Convincing Bet

by K. S. Adkins

  I’ll never forget the morning I woke up and just knew I was pregnant. Running my hands over my stomach, I look over at him sound asleep with his big leg covering mine. There was no regret, no panic and no fear. My child’s father fought its mother’s demons when she couldn’t do it herself. My child’s father was ass-over-elbows in love with its mother. When it came to telling him, I waited for the right time though I was bursting with it. I wanted him to have his dream before I sprung the news. The last thing I expected was him to pass out.

  But that’s Rio, always doing things his way. Although when he came to, he made slow love to me and after that he spent an hour singing to my stomach. He made promises, I made promises but in this we were in total agreement. We’d kick ass at this parenting gig.

  Weeks later when my doctor pinpointed my due date I sucked in a breath while Rio smiled and whispered, “It makes sense, little Bet. Now you’ll have something happy to fight the sad.”

  Nodding to him, I knew he was right. If I did go into labor on my family’s anniversary it would fight the sad. If I didn’t go into labor that day, I’d do whatever I could to make it happen on Indie’s birthday. He was right about that too. My daughter’s life was something to celebrate even in death.

  Our child was something to celebrate too, and it was okay to be happy.

  A year ago, I was convinced I wanted to die. That this precious gift of life wasn’t worth living. I was wrong about that. I was wrong about a lot of things.

  But I wasn’t wrong about him.

  That man that convinced me to live, made me believe in second chances, wanted me to love him back and I did.

  In the months that followed life wasn’t just good, it was great. Each morning I wake up attached to Rio and I have to pinch myself that not only am I going to be a mother once more, but that I had a family again too.

  I was loved.

  When Rion asked us to come over to see what they’ve done with the house, I held no sadness about it. Truly, I was happy that they were making it a home. Rio was a hovering father-to-be, opening the door and taking my hand he leads me into the kitchen where the couple were arguing about the empty space where my refrigerator once sat.

  “You still ain’t got a fridge?” asks Rio pulling out a chair for me. “Says the guy housing the appliance Emeril would sell his own kid to have,” says Loyal winking at me.

  “So order one you cheap bastard,” says Rio giving Rion a hug. “Your man is cheap, Junior.”

  “Yeah, well my man can’t locate a fridge at Home depot that fits this space, Rio. Instead we’ll build a small pantry here,” she says showing us. “Then we’ll order one for that space.”

  As for me, I just listened to them all while eating the food left out on the table. These days I couldn’t eat enough and I loved every bite. I didn’t care that these burgers and fries were for the group, I was eating for an army it seems. “We gonna have to roll you outta here?” asks Loyal handing me a bottle of water to wash down my feast.

  “Wasn’t it you that told me I didn’t eat enough?” I counter.

  “Good, a woman that listens,” he says taking a seat next to me. “Just between friends, how much did that fridge cost you?”

  With a mouth full of food I wasn’t ready to swallow yet, I answer him. “fiffy fousin.”

  “Fifty thousand!” he sputters.

  “You understood that?” asks Rio shaking his head.

  “Loyal speaks several languages including French fry.” Says Rion smiling over at him.

  And so it went, the four of us spent the afternoon together doing what families did. It was about five o’clock when Rio wanted to bail and he said it was because we had an appointment to be somewhere. Not one to pass up an opportunity for snacks, Rion packed me a to-go bag and twenty minutes later we were on the freeway.

  For some reason he kept playing Come Sail Away by the Styx and when it came on a fourth time, I shut it off.

  “Hey!” he pouts reaching for the volume. “That songs a classic, little Bet.”

  It was sweet how he still calls me little Bet when in fact, these days I’m big Bet. “What are you up to?” I ask. “Why are we in Novi? Oh God is that Cracker Barrel? We’re going to Cracker Barrel? Yes! Oh man, you get me.”

  “One-track mind,” he laughs. “Surprise first, food coma after.”

  Offering him a huge smile, I sit back and only had to wait a few more minutes for the surprise of a lifetime.

  She couldn’t sit still.

  It was too God damn adorable for words watching her face light up and not acting like she was bursting at the seams. Once traffic cleared, I drove us in the back way behind the Novi Suburban Showplace so she couldn’t see the glaring billboard from the freeway.

  Parking and getting her out of the car, like always I take her hand and lead her to the double doors that open to the warehouse. She grips me tight but stays silent as we walk. Our salesman sees us and wastes no time coming over, smart man this one. He had one job, make my woman happy.

  “You must be Bet,” he says shaking her hand.

  “And you are?” she prompts.

  “About to make your day,” he says smiling.

  “Ookay?” she draws out. “Rio? What’s behind those doors?”

  “Patience, little Bet,” I tell her giving her a quick peck on the nose.

  Following our guy, he opens the showroom doors and when she takes it all in she lets out a gasp. With one hand coming to cover her belly while the other squeezes me, she blinks several times before it sets in.

