christmas in tennessee had been nerve-wracking, to say the least. It would have been even if we didn’t have the announcement of a lifetime. I knew they’d get mad. I honestly thought they might ask us to leave. Myra and Ken Williams were traditional, yes, but not exactly old-fashioned anymore.
They understood men and women being together before marriage. They even understood having babies before marriage even though they would rather a couple be married. What was hard for them was hearing that their only son got his best friend since childhood pregnant after only a few weeks of being together.
When Marcus confessed I was pregnant that first dinner, I wished I could have been absorbed into the kitchen chair. Their reaction was surprising. Besides the initial shock, which was a given, Myra started to cry. I just knew she was mad. She admitted she was disappointed it happened so fast, but only because she said we hadn’t had a chance to explore our relationship first.
Ken was quiet, quieter than usual. I’d steal a glance every now and then to find him staring at me. He didn’t look angry or even sad, just staring with a somewhat blank expression on his face. I didn’t know how to react so I let Marcus breach that.
In the end, they voiced their concerns, but by the end of the night, Myra had me on the couch with some tea—decaf for me—talking baby stuff. She was more excited than I’d ever dreamed considering the circumstances. But we were family. We always had been, now even more so.
“Have you guys thought of names yet?” she asked excitedly, sitting her teacup on the table.
“Yes and no. We can’t agree on anything so we decided to wait until we know the sex.” I leaned back against the couch, trying to stretch out my back a little.
“May I?” Myra held her hand above my stomach.
I smiled. This was going a hundred times better than I’d thought.
“Of course.”
I raised my shirt up to expose my belly, watching. She placed her hand right above my belly button.
“I’m a little bigger than I thought I’d be, but I’ve been really bloated so it’s just water weight. It’ll be another couple of months before we can feel the kicks.”
Myra nodded but never took her gaze off my stomach. Slowly, she ran her hand up and down my stomach, making sure to touch every inch before removing it. She smiled at me, her tears threatening to fall again.
“Thank you.”
I nodded and pulled my shirt back down.
“Hannah, you know you’ve always been family to us, right?” she asked, patting her eyes to keep those tears from falling.
“I know.” Tears of my own had begun to surface, but I pushed them back. I’d be working at controlling these crazy emotions, but I was failing miserably. I took small victories when I could.
“Ken will come around. He loves you too.”
Her words were meant to comfort me, but they only reminded me that while he nodded in agreement with the things Myra said at dinner, I could tell he wasn’t fully on board. I couldn’t blame him. I knew he didn’t think I’d trapped Marcus or tricked him in any way, but his only son was having a child out of wedlock. He was more than concerned.
Now, we were driving home, currently passing through Kentucky, when I got a call from the doctor asking to reschedule our ultrasound for Tuesday instead of Monday. It wasn’t an issue for me since school was out for winter break, but it did make it a bit of a hassle for Marcus. Luckily, his boss was understanding and told him that as long as he rearranged his scheduled clients, he could have it off.
“Feeling better after this trip?” Marcus asked as we passed the state line.
“Yes, actually,” I breathed out. “That went a lot better than I would have ever guessed.” I looked over at him, reaching over for his hand.
“I told you it wouldn’t be that bad,” he said with a smirk as he laced our fingers.
“Bull crap! You were just as nervous if not more nervous than I was!”
We both laughed, and he shook his head.
“Not true. You were a lot more nervous than me.”
It was true. They couldn’t kick Marcus out of their family, but they could easily pretend I didn’t exist. I actually felt bad now because I’d been thinking the absolute worst when I should have known Ken and Myra wouldn’t have even thought about kicking me out or anything of the sort.
“I’m glad it’s out of the way now.” I squeezed Marcus’ hand and looked out the window. “Your mom has probably started buying unisex stuff already,” I said with a quiet laugh, looking back over at him.
“Yeah, she was pretty excited, wasn’t she?”
His gaze never left the road, but I could see the relief in his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to make his parents proud, which was why telling them had been so hard. To hear her approval and praise about this made him so happy I could cry.
Stupid hormones.
i’d never been so glad to be home. Or, well, Marcus’ house, which had always felt a little like home so it was fitting without trying to come on too strongly. I hated road trips anyways, but being pregnant made it that much worse.
I was sure Marcus hated road tripping with a pregnant woman as well.
“I’ll grab our things. Go ahead and lie down,” Marcus said from behind me as I walked inside.
I didn’t dare argue. I was exhausted and could really use a nap.
I walked back to his bedroom and kicked off my shoes. Without bothering to even take off my jacket, I plopped down on the bed, instantly curling onto my side. I couldn’t believe how random my energy was. There were some days I felt like I could run a marathon and others when I could barely walk five feet to the bathroom.
Today was definitely a dead tired kind of day and the trip home didn’t help.
I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep until Marcus crawling into bed with me jolted me awake. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, finally pulling off my coat.
“How long was I asleep?” I asked through a yawn making Marcus chuckle.
“About fifteen minutes.” I frowned at him, laying back down. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I know.”
I was on my back, and I knew what was coming. I smiled, propping my head up on the pillows to watch. Every chance he got, Marcus would lay his head just below my breasts and have his private conversations with my stomach, all while rubbing his hand over my growing belly. I loved it.
I’d always heard of women making comments about not realizing how much more they could love their husbands or boyfriends until they saw them with their child, but I didn’t realize how right they were until this moment.
