Twenty-Five
Porter
Thankfully, there were kids in the house, which meant Mom had apple juice. I was in the kitchen, pouring a glass for Asher, when Mom cornered me.
“She’s pregnant, isn’t she?”
I looked around the room quickly before looking down at her. “No, she has the stomach flu.”
“You’re a terrible liar, Porter.”
I put the juice back in the fridge, ignoring her.
Of course, though, Mom kept rolling with it, thankfully with her voice lowered. “A late summer baby! I’m so excited.”
I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms, my gaze out into the living room, landing on Asher. She was sitting on the couch with Brae standing on her lap. Brae, though, was doing a jumping jig and I could tell that it was getting to be too much for Asher.
“More like an early spring baby. -Ees. Babies.” I held up my hand before Mom could make a noise. “Keep it to yourself. It’s not been an easy pregnancy.”
I could see the wheels turning in her head before her eyes widened. “Oh no. It’s not…It’s not that, that, bastard’s, is it? Are they? Oh, my God, you said babies.”
“No, they’re mine. And there are two. But Asher suffers from extreme morning sickness and she’s lost a lot of weight. We’re keeping it to ourselves until we get through the major hurdles. Or until she shows.”
“Is that why she isn’t showing? She should be round with babies by now!” Mom’s voice was returning to regular decibel level. “My goodness, when I was pregnant with all six of you, my belly popped at ten weeks, I swear.”
“Mom, keep it down. But yeah, probably. She does have a small belly though.” I couldn’t stop the crooked grin if I tried. God, I loved her little bump.
And really, when it wasn’t hidden behind a bulky hoodie, it was pretty pronounced.
Mom’s smile was wide and she reached up to frame my face. “Look at you, all happy. Have you guys set a new date for the wedding? God, I’m so excited for you two!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw as Asher bent to put Brae on the floor and stand.
“Gotta go, Mom.” I kissed her forehead and stepped away, leaving the glass of juice where it was, moving through the rooms to make it to her side. “You okay?”
She nodded and said quietly, “I just need to lay down.”
I helped her up the stairs and to my old bedroom. There, I pulled back the covers and after she settled in, I sat beside her, my hand on her stomach.
“You’re sure you’re okay?”
“Porter, I’m fine.” Her smile was small, but it was a true smile. “I’m just tired.”
Nodding, I rubbed my hand over her belly before lifting the hem of both her hoodie and the ribbed tank top she wore underneath, so I could look down at the gentle swell. I leaned down to press my lips there before saying, “You babies be good to your momma.”
Asher’s fingers were in my hair, combing it back, and after I pressed a second kiss on her belly—two kisses for two babies—I leaned up to kiss their mother.
“I love you,” I said, against her lips this time.
Her lips curved under mine, and she pecked back twice of her own. “Let me rest. Go be with your family.”
“I’m with my family.”
Asher rolled her eyes, but grinned as she rolled to her side. “The rest of your family, smartass.”
***
Avery met me at the top of the stairs and I fought the need to groan. Sure, she knew Asher was pregnant before today, but after the show with the bathroom and Mom talking to me in the kitchen, I was sure she had questions.
“How is she?”
“She’s okay.”
“Still not telling anyone?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. But Mom knows now, so who knows how long it will stay under wraps.”
“I’m really excited for you guys,” she said quietly with a big grin on her face.
I couldn’t stop a mirroring grin if I tried. “I’m pretty excited too.”
“Oh, before I forget. I have the gifts you had sent.”
“Did you wrap them?”
She lifted a brow. “Are you serious? No. I did not wrap them.”
“Well, I’m not waking Asher to wrap them.”
Avery just laughed and tapped my chest. “Better go get your scissors.”
***
I let Asher sleep through dinner and thankfully no one asked questions. After, I made a Wal-Mart run with Asher’s “acceptable foods” list in mind.
Unfortunately, Jonny decided to tag along.
“How’s the knee?”
“Good. I’ll be back on the ice soon.”
