Page 12 of Revived

Chapter 4

Luke

Six Years Ago

“This is your eviction notice, Grayson Tyler Henderson! It’s time to get out! I know you’re comfortable in there, but I’m extremely uncomfortable out here. So unless you still have gills or you want me to elbow you in the ribs once you get out, I suggest you vacate my uterus at once!”

I can’t help the chuckle that escapes my lips, especially when Hannah’s eyes pop up and shoot me a look that makes me question whether she’s going to come after me now. I’m leaning against the entrance to the kitchen, my arms crossed over my chest, watching my very pregnant wife yell at our unborn son, and the image is enough to make a grown man buckle at the knees.

“You think this is funny?” She whispers, and I snort, which then makes me laugh even harder. “I can’t believe you’re laughing at me!” Her voice is high and full of frustration, and then she cries, tears streaming down her face almost instantly.

I make my way over to her in a flash, cupping her cheeks in my hands. “Oh, baby. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset. I just overheard you scolding our son already and I couldn’t help but find it funny. I know you’re uncomfortable, but he’ll be here soon, okay?”

“He’s never going to come out!” She wails as I grab her hand and help her waddle over to the couch. She may feel as big as a house, but I’ve never found her to be more beautiful. Her hair is in a messy ponytail, her bare belly is peeking out beneath the gray cotton t-shirt she’s wearing, her blue yoga pants stretch over her curvy ass and thighs that have increasingly turned me on while I’ve watched her body change as she’s grown our child. I want to fuck her even more now than I did when we first started dating, which is both unsettling, but true. There’s something about your wife carrying your baby—sorry, but it does it for me—bad.

“Take a seat. You want something to eat? Drink? Some chocolate maybe?”

“Oh, yeah!” She perks up, brushing her tears away as she looks up at me. “There’s a bag of candy I just bought in the pantry. Bring it here please…”

I lean down to kiss her forehead and then prop her feet up with a pillow and place one behind her back as she splays out on the couch. “You’ve got it, babe.”

Making my way into the kitchen, I find the mixed bag of candy bars, fill up a glass of ice water, and grab a bag of barbeque potato chips just in case, since that seems to be something she can’t live without during this pregnancy too.

“Here, baby.” I set the water on the coffee table and then hand her the bag of candy, dropping the bag of chips right next to her glass.

“Thank you, Luke,” she whispers, digging through the bag and extracting a Kit Kat, tearing open the package with fervor and crunching down on the candy without a moment’s hesitation.

I watch her in awe as she chomps away, crumbs flying out of her mouth and morsels of chocolate falling on her enlarged chest—another benefit of her changing body.

“What?” She asks me around a mouthful of food.

“Did you just bite that Kit Kat without separating it?”

She stares at me intensely, pausing to digest my words and her chocolate before answering. “Uh, yes. Is that a problem?”

“I can’t believe you did that. That’s… I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so inhumane in my life.” I tease her, but all it does is make her eyes widen and smoke come out of her ears.

Listen—I know that teasing my wife while she’s uncomfortable like this is an asshole move, but I can’t help it. She’s so easily offended right now and irritated, joking around with here is the only way I can stay sane as we wait for our son to arrive. Plus, it’s part of our relationship. We’ve always given each other a hard time. It keeps things interesting and fun.

“Ain’t nobody got time to break apart the sticks when they’re in need of chocolate, Luke. It’s an unnecessary maneuver that slows down the food making its way into my mouth, okay?”

I lean forward and brush my lips against hers, retrieving a few crumbs of Kit Kat on the way back. Our eyes lock as I savor this moment between us, one of the few left before we become a family of three.

“I love you, Hannah. I can’t wait to watch you be a mom.” She stops chewing as I sit down next to her on the couch, rubbing my hands around her belly. “I can’t wait to see you hold him, rock him to sleep, and teach him how to make chocolate chip cookies. I can’t wait to come home to the two of you every day, in this home we’ve built together. And I really can’t wait for you to show our son how to eat a Kit Kat like a savage.” She laughs as we study each other, her dark brown eyes staring back into mine. I can’t help the sense of euphoria that overcomes me as I watch her pop the rest of the Kit Kat in her mouth before she chews and swallows with the sexiest smirk on her face.

Present Day

“Grayson, bud… we need to clean up this mess before Rachel gets here.” I shake off the memory of Hannah that hit me full force as I prepared myself for the arrival of my new employee. Turning around to face the living room, I start assessing whether my son has been doing what I asked of him while I zoned out.

Rule number one of parenting: never tell your child something you know will make them excited unless you want to hear about it every minute, on the minute, until that moment arrives.

“Is she here yet?” My son asks me for the zillionth time.

“No, not yet bud. But she will be very soon, so I need you to pick up this racetrack and put it in the cubby please.” Thank God for my mom and her organizational skills because I would have no sense to buy an organizer to keep Grayson’s toys off the floor. If it were left to me, there would be one giant box and everything would get thrown inside.

As I watch my son pick up toys faster than I’ve ever seen him move, I realize that in just a few moments there will be another woman in my house for the first time in five years, a notion that is quickly becoming unsettling. Of course my mother has been here and the girlfriends or wives of my friends—but not a woman whose sole purpose is to take care of my kid, and surely not a woman who’s going to be living with me.

What the fuck was I thinking?

You were thinking that desperate times call for desperate measures, Luke. You can’t do this on your own anymore, especially now that your mom is hurt. It’s okay to ask for help and accept it—I repeat the mantra in my head repeatedly until I start to believe it.

Grayson was just three months old when Hannah died and it took me a while before I was willing to accept help from anyone, even my parents. I felt like I was the only person who could take care of my son and keep him safe, shield him from any other hurt in this world even comparable to losing his mother. A hard-hitting intervention from my parents and my sister Tenley made me cave, accepting the fact that I didn’t have to do this parenting gig on my own. Sure, I would be the only true parent to my son, but there’s nothing wrong with more people to love him in his life, especially family.

But that’s just it—it’s always been family I’ve depended on, never a stranger. I mean, Rachel isn’t a complete stranger, but she’s certainly not someone I know extremely well. The Captain called me from the station about an hour ago, emailing over her background check, and I’m happy to say she checked out clean. Not even a traffic ticket. The woman is energetic, kind, and offering to do me a huge favor right when I need it. I should be grateful, but all I feel is guilt—guilt for letting another woman come into my home when Hannah was supposed to be the only woman ever living here. I just hope Hannah would understand how difficult this is for me, because I really have no other options right now, and I’m trying to rely on my instincts.

“She’s here! Daddy, Rachel is here!” Grayson shouts, launching himself from the ground as I watch a white sedan pull up to the curb in front of our house. Rachel’s hand flies up to check her appearance in her rearview mirror before I see her turn and assess the house. Her entire face lights up as she observes her surroundings, and I can’t help but find myself intrigued by her. She’s young, younger than me anyway. But she has a maturity and easygoing temperament that makes me feel confident that this can work, even though I’m nauseous on the inside.

One glance over at the clock tells me she’s early, but I appreciate that, especially since I have to show her around before I can leave. My bag is sitting by the door, loaded with everything I need for my classes tonight so I can head for the college as soon as possible. Taking a deep breath, I remind myself for the thousandth time in the last hour that everything is going to be okay. And as I watch Rachel step up from her car and walk to the front door with a gift bag in hand, I’m overwhelmed by the sense of déjà vu that hits me when her entire face lights up with her infectious smile the second she sees Grayson. That’s gotta mean something, right?

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