Page 103 of Unexpecting

″I like Lucy. I don’t think I’ve ever dated a Lucy.”

″Well, that’s good. What about Sophie?” I couldn’t stop yawning. I found that I yawn a lot before I’m going to be sick, but now I thought it was just because I was really tired. “What time is it?”

″Almost eleven. Go to sleep.”

I took his advice, although it took a while for me to fall asleep. I think it had something to do with being so conscious of J.B. sitting beside me. It’s not like he was doing anything to keep me awake, but it was nice knowing he was there. And it was nice—sort of like he was taking care of me. It had been a long time since someone had taken care of me.

When I woke up in the middle of the night, J.B. was still there, sitting in the uncomfortable-looking chair beside my bed, with his long legs propped up on the mattress and reading a two-year-old magazine. But I didn’t see him at first, since I was in the middle of one of those dreams I’d been having lately. I was in between sleep and awake as I started plucking at the blankets covering me.

″You okay?” J.B. asked with concern. “Are you cold?”

″I can’t find one of the babies,” I mumbled. “They were all right here, and I can’t find one.”

″The babies are right here,” he said with a warm hand on my belly. “They haven’t gone anywhere. I think you might have noticed if they had. Casey? Wake up, now. You’re freaking me out.”

His voice brought me back from the dream. “Oh.” I leaned back against the pillows. “Sorry.”

″Are you okay?” J.B. asked again.

I rubbed my eyes to wake myself up. “I’ve been having these dreams when I’m in bed; I can’t find one of the babies,” I told him. “One of them is tangled up in the covers, and I can’t find them and get so scared.”

J.B.’s hand was still resting on my stomach, and he gave it a little rub. “The babies are fine. You’re not going to lose them.”

″I’m going to be a horrible mother.” I was still so wrapped up in the dream that I was not even embarrassed when I started to cry in front of J.B.

″How do you figure?”

″Look at how I got pregnant,” I cried. “Look at before I knew I was pregnant—all I could think about was getting pregnant. I have no idea what to do with these babies! Plus I drank too much and I didn’t take care of myself, and now look at me—I’m in the hospital, for God’s sake! How can I be a mother if I can’t even take care of myself?” I gave a big sniffle and wiped my nose on the sleeve of my hospital gown.

″Hey, c’mon,” J.B. soothed. “This is hormonal stuff, and you know I can’t handle it.”

″I can’t handle anything!” I sobbed.

″Stop,” he said, a little firmer. “You’ll be fine. You’re a great teacher and an awesome aunt to Libby’s kids, so how much harder can it be raising a few of your own? I’ll give you that it didn’t start out all that well, and you were kind of stupid to end up in the hospital, but there’s no damage done. The babies are just fine—they’re like me, they’re tough little critters. But you’re going to start taking care of yourself better, and I think you should stop working after Christmas. Both jobs. You’re going to need all your energy when these babies come, especially since you told me I don’t have to do the late-night feedings.”

″I didn’t say that.” I sniffed again, but the tears were slowly drying up. How could I ever have thought J.B. was nothing but a juvenile playboy? “Besides, you’ll be upstairs, so you won’t even hear them.”

″Yes, but you’ll be up there with me. I talked to Coop and Emma, and they agree—you’re moving upstairs with the rest of us. And after the restaurant is up and running and I have a little time, we’ll go out and get a place of our own. You and me and the babies. The five of us.”

I must have still been sleep-raddled because I couldn’t have heard him correctly. “You want to move in together?” I asked carefully.

″That’s normally what people do when they get married. Coop and Emma love us, but I don’t think—”

″You don’t have to marry me,” I told him weakly, without any of the heat from my earlier refusal. I must have been still asleep or all hormonal right then because marrying J.B. wasn’t sounding like a bad idea.

J.B. looked at me with exhausted blue eyes. He hadn’t left my side since I was admitted. He hadn’t left my side since I told him I was pregnant with his baby. True, there were a few dicey weeks there, but on the most part, he’d been right there for me. He’d proved to me that he wanted these babies, but only in my deepest dreams did I ever hope he would want me as well.

He put up his hand just as I was about to speak. “Let me do this the right way since I made such a cock-up the last time.” He slid off the chair and amazingly dropped to the floor. “I was going to do this after the babies were born, but I don’t want to wait any longer.”

″Get off the floor,” I murmured.

″Casey Samms, I love you,” J.B. announced in all seriousness. “Even without these babies, I would love you. It just might have taken me a while longer to figure it out,” he finished sheepishly.

″We haven’t even gone on a date yet,” I whispered. “Or we haven’t since before. It was supposed to be tomorrow night.”

″You can call this our first date if that’s what you want. Our second first date.”

″You don’t want to get married,” I finally managed to croak. “You told me you didn’t. You want to take things slow. This isn’t slow.”

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