“Hey, I wasn’t the only one that thought we needed to eat.”
We made our way out to the table and took our seats. I was full after eating. Not enough that I couldn’t eat some more, but I wasn’t sure what I would feel like when I ate my customary two plates of food. Would I even have room left for pie?
Vanessa had already carved the turkey while I had been stuffing my face in the other room. The girls all dug in, but the rest of us were a little more hesitant. We didn’t even get the chance to let our food settle.
“Well? Dig in!” Vanessa said cheerily. I took small portions, not nearly filling my plate like I usually did, getting looks from all the guys. Shit, I was gonna give us away.
I laughed a little when Vanessa looked at me strangely. “I’m just saving room for pie.”
The doorbell rang and I quickly got up, glad for the reprieve. When I swung the door open, I had quite the shock.
“Happy Thanksgiving!” Sinner shouted.
“What?”
“Harper and Maggie stuck a frozen turkey in the deep fryer, so we’re here to eat!”
He shoved past me, and Cara gave an apologetic smile. Knight and Kate followed also. Knight stopped next to me, waiting for everyone to get out of ear shot.
“I hate this holiday.”
“Then why are you here?”
He glared at me. “Because I married Kate and apparently this is what we do.”
I followed him back to the dining room where Burg was giving Sinner a hug. A very long hug.
“Yeah, I get it. You’re glad I’m here. Can you get off me now?”
He shoved Burg off and sat down in seats that the girls must have gotten. Vanessa was getting the rest of the dishes and silverware as everyone took off their coats and sat down.
“I thought we made more food than this,” Isa said with a sigh.
“Yeah, I did too.” Ali stood up and walked around the kitchen, looking for anything left out. “I guess that’s it.”
“It’s fine,” I smiled. “It all looks great.”
Vanessa sighed and sat at the other end of the table. “I guess it would have looked like more if you guys hadn’t stolen half the food two hours ago.”
CHAPTER NINE
Chance
“Are you ready for this?” Jackson asked as we stood outside the kitchen while Susan, Jackson’s mother-in-law, ordered everyone around.
I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, I mean, I feel like I’m gonna puke and my hands are so slippery that I keep dropping the ring, but other than that, I’m totally fine.”
“Good,” he said, slapping me on the shoulder. “Oh, and if you keep dropping the ring, put it in your pocket.”
“I tried that, but I keep shoving stuff in my pocket and then I realize after that the ring is in there. What if I accidentally throw it out?”
“Fine, give it to me. I’ll hold onto it until you’re ready.”
I handed it over warily. Something told me that this was a really bad idea, but I just couldn’t stand the thought of losing it.
“So, what did you decide to do?”
“Uh…” I blew out a deep breath and closed my eyes tight, rehearsing what I was going to do over and over in my head. “Right, I have a speech.”
“A speech?”
“Yeah, like, what I like about her and why I want to marry her. You know, all the good stuff.”
He snorted. “Yeah, sure glad you left the bad stuff out of that speech.”
“I know, right?” I laughed.
He punched me in the arm. “No, you jackass. You can’t just sit there and just list stuff about her.”
“Why? I mean, I want her to know all the things I love about her.”
“Yeah, but that’s not how you do it.”
“Shut up. I don’t have time to change it.”
“Then put it off. It’s not like she knows you’re proposing.”
“I can’t. I made a plan. I could barely force myself to function today because I’m so nervous. If I put it off anymore, I’m just gonna lose it,” I practically shouted. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and was practically shaking. This was not a good look for a proposal. Jackson came up behind me and started massaging my shoulders.
“It’s okay. Just calm down. It’s gonna be fine.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Fuck no. You’re going down in flames.”
He walked out of the room, leaving me restless and a sweaty mess. A half hour passed with me pacing around the house before Morgan came to get me for dinner.
“Hey, we’re all sitting down to eat now.”
“Right. I’ll just…go…um, yeah.”
I swallowed down the waterfall of saliva that was pooling in my mouth. God, I needed to just get this over with, and then everything would be fine. I walked over to the table and took my seat, but before I had been sitting two seconds, I popped back up, clearing my throat.
“Uh…before we dig in, I just want to say a few words about…being thankful…and thankfulness in…”I looked around the room, trying to come up with the next words before I sounded like a complete ass, “thanking…others.”
Morgan looked at me funny and Payton was laughing at me. Jackson stood suddenly, probably trying to save the day.
“Yeah, I think that we should all go around and say what we’re thankful for. Great idea, man. Okay, I’ll start. I am grateful for Susan, who has made this wonderful meal for all of us.”
He sat back down and Raegan slapped him. “You’re thankful for my mother?”
“Well, of course I’m thankful for you. You…always keep the house clean.”
Raegan shoved back from the table, looking at Jackson in disbelief. “I keep the house clean? Is that really all you think I do?”
“Uh…” he stared at Raegan’s dad and swallowed hard. “No, no. That’s not at all what I meant. I just…you know, I’m so grateful that you keep the house clean so that I don’t have to. You have no idea what a relief that is to me.”