To see Marcus loving my stomach and talking to our baby filled me with love and joy. Emotional or not, it was enough to make anyone tear up. I gently ran my fingers through his hair, not wanting to interrupt him but wanting more contact between us.
“I love you,” I heard him whisper before feeling his lips on my belly.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I waited for him to lift his head to look at me.
“I love you, too,” I told him, trailing my fingers down his cheek.
He gave me his panty-dropping smile and I all but melted into the sheets. “I love you too.”
Crawling farther up my body, he gently covered me with his, careful of my stomach. I lifted my head to close the distance between us and pressed my lips against his right as he came for mine.
My arms wrapped around his neck, and I moaned into his mouth, feeling like I hadn’t been kissed by him in far too long even though it was only right before our trip. My libido was in overdrive. It had been a few days since anything had happened between us out of respect for his parents, and I was tired of waiting.
“Take me now, Marcus.” I moaned into his mouth again, loving that it made him groan in response.
He ran his hand gently down my side as he climbed over me, not so subtly pushing my shorts down as he did. I smiled, wiggling my body to help him out. He positioned himself between my legs, his mouth never leaving mine.
“I thought you were tired,” he joked, moving his lips from my mouth down my throat.
“Not anymore.”
sunday night, marcus seemed on edge, but I couldn’t figure out why. He was doing anything and everything he could for me. It was kind of nice to be waited on, but something was up, and I feared it was something bad.
After the second or third time he’d refilled my orange juice—I’d lost count—he went back to the kitchen, and I turned on the couch to watch him. He scrunched his brows together in concentration as he looked around the kitchen. For what, I had no idea.
“Marcus?”
He didn’t look up immediately, and I sighed. He was preoccupied by something and just didn’t hear me.
“Marcus. You’re making me nervous,” I said a little louder.
“Hm? What?” He looked up, confused. “What did you say?”
As worried as I was by his behavior, I couldn’t help but smile. A confused Marcus was adorable.
“Come here and sit down. I said you’re making me nervous.” I patted the seat next to me.
He took a deep breath before coming and sitting next to me. “Sorry.” He let out his breath and laid his head on the back of the couch.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know.” He lifted his head to look at me, suddenly looking a little guilty.
My heart thumped in my chest.
“I think I’m gonna go see what Chad is up to tonight. I haven’t seen him much lately.”
I couldn’t describe how much his words relaxed me. He wanted to hang out with Chad and didn’t want to leave me alone. I giggled, shaking my head.
He looked even more confused and laughed nervously like I’d lost my mind. “What?”
“If you want to go hang out with Chad, then go.”
He raised a brow, almost like he didn’t believe I was really okay with it. Had I gotten back to being clingy again?
“Seriously. I think Erica might be coming over anyway.”
“You’re sure? I just didn’t want to leave you alone.”
I smiled, leaning over to kiss his lips, finally feeling him smile in return. “I’m sure.”
As if on cue, the doorbell rang, and we laughed before Marcus got up to answer it. I sipped my orange juice, relaxing back on the couch now that I knew what had made Marcus so nervous, though his reason upset me a little. I thought I’d gotten better, but maybe I was wrong. I couldn’t help myself sometimes.
“I see you both are alive after the dreaded trip,” Erica said sarcastically from the hallway.
“Just barely,” Marcus joked back. He returned to the living room with Erica in tow.
“It went a lot better than expected,” I countered, playfully glaring at him as he walked over to stand behind where I sat.
“Yeah, maybe.” He chuckled and leaned over to kiss the top of my head. “I’m heading out. You ladies have fun. Love you.”
“Love you too.” I watched him go and then turned my attention to Erica as she sat down beside me on the couch.
“Okay, spill.”
I retold the story, Erica hanging on every word. She’d never admit it for fear of sounding like a bitch, but I knew she was hoping for something a heck of a lot juicier than what I gave her. It wasn’t that she wanted something bad to happen to us. She just liked a good story.
“By the end of the trip, I was convincing Myra not to buy anything until we find out the sex, though I don’t think she’ll listen,” I finish with a small laugh.
Erica shook her head. “Wow. Even when your situation calls for some major freaking out, Mark’s parents are still as cool as ever.”
“Yeah, pretty much.” I laughed, leaning back on the couch. “Ken still has some coming around to do, I think. He and Marcus were holed up in his study for quite a while after the news.”
“What do you think they were talking about?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask, and Marcus didn’t volunteer.” I sighed. I desperately wanted to know what was said behind closed doors, but it was between father and son, and I didn’t want to intrude. If it was something I needed to know, Marcus would have told me.
That didn’t mean my curiosity wasn’t killing me.
“Well, as long as Myra is on board, I’d say Ken isn’t far behind,” Erica said with a wink.
I had to agree. Ken wore the pants in the family, but Myra still called a lot of the shots. Ken’s interests and most of his say were the financial aspects while Myra handled the people. It was hard not to love them both.
Ken was truly one of the best men I’ve ever known. That was why I wanted his approval so badly. He’d always included me in his family, and I could feel his demeanor change a bit over the holidays. It would change back. At least, I hoped it did.
“You have your first ultrasound tomorrow, right?” Erica asked, pulling my attention back to her.
“Actually, no. They called and had to reschedule for Tuesday.”
“Does that mean I’ll be able to talk you into a girl’s day tomorrow to hit the mall?” She grinned, nudging me with her shoulder.
I hadn’t spent a lot of time with Erica lately, and I was feeling really guilty about it. I was sure Marcus would hang out with Chad. One more step to working at not being all over him all the time.
“Sure. It’s a date.”