Page 37 of The Best Man

I smile, letting my eyes drift closed as my husband makes love to my neck. “Nope. You can put as many babies in me as you want.”

He pulls back and grins at me. “Now that’s what I like to hear.”

___

“We just made it,” I announce victoriously as I catch sight of the big-screen television and see the opening screen of the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade.

“Told you we would.”

A little girl in the living room looks up from munching on crackers to call, “Uncle Marcus and Aunt Jessa are here.”

Julia comes through the archway from the kitchen, flashing us smiles as she passes her daughter. “Hey,” she says cheerfully, stopping in front of us. “And how’s my little peanut?” sheasks my stomach, lovingly caressing it. “Are you being nice to Mommy?”

“The peanut is being very nice to Mommy,” I assure her. “We’ll see if that changes at dinner, but for now, all good.”

She shakes her head. “When I was pregnant with Layla, she would not let me eat vegetables.”

“Veggies are yucky,” Layla announces before crunching on another cracker.

“Hey, she knows what she likes,” Marcus jokes.

Julia smiles at her daughter, then jumps when Jared surprises her by coming around the corner.

“There’s my beautiful wife,” he says, grabbing her around the waist the way he’s taken to doing lately. She smiles as he tugs her closer, and his hand lingers at her waist as he strokes the sweater. “Oh, this is soft.”

“Isn’t it?” she murmurs, just before their lips touch. “I thought you’d like it.”

“I do.” Jared smiles at her, and it takes him a moment to even notice we’re here. “Oh, hey, Jess. Marcus.”

“Good to see you,” Marcus says, holding up the packs of dinner rolls we brought with us. “I should probably take these to the kitchen.”

“Let me do it,” I say, taking them from him. “You go sit down. I’ll be in to watch the parade with you in a minute.”

“You sure? You’re more excited to watch it than I am.”

I nod, though I’m not entirely excited about this next task. “I should say hi to your mom.”

“All right.” Reluctantly, he lets me go and heads for the living room.

I watch, my face tugging into a helpless smile when he scoops up his niece on the way to the couch. She shrieks, then giggles, then throws her arms around his neck and sits on his lap to watch the parade.

My heart aches, it’s so damn full.

“He should know better than to do things like that when you’re pregnant,” Julia says lightly.

“It takes almost nothing to dissolve me into a puddle of tears,” I confess, ignoring the stinging behind my eyes. “He’s gonna be the best dad. I love him so much.”

“Aww,” Julia says on a laugh, letting go of her husband so she can half hug, half walk me to the kitchen.

I used to feel awkward accepting affection from her because I thought she’d never give it to me if she knew what had happened that night. Personally, I couldn’t imagine looking at a woman who hadmyhusband’s cock inside her with any goodwill, but it’s like Marcus said. We don’t have the relationship they have.

Had, I should say.

Jared told her what happened that night, and I was afraid it would mean the end of our chances of friendship. But Marcus talked to her to get a read (and if we’re being honest, probably also to guide her into feeling the way he wanted her to feel about it) and I can honestly say she’s never been anything but nice to me even after she found out.

I brought it up once because I wanted to apologize to her, but she told me there was nothing to apologize for. She said her marriage today is nothing like the marriage they had that night, and she gives a lot of credit to Marcus—and by extension, me—for saving it.

“Even though he urged Jared to…?”

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