21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

“Well, it’s official!” I announced while a tear ran down my cheek. I pulled a tissue from my pocket and swiped at my eyes. “I don’t even know why I’m crying. It’s not like the place held super special memories.”

“My first blanket fort,” Brax corrected.

I smiled up at him. “The same night we boinked for the first time.”

“Boinked?” Brax laughed out his response.

“Made love?” I questioned. He shook his head at me.

“I swear, the hormones are really attacking your gray matter. At this rate, we might have to train you on your ABCs at the same time we do Janine.”

“Oh, shut up!” I sassed back. It had all worked to cure my minute of heartache over selling my condo. “Can we go back to your place for a bit, so we can boink without my mom hearing the springs on the mattress?” I mimicked the rhythmic, squeaking sound out loud.

“How about we spend the night there, if you still want to, later?”

“Why can’t we go now?”

“Promised your mom we would have dinner with her tonight.”

“You did?” I sniffled again. Damn the hormones.

“I did,” He agreed. “Come on, sweetheart.” Brax put his hand up to the small of my back and guided me back to the Jeep Grand Cherokee I purchased last week. It was easier to get in and out of, but my belly had become a hindrance.

“Can you drive?”

“Of course.” I handed off my keys and yawned as Brax got us both situated in my new vehicle. “Need me to stop anywhere on the way back?”

I shook my head. “Nope.” I closed my eyes for a minute and when I opened them again, half of our drive was already over. “Oh, wow! I nodded off.”

“You’re exhausted. Somehow, I don’t think boinking is going to be on the agenda tonight, sweetheart.”

“That’s a shame, Brax.” My words were followed up with another yawn. “This sweet girl is eating up all my energy today.”

“You’re 36-weeks, sweetheart. You need to start getting all the rest you can because she’s going to be here before you know it.”

“Ugh! Don’t remind me. I want to hold her so bad, but giving birth scares the crap out of me.”

“You won’t be alone, Avi.”

“What if something happens to me? Janine cannot be raised by a father who hates women and probably himself.”

“I promise you, if it comes down to it, I will kidnap your daughter and Jane. We’ll get Amelia to tag along and maybe Mel and the kids can follow us later once the coast is clear. We won’t let the bastard corrupt your daughter.”

“Thanks for humoring my crazy lately.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

“I’m going to marry you one day.”

“Looking forward to it, sweetheart.”

In another blink of an eye, we pulled into the driveway that led to my mother’s house. She had a long drive that ran up to a covered carport on the right of the house. My father always wanted to have a garage built, but Mom wouldn’t hear of it. She said it was a waste of money, since he didn’t know a thing about fiddling with cars and we didn’t have the kind of weather that required a house for them. Mom was a hoot when she put her foot down about things. We all knew what she really wanted to spend the money on, and she got her wish. There was a lovely in-ground pool out back. It wasn’t huge or ostentatious. There were no bells and whistles to make it something fancy. It was a functional pool that our small family had enjoyed over the long, southern summers.

It was something I enjoyed even now, when I had the energy to get in and swim around a bit to cool off.

“Let’s go upstairs for a minute,” Braxton insisted the minute we walked through the door.

“Noooo!” I whined. “If I go all the way up the stairs, I’m just going to want to crash.

“So, you don’t want to get out of those uncomfortable clothes and change into something more relaxing?” He questioned.

I poked my bottom lip out at my man. “Well, when you put it like that.” I hesitated a moment. “You could always bring me something to change into down here.” My grin was supposed to convince him that he wanted to do just that, but it failed me. It was probably the first time since I started dating Brax that he had denied me.

“Come on, sweetheart. If you’re too tired, I’ll carry you down to eat dinner with your mom and then carry you right back up when we’re done.”

“You know how I feel about you throwing your back out,” I teased. The playful tone was sort of lost to a yawn, though.

“All right, sleeping beauty, I promise it will be well worth your time to go up those stairs.”

I could have sworn I heard giggling from upstairs. That was odd because no one should have been up there. My mom couldn’t climb the stairs anymore and as a result, Amelia had no reason to be up there.

Still, I let all that slip free of my mind as I grudgingly trudged up the steps beside Brax. He kept his arm braced behind my back, obviously worried that I might try to fall asleep while ascending the steps and fall down. Honestly, me too!

When we got to the top of the stairs, Braxton grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall. “Stop,” I called out but continued to follow along as he passed my bedroom and moved to the next door down. Brax turned and grinned at me before he threw the door open and everyone yelled, “Surprise!”

“Oh shit! I think I just peed my pants a little bit,” I declared. Mel’s kids laughed at me as she chuckled along.

“I told him a surprise of this caliber probably wasn’t the best idea in your condition.”

“Who cares about a little pee?” My mother blurted out. “We all wear diapers at some point in our lives.”

“I’m not wearing diapers, Mom.” I huffed at her, but stopped caring about the little bit of pee I might have released or the fact that everyone was witness to it because what I’d failed to notice, thanks to the room full of people, was the room itself.

“It’s a nursery.” My voice was full of disbelief as I turned to Brax. “It’s a nursery!” I was louder that time.

“Yeah, sweetheart, it’s Janine’s nursery.” He gently pulled me into the room, so that I could inspect everything. There was a beautiful natural wood crib and all the furniture in the room matched. Everything was accented with beautiful filigree and there was a sprinkling of pastel pink, green, and yellow cushions and bedding throughout the room to pull it all together. The glider rocker in the corner called to me, so I took off and parked my butt in it. The minute I started rocking and propped my feet up on the gliding ottoman, there wasn’t a hope in hell of keeping me awake.

“She was exhausted before we ever got here,” Brax explained.

“It’s okay, I feel her exhaustion. Let her sleep for a bit,” I heard Mel say.

“Come on, Jane, I’ll help you down the stairs.”

“Son, this is the second time you’ve lifted me up and carried me. You better start calling me Mom before my imagination runs wild with the different scenarios.”

I would appreciate that feisty response from my mother later. After a short nap. After I had time to process that I now had a nursery to bring my daughter home to when we left the hospital. That was all thanks to Brax.