39. Lake

LAKE

This was nuts.

The doorbell rang and Alley moved into position to answer it. All the others creeped in behind her, having her back. It was quite the posse. She scanned the lineup of bats next to the door and I almost peed my pants laughing as she pondered and put so much thought into which she was going to pick up.

I'd finally gotten to see her famous collection. And by god there were a lot of them. It seemed every color was there along with rainbow, neon, glow-in-the-dark, and more. She'd already scared some of our men away with one, but she had enough to take out an army with a different bat on anybody she felt needed it.

Finally making an executive decision, she grabbed a purple one with sparkles all over it. It was as if the bat had been bedazzled.

A hard knock sounded on the door, causing us to jump. Well maybe all of us, but Alley, she just gripped her bat tighter in her hands. Then a deep voice echoed through to our ears. "It's your official bodyguards, open the door ladies."

I was pretty sure it was Lyric's voice that rumbled through the solid wood. Alley seemed confident and she released the lock and pulled the door open without relinquishing the bat from her other hand.

When my eyes landed on the scene outside, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be mortified. There stood a young man, maybe eighteen or nineteen, holding a brown paper bag with what I knew held multiple pregnancy tests. Lyric and Kace stood behind him, arms crossed over their muscled chests and scowls on their faces.

My face burned with embarrassment, but I'm not sure it compared to what the delivery driver's looked like. And then it dawned on me. Holy guacamole, the dude had to personally pick each test up one by one.

Lyric scanned all our faces before settling on Alley who was front and center. "What are you ladies doing ordering stuff to the house without telling us?"

Alley took a step forward and I saw the kid who'd been stiff as a board finally move as he retreated backward a few steps. Only, that had him bumping right into Kace.

"It's a secret," my friend said, moving again and snagging the bag from the dude's hand.

"Hey, I didn't check that yet," Lyric said, moving around the guy to take it back from Alley but she was faster and held it away from him. "What part of its secret don't you understand, you big lug?"

Turning her body to shield the view, she peeked in the bag, a huge smile crossing her face and then rolled the top back down. "It's fine, all checked, now as I said earlier, shoo."

"Y-You m-mean I can g-go?" the terror-stricken and most likely scarred-for-life kid asked.

He not only had to pick up and pay for pregnancy tests, but he had two linebacker looking dudes trying to accost him outside for just doing his job.

And then Alley added to it in the next second. Stepping forward again, she snagged the guy"s jacket sleeve and dragged him right over the threshold into the house. I thought he might pee his pants.

"Not yet, I'm going to pay you extra for going to get us food," she told him. "And those guys," she pointed at Lyric and Kace with the bat again, "they won't harass you."

Then she shut the door in their faces with the young man, we learned was named Carson, inside.

"We're not leaving this door until the dude comes out," Lyric called from outside again.

Alley rolled her eyes. "Ignore him," she told Carson.

He looked at her and then his gaze took in the whole group, his eyes about popping out of his head. Poor Carson must not have noticed just how many of us there were when he was outside.

"Don't worry, we don't bite," Alley said.

Carson eyeballed the bat in her hands.

"I promise not to use it on you," Alley told him, setting the bat back in the lineup where she got it from.

The kid cleared his throat. "That's a lot of bats, are you all on softball teams or something?"

We all burst into laughter for about the millionth time that night already, Alley included before she said, "Yeah, something like that."

I sure was having a blast watching the crazy woman who was so bold and at home in her own skin.

I couldn't believethey talked me into it.

After deciding on Mexican food and putting in our order, we managed to get our new friend Carson in and out of the house again without too much trouble. That didn't mean Lyric and Kace were not acting like the usual watchdogs.

"Good luck with your, umm, test," Carson said, a bit shyly.

"Thanks, Carson, enjoy the rest of your night," I told him.

Carson let out a small chuckle and slipped out of the house for the second time that night.

"The rest of his night should be a breeze after this," Teal said, pointing to all the ladies around the room. She then hooked her thumb over her shoulder toward the door. "And those loons," she added.

He was a cute, young man, and even though I wasn't sure how I got roped into taking a pregnancy test while surrounded by all the ladies, I would never forget the moment Carson had come to the door. It was a story that would live on for some time to come.

With the help of Alley of course.

We all dug into our food while we talked and light music pumped from the television speakers. But as everyone finished, I found everyone's gazes pinned on me.

"It's time, girlfriend," Capri said. She picked up the paper bag that lay mocking me on the coffee table and rustled it.

Jurnee, Summer, Alley, Teal, Brinley, Ruby, Gemma, Capri, Patience, and London all stared expectantly.

A little part of me had worried that Bronson may be mad when he found out what went down and that all the ladies may have an answer, whatever it may be, before him. But then I shook that feeling off because I knew that my husband would be happy that I had my friends" support.

And if I gave him the answer we both desperately wanted, he'd be so thrilled that the outcome was all he would care about. I was nervous.