“Yeah,” Raegan said snottily. I shot Jackson a look, trying to tell him to shut the fuck up. It was bad enough that I was fucking this up, but he didn’t need to be in the dog house too.
“I’m thankful for my Reese’s Pieces,” Craig grinned. “Just think, if I hadn’t followed you everywhere and almost kidnapped you, then tricked you into marrying me, we might not be sitting here.”
“Yeah, I still have issues with you kidnapping me, so maybe we don’t mention that today,” Reese retorted.
“Well,” Tony Tacos stood and grinned at all of us. “I would just like to say that I’m grateful that I don’t have any attachments right now.” Then he turned to Jessica and Storm. “And Jessica, as much as I think we could have had something really special, I’m just too wild. You can’t tie me down. I’m sorry, sweetie.”
“I’m grateful that I live in America where I can and will kick your fucking ass if you don’t sit down and shut your mouth,” Storm yelled.
“Language!” Morgan shouted. “There are kids at the table.”
“You know, I think we’re getting off topic here,” I said with a shaky grin. “Anyway, the point of what I was going to say is that…”
Fuck, I forgot what I was going to say. I scrambled, reaching into my pockets for the list. Jackson mistook what I was looking for and started waving me over. I shot him a death glare, but he came around the table anyway, practically tossing the ring at me. It bounced off my chest and fell to the floor. I quickly ducked down, ignoring all the questions and outbursts around me. I had to find that ring. Jackson reached for it, under Morgan’s foot, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I started to stand at the same moment that Jackson got to his knees and held the ring out to me.
“Wait…” Tony Tacos said. “Is there something we’re missing here?”
“Holy shit,” Alec exclaimed. “I never saw that coming. I mean, I know you got fucked up while you were gone, but I never thought…And Jackson, you’re already ma
rried.”
“It’s not my ring, asshole.”
I snatched the ring out of Jackson’s hand and turned to Morgan, who looked like she was about to faint. And I didn’t know how to fix that. So, I went with my original plan and pulled out my notes.
“Morgan, you are everything that I could ever want in a woman. You’re strong and sexy as hell.”
My gaze flicked to Payton’s face and I cursed myself for being such an idiot. I looked back down at my list, and I knew that going this way would just fuck it up more for me. In the end, I just had to say what I felt and hope to God that it’s enough.
I got down on my knee next to her chair and took her hand in mine. “Morgan, I love you so much, and I’m the luckiest man in the world for having you by my side. It fucking amazes me that after all we’ve gone through, that you’re still here, trusting me with your heart and your child. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for the two of you, and I want you to be by my side for the rest of my life, living a perfectly dull and boring life. Please marry me.”
She nodded, smiling a really fucking big smile that melted my heart. I barely heard the yes, but it was enough. I slid the ring on her finger and pulled her into me, kissing her until the whooping and hollering finally broke through. I felt a tap on my shoulder and smiled at Payton.
“Does this mean you’re gonna be my daddy?”
“Hell yeah, it does.”
“So…does that mean that I don’t have to listen to Mommy anymore about not learning to shoot? Because I really want to learn.”
My gaze flicked to Morgan’s and she raised an eyebrow in question. I knew this was my first lesson as her soon-to-be father. “That’s something I’ll discuss with her, and then we’ll talk to you about our decision.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes at me. “Fine, it was worth a try.” Then she threw herself into my arms and gave me the best hug of my life. Damn, I had hit the jackpot with these girls. And there was nothing I would do to ever fuck it up.
CHAPTER TEN
Maggie
“Sebastian, this is ridiculous. It’s Thanksgiving. I don’t want to go to the ER for something so stupid.”
“Freckles, I’m not arguing with you about this. You passed out-”
“I hit my head when I fell,” I said in exasperation. “I’ve had a bump on the head before.”
“This wasn’t just a bump on the head.”
“Says who?”
He turned to me, staring me down for just a moment before he looked back at the road. “Me.”
“And what makes you so knowledgeable about these things?”
“Well, I’ve worked in the field long enough to know that when you hit your head, you usually have a bump, which you don’t. That’s my first indication that something else is wrong. Second, you were passed out for a few minutes, and now you look like death warmed over.”
“Like I said, I hit my head.”
He pulled up to the ER and parked, then got out and pulled me out of the truck. When he tried to carry me, I started smacking him. “Would you stop? I can walk by myself.”
He set me down, but gripped onto my arm. I walked alongside him, completely frustrated and ready to smack him. He had left our kids with all our friends just so he could take me to the ER. Over nothing. However, as we sat down and waited for our turn, and it was our turn because I knew he wouldn’t let me go back alone, I began to wonder if he was right. I didn’t have a bump on my head. And I didn’t really remember seeing the turkey being put in the fryer. I think things may have been getting fuzzy before then.
Suddenly, this didn’t seem like a bonk on the head at all. In fact, I remembered a time when I felt like this, and it had nothing to do with getting hit on the head. That was the result of what was really going on with my body. I shot to my feet and stared accusingly at my husband.
“You got me pregnant again!”
I swear he turned white as a ghost, trying to hide the terror that I was sure he was feeling. It hadn’t even been three months since I had Tucker, and now I was going to have another kid!
