Irish

TODAY IS THE DAY THAT I’ve been waiting for since I found out that Whitney was pregnant. In just a little bit we get to go find out what we’re having. Whitney could care less what we’re having and honestly, she doesn’t even want to know. So, we’re compromising. I will be told by the technician in another room, so she can’t hear what it is. She’s spending the next four months trying not to know what we’re having, and I’ll spend that time trying not to give it away. It’s going to be the hardest thing I’ve done, but I’ll do it for Whit.

Sami wants to know what we’re having too. So, I’ve told her that we’ll go for a walk when I get back and I’ll let her know then. I’m also going to get to the bottom of her insecurities. I know that she has some reservations about us having a baby. She’s also excited at the same time. She’s been waiting for years to have a sibling and now she gets that. Well, she gets two. Cassidy is her sister even if Whit and I aren’t married. Yet.

“Are you ready Whit?” I ask, walking into the bedroom.

“Almost. I’m just looking for my sandals.”

“You put them in the closet last night,” I tell her, walking over and grabbing them for her.

I help her slip them on and take her hand to help her off the bed. She lets me help her up and wraps her arms around my waist. These are the moments that I love more than anything with Whit. It’s just the two of us and I know that we’re not going to get many more once the baby is here. No words have to be spoken, it’s just us together. So, I let her hold on to me for as long as she needs.

“Alright, let’s go. I want ice cream when we’re done,” she tells me.

“Anythin’ you want babe. Sundae or just ice cream?”

“Hmmmm. I think a sundae today. Or maybe an ice cream cone. Or a banana split. There’s so many choices. I’ll have to choose once we get there.”

“Okay babe,” I say, holding in the laughter that wants to burst free.

Whitney’s cravings have been minimal so far. But, over the last week or so she’s wanted nothing more than ice cream cones, sundaes, milk shakes, and banana splits. Or she’s wanted grilled cheese or cheeseburgers. One day I think I brought home enough of these items to feed the entire club. I’ll never complain about it though. Even when I get it all back to her and she’s decided that none of it sounds good anymore.

“Are you excited?” she asks me.

“I am. And I promise no matter what that I won’t spill the beans to you. No matter how much you beg and plead with me to tell you,” I tell her, kissing her on the tip of her nose.

“I’m not going to ask you what we’re having. I found out with Sami and I didn’t want to. Carl made the technician tell him right in front of me.”

“What a fuckin’ dickhead!” I practically yell out. “Well, you won’t ever have to worry about that with me. If I say I’m not goin’ to tell you, then I won’t. Especially knowin’ that you don’t want to know. I won’t even say anythin’ when we’re choosin’ names.”

“Okay. Go with me on this,” she begins. “What if we wait until he or she is here before we decide on a name?”

“And what’s your reasonin’ for that?” I ask curiously.

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have a better idea once we see the baby.”

After thinking for a minute, I tell her that it sounds like a good idea to me. That doesn’t mean that I won’t have an idea or two before the baby gets here. But, I’ll go with the flow and follow her lead here.

“You know what we’re doin’ after we get done with the appointment?” I ask, knowing that she has no clue.

“Eating?” she asks.

“No. Well, we can stop for somethin’ to eat at the diner. But, after that, we’re pickin’ Sami up and headin’ home.”

“How are we going to head home if we’re picking Sami up at the house?” she asks.

“The house is done, and we can move in. All the furniture has been delivered and set up. We can move anythin’ around that you want to.”

“Are you serious right now? It’s all set, and we can move in today?” she asks with tears streaming down her face in happiness.

“Yep. Rage called me a little while ago. The only thing that is goin’ to need to be done is possibly grocery shoppin’. But, knowin’ the girls the way I do, that will probably be done by the time we get there too. I know that they’re already goin’ to be grabbin’ the stuff that Sami and you have here too.”

Whitney gets the biggest smile on her face. She’s been waiting for the longest time to move into our house. The holdup was a few things getting delayed in shipping. First the cupboards were delayed. The warehouse had to make them and then ship them to our house. After that, some of the tile was out of stock and we had to wait on that. But, now we can finally move in.

