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1024 Words
Rob started walking toward the kitchen instead of the living room. "Is this the way?"
"No, Daddy! It's that way!" She pointed to where Scarlett and Axel were playing. Sophie was giggling again before they even left the room.
"He's such a good father," I said.
"Yes he is. Hopefully two won't drive our husbands insane. Hi, James," Daphne said and gave James a hug. She did all of her introductions and then stood next to me. "How are you feeling?"
"Honestly, it feels like he's going to kick right through my stomach."
Daphne laughed. "Fortunately little RJ isn't quite as hyper. Was Scarlett like that too?"
"No, not at all. It's part of the reason I'm convinced it's a boy this time."
"You're insane for not knowing ahead of time," Daphne said. "We've been having so much fun transforming everything in the nursery to blue instead of pink."
"We actually let Scarlett pick the color of the nursery," James said. "She had a blast at the paint store. Hopefully the baby likes orange. Do you guys want to come in? We're all just standing around. Let's go sit." He looped his arm behind my back. "Drinks are in the kitchen and snacks are on the coffee table in the living room. Dinner will be coming in a bit." He tilted his lips down to my ear. "How are you feeling?" he whispered.
"I'm fine, James. I promise." I smiled up at him. I had thought he wasn't being attentive enough before. He had done a complete reversal between our conversation this morning and now. Maybe we had just needed a fun day in bed for us to go back to normal. There was nothing that made me happier than knowing that he cared. I needed that. I needed him.
Just when I was about to sit down, the bell rang again.
"I'll get it," James said. He smiled and let go of my waist.
I ungracefully sat down. Matt plopped down next to me.
"How's the baby?" he asked.
"We just went for a checkup. He's very healthy."
"Can I?" He looked down at my stomach.
I nodded.
He gently put his hand on my belly. A smile spread over his face. "I can feel him kicking."
Matt was so cute with all of our kids. I could tell he would be a wonderful father. But he hadn't found the right girl to settle down with. Melissa and Matt had dated for about a month. Their personalities were both too strong, though. Now Melissa and her college sweetheart, Josh, were giving it another go. She had moved to Texas last year. I missed her, but she seemed happy and I was happy for them. James and I had talked about visiting them right before we found out we were expecting again. He had this fear that I'd go into labor on the plane. Even when I was only one month along. So our trip had been postponed indefinitely. I really needed to call her.
"And how are you feeling?" Matt asked. He kept his eyes on my stomach. He was much more discreet than Rob.
I slowly exhaled. "I'm good."
"Yeah?" He looked up at my face.
Yes, one day Matt would be a great father. He was looking at me like my dad would whenever I'd cry. "Yeah." I tried to give him a reassuring smile.
"Stop feeling her up, man," Mason said. "She's basically your sister."
"Oh, no, I wasn't." Matt immediately dropped his hand from my stomach.
"I'm just messing with you." Mason punched his brother's arm and leaned down to hug me. "How you feeling, Penny?"
The Caldwell brothers were so sweet. Which was hilarious because when I met them I never thought I'd use that adjective to describe them. "I'm good," I said as Mason released me from his embrace. "Matt just wanted to feel the baby kick."
"Oh." Mason sat down on the other side of me. "In that case, do you mind if I feel it too?"
"That's fine."
He put his hand on my stomach. I felt the baby kick and Mason smiled.
Bee laughed. "Well, I never thought I'd see the day. For someone who claims to be terrified of children, you sure are excited about this one."
"I'm not terrified of children. I'm terrified of having children. So many things could go wrong." Mason immediately dropped his hand. "I mean, the odds are small. Medicine and technology are so good now. It's very rare for pregnancies to be dangerous."
"And I'm the one harassing her?" Matt said. "Nice one."
"I just meant...Penny, you know what I meant," Mason said. "I'm sorry. Of course everything will be fine with your pregnancy."
"Mason," Bee hissed.
God, everyone was being so weird.
"I feel like I'm missing something," Hailey said. Tyler, Daphne, and her were sitting on the couch on the other side of us. It didn't look like any of them knew what we were talking about.
Daphne put her hand protectively on her stomach as she stared at me. She looked as confused as Hailey and Tyler. It definitely didn't seem like Rob had told her. The Caldwell brothers may have been sweet, but they were way worse at keeping secrets than the Hunters. I couldn't fault them for that, though. It was probably a good thing.
"Seriously, Penny, is everything okay with the baby?" Daphne asked.
What was the point of keeping a secret from half of my friends? Now I just felt guilty for thinking they shouldn't know.
"Of course everything's fine," Rob said from behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. "Don't you dare say anything, you're going to get me in so much trouble for keeping it from her," he whispered under his breath.
I awkwardly cleared my throat. "Everything's fine."
"You're lying," Tyler said.
Hails gave him a sideways glance.
Tyler shrugged. "I can tell when she's lying. She's always been a terrible liar." He took a sip from his drink.
Hailey laughed. "I guess that's true."
"It really is true," Matt said.
You are not helping.
- Writer
