“Sweetheart! Are you ready?” William called from downstairs.
“Give me a minute,” I said, rummaging through my closet and grabbing a gray cardigan.
I wasn’t even going to try to dress up. Morning sickness had been absolutely terrible these past four days and I had been so weak because of it. I couldn’t eat anything without having it come back up! I was also extremely tired all the time. Today, we were going to my parents’ house for dinner, along with our friends and William’s parents. I was finally going to tell them that I was pregnant.
“You okay?” William asked, walking into our room. He looked extremely handsome and delicious in his white shirt and dark jeans. Did I mention I was also extremely horny? Yep, I was, much to William’s joy.
“I guess,” I said, staring at my pale face in the mirror.
He frowned. “You look so tired. Are you sure you want to go out? Maybe we should wait till you’re better.”
I shook my head. “I’ll be fine as long as I don’t eat anything heavy.”
He sighed. “All right, let’s go.”
He picked me up bridal style and started walking out. I laughed weakly, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Is there a reason why you’re carrying me?”
“If you think I’m going to let you walk around when you’re so tired and weak, then you’re nuts.”
“What about Noah?” I asked, closing my eyes and yawning.
“He’s already in the car, sound asleep. The driver’s watching over him.”
I nodded and snuggled into his chest more.
“I hate seeing you like this, sweetheart.” I opened my eyes to see William’s worried frown.
I smiled slightly. “No one said being pregnant was a walk in the park.”
He sighed and nodded. “True, but I just wish I could do something. I feel so helpless watching you go through morning sickness.”
“No, you’re doing great, William. I don’t think I’d be able to get through every morning without you,” I said, rubbing my fingers against his forehead to remove the wrinkles.
He gave me a small smile and kissed my cheek. Once we were outside, he put me down and I got into the back of the car with William right behind me. I made sure Jonah was buckled up and tugged my seatbelt on. Once we got to my parents’ house, we greeted everyone and sat down to dinner.
“Heather, you look so pale. Are you feeling okay?” my mom asked, placing her hand on mine.
“Well, I’m pregnant,” I blurted out casually, taking a sip of my water.
I should have taken a subtler approach, because as soon as I said that, chaos broke out. My dad knocked over his glass of water, Jackson spit his soda out all over Nathan’s face, Ethan spit his steak out onto Andrew’s plate, Alex choked on his steak, and Noah dropped his bottle—which he thought was hilarious.
My mom gasped, her eyes filling with tears. “You’re pregnant!”
A loud clang sounded throughout the room, and we turned to look at Landon.
“What? Everyone was dropping things, so I figured I should drop my spoon,” he said, looking at us innocently.
I chuckled and gasped for air when Mrs. Solace gave me a bone-crushing hug.
“I get to be a grandmother again!” she shrieked.
When Mr. and Mrs. Solace found out Noah was their grandson, they were so happy. Of course, they were upset about how Kelly went to Greece without telling them and hid her pregnancy, but nevertheless, they were really excited.
Once she released me, my mom decided to squeeze the life out of me as well. “Oh my gosh, my baby’s having a baby!” she squealed.
“Mom, you’re suffocating her,” Andrew said, pulling Mom off of me.
“Congrats, sis! I can’t wait to be an uncle!” he said, kissing my cheek and hugging me gently.
“Thanks, bro.” I smiled. Then he let go of me to go hug William, who was being strangled by my mom.
Nathan came up right behind him. He looked down at my stomach and started talking to it. “Listen, kiddo, I’m your Uncle Nate. I’m going to be the one who teaches you to play every single sport out there and how to drive your mommy and daddy crazy.” He patted my stomach gently and I chuckled.
“Congrats, Hezzie!” he said, giving me a quick hug. “I’m glad you and William finally did the dirty. It’s about time!”
I gasped and slapped his shoulder lightly.
“Aunt Heather, you and Uncle Willie rolled in the mud?” Landon asked, tugging on my shirt.
My eyes widened and I nodded. “Uh, yeah.”
What else could I say?
“Like pigs?”
Nathan snorted in laughter. “Yep, like pigs. They were experimenting with new grounds.” He winked.
“Cool! Can I roll in the mud with you next time?” he asked excitedly.
Nathan clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing, and I stared at Landon, not knowing what to say.
“When you’re older, buddy, then you can roll in the mud,” William said, wrapping his arms around my waist and putting his chin on my shoulder.
“Okay! I’m going to go ask Daddy if he has ever rolled in mud.” He wandered off to poor, unsuspecting Andrew, who was burping Noah.
“We should actually try that. It might be fun,” William whispered in my ear.
“William!”
He laughed and pressed a kiss to my neck.
“Eww, PDA!” I laughed as Jackson scrunched his nose up.
“I’ll be sure to say that when you kiss your girlfriend in front of me,” William said, wiggling his eyebrows.
Jackson’s cheeks turned red, and William laughed. “Sweetheart, it seems like Jackson has taken a liking to Hillary.”
“Wait, really?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I went back to the shelter a couple of times. First time, she flipped me off. Second time, she threw her water in my face. Third time, she kicked me in the balls. I’m going to back tomorrow.” He shrugged.
I blinked. “What did you to say to her?”
“I guess I was a bit too arrogant when I asked her out. I was kind of expecting she would say yes and not reject me.”
“You asked her out three times?”
“No, twice. The first time I went, I wanted to see what she was like.” He smiled. “Anyway,” he said, looking down at my stomach. “Hey there, little guy. I’m your Uncle Jack. I’ll probably be the one to show you how to play pranks on people and play lacrosse because that’s one sport your Uncle Nate can’t play…” He trailed off and looked up. “I’m talking to your stomach…that’s flat.”
I shook my head in amusement as he began questioning his sanity. I got distracted as William discreetly pressed kisses to the nape of my neck and nipped my earlobe.
“Heather! William!” Ethan and Chelsea walked toward me.
I chuckled as William groaned. “Here I was hoping to have a moment with you.”
Ten minutes later, after everyone had finally squeezed the life out of William and me, we sat back down to finish dinner.
“Has William told you that he wants nine kids yet?” Mr. Solace asked, smirking.
I laughed. “Yep.”
“If you guys have nine kids, you can make a baseball team. I can see it now, the Solace Titans versus the Bravo Bunnies.” Jackson smiled.
“Bunnies? Did you just call my son a bunny?” Ethan asked incredulously.
“Well, look at you. You’re like the Energizer Bunny in that commercial.” Alex smirked.
“I like the name. Bravo Bunnies.” Chelsea sighed. Ethan stared at her with a funny look on his face.
I laid my head on William’s shoulder and smiled as they teased poor Ethan.
What would I do without these guys?