Emery
“You’re officially too relaxed,” Kaya announced.
Opening my eyes, I yawned and blinked several times as I took in my surroundings. I remembered sitting down on an outdoor lounger to read a magazine, but clearly, I’d fallen asleep. Elvis was snuggled into my side, having taken the opportunity to get onto the lounger with me.
I giggled as he opened his eyes and gave Kaya a look that said not cool waking us up, Auntie Kaya. Not cool at all.
I yawned against as I sat up and stretched. Elvis grumbled as he stood and jumped down onto the patio, shaking his feathers out before he rounded the chair and came to a stop in front of Kaya to stare up at her expectantly. She laughed because she knew just what he wanted.
“I know, I know. I woke you, now I have to feed you?”
Roughly translated, his caw meant those are the rules. Get on it.
“Ava’s here,” Camila called from the patio door.
I stood and brushed my hands over my bright blue ankle-length cotton sundress before I bent down and picked up two of Elvis’s feathers. “Seventh one in the last few days,” I told Kaya. “You know what that means.”
She laughed as I slid the feathers into a tall metal vase Rafe had brought out the day before. “It’s almost his special day,” she answered.
I nodded. Each year Elvis’s birthday fell right around the time he finished losing his tail feathers for the season. I threw a little party for him every year, and every year he acted like he was king for a day. It was hilarious.
“We need to get on planning that—Rafe thinks we should make a peacock out of berries.”
“I’ll look into it,” she answered. “It could be a really good YouTube video for my channel.”
“He’s also talking about having a giant peacock made out of balloons.”
Kaya rolled her eyes. “Just saying, you should probably keep Rafe on a short leash when it comes to party planning. If there’s one thing I’ve learned with Alejandro, it’s that these Cruz men go overboard. Given a chance Rafe would probably hire a plane to fly over the house, with a big special day banner or something.”
Elvis cawed and I laughed as we crossed the patio and stopped at the outdoor kitchen area. Opening a cabinet, Kaya pulled out a container of chopped peanuts. Crouching down, she poured some into a bowl with Elvis’s name on it that Rafe had made for him a few weeks before.
She tickled Elvis’s neck as she stood. “Daddy spoils you.”
I adored the fact that everyone had taken to calling Rafe Elvis’s daddy. Elvis loved it even more. He wiggled happily as he threw back his head and did his little caw-laugh. Kaya was right—Rafe spoiled our little man like crazy.
Gesturing to the door, I told him that Kaya and I were going inside. “Keep an eye out for Daddy, little E. He should be home from work soon.”
I swear my boy nodded before he tucked into his peanuts like he hadn’t eaten in days.
Once inside the house, I sat at the table in the sunroom with Camila, Ava, and Kaya. I yawned and shook myself awake as I opened my laptop and pulled up the video rendering of the plans Rafe and I had approved for our home. I loved how enthusiastic they were as the video played. Camila was beside herself that her son would be living in the neighborhood, Ava was thrilled that one of her best friends would be close by, and Kaya was happy that I was so happy. The plans the architects had come up with were incredible, and I couldn’t wait for everything to be finished so we could move into our home. I was thrilled to tell them that work would start on Monday. We expected to be able to move in sometime the following summer.
After I shut the computer, Kaya said, “I have news.”
I blamed missing the giant rock on her finger on the fact that I was so tired all the time. Alejandro had asked for my blessing a few weeks before, but I hadn’t known exactly when he would propose.
“He asked Dean and Gigi for permission when they came to Malibu, so they knew,” Kaya explained. “He also told me every one of you knew for at least a few weeks. Meanwhile, I had no clue it was coming at all. When he dropped down on one knee at dinner last night, I think I almost fainted from shock. And that’s not all. We wanted to keep it secret until we knew for sure, but this morning we found out that the offer we put in on the house two blocks down from Emery and Rafe’s was accepted. We’re all going to be neighbors!”
Camila was over the moon that another of her sons would be living close by and Ava was ecstatic that the majority of the family would be in such close proximity. As for me, I couldn’t stop hugging Kaya. “We’re going to be neighbors again,” I said through happy tears, “in Spain! We’re living the dream.”
Opening my computer again, I had her show us the house. It was beautiful and already up-to-date, which meant they’d be able to move in within ninety days.
“You’ll all have to help me decorate,” she said.
After we finished with the computer, Kaya, Ava and I migrated into the family room while Camila went off to call a few friends and tell them the great news. On the couch, I turned to Ava. “How are you doing with the nausea?” I asked.
“So much better,” she answered. “Ginger ale, ginger tea, chicken soup, and saltines have saved my sanity. I’ve only gotten sick once in the last three days, so I’m hopeful that I’m coming out of Puke-zilla mode. My biggest issue now is that I want to sleep all the time.”
