Page 128 of Love Without Control

It was all I could do to keep from whipping my head around, but I continued with my task and shamelessly eavesdropped. “Who? The one married to Auburn? Because I wouldn’t mind being a shoulder he could cry on.”

Oh fuck. Are they talking about Gianna Bouvier?

“No,” the other one giggled. “The older one. Auburn’s mom.”

Holy shit! I hightailed it to the kitchen and found one of the high school kids who worked after school. “Brandon, can you finish up in the dining room? I’m going to head home. Got some… family stuff.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Osbourne. Hope everything’s okay.”

I arrived home a few seconds after Eden and pulled into the driveway beside her cute little sports car. She didn’t seem to be aware that anything was amiss, if her exuberant wave was any indication.

Hopping out of the SUV, I pulled her into a hard hug, and she laughed. “What’s that for?” She snuggled into my chest. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“Come inside, sweetheart. We need to talk.”

Twenty minutes later, I was squatting beside my wife as she threw up in the toilet. After showing her a news article about Chloe Bouvier dying in a car accident, she’d immediately taken off for the bathroom with me right on her heels.

I helped her stand and massaged her shoulders while she brushed her teeth at the silver sink. When she was done, I handed her a hand towel to wipe her mouth and met her eyes in the mirror.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I think so. It was just a shock. We’ve never been really close.” She dropped her head and leaned her palms against the countertop. “I feel bad saying this because she’s dead, but I never really knew her. She was cold, you know? Like someone who just lived in our house, not like a mother at all. I was closer to our housekeeper than my own mother.”

I continued massaging her shoulders when I asked my next question. “Are you pregnant?”

Eden blew out a breath and then turned to face me, her brown eyes meeting mine. “I think… maybe.”

My heart turned Grinch-like, growing three sizes in the span of a couple seconds. “Really?” I was practically breathless with excitement. Just as I was about to suggest that I go get a pregnancy test, Eden reached into a drawer and pulled one out.

“I bought this when I got sick a couple weeks ago but never used it because I felt better.”

I cupped her face and leaned my forehead against hers. My blood was moving entirely too fast through my veins, like the blood cells were in an all-out sprint. “Will you take it now?”

Five minutes later, we stared down at the little stick on the glossy red tiles of the counter, and our entire lives changed.

Pregnant.

Joy. Elation. Wonder. My mind was a fucking thesaurus of every happy word in existence.

As if our eyeballs were being pulled by invisible ropes, we looked at each other, and I didn’t have to ask if she was as happy as I was. Her brilliant smile said it all.

“We’re having a baby,” she whispered.

“We’re having a baby,” I said in a much louder voice becausefucking hell, I was going to be a dad! Grabbing Eden’s butt, I lifted her until her legs banded around my waist. Then I spun us in circles until I was so dizzy I was at risk of tipping over.

“You’re going to make me puke again,” she giggled, and I leaned my back against the wall for balance and fell even more in love with the woman who was now carrying my child.

Dr. Makenna Katten smiled as she turned from her computer to face us. I’d called and insisted that the OB/GYN’s office get my wife in for an appointment the very next day. I was fully prepared to pull out my old Damiano persona to get what I wanted, even if that meant busting into the office with guns blazing and demanding they check her out. Luckily, they’d had a last minute cancellation, and I was saved from reverting to my former proclivities.

“Congrats, kids. You are indeed expecting. I’d say you’ll be getting a new member of the family in late October.”

Eden and I shared a smile, our intertwined fingers resting on her thigh. She was freaking glowing. I knew that sounded cliché, like something everyone said, but I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if her skin glittered like the vampires in those movies.

“And everything’s okay?” I asked, only pulling my eyes from my wife’s when the doctor hesitated. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Eden is fine, I promise. Just a bit anemic.” She tilted her head back and forth a few times, her dark-brown ponytail swinging around her shoulders. “Quite a bit, if I’m being honest. That means your red blood cell count is low.”

My wife sensed my rising panic and squeezed my hand. “What can we do about that?” she asked calmly.

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