I lead Whitney to the new truck I got. Between the baby, Cassidy, and Sami, I needed something more than just my bike. The truck I had wasn’t safe enough compared to my standards. So, it had to go. Now, I have a brand-new truck and it’s got all the safety features that I wanted with a few more. She was shocked when I showed up driving it, but there’s no way I’m putting her on the back of my bike now. I’m not taking any chances with her or the baby. That’s something that’s not negotiable.

We make it to the doctor’s office, and go in to get checked in. Whitney has been having a lot of headaches lately, and there’s some puffiness to her hands and feet. So, she’ll be seeing the doctor before having the ultrasound done. I’m worried but she doesn’t seem to be concerned. In fact, she didn’t want to even make the appointment, but I wouldn’t leave her alone about it.

Sitting in the waiting room, I always thought that I’d be uncomfortable sitting surrounded by a ton of pregnant women. The opposite is true though. Now, I take in the beauty of mother nature at its best. Every woman in the waiting room is in various stages of their pregnancy and I look to see what Whitney may look like when she gets further into the pregnancy, all rounded with my baby.

“Whitney, you can come back now,” one of the nurses calls out.

We stand up and make our way back to the hallway to get things started. I’m used to the things she has to go through now before we get to a room. I stand by her side until it’s time to get her weight. That part I turn my back and look at other things in the hallway. Whitney asked me once why I did that and it’s because some women are weird about men seeing their weight, so I just turn around. It’s all about her comfort.

She taps me on the shoulder to let me know that it’s time to go in the exam room. I follow the nurse and her in the room and then take a seat against the wall. As soon as the nurse leaves, I’ll move the chair next to my girl and wait for the doctor to show up.

The nurse continues taking her vitals until she gets to her blood pressure. When she reads the numbers, she pauses and tells Whitney she’s going to check it again. I’m not sure what’s going on right now, but I’m instantly concerned. Something obviously isn’t right. I can see the fear shining in Whitney’s eyes. This isn’t normal and we both know it.

“What’s going on?” Whitney asks, not being able to contain it anymore.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” the nurse says. “The first reading was a little high. I just want to double check the numbers.”

“What does her blood pressure bein’ high mean?” I ask.

“It could be nothing. But, it could be signs that she has preeclampsia. The doctor will have to go over the numbers and check you out before she decides what’s going on here.”

“Okay. Could that be why I have the swelling in my hands and feet? And the headaches?”

“How long has this been going on?” the nurse asks.

“About a week and a half now.”

“I’ll let the doctor know.” the nurse says, jotting something down before leaving the room.

Whitney looks over at me and she has tears in her eyes. Even without looking at her face, I know that she’s scared to death right now. Her body is now rigid to the point of looking almost painful. Immediately I’m at her side and trying to do what I can to calm her down. This is not going to make anything better for her or the baby.

“What are we going to do if something is wrong with the baby?” she asks me, the first tear spilling over and sliding down her cheek.

“We’ll handle anythin’ that comes up. I’m sure that it’s nothin’ and the doctor will tell us what we have to do to make this better. And we’ll do whatever she tells us we have to do.”

“What if she tells us I need to be on bed rest? We’re supposed to be moving into our home today.”

“We’ll still move in. The girls and the rest of the club will help do whatever needs to be done.”

“It’s not the same though. I mean, it’s our home and I should be doing what needs to be done. Not having other people do it for me.”

“Well, our baby is more important than what you can and can’t do to help us get moved in,” I tell her.

Before anything else can be said, there’s a light knock on the door before the doctor pokes her head in. she sees that we’re waiting on her and she walks right in to get the exam started. Especially after taking one look at the worry and concern etched all over my girl’s face. And I know she can see it on mine too. Doctor Sanchez is going to do what she can to alleviate any fear we have.

“So, Whitney, the nurse tells me that you’ve been having headaches, there’s some swelling in your hands and feet, and your blood pressure is a little high today. Are you experiencing any other symptoms?” Doctor Sanchez asks, sitting down on her stool and rolling to the end of the exam table.

