Page 89 of Taming Waves

“Eden’s water broke,” Amiya says. “And Wade is freaking out.”

Eden waddles out of the bathroom next to the living room, holding her stomach and taking deep breaths. Avie follows closely behind her. “Hi, guys. Sorry about ruining dinner,” she says, panting.

“Are you kidding? This gives us one more thing to be grateful for,” Avie says as she ushers her to a barstool. She bends down and helps her put on her slippers.

I look out to the deck where Sebastian, Lennon, and Anson are seated with beers in hand, watching Leia dance around. “What are they doing?” I ask. Amiya’s eyes follow mine.

“They’re staying out of Wade’s way,” she replies.

“He’s a bit frantic,” Eden says.

I turn back to her and smile. “Well, it has been a while since he’s done this.”

Wade comes stumbling back down. “Did you move your truck?” he asks me.

“It’s all clear,” I reply.

“Good. I have our bags, the baby’s things, and the car seat is loaded. Can someone please call Dillon and let him know we’re on our way? We’ll see you all at the hospital,” he says quickly as he picks up the bags, throws the straps over his shoulder, and walks out the door. We all look at each other in amusement as the door closes behind him.

“One, two, three…” Amiya starts counting.

Suddenly, the door swings open, and he rushes back inside.

“Forget something?” Avie asks with a laugh.

He quickly moves over to Eden and gently helps her to her feet. I remove the straps from his shoulders. “I’ll take care of these. You just make sure she gets down safely,” I say as I take the load from him.

He carefully guides her down the stairs to the garage and lifts her into the passenger seat of his truck while the rest of us follow closely behind. Once she’s secured in the seat, he turns to us, and I hand him their bags.

“Go on. Have that baby girl! We’re right behind you. We’re just going to put all the food away for later and lock up,” Lennon says.

“Thanks, guys,” Wade says as we all step aside to let him pull out and watch them drive down the road.

Afterward, we head back to quickly clean up before loading into Sebastian’s Bronco and my truck. I glance over at Audrey, who is nervously chewing on her lip while Anson climbs into the back seat. “Hey, baby,” I say, reaching out to cradle her face with my hand. Her eyes meet mine. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

She brings her watery eyes to meet mine and takes a deep breath. “I want to,” she whispers.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

She nods. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

I take her hand into mine and bring her wrist to my lips. I plant a kiss over her pulse and whisper, “I love you,” against her skin.

I drive us to the mainland, and we spend Friendsgiving in a tiny waiting room with the people that we love like family, awaiting our newest member, knowing that it’s only going to keep growing from here.

Parker

Christmas Day

“You have one more gift to open,” I say.

We spent the morning at my mother’s house, having breakfast with her, her boyfriend, and my sisters, who were home from college. Then, we had Christmas dinner at her parents’ house with all her aunts, uncles, and cousins. It’s been a great day. Full of family and joy.

We’ve put a lot of work into our relationship over the past month. Once Audrey let go and finally decided to let me in, we spent several long nights talking through our past. It was hard, but also cathartic. Still, it wasn’t enough. I wanted to start anew, and in my haste, I asked her to move into the condo. However, we can’t begin living our future until we’ve reconciled our past. I don’t want to rush it; we have the rest of our lives to love each other and build our family. So, we decided to take the time to work on our relationship. We agreed to give ourselves six months before making any major decisions—six months to truly get to know each other again.

We started seeing Audrey’s therapist, both together and separately. I realized that I could benefit from counseling as well. I’ve been able to identify and deal with the resentment I have for my father and the guilt I feel over losing the baby, as well as the decisions I made when I was just a kid and my role in Audrey’s journey. I’m working on forgiving both my father and myself. It was a heavy weight I didn’t even realize I was carrying. Audrey is learning to forgive and trust me more every day, and I’ve seen her walls come down, brick by brick. Watching her heal and blossom has been my greatest gift.

That’s my wife. I know it, and she knows it. When the time is right, we’ll make it official. Until then, I’m trusting the process and loving her with everything I have.

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