Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 89820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
The one I am lucky to have found.
It occurs to me at that moment, that if I hadn’t sent a message to Stranger88, who was just looking to get laid, we’d never be here today.
And yet, now, we’ve been married two years, and are expecting our first child, a girl.
I check my phone. Only twenty minutes late. Not too bad.
Going to the door, I look expectantly at him.
“Can you get the casserole from the fridge for me?” I ask as he opens the door for me.
“Shit. I forgot that.”
I grin and kiss his cheek. “I know. But at least you remember the important things.”
Twenty minutes later, we pull up at Ellie’s house. The lot is already choked with cars. The house she and her husband Brad have has a high fence up around the backyard, but I can hear the chatter of people, along with some quiet music, wafting up over the barrier.
I look at Brooks, and he reaches over and takes my hand. I entwine my fingers with his as he says, “We’ll be fine.”
When he looks at me like that, with that endearing, warm expression, it’s impossible to believe I spent months in an office, hating him as much as I did.
“Do you think we should knock?”
He shrugs, slips off his sunglasses, and tucked them in the pocket of his shirt. I walk toward the front door and start to reach for the doorbell when the door opens. Ellie stands there, smiling at us. “You’re here!”
I smile and offer up the foil-wrapped dish. “Sorry we’re late. I brought mac and cheese.”
“Great!” She takes it and steps aside, because the two of us can’t fit our pregnant bellies in the same doorway together. She’s been married to Brad for a year, and is expecting a girl, too, a month after me. She hugs her brother. “Well, come on in! Everyone’s waiting.”
But it’s so quiet inside. Too quiet for a kid’s party. And there are no kids to be seen. I walk into the foyer, in a daze, not sure what the hell was going on. “Where is everyone?”
“Outside,” Ellie tells me, motioning me to the sliding doors. “Go on out.”
I give Brooks a look and shrug. He shrugs back, silently communicating, Who knows what the hell is going on?
The second I step out onto the patio, the cheer rises up from the crowd. “Congratulations!”
I look around, stunned, at all the pink “It’s a Girl” banners and balloons. What the hell…?
Oh, my gosh, and my hands find my belly. Is this… all for me?
For her?
I scan the crowd. It’s everyone. From family to friends, co-workers from Foster & Foster, fellow volunteers from the women’s center, and my old friends from USM. My jaw drops as I see my mother and my stepfather. “Mom!”
She smiles. “Hi, darling.”
This was a party for Brooks and me. A baby shower. And from the way Brooks is grinning at me slyly, he’d known about it all along.
“You’re a sneaky thing,” I whisper to him between smiles.
Still dazed, I walk around and greet them all. Hugs and congratulations go up all around. Jace giggles at me and says, “Just so you know, I turned twelve two months ago. You gave me a card with money in it.”
I did, didn’t I? I thump my head. Baby-brain. It’s a thing.
The party is amazing. Ellie has gone all out, and I’ve never seen her happier. She’s a marketing manager at the medical center, but she still finds time to volunteer at the women’s center with me. Turned out, it wound up being a permanent job move for me, and I couldn’t be happier. Together, we get to help the way we were once helped, which I think is what life is all about. Not just holding onto the blessings you receive, but sharing them.
And today is a dream come true, being here with everyone I love. And with Brooks, who I’m sure I couldn’t possibly love any more. In the past five years, he’s proven to me that love doesn’t have to hurt. In fact, it can heal. Every day we’re together, we grow farther and farther away from the scars of the past. Now, they hardly shade my life anymore. Now, Brooks and I can concentrate on giving our daughter the best future, free of worry or fear.
I can’t wait for this little girl to meet her daddy. Because she’s going to love him.
“Thank you,” I whisper to Brooks when we finally have a minute alone.
He touches my stomach. “Anything for my girls.”
“That’s right,” I say, entwining my fingers with his as I rest my head on his shoulder. “We’re your girls, forever and always.”