by Dahlia Rose
Reality truly sucked. She was mourning her troubled relationships and not going to be bothered with answering the phone ringing off the hook, knowing it would be Brody. When it finally stopped, she thought she was going to be given peace and quiet until the insistent ringing turned to insistent knocking on her door.
“Marie Joy Watson, answer the door before I break it down,” he roared. “I have no problem causing a scene in front of your neighbors.” She sighed and got up off the sofa as best she could and moved toward the door. He’d gone from banging his fists on the door to keeping his finger pressed firmly on the doorbell. Marie’s irritation rose to new heights and she swung the door open to reveal his angry face.
“Why in the hell are you acting like a juvenile?” Marie snapped.
“Don’t you have three bimbos to entertain at your bachelor pad?”
“No, they left right after you did, actually, because I had to get my ass in gear and come over here,” Brody retorted. “Why the hell can’t you just stop putting me in some kind of prefabricated mold you see all men in and for once see the true me?”
“Hmm, let’s see. I come to your house and you act like I caught you with your hand in the cookie jar and then low and behold, the triple threat arrives.” Marie went back to the chair at the dining room table and knocked his hand away from helping her as she sat down. “It seems to me the mold you’re talking about is the one you put yourself in.”
“Well, let me clarify this for you. The night they stayed at my place, I stayed with Rafe.” Brody sat across the table from her. “He can verify it because Ivy was mad as hell at him that night because of that Donna chick that lives in their neighborhood.”
“Oh, that makes me feel so much better.” Marie took a scoop of ice cream and popped it into her mouth while she glowered at him. She shook the now empty spoon at him. “I will not be cheated on and getting hit and experiencing all the pain of losing… I’m just not doing it again. If I can’t trust you, then I don’t need to be with you.” She watched his eyes narrow before he said slowly, “You said getting hit. Your ex hit you?”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about,” Marie said slowly. “It’s in the past.”
“Not if it affects us and how you see me,” Brody replied. “I’ll get his name one way or the other. Marie, tell me.”
“Charlie Milton. He used to be a sergeant,” Marie said.
Brody got on his knees and fit himself between her legs. He rested his head on her belly and the baby kicked. They both laughed. He looked up at her, his eyes pleading. “Marie, I was coming over here as soon as you got home to ask if we could live together. I was surprised to see you at my place because you had never shown any interest at ever coming to my house. Plus, with the pregnancy, I didn’t want you driving all the way out there to me.”
He met her gaze, and she didn’t see lies there. She was pretty good at spotting a liar, having had the experience from living with Charlie. Their gaze shifted and could never stay in one place. “Marie, since that first night we got together, I haven’t been able to think about anything else but you. And then I found out you were pregnant and I wanted to rush home from Pendleton. You’re my world. This boy growing inside your stomach is my world. I would never put that and what I could have with you in jeopardy. I’ve always wanted a family, not like I had, but one where I could love my children the right way. Without fear or mental abuse. Let me move in with you and we can work towards being a family.”
“Oh, Brody, you know how to say all the right things, and I fell for that before,” Marie said softly.
“Darling Marie, what did that man do to you?” Brody asked.
She felt the story falling from her lips even though she told herself she wasn’t ready to tell him—or anyone. “I met Charlie at the hospital. He was a patient. I should’ve known how messed up he was, but he bloomed when I was around and he worked harder when it was just for me, and maybe I let it give me a big head.” She closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. “After he was discharged from the hospital, we got married and everything was fine for a while, but then the problems began. When he hit me, I always told myself it was just because of the PTSD. When he cheated I blamed that on the PTSD as well and he told me it was because he felt as if he meant nothing to anyone. The more he hurt me, the harder I tried to fix him. I thought he needed more love, more attention. But, actually, he was just plain mean and rotten to the core. I was losing myself to him and then the one time I fought back, it put him in a rage that kept me out of work for a month. I told Ivy and anyone who called that I came down with the Swine Flu, but I was bruised from head to toe.”
“I’ll kill him,” Brody said softly and she saw his hands clench.
Marie covered his hands with hers and met his gaze. “He’s not worth it. The final straw was when he hit me and the next day I came home and found a woman in my bed. Something inside me snapped, I swear, and when I was throwing them out, I swear I saw fear in his eyes. The bed went next and then all his shit.” Marie laughed. “I was the Incredible Hulk that night, and the next day I promptly filed for divorce. I wanted nothing from him, just wanted him out of my life.”
“Where is he now?” Brody’s voice came out a growl. His body was tense with anger but not at her. It was for the man who callously hurt her and for that she felt her heart swell just a little more. Oh, yes, he was hers and she would fight for him if she had to.
“I honestly don’t know. I know he’s out of the Army. He could be in Timbuktu now for all I care.” Marie lifted his hand and kissed his knuckles. “He doesn’t mean enough to me to give a damn where he landed.”
“Well, he hurt you and it means a damn lot to me. One of these days I will find him and I will hold him accountable,” Brody said.
