20. Ollie

CHAPTER 20

Ollie

“Judge Grant required that you both make an appearance before he would grant your divorce.” Caleb winced. “Sorry man, as much time as y’all have been openly spending together, I think the whole town thought you wouldn’t go through with it.”

“Of course, we’re going through with it. It was Steph’s one wish when I asked her.”

“I don’t understand you two.”

I shrugged. “You don’t need to. We’ve been working on our friendship.”

“Friendship?” Caleb asked in disbelief, as if he didn’t already know this.

“Yes, we’ve become friends. It’s something we never were before. All those fucking limits I put on us so that I wouldn’t fall for her weren’t exactly conducive to a healthy friendship, let alone a good marriage. She’s right to divorce me. She won’t even date me until we’re divorced.”

“I guess I can see it from her side. She should punish you.”

“It’s not about punishment. It’s about setting things to rights. I didn’t marry her under honorable intentions. She won’t stay in a marriage that was built on a business model rather than love.” She was right to feel that way too. The more we talked about it, the more merit it held. It meant I always held a certain expectation in the marriage – for her to be this perfect mom person and a bed warmer out of convenience.”

“Okay, well let’s make sure we get you to the courthouse on time for your divorce then.”

I grinned so wide Caleb shook his head at me. “Fucking crazy.” My friend mumbled.

I shrugged again and then got into his car. I planned to leave the courthouse with my ex-wife, so there was no need to bring my own vehicle.

Once we got to the courthouse, we were ushered into an office to await the judge instead of having our case heard in court. Steph waddled into the room with Hutch and her brother just two minutes before Judge Grant entered. Her hand was on her lower back as she stood before him.

“Dear Lord, how far along are you Mrs. Burton?”

“Thirty seven weeks.” Steph answered.

“Thirty-seven…?” The judge shook his head and then turned narrowed eyes on me. “You agreed to divorce your very pregnant wife?”

“Yes, sir. It’s what she wants.”

The judge shook his head at me too and then turned back to the woman who would only remain my wife for a few more minutes. “Are you sure this is what you want, all things considered?”

“Yes, sir. We have to…” Steph paused and grit her teeth then she offered the judge a half grimace, half smile. “We have to divorce.”

“Pardon my stating the obvious, but you appear to be under some sort of duress, dear.”

Steph breathed out three quick breaths in a row, all the while indicating “No” with her head shakes. “No duress. I just really don’t want to be married to him anymore. He married me for the wrong reasons and then cheated on me, Your Honor. I have valid reasons.”

“I’d say so,” He agreed before he turned to me again. “You seem entirely too eager for this to happen, so I won’t ask again. It appears all assets have already been split per the prenuptial agreement you entered into prior to the marriage and that there are no children born of your marriage.” Judge Grant eyed Steph’s stomach. I did as well because it seemed to be contorting and now that I thought about it, along with those grimaces and the breathing. Shit, Steph was in labor. We needed to get this done before she had our baby on the courtroom floor. I glanced up to see the final swipe of his signature of the document that stripped me of the title of husband.

“I now pronounce you both divorced. Miss Burton, you are free to change back to your maiden name.”

“That. Won’t. Be…” She huffed and a tear streamed down her face. “Necessary,” Steph finally managed to get out. “Need hospital.”

I moved over to her and picked her up. “Caleb grab those papers.” I all but ran out of the room with Steve hot on my heals. “Is her hospital bag in the car?”

“Yeah,” he eyed his sister suspiciously. “So are a bunch of blankets and towels, which I thought was weird pregnant woman hormonal behavior. She must have known she was in labor.”

“Steph,” I growled her name in admonishment.

“Needed this to happen first or they would have made us wait another six months because there’s a child.”

I rolled my eyes. I also started to get winded.

“No offense, but how much do you weigh now?” I huffed a little harder as Steve laughed and Steph smacked my shoulder. “Put me down. I can…” There was no doubt she had been about to say she could walk, but I knew better.

“Your contractions are too close together. It’ll take a year to get to the car for the five minute ride to the hospital if you try to walk it.”