“Now, Freckles-”
“Don’t you Now, Freckles me! I told you I didn’t want any more kids! I told you that I was done!”
“Is there a problem over here?”
I spun around to see a middle-aged nurse with an attitude standing behind me. Surely she would understand.
“Yes, there is. This is my husband.”
“Nice to meet you,” the woman said with a droll of boredom.
“Do you know what he did to me?” The nurse just quirked an eyebrow at me. “He got me pregnant. Again!”
“Ma’am, unless he forced you in some way, this is just as much your fault as his.”
“He tricked me with our last son. He told me he got a vasectomy, but he didn’t. And then he swore that he would be careful and we wouldn’t have any more kids. I’m on birth control!”
Sebastian cleared his throat behind me. “Um, technically, you’re not.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean?” I asked slowly.
He picked at the fabric of the chair and wouldn’t look at me. “Um…those may have been a placebo.”
I spun around, glaring at the nurse. She shook her head and waved for me to follow her back. “Oh honey, you’re gonna have to castrate this one. Come on, let’s go get you a test and confirm this little blessing.”
I followed her back and felt Sebastian behind me. I wanted to tell him to wait out here, but I knew that wouldn’t happen. He would charge through and make sure he was there every step of the way. The nurse took me to a curtained off area and closed it behind us.
“Alright, now I’m guessing you didn’t just come in because you suspected you’re pregnant. What else happened?”
“Well, my friend and I put a frozen turkey in a deep fryer.” The nurse stared at me like I was an idiot. “Anyway, we all fell back from the blast and I assumed I hit my head.”
“She was passed out for a good three to five minutes,” Sebastian added. “Her breathing was steady, and there was no sign of distress, other than her passing out. And I didn’t feel a bump on the back of her head.”
“And did you feel dizzy or anything around the time of the…fryer incident?”
“Um…yes. I didn’t realize it until we were sitting in the ER. With my first pregnancy, I was dizzy a lot because I was anemic. That’s what made me realize that I was most likely pregnant again.”
“When was your last period?”
“Um, I haven’t really had one since I gave birth, which was only two months ago.”
The nurse’s eyebrows rose comically, but she didn’t say a word.
“How far along would I be?” I asked anxiously.
“Well, a woman can conceive as early as four weeks after having a baby.”
I turned to Sebastian and slugged him in the face. “You’re an idiot.”
The nurse stood, completely ignoring the fact that I had just hit my husband. “Alright, the doctor will be in shortly, and he can examine you, and he’ll most likely want a blood test.”
I thanked her and sat stewing in anger until the doctor finally made his appearance. I gave a blood sample and waited some more. The doctor came in with that cheery look that made me want to slap him. Or Sebastian.
“Well, you are pregnant, but your HCG levels are extremely high. I’d like to do an ultrasound just to be sure that everything’s okay.”
“What could be wrong?”
“Well, not so much wrong, but it could be that you’re carrying multiples.”
Ever so slowly, I turned my head and glared at Sebastian, but he was grinning back at me like a fucking idiot. Because only a fucking idiot would knock up his wife on purpose, without her consent, and then be happy that he may have succeeded a little too well.
I undressed from the waist down and got covered while the doctor stepped out.
“Freckles, I swear, this is the last time.”
“Where have I
heard that before?” I snapped.
“Look, this is a good thing. We’re going to have another baby. Maybe two. This is amazing!”
“Sure, for you! I just had a baby. I’m tired and it’s not like Tucker is sleeping through the night yet. I’m still breastfeeding him. What does that mean for this baby?”
“Well…we’ll just ask some of the other ladies to donate.”
“You want the other ladies to donate breast milk?” I asked angrily.
“What? Is that not okay?”
“You know, I just have to know, is this some kind of competition?”
“I don’t understand the question.”
“You know, with the other guys. Are you all competing to see who can have their own Reed Security team?”
“Well, technically there are only three people on a team, so if this is twins, then I have two teams. Fingers crossed,” he said with a grin.
I was just about to smack him when the doctor came back in. I went through the uncomfortable process of having a wand shoved up my hoo hoo, grimacing the whole time.
“Ah, there it is,” the doctor ginned. I didn’t see anything but a bunch of blackness.
“Is it just one?”
“No,” the doctor smiled.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“Yes!” Sebastian said, doing a little fist pump.
“Congratulations, you’re having triplets.”
I did a double take, sure that I had heard him wrong. “Sorry, did you just say triplets?”
“Yes, and to conceive naturally is rare.”
Sebastian jumped up, shoving his fists in the air. “Yes! I have an Ultimate Frisbee team!”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cap
After swearing up and down to Sean that nothing would go wrong at Christmas, I was back in the office and determined to make sure any jobs were sorted out before the upcoming holiday. I turned down any jobs that could potentially be dangerous, which basically left security installs. It meant turning down some lucrative jobs, but I really wanted this Christmas to be magical for everyone. Maybe that was silly, but we’ve all had years of struggles, and a little normal would go a long way right now.
A Mad Reed Security Christmas Page 6