13. Peyton

13

Noah's on the floor with Stevie Nicks, playing with her tug toy. It's her name for now until something else sparks interest. I like it though. It's not Stevie, but Stevie Nicks and she seems to respond well to it.

Night one was interesting, and I think it is somehow preparing us for when we are parents. I know a puppy and a baby aren't even close in how they're going to react, but I imagine the crying at night and wanting to be held are somewhat similar.

We bought training books and a DVD, which we watched as soon as we arrived home with the multiple hundreds of dollars we spent at the store on dog-related items. Stevie Nicks is already expensive. Who knew dogs needed beds in every room of the house? I didn't and neither did the clerk at the store who asked why we have so many beds in our cart. I looked from the clerk to my husband and shook my head. With what we paid for everything we bought for her, she's pricey. But she's worth it. Noah's in love with her, and she seems smitten with him.

Noah's watching me, waiting. Using our puppy as a distraction until the timer goes off. He looks at his phone and then me. I don't want to know how many minutes are left until I can look at the stick. The pit I feel in my stomach right now doesn't feel all that great. I've never been this nervous before. Not even when I propositioned Noah on prom night. That was easy compared to waiting.

"Time," he says as he stands. "Come on."

"You go look and tell me."

"As fun as that sounds, no." He tugs on my hand and pulls me up. "Come, Stevie Nicks," he says as we walk down the hall. She doesn't know what that means yet, but she follows us, nipping at Noah's heels as we walk. He calls them love bites.

We go into the bathroom. The culprit for our stress during the last four minutes rests on the countertop, with the news we've been waiting a week for.

"How are we both going to look?"

"We'll close our eyes. I'll hold it up and we'll count to three, then open them."

"Okay." I stand next to him with my eyes closed.

Noah stands behind me, wrapping his arms around me. I sag into his chest, needing to feel him this close. "No matter what, our journey isn't over," he says.

"Nope, we have a dog."

Noah laughs and kisses my cheek. "You know what I mean."

I nod against his scruff. "Ready?"

"One, two, three."

I open and stare until I hear, "You're going to be a mom," being whispered in my ear. I'm not sure what comes first, the tears or sudden rush of elation. Either way, my husband has me cocooned in his embrace, kissing the side of my face as I try to grapple with what he's said.

"Are you sure?"

"I am," he says and shows me the stick more clearly. The word on the little white stick blurs as the tears continue to fall down my face. "We're going to have a baby."

"We're going to have a baby."

I place my hand on my lower stomach, now my womb, as if I'm protecting our child. Then it all sinks in.

"Holy shit, Noah!"

"I know."

"No. I mean, holy shit. We're going to be responsible for another human. Like, it's going to depend on us for everything and then some, and then . . ."

Noah chokes out a half laugh, half cry. "Are you seriously coming to terms about parenthood now?"

"I don't know, I just—" I trail off and look into the mirror and down at Stevie Nicks who is the most chill puppy. "Am I going to be a good mom?"

She wags her tail. What does she know? She's only known me less than a day.

"Holy shit," I say again, this time to myself.

"Do I need to call someone?"

I turn sharply at his suggestion. Everyone knows we've done IVF and had the transfer. We can't keep this a secret from our family as much as I'd like to let this stay between us a bit longer.

"No, I'm fine, but we need to make some calls."

"Let's head over to your parents'. We'll call mine from there. We can tell them all at once."

I shake my head. "If we show up at my parents, they'll know. Then your parents will be upset they didn't know at the same time. Oh, this is hard." I wring my hands together.

Noah shakes his head and pulls out his phone.

"No," I put my hand over it. "My sister too."

Noah pulls my chin toward him so he can look into my eyes. "You're being frantic for nothing. Your mom hasn't called. Neither has mine. Let's take our girl over to meet her grandparents and Ollie, then we'll do one big group call. Okay?"

I nod but am certain this won't work.

We pile into the SUV, and by pile, I mean we pack enough essentials for an apocalypse. Noah seems to think that in the time it takes us to get to my parents and back, Stevie Nicks will run out of toys, training snacks, and beds. I say nothing because I made sure she had on her pretty doggie shirt. I might have gone a bit overboard with dog clothes that probably won't fit her next week.

The entire drive I have the urge to rest my hand on my stomach, as if doing so will make sure everything works the way it's supposed to. I'm not na?ve in thinking this pregnancy will be perfect but now I can't let the what ifs and negativity cloud my mind. Until now, we didn't even know if I could get pregnant. We're at least moving in the right direction.

An hour later, we're pulling into my parent's. Quinn's bike is out front, along with my dad's. There are times when I appreciate that Noah doesn't own a motorcycle. He can drive one but has never had the urge to buy one. But then, there are moments when I think, damn he'd be really hot on a bike.

"Quinn's here so at least we don't have to find a way to bring him in on a call."

"Yep." He picks Stevie Nicks up and carries her over to the small patch of grass. After encouraging her to do her business he rewards her with a treat and a lot of love. I do as well because she's scruffy and honestly, I can't get enough of her.