“I came to your townhouse tonight to ask you to move in with me,” she admitted. “But God, seeing those girls there, they’re all tall and sexy and I’m short, round and dumpy, I could never compare with them even if I wasn’t pregnant and having a baby. I was jealous, okay? I admit it. I was jealous as hell to see them there.”
Brody grinned. “Yeah?”
“Don’t get too cocky. You’re my baby’s father,” she snapped.
He rubbed her belly. “Is that the only reason?” Marie smiled and felt her anger evaporate. Impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “No, you’re my man and if I was taller or had longer nails I would scratch their eyes out. I did consider climbing them like a coconut tree and going for the eyes.” Brody tilted his head back and roared with laughter. “See, this is why I love you. You are so vocal, you say exactly what you’re thinking.” His words shocked her and started a warm feeling in her chest that seemed to expand outward. “You said you love me.” Brody kissed her nose. “Because I do, silly.”
“You don’t have to say that just because I’m having your kid. I mean, we’ve had sex a few times and—”
“Would you just quit it?” Brody chuckled. “I know you. I can talk to you about anything. Hell, I think you’re freaking gorgeous and if it wasn’t for the fact that we may hurt the baby, I’d be jumping your bones.”
“We wouldn’t hurt the baby.” She winked. “We can have some goodie-goodie time. You are my Texas bronco but I can’t ride you. But we can do it in other ways.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt lil’ guy in there,” Brody said doubtfully.
“I’m a nurse. Trust me, I’m sure.” Marie smiled and then asked, “So, do you want to move in with me?”
He sat back on his haunches and pretended to consider the question. “I don’t know because I am not sure how you feel for me.”
“You know how I feel about you, nut.” She threw a napkin at his head.
He pulled her close and kissed her until her head began to swim.
Brody pulled back and stared into her eyes. “No, I want to hear you say it.
Let’s put it this way. I need to hear it.”
“I love you, Brody, and as long
as you keep on the straight path and don’t hurt me, I won’t have to scalp your ass.” A slow grin spread across his face. “That’s my girl.”
“So, if we’re moving in together, we need to make a plan to encompass your stuff and my stuff.” Marie yawned. “We can make a list and go from there.”
Brody leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Right now we’re going to get you into bed.”
“Geez, tell a guy you love him and the first thing he wants to do is get you into bed,” she grumbled. “It’s not even nine.”
“Well, baby boy is sleepy, so mommy needs to go to bed as well,” Brody said as he walked her up the stairs. “Is ice cream all you had for dinner?”
“It’s all I wanted,” she replied.
“Nope, shower and climb into bed. I’ll bring you grilled cheese and tomato soup,” Brody said.
She turned to look at him when she got to the bedroom door. Marie was suddenly unsure about this, about everything. Lord, she was scared of another relationship failure.
“Are you sure we can do this?” she asked uncertainly.
He covered the small distance between them quickly and pulled her into his arms. “Darlin’, there is nothing we can’t handle together. Do you hear me, sweetheart?”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Now go shower, put on warm pajamas and get into bed. I’ll be up soon,” Brody said and kissed her gently.
She stepped inside the bedroom and closed the door, leaning against the cool wood for a moment. The thing she had promised would never happen again after Charlie had—her heart belonged to Brody lock and stock. But then Marie didn’t expect she would be sharing her home and a child with him either. As she undressed and got under the hot spray of water, a smile tugged at her lips. Charlie was a mistake. She mistook charm for love and anger for affection. It would be different with Brody.
Like he said, together they could conquer anything.
Chapter Five
That weekend they began his move into her house and shopped for baby furniture and clothes. Brody was having way too much fun buying baby clothes. On base, he’d found mini MarPat—Marine pattern—outfits and digical camouflage onesies on the base along with Marine, Army, Navy and Air Force bears for the nursery. In the store, he was even worse.
Brody deviated from the list and went a tad crazy. What couldn’t fit in his new full-sized suburban was being delivered. Marie gave up trying to curb his spending craze and let him have his fun. He was a proud first time dad.
“Are you hungry?” Brody asked as he crammed the last of the baby supplies in the trunk.
“Do you know what I want?” She grinned as he helped her into the new suburban. “Hot dogs, sliced on grilled sourdough bread with melted cheese all over the top and lots of pickles on top of the cheese.”
“That’s very specific and yet it sounds disturbingly delicious,” Brody said hesitantly.
She slapped him on the shoulder and laughed. “I’ve made them before and I thought the same thing. Want to try one?”
“I’m game.” Brody got behind the wheel and turned the key to start the vehicle.
“Great. We need some fresh coleslaw to go with it,” Marie replied. He gave her a sidelong glance as he drove and she smiled serenely. “Blame the baby. He is very particular.”
“I see. He’s going to be a boy who knows what he wants,” Brody teased.
“Just like his mom,” she said.
Brody’s response was to reach over and hold her hand while he drove.
They stopped at the supermarket to get the ingredients for their very unusual dinner before heading back to the house. In the kitchen she got their meal together while Brody brought in their other purchases. Her house was a four bedroom, two story and they decided that the room across the hall from the master would be the baby’s room and Brody could actually use another room for his workout equipment. That left one spare bedroom that she’d always kept clean and decorated for guests. They would share the den downstairs for their office space. He’d moved his leather sofa into the den when he brought over some of his furniture. The rest was quickly claimed and taken by some of his single friends for their own places. It all worked out pretty well considering how fast it happened.
