Page 72 of Daddy's Little Surprise

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach.He had called her his girl several times but to hear him say it to another person, that was completely different. She wanted to hear it all the time.

“Nice to meet you, Rainey. I’m John, the bar manager. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

She gave him a smile but made no move to talk.

“Can you say hi to John?”

“Hi,” she whispered.

“Such a good girl.”

“A shy girl.”

“When she wants to be. Once she gets comfortable around the person, she comes out of her shell.”

“When are you guys due?” John asked.

Daddy brought his other hand to her stomach and started to rub it. Any time he could, it seemed like he always had a hand on her stomach. Not that she minded. He had taken more interest in her and her baby than anyone else.

Theirbaby.

Daddy never said her baby but theirbaby. She’d started to get used to it as well, liking the sound of him taking initiative.

“In less than three months,” Daddy said.

“Soon. Congratulations. Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

She shook her head. “No. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Do you have a preference for what you want?”

She shook her head once again. “Healthy.”

“I keep saying it’s going to be a boy. I just have a feeling.”

“Well, they say when the bump is high, it’s going to be a boy.”

Rainey looked down at her stomach and grew self-conscious. She was getting bigger and bigger every day. Did people think she was fat?

“You’re just the perfect size. John didn’t mean anything by that.”

“Shit. Sorry, Little one. I really didn’t. My mama just told me when she was pregnant with me, her bump was high.”

Rainey didn’t look up but continued to look at her stomach.

“Little girl. Can you look at me?”

She kept her head down.

“Now.”

Her eyes found him and he smiled.

“You are perfect. You are growing our baby inside you. You look amazing.”

She leaned into him and took several deep breaths. Not many people commented about how big her stomach was. She knew it was big because she was carrying it around all the time. It was exhausting.

“Now, what do you want to eat? Cheese and crackers? Pretzels?”

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