I yawned and nodded. “When I get pregnant I’ll probably be narcoleptic. For the last few weeks, I’ve taken no fewer than two naps a day, and I sleep twelve hours a night. I think my body is trying to make up for all the years I got six hours of sleep to be on set by five in the morning at the absolute latest.”
Cocking her head, Ava looked me over. “Is there any chance you could be pregnant?”
My head reared back as I shook my head. “No, I’m on the pill.”
“The pill has been known to fail,” she pointed out.
“I really don’t think so,” I said. “I mean, I had a period a few weeks ago…” I trailed off as I remembered that it had been exceptionally light. On top of that my breasts were bigger—enough that Rafe had commented several times that I was bursting out of my bras.
“Oh my God,” I whispered. “Could I be?”
Kaya looked like she was going to pee her pants. “Holy crap—I bet you are. I’ve known you since you were six years old and you have never, ever slept the way you do now. This weekend when you came out with me you threw away your Starbucks latte because it tasted funny. You freaking drank milk instead.”
She was right. I’d been drinking a lot of milk, and no matter how I made it coffee had tasted bitter and gross to me for weeks.
I cupped my hand over my mouth as my eyes went wide. My God, I thought, was I pregnant?
“What’s going on? Miel, why do you look like that?”
Ava and Kaya jumped up and scurried out of the room together, leaving me alone with Rafe.
I stood and walked to him. “God, I hope this isn’t going to freak you out. Baby, I think I might be pregnant.”
His jaw dropped as his eyes went to my stomach. “What?”
I bit my lip as anxiety worked its way through my veins.
“Is this… would it be a bad thing?”
His eyes met mine as he pulled me into his arms. “No, Miel. That was the last thing in the world I expected you to say but if it’s true, I will be thrilled. We need a test. Let’s go.”
“I’ve got a bunch of unused tests under my sink at home,” Ava called out from behind us.
I laughed as Rafe lifted me into his arms and ran me out of the house and over to Ava and Mateo’s at lightning speed. He wasted energy for nothing—it took Ava and Kaya another three or four minutes to catch up to us. After unlocking the door, Ava ran upstairs. She came back two minutes later with four boxes. Rafe carried me into the bathroom and set me down on my feet before he started opening boxes. Once we’d read the directions, he laid the sticks on the counter and motioned for me to sit down on the toilet.
“Baby,” I said shyly, “I can’t pee in front of you.”
“I’ll turn around but please don’t ask me to leave, Miel. I need to be a part of this every step of the way.”
He was scared and knowing his history, I got it. With his back turned I peed on each stick before getting up and putting the caps on each before I washed my hands. When I was ready, I told him to turn around. Immediately, he pulled me into his arms. We swayed back and forth in the bathroom for several minutes, whispering I love you to one another over and over again.
“I want it to be positive,” he whispered.
My lower lip quivered as I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Me too.”
When enough time had gone by, I turned and gestured for him to check. Letting go of me, he walked to the counter and lifted each test one by one. I watched his reaction as he did, noting that with each one he seemed happier. When he lifted and read the last one, he let out a whoop before dropping it and pulling me into his arms.
“We’re having a baby!”
We stayed in the bathroom for another few minutes, kissing, laughing through our tears and making plans for our future. When we finally pulled it together enough to leave the bathroom he gathered all of the sticks and slid them into his back pocket. His voice was thick with emotion as he took my hand. “We’re keeping them forever and ever,” he said.
After we left the bathroom and confirmed to Kaya and Ava that a baby was on the way he took me back to his parents' house. Once we got there, he had me sit on a lounge chair on the patio. “Promise me you won’t move,” he said.
I nodded. “I promise.”
Without another word he ran off, I assumed to tell his mom the big news. A few minutes later, I heard him whistle for Elvis. Confused I started to rise, but then I remembered I’d promised not to get up.
I grinned when he and Elvis came around the corner of the house but was surprised that they were alone since I’d been sure Rafe had gone to tell his mom we were having a baby.
When they got to me, Rafe took a knee and my mouth opened in shock. “Emery Marie Bellerose, will you marry me?”
I’d like to blame pregnancy hormones on the amount of blubbering I immediately started doing, but truthfully it was just the emotion of it. I cried as I nodded and choked out the word, “yes,” on a sob.
I didn’t care that he didn’t have a ring or that people would say it was a shotgun wedding. I had Rafe, and that was all that mattered.
“Dulce Niña, look at our little man.”
Wiping my tears, I looked at Elvis. It took a few seconds for me to see it but when I did, I cried harder because my baby had a loose blue ribbon hanging around his neck. At the end of that ribbon was a shiny sapphire and diamond ring.
Rafe lifted it up and over Elvis’s head, undid the knot, pulled off the ring and took my hand in his. Lifting it, he kissed the back of my hand before he slid the ring into place. Just like him, it fit me perfectly.