dance, hopping from one foot to the other while trying to hold it.
He laughed and visibly relaxed. “Thank God.”
I smirked. “What, you think you were going to get out of this marriage thing? Think again, buddy.”
“You go tell everyone what’s going on, I’ll help Sara to the bathroom,” Paige said.
“I still can’t believe it’s bloody twins,” I said as Paige helped me out of my extremely tight wedding dress and I emptied my bladder for what felt like the millionth time today.
“I still can’t believe Cole thought the pregnancy test was mine,” she said with a laugh.
I giggled at the memory. It was just before she moved in with Cole, but she was always over there anyway, so I knew exactly where to find her. I didn’t want to get Ryan’s hopes up, so I didn’t tell him I was three days late. I wanted to take the test to be sure first, and I needed Paige with me for moral support. Even though Ryan and I were technically trying for a baby, that didn’t mean I wasn’t freaking out that it was actually possibly happening.
Cole came home from work after we’d just read the positive result. When he came into his room and looked into the bathroom and saw us staring at the pregnancy test all wide-eyed and silent, he assumed it was Paige’s test because she was the one holding it after she’d snatched it off me.
“The only thing surprising about that was his reaction. He was so happy, I swear he was about to drop to his knee and propose to you, right next to the toilet.” I laughed.
“I was surprised at how well he took it too. Especially because he was so firm on birth control in the beginning. He’s been super lax about it lately though and keeps saying things like ‘When we have our own kids…’ I’m starting to think that little scare made him realise he actually wants it.”
I knew he wanted it. He told me he was hoping Paige would get clucky once I got pregnant.
Paige started helping me back into my dress. “Words of advice, young Paige, don’t order a wedding dress way ahead of time if you’re also trying to get pregnant.” I thought it was going to take longer than a few months to fall pregnant, but nope, fate had other ideas, and clearly, still liked a laugh at my expense. Twins?
“I’m only a year younger than you, you know, what’s with all the ‘young’ business?”
“After today, I’m going to be someone’s wife, and in four months’ time I’m going to be a mother. Of two children. Two boys.” It weirded me out when put out there like that. “Do you know what Viv said when we told her it was boys?”
Paige shook her head.
“Nothing. She laughed. She said Ryan was going to get his payback for everything Garrett and he put her through. Then she looked me in the eye and said ‘sorry dear,’ but her face told me she didn’t mean it. She lied!”
Paige laughed at my mini freak out.
“I’m serious. These boys will make me go grey. I can already tell.”
After she helped me back into my dress, Paige put her hands on my shoulders. “You’re going to rock this mother gig, and Hunter will be there to help. Let’s focus on the imminent thing you should be freaking out about: you’re about to marry Calvin. Calvin.”
The thought of it still made me giddy inside. I had absolutely no doubts about Ryan. Paige was still scared of commitment, but since she’d been living with Cole, her resolve was weakening. She moved in when Ryan officially moved out. And I wasn’t allowed to tell her, but I knew Cole was planning to propose soon. A real proposal, not a spur of the moment, “oh my God you’re pregnant with my child” proposal like the one that almost happened in his bathroom.
“It won’t be long until you’ll be having a ceremony of your own, you know.” Just because I wasn’t allowed to tell her didn’t mean I wasn’t allowed to drop hints.
“Can I tell you something?” she whispered.
“What,” I whispered mockingly.
“If he asked me now, I’d say yes.”
“Really?” I screamed and jumped back.
“Shh. Yes. I know it’s taken me a long time to get here, but he’s been telling me for the last year that we’re going to get married one day. I think he’s been subtly preparing me for when he does ask. I know I have commitment issues for no real reason other than I’m scared I’ll end up like my parents, all bitter and divorced, but when I’m with Cole, all of those issues don’t exist.”
I smiled.
“Come on, we’re holding up your wedding right now. Let’s get you married.”
Walking back into the ceremony, I was met with curious gazes. While Paige ambled back up the aisle, I shrugged and apologised. “Blame the boys,” I said, pointing to my large baby bump. Everyone laughed.
I was only halfway through my pregnancy and I was already a giant. My five-two frame looked so disproportionate it was almost comical. And as much as I was scared about the fact I was going to have two babies, it was a good kind of scared. I couldn’t wait to meet them both.
Garrett claimed he owned naming rights over one of the boys because if it wasn’t for him, we never would have met. We countered with the fact we probably would have seeing as Cole and Paige were together, but we loved the idea of naming one of our kids after the reason we got together in the first place. Of course, I couldn’t wait to see the look on Garrett’s face when we told him we planned on calling baby Garrett by a nickname—his middle name.
Just like his daddy.
Thank you for reading One Night with Calvin.
********
Reece and Spencer’s book is currently in the works and set for release in 2017.
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Acknowledgments
I want to thank all of my betas, BW, KR, MB, ML, LH, SF. I’m sure I’m forg
etting people, so for that, I’m sorry.
Thanks to Kelly from XterraWeb editing.
And a big thanks to anyone out there who knows my real identity but is keeping it secret. To the asshole friend who keeps telling my friends and family—and even random people on the street—that I write porn, I want to smack you around a little. And not in the fun way.
About the Author
Eden Finely is a romance/erotica author by day, but Batman at night …
Okay, I’m not Batman, but I feel like I am. I have a cool secret name and everything.
I have several other Young Adult works published under my real name. For this reason, I chose a pen name to write for this genre. Well, that, and I don’t want my mother to read these books. Seriously, how freaking awkward would that be?