Noah leads us down the path and into my parent's house. The TV's on, but no one is really talking. We head down the hall and before we turn the corner, Noah says, "We have a surprise." He holds our pup out, like the scene from The Lion King. Someone, I think it's my dad, starts singing.

"Oh, my you got a puppy!" My mom all but squeals as she comes to take her from Noah. Honestly, now that I think about it, getting a dog before taking the test was the best idea. No one is staring, waiting for me to give them the news.

Then our universe aligns. Beau comes bounding into the house, with Ben and Elle hot on his heels, followed by Nick, Mack, and Amelie. There are lots of hugs and when I'm about to ask what everyone is doing and why my sister didn't tell me she was back in town, Liam, Josie and Paige walk in. I glance at my husband, who wraps his arm around me.

"I thought this would be the best way to tell them," he says into my ear.

"And if it was negative?"

"Then my parents are in town, and we have a puppy to show off."

"I love you."

"I love you," he says, kissing me where his mouth was.

"Dog!" Oliver screeches. He pulls on her ears, and she cries out, causing Ollie to cry. My dad's there, teaching him right and wrong, and before I can grab her, Mack has her cradled like a baby.

"What's her name?"

"Stevie Nicks," Noah says proudly. "As one name though."

"Isn't she, like, old?" Paige asks, much to my dad and Liam's dismay.

"Child, we're going to have a music lesson when we get home," Liam says.

"Hey, where are the Davises?" I ask.

"Australia," Josie says. "Eden has an event."

"Oh." That totally sucks.

Elle comes over to me and puts her arm around my shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good."

"Do you have something to tell us?"

I play it off. "No, why?"

"Um, seriously, P?"

"What?"

"You were supposed to take a test today."

"Oh shit. I've been so wrapped up with the puppy I totally forgot." I wave the thought away. "I'll do it when I get home."

"You've got to be kidding me." Elle throws her hands up in exasperation. It takes everything in me not to crack a smile, to stay as stoic as possible.

"Where's Quinn?"

"Right here."

I hear him yell from outside. I go out there and find him hosing off, still in his wetsuit. "Where's Nola?"

"Studying for an exam. She said she'd try to come over later."

"Oh. Come meet our dog."

"You gotta . . . oh my god, come see Uncle Quinny." My brother drops to his knees and crawls toward Stevie Nicks, who is eating up all the attention she's getting except from Oliver. He'll learn to be soft with her, just as he had to learn to be soft with Beau, who wants to play with the pup.

"Did you just call yourself Quinny to the dog?" Elle asks.

"I did. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Uh, as a matter of fact, I do," she says. "One, that's my nickname for you. Two, you don't act like this with Beau. You're hurting his feelings."

"Beau has Mack," Quinn says. "Stevie Nicks as her Uncle Quinny."

My sister isn't having a good day. Ben wraps his arm around her to console her.

Noah comes to me and leans in. "Are you ready to tell them?"

"Only Elle has said something. I think Stevie Nicks was a good distraction."

"I think they're not asking because they're waiting for us to say something."

"You know, as soon as we get their attention, Elle's going to know and I'm not going to be able to hide my smile."

"Do you mind if I do something?" he asks.

I shake my head.

"Okay, follow my lead."

Noah puts his arm around me and relaxes. "Hey, Dad. I think Harrison has bigger muscles than you. I think he can probably take you in a fight."

"Bullshit," Liam says. "Stand up, James. Take your shirt off."

"Oh my, you're a genius," I whisper to my husband.

Our dads stand and take their shirts off. Both start to flex, causing our moms to catcall their husbands.

"We need a measuring tape," Liam says.

"Just stand next to me. You'll see mine is bigger." He waggles his eyebrows and my mom's eyes widen.

"Harrison!"

"What?" Dad shrugs.

Noah shakes his head. "I've got you both." He stands and takes off shirt.

"Quinny, you next?" Elle asks.

"Nope, I'm good."

"Doesn't matter," Noah says. "I've got you all beat." He flexes and then moves his arms into a cradling position. "Because in nine months I'm going to have my child in my arms."

The room goes silent as everyone processes what he said.

"What did you say?" Josie asks.

"You're going to be a grandma," Noah tells her and for the briefest of moments, it's just him and his mom in the room.

The room is no longer silent. Everyone erupts in a chorus of congratulatory cheers, well wishes, and then my sister puts it all so eloquently. "Bitch, you could've told me."

"I could've but we wanted to tell everyone at the same time."

There are lots of hugs, along with tears. My dad is the last one to come up to me. He pulls me into his arms, and it takes me back to the time when he taught me how to take my anger out on his drums. He didn't care that I was five or that Quinn had punched someone for me. All he cared about was giving me an outlet to express the hurt I felt inside from losing my father.

He holds me for a long time, thanking me. When we part, I look at him. "You're going to have to decide what you want to be called."

"I know. It's going to have to be better than whatever Page comes up with."

"This isn't a competition among grandpas," I tell him.

"Sweetie, everything's a competition."