"What if…"

I couldn't finish the thought. Something inside me told me that I would like the answer on the small white stick, but I worried if I was wrong I'd be crushed and I knew I would have to tell Bronson either way. We'd kept something important from each other once before, how we felt about each other, but we were not doing that ever again.

A hand touched my arm and I turned to find Alley looking at me with soft eyes. "I know it's not easy being so vulnerable, especially when it revolves around something you want so badly, but we will be here for you. And I have a good feeling about this."

Alley was the perfect mix of hard and soft. One minute she was busting someone's chops and the next she was sweet as pie.

Capri shook the bag again. "What do you say?" she asked.

Shoving my worry deep down, I gave them all a small smile. "I say let's do it."

Everyone cheered and shouted words of encouragement as I got up to head to the bathroom. When I reached the door, Capri handed me the bag and I turned before enclosing myself inside but came up short when I saw every lady in the small hallway watching me.

Nervous laughter ripped free. "You do know I can't pee with you all watching right?"

Smiles lit up their faces. "We'll just wait out here," Gemma said.

I nodded and moved the final distance into the restroom. Somehow I managed to pee on all three sticks and placed them all on the back of the toilet. Looking at them, I shook my head. I probably didn't need three but I adored Gemma for being thorough.

There is no way I can stand here.

When I emerged from the bathroom, everyone was still standing there with questioning eyes.

"I can't just stand there and wait, it will drive me crazy."

It probably sounded a little bit silly since it was only a couple of minutes but I needed a distraction. All of a sudden the music in the living room was cranked up and everyone made their way out to where the sound was coming from.

Summer stood there, a cute smirk on her face. "Distraction time, lady."

She had read my mind. Shania Twain's, ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" blared from the speakers. Ruby grabbed my hand and twirled me around. In seconds every woman was dancing their asses off.

When the song died down, I took a deep breath and walked back to the bathroom. My gaze landed on all three tests and my heart began to race. And then I screamed. If everyone could have fit into the bathroom they would have, but there was not a chance of that so I grabbed all the sticks and moved into the hall, holding them in the air.

"I'm going to have a baby!" I screamed.

We made our way back into the front room and all the ladies were screaming along with me, hugging me, and jumping up and down. We were startled once again for the second time that night when someone started pounding on the door.

"What the hell happened? Open the door!" Kace bellowed.

Oh shit.

I bet we scared the shit out of them, but there was no way I was telling them why we were so hyped up. All my girls knew, but the next one to find out would be my husband.

Alley managed to get rid of the guys once again and the party was back in action. Some did shots, we all ate way too much junk food, we watched movies, played games, and we talked.

Throughout the night everyone was peppering me with questions like what names I liked, how was I going to tell Bronson, would Stormi be too disappointed if it was a girl, and so on. Their rapid-fire questions made my head spin, but it was okay because I was high on life.

At one point, more shots were handed out and Gemma ended up doing the toast. "To our overprotective men." She paused to throw back her whiskey and everyone followed her with whatever they had in their glass, thinking she was done, but then she added. "The same guys who'd probably pee on us to mark their territory if they could!"

Sparkling cider spit from my mouth and blew out of my nose, I laughed so hard. At least I wasn't the only one. The night carried on much like that. Wild and with us roaring with laughter.

It was two in the morning and things were finally winding down. We were all camped out around the living room. The couches plus chairs were taken, along with every imaginable floor space.

I laid there thinking about everything the ladies had shared that night, especially Patience. She'd actually opened up about missing Jett after his few days in town after New Year's, how much her son adored the man, and how earth-shattering the kiss they shared had been.

"I'm so excited that we will be pregnant together," London whispered from beside me.

Although she couldn't see me in the dark room, I smiled at my newest friend. "Me too. It's going to be so much fun."

My baby was going to have a lot of fabulous aunts that was for sure. Uncles too.

I thought about my sister, River, and wished she would have joined us but she had declined again. Somehow though, I knew she was going to be excited to hear my news. She was watching Stormi in just a few weeks, on Valentines, part of her little Christmas gift, and to get to know her better, but maybe I would tell her the news before that. Had she been at the sleepover she'd have known.

How am I going to hold off telling my husband for that long?

To wait two weeks to tell Bronson about the baby seemed like an eternity, but I really wanted to do it on our first Valentine's date.

"Night, Lake, congratulations again," London said softly so as not to wake those asleep, which I think was most everyone by then.

I closed my eyes and soaked in the happiness I was feeling. I wanted everyone around me and that I cared about to also feel the same way Including, River and Patience. One day, I thought. It would happen for them too.

Grabbing my phone from beside me, I pulled up the last text from Bronson and sighed. We'd texted many times throughout the night and there was no shortage of how many times he'd told me he loved me. Or that I'd said it back.

I would tell him all the time for the rest of my life.