“My advice for the mom-to-be is ‘no matter what he says, anal is not permitted after giving birth.’”
“Oh my God, I think I peed myself.” Gemma laughs. “Who said that?”
“There’s no name on the card,” Everleigh says, flipping it over. “Alright, you dirty birds, who wrote this one? You can’t get your prize if you don’t come forward…” She rocks the basket back and forth, trying to entice them.
Finally, someone raises their hand. “Mrs. Florence!” Everleigh announces with a gasp.
Everyone’s heads turn, and I snicker at the way she’s blushing. The librarian.
“It’s always the quiet ones, y’all…” Everleigh giggles, bringing her the basket.
After games and food, Gemma opens her gifts, and I write down every item while Everleigh takes pictures. Watching her excitement makes me so happy for her and Tyler, and it makes me even more eager to hold my babies. Since they’re waiting to learn the gender, most of the clothes are yellows, greens, teals, and purples.
Once they’re all opened, Belinda announces it’s time to count the clothespins to see who won the grand prize, which is a hundred-dollar gift certificate to the deli.
The door opens, then slams with a loud bang. Eyes stare at the woman marching in with a deep scowl on her face. I don’t recognize her, and by the looks of everyone else, they don’t either.
“Hello, can I help you?” Belinda asks nicely.
“I’m looking for Everleigh Blackwood,” she sneers.
Oh shit, this can’t be good. The woman’s flaming red hair is perfectly curled at the ends, and her green eyes pop against her pale skin. There’s a big shiny rock on her left ring finger, and I have a gut feeling I know where this is going.
“I’m Everleigh,” she announces next to me. She stands and waits for the woman to stalk over.
Before any words are exchanged, the woman slaps Everleigh across the face. Gasps echo through the room.
Just as I’m about to yell at the woman, she speaks up.
“You homewrecking whore! You slept with my husband!”
Yep, that’s where I thought this was going.
Everleigh holds a hand to her cheek and furrows her brows. “I did not!”
I lean over and ask, “Who’s your husband?”
“Eric Hudson,” she replies.
My eyes widen in shock as I direct them toward Everleigh. “You slept with the bodyguard?”
Everleigh shrugs with a guilty expression. “Well, yeah. But he wasn’t wearing a ring. I didn’t know he was married!” she defends.
“Well, he is!” the woman exclaims. “Perhaps you should ask a man before jumping into bed with him.”
“Perhaps he shouldn’t be sleepin’ around then,” Everleigh counters.
The woman lowers her eyes up and down, then scoffs. “Perhaps you should cover your body, and you wouldn’t be temptin’ a spoken for man.”
I snort at her sexist comment, and she scowls at me.
“I think your anger is directed at the wrong person here,” I say kindly. “Eric should be to blame.”
As much as I’m grateful for his help, he’s not innocent in this.
“Don’t worry. He’ll get what he deserves,” she spits out, then storms out as fast as she entered.
“Everleigh!” I scold again.
Gemma waddles over with frustration in her eyes. “How could you do that?”
Everleigh shrugs. “I was bored.”
“Then knit a sweater!” Gemma grits between her teeth. “You don’t sleep with a married man.”
Everleigh clears her throat. “I didn’t know he was married, y’all,” she announces to the room of onlookers. “Totally not my fault. He should’ve said something.”
“To be fair, I don’t think any of us knew,” I say. “He never mentioned it to Noah or me.”
Gemma’s shoulders relax. “Me neither. After the death of his girlfriend last year and how devastated he was, I’m surprised he jumped into another relationship so quickly.”
Yeah, that is kinda odd.
I make a note to ask Noah and Tyler about it later.
“Okay, back to the game, everybody…” Belinda claps her hands, drawing people’s attention back toward her.
Three hours later, the shower finally comes to an end. Noah and Tyler arrive to help load all the gifts into their car and pack up everything.
“You ladies have fun?” Noah asks, wrapping his arm around me. “Did you stay off your feet?”
I groan with an eye roll. “Yes, I behaved.”
“She really did,” my mom adds with a grin. “I made sure of it.”
“Well, thank you, Dianna.” He flashes her a charming smile.
“I don’t know how you managed it, but I swear you have my mother wrapped around your finger,” I tease as he leads me to the car.
“It’s the Reid charm, baby.” He leans in and tilts up my chin. “Took a while to work on you, but…” He lowers his eyes to my stomach. “Worked eventually.”
Chapter Eighteen
NOAH
The furniture we ordered arrives today, and I can’t wait to get it set up. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been carefully packing everything at Katie’s place since she’s on light duty. Though I moved in after we found out she was expecting, we haven’t formally discussed me living with her in the new house. She’d probably freak out if I didn’t, so I don’t think it’s needed at this point. While I’ve loved staying here, this was always Katie’s space, and it never really felt like home to me. I’m just glad we’ll be able to have a clean slate and make the new house ours together.
Now that I’m getting more side jobs to fix or build things and work less at the gym, I’m making more money and can finally contribute to the mortgage and everything else. It feels great knowing I can take some of the burden off Katie, though it still doesn’t seem like enough.
Katie’s been staying off her feet at work as much as possible, and I make sure she rests when I’m home. I’ve loved being on this journey with her and watching her belly grow. Feeling the babies’ movements and kicks have been the greatest joy I’ve ever experienced.
“Excuse me? Sit your cute ass down, woman.” I wrap my arms around Katie as she stands at the kitchen counter, mixing pancake batter in a bowl. “Let me make breakfast,” I whisper in her ear. “Then feed it to you naked in bed.”
She smirks, shaking her head. “I’m allowed to stand to make food,” she tells me. “Plus, you’ve been doing so much. I feel useless.”
“You’re anything but that, sweetheart. You’re carrying twins and taking care of Owen while working a full-time job. It’s the weekend.” I playfully smack her ass. “Go relax.”
Katie huffs with a sigh. “I’m tired of relaxing. It’s boring.”
“Read a book, watch TV, take a nap. I’ll even rub your feet.” Grinning, I spin her around and cup her face before leaning in and pressing my lips to hers. “Everleigh’s gonna stop by this afternoon when she’s done with work.”