Page 79 of Love Bank
Three months later
“Lucy? You almost ready to go?” I slid around the doorway, my flip-flops slicker than snot on a doorknob on these new hardwood floors we’d put in.
My heart squeezed seeing her sitting on the floor, a box of photographs surrounding her. She’d gotten melancholy lately, talking about the past and revisiting memories with each photo album she opened. Her hand trembled as she heldthephoto. The one of her mom, just barely pregnant and holding hands with an unidentified man. Unfortunately, the photo was ripped in two, the hand the only part of Lucy’s father she’d ever seen.
“I just don’t understand, Bain. Why won’t my mother tell me? Why didn’t my father want anything to do with me?” She looked up, tears welling in her eyes and I wanted to know who her father was too, just so I could shoot him on the spot. “I love our little peanut so much already. I can’t imagine ever walking away.”
I crouched down beside her and ran a hand down her back, stopping to knead the muscles on either side of her spine. Her back had been the only hassle so far in her pregnancy. No morning sickness, nothing. We wouldn’t have even known she was pregnant except she missed her period not long after that evening at the beach. What were the chances she’d get pregnant the first time we had sex without protection?
I’d spent every waking moment since seeing those double blue lines with a sense of pride so big it felt like it would burst right out of my chest. My proposal plans had been put on halt. Lucy had been so ecstatic about a baby she’d been out of her mind. She already gutted one of the bedrooms and bought baby furniture, having it delivered with gift wrapping so none of the neighbors or delivery guy would have any idea what was going on in this house. The small-town gossip grapevine was a real and tangible thing. I figured I’d let her get the first burst of baby energy out of her system and then I’d slide right in with a ring and a quick wedding to make us an official family unit before the big arrival.
“I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I do know as a father-to-be, you’d have to drag me away with wild horses to abandon my baby. Some people just aren’t cut out to be parents, but luckily your mom was, which meant you were loved and cared for. It was probably a blessing he didn’t stick around. A man who abandons his own child doesn’t have the skill set or the heart to raise one.”
Lucy nodded and then rested her head on my shoulder. “You’re right. I know you are. Maybe one day I can drop the questions and just be grateful.”
I smoothed her hair back and kissed the crown of her head. “If that’s what you want. But in the meantime, we have a bonfire to get to, my love. Let’s go.”
“You and those orders…”
She mumbled like she didn’t like it, but the smirk on her lips and the fact she let me help her to her feet told a different story.
The whole crew had agreed to meet down by the water to kick off summer with a bonfire. It was still light out, but that didn’t stop us from getting together. We hadn’t told anyone about the baby yet. Only Lucy’s mom and my parents. I was hoping for a double reveal tonight. The ring was burning a hole in my pocket and the baby news was a quick slip from coming out my mouth. We needed to announce things before I let the cat out of the bag.
I’d never been more proud of the little family we were building and I wanted to shout it from the hilltops. I crossed my fingers tonight was the night.
* * *
The calla lily gave off a fragrant flowery smell that reminded me of the night we made this baby. I’d picked another one on the hike down the hillside, handing it over to Lucy with a heated smile. We both remembered what came after that white flower fell from her hands.
Our friends were all gathered around the bonfire, the flames nice and low while the warm sun was still in the sky. The beach this far north never got sweltering hot even in the middle of summer, but the beginning of summer didn’t call for a blazing fire either.
I handed a six-pack of beer off to Rip, pulling one out that I’d doctored just for Lucy. I’d been doing this for two months now as we kept our little secret. Everyone thought Lucy wasn’t much of a drinker—which she wasn’t—but the one beer she nursed all night long was actually filled with water. Somehow, someway, we’d kept our secret from everyone.
The group chatted animatedly about Clyde’s shenanigans yesterday. Apparently, he’d had one too many beers at Hell’s Tavern before he got a call. Just outside Auburn Hill limits, one of the ladies from the Pentecostal church one town over got a flat and needed assistance. When Clyde showed up, he accidentally backed his truck through the fence line just off the road, which was a good thing considering he could have backed into her car instead. But the cows residing there didn’t care much for a truck in their pasture and they’d stampeded. Clyde and the overcome church lady were caught in an intimate embrace to avoid being crushed, Clyde swearing up a storm and the woman hollering hysterically in some holy tongue.
“Hey, you ever find your swimmers?” Titus said loudly across the fire. That was one way to get everyone’s attention.
“Nope. No leads, and other than Addi, there hasn’t been any baby accusations.” I shrugged, hoping nothing more serious would come of the theft three months ago.
“So, it’s true, then? Addi’s baby is your brother’s?” Hazel asked.
I nodded. “Yep. He got the paternity test results a few days ago. The little boy is his.”
My stomach felt heavy saying it out loud. While I was happy for my own baby to grow up with his, I knew the circumstances were far from ideal. Jayden was paying a steep price for a defective condom. Addi was pumping him for money left and right. He’d told me he was going to take her to court and try to get full custody. Not sure what a corporate CEO was going to do with a newborn on his hands, but he was making enough money to hire help.
When the conversation died down, I gave one last pat to Lucy’s belly as I held her in front of me. I took a huge breath, stepped away, and put my fingers in my mouth to whistle. My heart thundered in my throat and I briefly wondered if any words would come out when I needed them the most.
All heads swiveled in my direction, including Lucy’s, who looked at me like I’d lost my mind. We’d agreed to wait one more week, until she was firmly in her second trimester, to say anything to anyone. At a “mature” maternal age, she felt the need to take every precaution and I backed her up on that.
“If I could have your attention, please.”
The fire popped off to my side, the fireball behind me was dropping into the ocean, and the prettiest girl in Auburn Hill was looking at me like she wanted to simultaneously jump my bones and argue with me about coming out with our secret before she was ready. Little did she know I had my own secret up my sleeve. Or more accurately, in my back pocket.
“You’ve all welcomed me to Hell with open arms, inviting me to dance around your brimstone and hell fire on a regular basis, but the real gift was meeting one of your own agents of sin.” I turned my attention to Lucy, locking eyes with her and dropping to one knee.
Everyone murmured, my intentions obvious. Lucy’s eyes went comically wide, her hand covering her mouth.
“Lucy. We had a start as rocky as this ocean cliffside. It’s not every day that you meet the love of your life while jacking off in a cup. Nor do you fall in love over a blackmail attempt and sabotage of the seagull variety. But when two people are meant to be like you and me, they find a way to make it work. I love you, Lucille Eureka. I promise to only give my sperm sample to you for the rest of my life.”