“I can take a turn,” Steve insisted.

“Knock your back out,” I told him and that earned me another smack as Steph’s brother scooped her from my arms and into his while I took the keys out and ran a little ahead to get the doors open.

“You weren’t kidding, he huffed as he caught up. Holy shit, I might never walk upright again.”

“You’re never going to when I… ARGGGGG!” Steph screamed through that contraction. “Hurry!”

Eight hours later, I held my beautiful baby girl in my arms as I stared down at my exhausted ex-wife. “You know, that was really dramatic having me and your brother carry you to the car when it took eight hours to actually give birth to her, “I teased.

“Swear to everything I believe in, you and Steve are going to get a swift kick to the balls as soon as I can kick without gross things happening down there.” The nurses and doctor all laughed as I continued to grin happily at the newest addition to our growing family. A plan had already formed in my mind. This one was far different from the last time. This one involved getting Steph to marry me because I was completely in love with her. It also involved knocking her up again as soon as possible.

“Is Denmark coming?”

“Mom is going to bring him in the morning. Visiting hours are almost over and she thought you might need a little extra one-on-one bonding time.”

Steph shook her head. “Nope. I want our boy here to meet his sister as soon as possible.”

“Okay,” I stated but there was no way I would put my daughter down to make a phone call. Steve pulled his cell phone out instead.

“After I make this call, you’re going to stop hogging my niece.”

“Good luck with that,” I mumbled.

“Be nice.” Steph chided. “Bring my daughter over here.”

“You all done delivering the gross shit?” I asked the doctor.

He chuckled again. “It’s safe to come back to this side of the room.” The nurses laughed at my expense, but I didn’t care. I accidentally looked down, thinking there were two babies coming. Nope turned out she had to deliver all the leftover bits. I shuddered at the thought.

“You ready to be Mommy’s girl for a little bit?” Our beautiful baby girl squirmed her head around, as if she was looking for something. “I think you’re ready for Mommy’s booby, huh?

The room filled with chuckles again and a little gagging from behind me. Steve better watch out or I’d bring up his sister breast feeding in great detail all the time. Just because he got her the fifteen steps to the car after I already broke my back doing it, he took up the mantle of hero.

“Here you go, Mom.” I said as I placed our daughter in Steph’s arms.

“Can’t believe I let you hog her for so long.” I could tell by her smile that she had enjoyed every minute of watching me bond with our daughter while the medical staff took care of her.

“She needs a name,” I suggested.

“Trixie Harlow Burton,” Steph called out. Thankfully, Stevie had my back on this one.

“What in the stripper pole?” My former brother-in-law called out.

“We’re not giving our daughter a stripper name.”

Steph screwed her face up at me as she tried to get our daughter to latch on to her breast. It was weird to see, because the normally demure woman didn’t give a hoot who saw her breast. Then again, I guess everyone in the room, except her twin, had seen the downstairs in action, so what was a little nip slip?

“Carolina Harlow Burton.” Steph whispered. I knew, in that moment, she had just been teasing me with the Trixie thing. Unfortunately, the nurse closest to the door yelped, “Oh no!”

“What was that about?”

“I think Myra thought she was doing your wife a favor and went ahead and wrote down that first name for the birth certificate,” Doc stated with a disappointing shake of his head. “Don’t worry, you haven’t signed anything yet. It can be changed.”

“Thank fuck for that,” I muttered.

“Language,” Steph chastised which made me grin down at her. She had always been a momma bear and it looked good on her.

“Your son will be here in about fifteen minutes.”

“Let’s get you to your room, so your visitors can meet you there.” One of the nurses took charge then as the doctor promised he would be by to check in on my ex-wife later.

Once Steph settled into her room, the high of holding our daughter for the first time started to wear and the exhaustion from giving birth hit her. I had our daughter in my arms when my mom and Denmark got there.

“Momma Steph! I’m here. Can I meet my sister now?” We hadn’t found out the gender of the baby, but Den had insisted since he found out that he was having a sister. It was good that he was right because otherwise he might have accused the hospital of switching the baby or something.