  “Oh my God,” she whispers looking from floor to ceiling. “It’s beautiful! It’s huge!”

  “Way to kill a guy’s ego,” I mumble. “Nothing is more beautiful or as huge as you and your dick, Rio, but that’s a glorious boat. Don’t get jealous, but can I touch it?”

  “With that guy watching?” I groan. “I love it when you talk dirty.”

  “The boat,” she laughs. “Come on, you can watch me touch it. I don’t mind.”

  Clearly uncomfortable, our salesman clears his throat to remind us we aren’t alone, but fuck him, he just made about thirty grand today and if we want to talk dirty, we will talk fucking dirty.

  Helping her aboard, she was slow in touching all of it. The glass, gadgets, sails, upholstery and even the bed. Coming up behind her, I wrap both arms around her placing my hands on her giant beautiful belly and whisper, “Surprise.”

  Whipping around she grabs my face with tears running down her face. “You boat me a boat?”

  “Try that again.”

  “My mouth won’t work,” she mumbles while trembling in my arms. “You bought me a boat?”

  “Oh a boat? Yep.”

  “I love my surprise and I love you, Rio.” She says through her tears. “Where will we put it?”

  Handing her a set of keys with an address on the tag I tell her, “Guessing it will sit at our lake house until you’re ready to set sail.”

  Speechless she looks from the keys, around the interior of the boat then back to me. When she starts to tremble almost violently, I pull her back to me and slowly move back and forth until she grasps my intent and rests her head on my chest. Dancing in the center of the living room of her new boat I sing to her.

  I’m sailing away, set an open course for the virgin sea

  I’ve got to be free, free to face the life that’s ahead of me

  On board, I’m the captain, so climb aboard

  We’ll search for tomorrow on every shore

  And I’ll try, oh lord, I’ll try to carry on

  “Someone has been going to karaoke behind my back,” she whispers. “You, this, it’s amazing, Rio, thank you. I can’t believe you remembered.”

  “I have one more surprise for you,” I tell her. “You ready?”

  “I’m ready,” she smiles up at me.

  Helping her back down, I instruct the salesman to get lost then take her to the stern. Twirling her around and dipping her, I give her a deep kiss and I
tell her how much I love her. Running her fingers along the side of my face she tells me she loves me too. Putting her back to my front, I let it happen on its own.

  It doesn’t take long before she cranes her neck and because I know my woman, I was there to hold her up.

  I’d never let her fall again.

  Rio was a man full of surprises. Two weeks ago while rubbing my feet he asked me how long I planned to work. Would I go back to work after the baby? Had I considered taking a break? He asked because he worried about me taking too much on. This touched me so deep that I knew the idea banging around in my brain was the right one.

  “How would you feel if after the baby I didn’t go back to work? I was thinking I’d really like to be hands-on this time. Lennox Holdings is a well-oiled machine and---”

  “I want you to stay home,” he blurts. “Let me work, I’ll handle shit. I want my day to begin and end with you two here, safe and waiting for me.”

  “Okay.”

  “You’d do that for me? Let me be the bread winner?”

  “You’d do that for me?” I counter. “For your family? You’d work all those hours just so I could stay home?”

  “I do anything for you,” he insists. “I know it ain’t about the money, we got plenty, but working is a part of you and for you to give that up for me---”

  “I’d do anything for you,” I insist, repeating his words. “I would have the occasional meeting but we could always ask Rion and Loyal to babysit.”

  “Loyal would put our kid in military school,” he says deadpan.

  “Oh he would not,” I laugh. It’s funny because Loyal has baby fever and uses our baby to coax Rion into joining the party every chance he gets. Let me also say she’s considering accepting the invitation but he doesn’t know yet.

  “So we got a plan.”

  “We do.”

  “We’re gonna rock this shit.” He says proudly.

  “We’ll rock out with your cock out.”

  “I love your filthy mouth, little Bet.”

  For a long time the emotion I knew well and even depended on was called grief. My constant companion, my nemesis and my excuse. Never did I think I’d be strong enough to feel anything more than sorrow. Since falling in love, learning to forgive and how to move on, the emotion that never leaves me now is, awe.

  I’m in awe of everything.

  Life.

  Him.

  Us.

  Even myself.

  The night I mentioned a boat to him it sort of slipped out. I hadn’t meant to say it but was certainly glad I did because it opened the channel of us getting to know each other. Since that night Rio knows me better than anyone ever has or ever will. He was truly my second chance. My second chance at everything.

  I will remember him singing to me for as long as I live. I’ll call on it when we hit tough times and need the reminder that we were special, rare and everlasting. The way he touches me, holds me and keeps my body at the perfect temperature. Around him it was true, awe was what I felt morning, noon and night.