“No. That’s pretty much it other than just feeling so tired lately.”

“Okay, let me take a look and we’ll see what I determine.”

After completing her exam, the doctor tells us that Whitney doesn’t have full blown preeclampsia, but she’s worried that’s where it’s heading. So, she wants my girl on complete bed rest until she comes back in next week. For now, Whitney is going to be monitored closely. The doctor is also talking about taking her out of work until it’s time for her to deliver the baby.

“Whatever you think I need to do is what will happen. I don’t want anything to happen to our baby.”

“We’ll start with the bedrest for now. Next week we’ll see what things look like and go from there. You might start having weekly appointments so that we can keep an eye on this.”

“Thank you, doctor,” I tell her, shaking her hand.

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s get you down the hall so that we can get a look at your little peanut.” she says before leaving the room.

The nurse comes back and leads us down to the room we need to be in for the ultrasound. Our technician is already there waiting on us. Whitney doesn’t waste any time in laying on the table and sliding down her pants a little bit while pulling her top up to expose her rounded belly.

“Alright, let’s see what we have going on,” the tech says, smiling at both of us. “And I’ll be meeting you in the doctor’s office when we’re done here? Or, I might have a different way we can do this without having to meet anywhere. You can find out when you want to.”

“Whatever you think is best,” I answer.

Whitney grabs my hand and gives me a squeeze. She’s trying to put a brave face on right now, but I know her better than she knows herself in moments like this. When Whitney gets scared, she tries to hide it behind a brave face. However, today her bottom lip is trembling, her eyes still hold unshed tears, and I can feel her entire body shaking. This is not going to be good for the baby or her if I can’t get her to relax and calm down a little bit.

Suddenly the room is filled with the swooshing of our baby’s heartbeat. It’s strong and steady. Whitney releases the breath she’d been holding, and I feel her body relax just a fraction. It’s not much, but I’ll take it for now.

“The heartbeat sounds wonderful,” the tech tells us. “It’s nice and strong.”

She does her thing and shows us different parts of the baby. I love being able to actually see that it looks like a baby this time. The last one I was able to make it to there was nothing more than a blob. Now, I can see the head, arms and hands, the legs and feet. It’s amazing and I can’t believe our baby is right there on the screen for us to see. If I didn’t feel like this was real before, then I definitely do now. Wow! This is absolutely breathtaking and amazing to see. The only thing better will be when I get to hold our baby in my arms.

“Whitney, can you please turn your head for a second?” the tech suddenly asks.

Whitney does as she’s asked and looks at me. I know this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. So, I school my features into an unreadable expression in case I can tell what we’re having. I don’t want to unintentionally give anything away and ruin this for my girl. She’s got enough going on and I won’t add to it.

After a minute, the tech types something out and prints a picture off. As soon as she’s done, she erases the words and rips the picture off, putting it in an envelope and handing it over to me. Now, I can just open this up while my girl is making her next appointment and see what it is.

“Okay, I’m going to print off a few pictures and you guys can be on your way. I’ll talk to Doctor Sanchez and she’ll let you know if there’s anything else you need to be doing.”

“Okay. Thank you so much,” Whit tells the tech before wiping the goo off of her stomach and putting her clothes back in place.

I help her off the table, hold her hand while we walk back out to the waiting room, and then step back while she makes her next appointment. As soon as I make sure that her back is turned, I open the envelope and see the words that were typed out on the picture. ‘I’m a boy’ is displayed with an arrow pointing down. My eyes fill with tears knowing that we’re going to have a son. We already have two amazing daughters and now we get to add a little boy to the mix. I couldn’t be any happier than I am in this moment. Well, I take that back. If Whitney and I were married, I’d be the happiest man in the world. That’s my next thing to work on.

Whitney

Irish is like a kid in a candy store right now. As soon as my back was turned he looked in that damn envelope to see what we are having. I can’t say that I blame him when I know that he wants to know so bad. And I know when he says he won’t tell me no matter what, he means it. I know that he plans on telling Sami and he’s already sworn her to secrecy. They won’t be anywhere near me when he finally decides to tell her.

