Page 34 of JoJo

Keys waved off Steel’s comment, and just beamed at me for a minute. Then she looked up at Steel. “Thank you!”

“For what?”

“For doing whatever it is you do to make her look this damn happy. It’s been a long time coming and I’m so glad to finally see it.”

“That is something I never need thanks for,” he told Keys. “I’m going to clean up this mess and give my dad a call.” Steel moved to pick up all of our lunch mess that still littered the living room, while Keys grabbed my hand and dragged me outside.

We sat on the old porch swing, listening to the groaning complaints of the somewhat rusty chain links as we enjoyed the mid-September breeze. “I can’t believe you’re going to have a baby. I bet you never saw this outcome when that dumb lawyer told you about your father’s stipulations in his Will.”

“No, I sure didn’t. I’m damn thankful for my dad’s quirky decree now though. I always understood why he did it, because of the idiots around here. Hell, the business is doing phenomenally right now, and that’s due in part to Steel’s work, as much as having the fact that he’s my husband on my side. People are assholes. My work should have been able to stand for itself.”

“It should have,” she agreed.

“Yeah, but at least everything seems to be working out.” I sighed. “Except for the bullshit with Angel and Sweet, and now Steel’s mom.”

“Don’t you let any of them ruin your happy moment. They can all just kiss my ass, because I’m not letting them close enough to yours until they can act right.” Her fierce protectiveness of me started to make my eyes water again. Damn it. “Aw, don’t cry, sweetie.” Keys pulled me into a side hug as we continued to swing gently back and forth.

“Sorry, stupid hormones keep making me cry like a girl.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, JoJo, but you are a girl.” Keys snickered as she said it, and I couldn’t help joining in.

“Have you seen Angel and the baby lately? I might be mad at her, but I’m still worried too.”

“They’re both doing great. Angel has thrown herself into mommy mode and it’s honestly the sweetest thing to see the three of them together as a family. Granted, the bitches from the RC are jealous as hell of that scene,” Keys joked. “I think when they all first met Sweet they each imagined themselves landing him for their own.”

“I guess it’s easy to look beyond all the shit Angel had to go through to get that though.”

“Well, most of them don’t know everything anyway. Nosey bitches keep speculating though. Hell, I even heard one of the whores at the Aces clubhouse guessing that Angel stole the baby from somewhere.” We both cringed then. “Angel and Legs weren’t there to hear that were they?”

“No, thank God. She wouldn’t have walked away if either of them had heard that.” Rightfully so too, because Legs had her daughter kidnapped by her ex, and she was still searching for her. Kidnapped baby jokes would not go over well with any of our crew. Which begged the question.

“What did you do to her?”

Keys grinned. I just shook my head while I waited for her to answer. “Let’s just say the next time she gets pulled over, she’s going to have a hell of time getting out of all those tickets.”

I giggled. “That’s mean,” I told her.

“Mean would have been if I had placed a warrant for her arrest. Twenty unpaid parking tickets is nothing,” Keys stated waving it off as trivial. I did not ever want to get on my best friend’s bad side.

“How are you feeling about your news?”

I smiled up at her. “Honestly?” I asked knowing she wouldn’t want anything less. “I was worried when it first dawned on me what might be happening.” I rolled my eyes. “After my husband had to throw me some hints. I can’t believe he knew and I missed it,” I laughed. Keys just grinned at me. “Anyway, I panicked at first, because all I could think was that I’d only married a month. We literally met, got married, and got pregnant within days.”

“I can see where that might induce some jitters.” She eyed me carefully. “But?”

“But…” I started to say, and couldn’t help the grin that bloomed on my face. “But then there’s Steel, and his reassurances, and him telling me he couldn’t be happier that I was going to be his baby’s mom.”

“He told you he loved you too,” she reminded me of what she’d obviously overheard.

“Yeah, there’s that too,” I whispered dreamily.

Keys patted my leg. “You know your dad would be real proud of himself for how this all turned out.” She laughed.

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s gloating to momma right now, and she’s rolling her eyes at him.” That thought made me smile.

---