Marie smiled as she pulled the hotdogs from beneath the broiler in her oven. Brody had moved everything in so quickly it was like he thought she would change her mind and wasn’t giving her the opportunity to do so.
She had to admit she was looking forward to putting together the baby’s room with him, picking a name for their son, and more. She watched the muscles in his arms bulge as he came in carrying the box that contained the dismantled changing table. Pregnancy did not put a damper on her arousal. In fact, she’d been downright horny for the past few days. But she didn’t feel pretty, instead she felt round and unattractive. Brody wouldn’t want to be with her in that way while she was carrying the baby. She’d read men found pregnant women unappealing. So she would have to hold off the sex until after the baby came. But God, she wanted him. Her sex throbbed just thinking about the way he touched her.
“Is our special dinner ready?” he asked, bringing her out of her musings.
“Just about. If you can get the coleslaw out of the refrigerator, I’ll get the plates on the table.”
“What do you want to drink?” he asked. She took the opportunity to appreciate his ass while he bent over, looking in the fridge.
“Grab me a V, please. I should offset this with something a little bit healthy,” she said.
Brody made a face. “That stuff is horrible. I’ll have a coke with my dinner.”
“That’s because you don’t have a baby in your stomach that will kick the hell out of your kidneys on a caffeine high.” Marie pointed at the plates filled with food she just placed on the table. “Now eat.”
She sat and took a bite of her unusual sandwich and moaned in pleasure. Brody took a bite too and she watched as he made a questionable face before taking another bite and shoveling some coleslaw into his mouth.
“It’s actually not bad, especially since you broiled the hotdogs and they have kind of a crispy outside,” Brody said.
“Right!” Marie grinned. “You’re awesome, you know that?” He gave her a surprised looked. “Why would you say that?” She finished her mouthful of sandwich and took a sip of her drink before speaking. “Because not many guys would eat the pregnancy food of their expecting girlfriend.”
“Well, honey, this is actually something I probably would’ve made myself growing up,” Brody said. “Now there’s fast food joints all over the place and it’s easy to pick up a hamburger rather than cook.”
“Not here. I like making dinner and soup and grilling in the warmer months,” Marie said.
“I’ll take over the grilling and you can handle the other stuff,” he said.
“I can grill a mean steak,” she pointed out.
“We’ll have a cook-off and whoever wins gets the coveted grilling spot,” he teased.
She shook her head. “Nope, you can have it. I don’t like being out in the heat anyway.”
“Why do I feel like I’ve been conned?” Brody raised his eyebrow in her direction.
Marie returned his look with an innocent look of her own. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Uh-huh.” His tone said he didn’t believe her, but his grin told her he was fine with it.
They finished their meal, talking about one subject to the next and then headed to the room intended to be the nursery to start making a dent in all the boxes and bags that were piling up. In the end, they decided to leave the room the same color—beige—and would just use a simple, thick blue dinosaur baby border around the top of the wall. It would be easy to remove when he got older and eliminate the need to repaint. She sat on the floor and folded baby clothes while he put up the borders. When he was done he helped her put away the stacks of burp towels, clothes and tiny baby socks.
Brody stuck his finger into one of
the tiny blue socks and wiggled it around. “I can’t believe his little feet are going to be this small.” Marie gave him a stern stare. “Stop stretching out his socks with your big fingers.”
“I thought you liked my big fingers?” he said with a wink.
She understood the implication perfectly and felt her sex and nipples tighten in response. She changed the subject quickly. “I think he’ll be like his daddy and grow up to be a tall handsome man.” Brody beamed with pride. “You think so?”
“Yes, I do,” Marie smiled. “I did tell you our Lamaze classes start in two weeks, right? Ivy and Rafe are going to go with us, since they’ll both be in the delivery room.”
“I don’t know if I want Rafe looking at your nether region.” Brody frowned.
“Ivy thinks it will help him. After their doctor showed them a birthing video, he panicked and began worrying about her having the baby,” Marie chuckled.
“I’m a little worried about you being in labor too,” Brody admitted.
“I’ve never seen a birth or experienced anything like this.”
“Well, I have the video and we can watch it, and then going to Lamaze will tell you everything you need to know,” Marie explained. “Plus, there is a daddy part to this class to teach you how to make bottles, change diapers, and all that good stuff.”
He held out his hands to her and pulled her to her feet gently. Brody wrapped her in his arms and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’m looking forward to all of it as long as it’s with you. Now let’s get you to bed.” After her shower, she was leaning back against thick throw pillows and Brody sat near the foot of the bed rubbing her feet while they discussed baby names.
“I’d have thought you wanted him to be Brody Junior,” Marie said, her eyes closed, enjoying the foot rub. Brody had the earphones on her belly again and this time he was playing classical music from the iPod.
“Good Lord, we won’t do that to him. I hate my name, Brody Bartholomew Gillis,” he snorted. “Let’s give the boy a fighting chance.”