I also know that he won’t tell anyone else. No one from the club, no matter how much they beg, will know what we’re having. This is going to kill Bailey, but he’s going to do what he has to do to protect his secret. I love this man even more for what he’s doing.

“So, are we goin’ to the diner so you can talk to Alice babe?” Irish asks me, after helping me into my car.

“Yeah. I might as well get that over with. I don’t want to quit working there though Irish.”

“I know you don’t. And no one is sayin’ that you can’t go back once the doctor clears you.”

I watch him walk around to the driver’s side of the car. When I left Carl, I never dreamed my life would turn out like this. Irish is a man I can be proud to be with. He’s caring, loving, not controlling unless he feels strongly about something, and he lets me have my freedom. The only time he gets on Sami is when she’s in one of her moods and doesn’t want to listen to me. Even then, he calmly talks to her and gets her to see what she’s doing. When he’s with his brothers, I see the loyalty and family aspect in the man. If I could marry this man today I would. I’m just not going to tell him that. It’s my own little secret that only Bailey knows.

As we park in the parking lot of the diner, I get a cold chill running down my spine. It’s as if someone is watching us. Looking around, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, but the feeling doesn’t go away. Irish sees me looking around and is instantly at my side.

“What’s goin’ on babe?” he asks, beginning his own search of the surrounding area.

“I don’t know. All of a sudden I just feel like we’re being watched.”

Irish hurries up and leads me inside. Once we’re in the diner, he gets me as far away from the windows as he possibly can. Alice sees what he’s doing and ushers us back to her office. As soon as the door is shut she picks her phone up and orders my food for me. Yeah, I may have come here a time or two when a craving has hit. I know that Alan will put both sets of food in to-go containers so that we can head back to the house. Along with a hot fudge sundae. That, I’ll eat on the way home.

“So, how did the appointment go today?” Alice asks.

“Well, I have to go on complete bed rest for now and I don’t know when I’m going to be able to come back to work,” I say, tears filling my eyes at the thought that I’m disappointing the woman that has become like a mother to me.

“Oh honey, I always knew that there would come a day when the doctor would take you out of work. Don’t worry about us here, I have a plan in place.”

“What’s that?” I ask, sniffling.

“Well, Skylar and Sami have talked to me. They’re going to be coming in to cover your shifts. Sami will be working mainly on the weekends and the guys are going to continue to guard them as if you were still working here. We’ve got this covered.”

I stare at Alice with more tears clouding my vision. Sami never mentioned that she had talked to Alice about working there when I got taken out of work. It doesn’t surprise me though. Just like it doesn’t surprise me that Skylar is also stepping up to fill my spot. I’m just wondering what she’s going to do with the kids while she has to be here.

“I can see you thinkin’ over there,” Irish tells me. “We’ve got it all figured out already and everyone knows what has to happen.”

Nodding my head, we sit in the office until my food is ready to go. Alan comes in and hugs me before Irish leads me back out to the car. I come to a stop when I get outside and see Cage, Grim, Pops, and Tank surrounding my car. It looks like when Irish was on the phone he was alerting the troops to my feeling. Now, they’re here to make sure we make it back to our new home in one piece.

“Where’s Sami?” I ask, needing to know where she is right now.

“Goose, Joker, and Killer have her. They’re escortin’ her to the new house right now,” Grim tells me. “We’ve got everythin’ of yours out of the house and loaded in the van on it’s way over with Sami.”

“Thank you all so much!” I cry, leaning into Irish. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost anyone close to me.”

“None of that,” Pops says. “Let’s get goin’ though before somethin’ happens out here.”

I let Irish help me in the car and then take my food from him. As soon as he gets in the driver’s side, he hands me my spoon so I can start eating my sundae. The guys surround the car and lead us to the clubhouse. I’m glad that they’re here with us because this feeling of being watched hasn’t left me yet.

