Page 42 of A Different Husband

“You are so beautiful,” I told her before I turned my attention back to getting the car started, so we could get to my parents’ house in time for family dinner.

“Thank you.” Her soft voice barely carried to me, as she looked away.

“I mean it.”

“I know you do. I just don’t understand how you could think so. I feel like a whale already.”

“You can’t even tell with that big ass sweater on,” I informed her, which made her laugh.

“See, it takes a big ass sweater to hide all this and I am only four months along!” She whined.

“Do you hear me complaining?”

“No.”

“Okay then. No one else’s opinion matters.”

I ignored the way she stared at me and grinned from ear-to-ear. It sucked that I had to focus my attention on driving, but I wouldn’t risk an accident just to see her happiness aimed at me a bit longer.

When we got to the house, I was too busy helping my wife out of the car to notice that there was another vehicle in the driveway that shouldn’t have been there. If I had been paying attention, we would have turned around and found a restaurant to go to for date night, rather than dinner with my family.

When my parents invited us that morning, I thought they had said it would be just us, my parents, two sisters, and then my wife and me. When Mom and Dad greeted us, I noticed the extra guests over their shoulders.

“I thought it was just the kids coming to dinner?”

My mom’s face turned red with embarrassment as Gayle smiled softly and spoke up. “That’s my fault, I’m afraid. We came to talk to your parents about something, and they invited us to join everyone for dinner. I hope you don’t mind theintrusion.” My aunt turned her attention from me to my wife then. “Courtney, it is so good to see you, my dear. You’re looking absolutely radiant. What kind of skin care are you doing these days?”

My wife blushed and waved her off. “Nothing special,” she managed to get out as my aunt and mom tutted her denials.

“To be young again and not even have to try to look good,” My mom huffed as if she wasn’t still in her prime.

“You’re always effortlessly beautiful,” Dad said to her. Every woman in the room swooned a bit and I had to join Uncle Marty in rolling my eyes.

I glanced between Gayle and Marty then and noticed the distance between them. Normally, if we were all standing around, my Uncle would have his arm around his wife in much the same way my dad always did with his. It struck me then that Marty had probably always emulated what he saw Dad do, because I didn’t think he had it in him to be a sweet, caring husband on his own accord. Then again, I might have been prejudiced by the fact that I knew he was carrying on an affair with Courtney’s mother.

That bitter pill was something else I had to contend with. I promised Reed that I wouldn’t say anything until he collected all the information he would need in his divorce. He didn’t want anyone to tip Jill off that he had hired a PI to follow her around. It sucked, because I didn’t like keeping secrets from my wife, but I also knew my little Nemesis well enough to know that she would go after her mother for betraying her dad and ultimately their whole family dynamic.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and when I went to pull it out to check my message, the ultrasound photos went fluttering to the floor. Just as that happened, the front door opened behind us and my fucking cousin marched in with a date in tow like he had every right.

“What’s this?” Mom said as she bent to scoop up the ultrasound photos. My eyes darted between Mom with the pictures and my wife, whose face had gone ashen at the sight of Beckett.

“Is this what I think it is?” My mother shrieked in her excitement.

“Mom, shhh, we’ll talk about it later.”

Her eyes were bright, and shining with joy as she ignored me and announced to the whole house, “I’m going to be a grandma!”

I quickly looked at Courtney, who had collected herself after the shock of seeing her former fiancé in my parents’ home. She gave me a shoulder shrug and smirked as we watched my father lean in and study the images a little too closely.

“I guess the cat is out of the bag,” Courtney stated as her arm wrapped around my waist and gave a reassuring squeeze.

“You’re pregnant?” We both turned to see my cousin’s eyes bouncing between the images in my parents’ hands and Courtney. “Is that my baby? Did you think I wouldn’t find out about it? Fuck you, Flynn! You can’t claim my kid! I don’t care if you won’t divorce each other, you’ll still have to deal with me. We’ll have to coparent or whatever the fuck they call it. No, fuck that. You’ll have to get a divorce. My kids won’t be raised in a broken home, Courtney. We’ve loved one another our whole lives, we can work it out for our baby.”

“Thank God the baby isn’t yours,” Courtney expressed. “Coparent or whatever the fuck…” She muttered unhappily. Before anyone could say anything else, we all heard the slap of a hand on skin, and I turned to see that my cousin’s date had nailed him right across the face.

“I can’t believe you brought me to a family dinner and then had the nerve to propose to another woman.”

“She’s already my fiancee,” Beckett argued.

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