After all, they were about to find out that they were going to be grandparents. This wasn’t what they wanted for me. I knew that much. But it was what was happening. And as I felt my body change, felt Tanner next to me every step of the way, I thought perhaps this might be what I wanted. Maybe not in the sense that I’d planned it, but I wanted it now, and I didn’t want to let it go.
“Are you ready?” Tanner asked as we pulled up to my parents’ neighborhood. We’d taken my car as I had the gate code already keyed in, but I had let Tanner drive. He was calmer than I was at the moment, but I figured it had to be a façade. He was good at pretending when he needed to.
Just thinking about how he had tried to defend his mother, to protect her hurt. Especially because he hadn’t been able to. Yet he had done his best to push all of that off and pretend that he was fine and not breaking inside.
It was so hard to find the man beneath the mask at times, but I wanted to uncover him. I just hoped it didn’t destroy us both in the end.
“Natalie?”
I shook my head and reached out to squeeze his knee. He raised a brow, and I blushed. Every time I did that, he gave me a look that told me exactly what he thought about it. After all, I was a little too close to certain parts of him, and it made both of us swoon a bit. Okay, so I swooned, and he groaned, but I still counted that as somewhat of a win.
“It’s just around here,” I said, pointing down the street, and he gave me a look. “You put it in your GPS. I know. We’re going to be okay.”
“You say that, and yet I don’t know. You haven’t met my parents.”
“You met my mother and Jared yesterday. I think we are both quite aware that I don’t have the best track record when it comes to family.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Don’t be. It’s life. You already told me that your parents might freak the fuck out, and I am prepared to stand with you. I’ve got you.”
I looked up at him and swallowed hard. “You do. Okay. We can do this.” I looked down at my stomach and grimaced. “This dress pretty much covers the bump, so at least that’s good.”
“Your mom’s going to know, though. You can’t hide it that well.”
“I don’t understand how some women can hide their pregnancies with clothing for so long. I seemed to pop out overnight, and there was no more hiding it.”
“All you have is a stomach. You haven’t gained any other weight anywhere else. If you face forward, you can’t even tell. It’s only when you turn to the side that you’re suddenly like, wait, there’s a bump there.”
I snorted. “I don’t know if that’s quite accurate, but I don’t think I can stand perpendicular to my mother for the entire evening.”
“Look at you, using the big words.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re going to be an architect. I’m pretty sure you know what the word perpendicular means.”
“True. But, sometimes, I’m just a poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks, who doesn’t know what these big words are.”
“Shut up,” I said with a laugh as I shoved his shoulder. He scowled at me. “I’m driving, thank you very much. We’re not going to hurt little bean over there.”
I snorted. “Little bean?”
“What? I needed a name. And since we don’t know the sex of the baby yet, we’re going to go with little bean.”
“Little bean. I like it. I wonder if we should keep it for the true name.”
“Only for a middle name.”
“Let me guess, Pinto, Kidney, or Garbanzo should be their first name?”
“Little Kidney Bean Blake.”
We pulled into the driveway, and I frowned. “What about Blake-Hagen? Or Hagen-Blake?”
He let out a breath and turned off the engine. “I’m good with anything, Natalie. Just know that I’m not going anywhere.”
“Tanner...” I began but knew this wasn’t the time for that conversation.
I let out a breath and looked at the large and foreboding home in front of me. “Let’s go.”
“This place is huge,” he said and shook his head. “The architecture? Fucking beautiful.”
I grinned. “I lived here all my life. I love the place. As I love the place we have over in the Hamptons, and the mountain lodge, and the beach house.”
He just blinked at me. “Sorry, I’m rambling and sounding like an utter spoiled rich girl.”
“No. Well, maybe a little. I have a feeling we’re not going to be invited to those places to look at the architecture, so you’ll have to send some photos to me. Possibly through a Ouija board because your father might kill me tonight.”
“I’d be more afraid of my mother,” I said with a wince, and he grimaced.
“Good to know.” He squeezed my hand and met my gaze. “Let’s do this.”
“Okay.”
I got out of the car and walked around to the front where Tanner met me, his hand out.
I tangled my fingers with his, and we made our way to the door. Tanner was in black slacks and a gray button-up. He looked beautiful and as if he had been born in dress clothes, and I knew he had borrowed the outfit from Pacey. Not that Tanner didn’t have nice clothes, but Pacey’s were a little more high-end, and I hated that Tanner felt any shame for who he was and what he had.
I hadn’t mentioned it, and neither had he, but I recognized the clothes. I hated that he felt he had to change for my family. He didn’t have to change for me. I hoped he realized that.
We rang the doorbell, and Ronald, our butler, opened the door, his nod regal. “Miss Blake. Sir.”
Tanner gave me a look, and then I remembered that I hadn’t told him we had a butler.
“Hello, Ronald. Are they in the drawing room?”
“Yes, with cocktails. May I take your bag?”
“Thank you.”
I let out a breath as we passed Ronald, and Tanner gave me another look.
“He’s not always here for family nights, but it seems Mom wanted to impress.” Or intimidate, but I didn’t say that. However, from the look in Tanner’s eyes, he knew.
This would not end well.
We made our way into the drawing room where my parents stood by the fireplace, both of them laughing at something. They looked so happy, and I knew they loved each other. They got along and were made for one another. They just had set ideals for who I needed to be, and that was someone settled with a person of their circle. That wasn’t me, though. And while I knew that some of my friends had gone through similar things—namely Elise—my parents were just on the edge of brittle. They wouldn’t approve of this, and I probably should’ve done it by text or telegram. But they had raised me better than that. I would tell them in person, and then I would run away.
“Mother, Father, this is Tanner Hagen.”
Both my parents stopped what they were doing and looked over, slight smiles on their faces. There was some kindness there, but both gave Tanner assessing once-overs as if he were a prime piece of beef.
He was gorgeous in his attire, and he was beautiful out of it, but my parents were looking for signs of weakness.
They hadn’t approved of Tanner ahead of time, so now they would scrutinize.