“Shh,” I leaned down to his level. “Carolina Harlow Burton is right here,” I whispered.

“What about Momma Steph?”

“Mom is sleeping, buddy. She had a rough time bringing your baby sister into the world. Come say hi, but you need to be quiet so we don’t make your mom up.”

Denmark threw his arms around me in the tightest hug I think he had ever bestowed me with. “Always knew she was my mom too.”

Damn. My lengthy fuckups didn’t seem ready to stop gut-checking me anytime soon. “Of course, she’s your mom. The only one that’s been there for you, buddy.”

“Yeah, she is. I love her.”

“Me too.”

“But Grandma said you aren’t married anymore.”

“Nope, but one day we’ll be married again.”

“Son, I really don’t think you should tell him that.”

“Why not?” Denmark asked my dad.

“Your dad meant to say that he hopes your mom will marry him again one day. Your mom gets final say in that.”

“I know she’s still mad at him, a little bit,” he tacked on at the end. “But I hope she does. Then we can all live together again.”

Dad took my daughter in his arms and smiled down sweetly at her. “Hello there, Carolina. You’re as pretty as your momma.”

I beamed at them. “Isn’t she?”

“How are you doing, honey?” I turned to see that Steph was awake and my mom was talking to her.

“Sore. Tired. So excited.”

“That about sums it up.” Mom smiled back as she leaned down to kiss the top of Steph’s head. “You did really well, honey. And I love her name. It’s beautiful.”

“It was a close call, the nurse took Steph’s joke seriously and wrote in a stripper name for our girl. We had to have them change the birth certificate information before we signed it.”

Mom and Dad chuckled. “What was it?” Dad asked.

“Trixie.” They both rolled their eyes.

“What’s a stripper?” Den asked as my dad helped him hold his sister for the first time so I could take a picture.

“Um, a special kind of dancer.”

“What’s so bad about that? Maybe my little sister wants to be a dancer when she grows up. My mom and Steph both groaned as Dad laughed.

“She can be a ballerina, if she wants.”

“Yeah, with those big fluffy skirt things.” Denmark’s excited eyes met mine. “I think she’ll be a pretty ballerina.”

“Aww,” I turned to see Steph with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Okay, we all got pictures with the beautiful Carolina, but we need to let Steph get some rest.”

“Can I come back tomorrow?” My son asked.

“You can come back as soon as the hospital opens if you want to.” She looked at my mom and dad then. “Steve can come get him if it’s too much trouble.”

“Pssh,” My mom swiped away her concerns. “It’s no trouble. Besides, I spoke to Sarah and Jason earlier. They’re on the way, and staying with us for the night. So we’ll all head in together.”

“My parents are staying with you?”

Mom’s eyes twinkled with mirth. “Yep. I can’t wait to see Sarah. She’s such a delight.”

We all laughed then because it was no secret at all that Sarah was jealous of my mom because she was closer, and by proximity, more involved with her twins and Denmark. With a new baby in the mix, Sarah was bound to be insufferable.

“I will owe you so much,” Steph stated before a yawn took over that seemed to never end. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Get some rest, honey. If you need me, I’m just a phone call away.”

“Thank you. Love you. Love you so much, Denny-boy.”

“Love you too, Mom. Thanks for my little sister.”

He was out the door with my parents before Steph could respond, but when I turned back to her, she had tears flowing again.

“Today was the best day.”

“Yeah, it really was.” Despite it also being the day we divorced, everything else had been perfect. I only hoped that the perfection would hold as I asked one last question.

“Steph,” I started.

“Not today, Ollie. It’s been perfect, no need to ruin it with a rejection.”

“Well, shit.”

“We haven’t even been on a date yet,” she mumbled as her eyes closed. That made me smile because it meant there was still hope. I would do whatever was necessary to make sure that one day she would say “Yes” to me again. Only, I planned to do everything right with my second chance because my family deserved to be the real deal and not some fabricated construct that I thought was needed.