  Right now though, while he leads me to the rear of this magnificent boat, I was in awe of this moment between us. He did this for me, for no other reason than to see me smile. Last night he introduced me to the movie Elf and I can say with a huge grin now that, smiling’s my favorite.

  Because of Rio.

  Dipping me back, he kisses me passionately and tells me I’m loved. Returning the endearment, he slowly faces me forward and slides his hands under my arms to rest on my belly. Looking up I take in the beautiful sparkle in the paint knowing it will change color depending on how the light catches it. The boat is a soft cream color with beautiful sails that look like Lake Huron at sunset.

  Bringing my eyes back down I see it. It knocks the wind out of me, causes my heart to speed up and my legs to give out all at once. In perfect script was the most beautiful memorial I could have ever imagined. Penned across the back was:

  Independence

  “She will always be with you, little Bet. No matter where you go.” He says holding me gently. For once the tears didn’t consume me, just the feeling of peace did. As always Rio was right, she was with me.

  Whispering her name, I nod up to him in agreement. Then turning to face him I decided it was the perfect time to give him my surprise. I had planned to wait until this evening but the scene was perfect, it needed to be now. I wanted this day to be momentous for both of us. Twenty years from now we’d look back on it and smile, together.

  “I have a surprise for you, too,” I tell him. When his eyes light up, I watch as he brings his hands back to my belly to talk to the baby.

  “Hear that, little one? Mom has a surprise for me. I wonder what it could be?” he says sweetly. Then whispering to me so the baby can’t hear he asks, “Anal?”

  Laughing loud, I squeeze his hands covering me and tell him. “It’s not little one, it’s little ones. Plural.”

  “My surprise is an English lesson?”

  “Your surprise is twins.”

  For a moment he stays silent but then, like he’s miles away, he mumbles, “Gonna need a bigger boat,” before his eyes roll back and he crashes to the ground.

  “Rio!” I yell coming to my knees next to him. “Wake up,” I beg him. Oh God my timing was horrible! I should have waited until we got home and had the safety of a couch for him to land on. Stupid Bet, stupid. In under a minute his eyes open and he blinks once, reaches up with both hands and gently pulls my body on top of his.

  “Twins,” he says with a look I know well. It’s the one on my face these days; it was awe pure and simple.

  “Twins,” I confirm with a smile.

  “Twins means two,” he says for clarification.

  “It does,” I nod.

  Pulling my face to his, we kiss again because it’s what people in love do. Helping each other up, he takes a moment to look back at the Independence then to me before taking my hand. Walking out of the warehouse, he quickly sets up the delivery date before escorting me back to the car. The second the double doors close behind us, I’m in his arms again.

  “Two kids,” he says kissing my neck.

  “I wonder which one will be just like you?”

  “It’s a good thing we’re loaded,” he says into my hair.

  “Why’s that?” I ask.

  “These kids are gonna need a lot of therapy.”

  “These kids will have us, Rio,” I tell him proudly. “I’m sure we’ll get a discount for family sessions.”

  “Like I could ever convince you to go to therapy,” he smiles at me. Neither of one of us actually need it but, if our kids do one day, we’ll provide it. Looking him in the eyes I tell him the truth as I know it. I’ve known it since the day he barged into my hotel bathroom to save me.

  “You could convince me of anything.”

  The End.

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to Brenda Wright and Melissa Gill for helping me get from point A to published. To my Voxer babes and my besties, y’alls my girls. To my entire family, I love you hard core. To every blogger, fan, and critic, just thanks for taking a chance on me. A big shout to Connie Thompson and Pamela Morgan for pimping an up and coming author because they believed in my work. To Detroit Rock City, I don’t even have to say it. You already know!

  Author Bio

  K.S. Adkins is a full time everything. When I'm not wifing, mothering or being bossy, I'm reading, writing or shooting. A full time realtor, lifelong Michigander and all around lover of all things guns and Detroit, I believe in freedom of foul language, gratuitous nudity, tattoos and mosh pits. I've recently taken up drinking wine and feel like I'm really making progress with it. I think my chances at finding a place within the Romance genre is 50/50, but I suck at numbers so what do I know?

  My stories are written with heavy dialogue and are Detroit-based. If you don't like heavy dialogue or Detroit, don't read my stories. My characters are typically dark and fairly fucked up so if you want
sappy characters without issues, don't read my stories.

  I love violence, guns, blood, naughty words, awkward sex, rap, metal, and untraditional people. Every fight scene was tried and tested by me. I have the bruises to prove it too.

  I write romance, but my characters are not always romantic. Each is a work in progress. My stories are about strong women and the alphas who try to tame them, but never do.

  At the end of the day, you may not like my stories, you may also think I suck as an author and that's okay, but I have to tell you, I had the best fucking time writing them and for me, that's what it's all about.

  I love new likes so hit me up on Facebook @ K.S. Adkins or Twitter @ Hoodwrites and let me know if you loved it or hated it. ♥