As Irish is driving I can feel the tension radiating off of him. He’s constantly looking around for a threat and I know that he’s more worried than he’s letting on to me. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have an emergency meeting at some point after he knows that I’m settled in at the house.

We’ve been at the house for a little while now. Everyone has been visiting so Irish let me lay down on the couch for a little bit. At least until he saw my eyes starting to droop. Now, he’s ushering everyone out so that he can take me to the bedroom and get me settled in. Sami and Goose are playing with Cassidy as Irish, Grim, Pops, and Joker lead me to the bedroom.

“I know we need to talk guys,” I start. “Let me go to the bathroom and I’ll be right with you all.”

As soon as I’m settled in bed, Irish sits down next to me and I know that I’m going to be questioned by the men surrounding me. I’ve never had this feeling before and they know it. I would’ve told them as soon as I felt something off and I’ve never said a word to anyone like this.

“Alright babe, can you tell us what happened at the diner?” Irish asks me.

“I don’t honestly know. When Irish parked, I suddenly got a cold chill down my spine and instantly felt like someone was watching us.”

“But you didn’t see anyone? Anythin’ out of the ordinary?” Grim asks me.

“No. I immediately started looking around and I didn’t see anything. There weren’t any cars sitting around, no one standing on the street, and no one else sitting in the diner.”

“Okay. Well, we’re goin’ to have a short meetin’ to get everyone up to speed. Then Irish will be back up here with you. I’m not even goin’ to leave the house for this meetin’,” Grim tells me. “We’re just gonna be down in the basement.”

Irish kisses my head and then my belly before leaving the room. Sami and Cassidy make their way in followed by Goose. I’m sure that one of the guys wanted her to come in with me so that nothing was heard when the guys meet. Sami puts Cassidy in bed with me and she curls up right next to me placing her little hand on my belly. Cassidy always sits next to me these days holding my belly. It’s cute and I know that Irish has more than one picture of it in his phone.

Sami and Goose try to keep my mind off of everything by setting up a game of Skip-Bo. It’s a long game and I know it will distract me. Even from knowing how long the guys are meeting downstairs. Thankfully, there is only a basement in this house. The rest of it is one floor so I don’t have any stairs to climb. If I did, I’m sure that Irish would be carrying me up and down them. And, I’d really be stuck upstairs alone. As it is, I’m stuck to my bedroom right now.

“Sami, you know, I don’t know that I’ve heard whether or not you’ve seen your bedroom yet. Have you?” I ask her, curiously.

“No. I’ve been in the living room with everyone. Then I was watching a movie with Goose and Cassidy in there. Irish got the biggest tv to watch movies on. I love it!”

“Okay. Well, why don’t you go check out your room while Goose shuffles the cards for me.”

Sami takes off and I know the exact moment she sees her room. Rage recreated the exact image in the picture I took from Sami that day. Goose and I look at one another and start laughing as soon as we hear her squeal in excitement. In no time at all, she’s back in our room and telling me how much she loves Irish and I for giving her the room of her dreams. This is what I want my days to be like. Relaxing and just being with my family.

By the time we’re almost done with the game, Irish is rejoining us. Cassidy is fast asleep with her hand still on my belly. Goose is sitting in a chair by the bed, Sami is sitting at my feet, and I’m curled up at the top of the bed. There’s a card table between us so we can play. Irish climbs in on the other side of Cassidy and watches us finish the game. I end up winning and I don’t know how much of that is because the other two let me win. I’ll never know because they won’t tell me.

“We’ll let you two get some rest. We’re gonna go watch another movie in the living room. Do you want me to take Cassidy to her room?” Sami asks us.

“No. I’ll take her there in a little while,” Irish responds.

The two leave the room and I relax back against the pillows further. Cassidy stirs and rolls closer to her daddy but never removes her hand from me. Irish moves closer to us and wraps his arms around the two of us. Within minutes I can feel myself falling into a deep sleep. I’ve never felt safer and more loved than I do in this moment.

“Whit, I love you with all my heart,” Is the last thing I hear before sleep drags me under.