“Good.” He was quiet a moment but I should have known that wasn’t the end of his conversation. “What’s really up with Asher?” he asked as we walked down the aisle. Growing up in a family this size, I knew better than most that nothing ever stayed quiet. Everyone was in everyone else’s business all the damn time.
In my shopping basket, I had juice, popsicles, saltines, and broth. Mom had me picking up cream of chicken, too, for cheesy potatoes, and I knew that if Asher caught sight of the insides of that can, she’d be spending tomorrow’s dinner in the bathroom too.
“Stomach bug,” I said, reading the back of a broth can as we moved toward produce. She probably wouldn’t tolerate it, but I was going to try to get bananas in her, too.
“Try again.”
“Swear. Stomach bug.”
“Look me in the eye, baby brother, and tell me that again.”
I didn’t bother looking at him; I could hear the damn grin on his face.
“So, congratulations?”
I grabbed a bunch of bananas that were yellow, but more on the green side than brown. “How the fuck do you people figure this out?” If there was one thing I think everyone was thankful for, it was that Jonny never got Jenna pregnant, so the guy didn’t exactly have firsthand knowledge.
“Because Sydney’s been pregnant five times, and I practically live with them.”
“You, mom… Asher’s going to kill me when she finds out you all know.”
“You should know better than to bring your pregnant girlfriend to the house while she’s puking every twenty minutes.” He didn’t know the half of it.
“Yeah, well, it hasn’t been exactly easy,” I mumbled, as I moved along toward self-checkout.
“You giving her back her ring?”
“I think we have enough on our plate for the time being. But after,” I said honestly, dropping the basket on the metal pullout and starting to scan my items.
“Everything okay with you guys?” Jonny’s question was laced with concern and I nodded.
“Yeah, it is. I think we’re actually better right now than we were.” I typed in the code for the bananas before bagging them. “But between my knee and her being pregnant, we just have a lot going on at the moment.” I dropped the basket into the stack on the ground. “We’re meeting with her and Ace’s therapist before heading back home.”
“That’s probably good.” Jonny stood with his arms crossed over his chest, watching me as I pulled my wallet from my back pocket and sifting out my bank card.
“How are things with you? You dating yet?” I asked, as I put the card in the chip reader. These things took so damn long to read, and I needed the conversation off me and Ash.
Goodness knew, the conversation would be all about us in two days’ time.
Because Asher hadn’t been back to Wisconsin since her revelation during the holiday party, she decided she wanted to sit with Trinity while we were up here. When she asked if I would go with her, I was floored.
After a moment of pause, I’d quickly agreed, knowing that her offering it was our last hurdle. She was tearing down the last wall.
“Nah, not yet. I’m looking into buying a house up near the lake house for off-season, but I don’t know that it’ll happen for a while yet.”
I re-pocketed my wallet, looking at my brother quickly before grabbing the bag. “Why up north? Why not San Diego?” Jonny was still in the same seaside condo he and Cael lived in before Sydney came in the picture.
Jonny chuckled. “Because Wisconsin is home.”
It was a simple answer, but I begged to differ.
For me, home was Asher. Everything clicked when I was with her.
The self-check attendant wished us a Merry Christmas as we passed, and we were on our way. Thankfully, conversation turned to hockey.
I could talk hockey.
Soon, we made it back to the house, where the kids were still running rampant.
Brandon was on the couch with his iPad, playing a hockey game with the volume too high. Brody was chasing Brooks, and Ella was carrying Brae around, all while their four parents sat around the kitchen table, playing cards.
“Isn’t it bedtime?” Jonny asked, scooping up Brooks. He shot up like a weed this year, and at four, was probably taller than his brothers had been at that age.
“No! Never!” Brooks squealed.
“You should control your children,” I told Caleb, grinning, as I walked past and dropped my bag on the kitchen counter. Mom came over to grab the cream of chicken can as I lined up everything else, putting it all away.
Not having Bri around was still hard, but as a family, we were dealing. I was sure it was still hard for Caleb and Sydney, on their own family level, but this Christmas wasn’t nearly as difficult as last.
Fuck, now that Asher was pregnant, I couldn’t imagine losing one of the babies.
Which further meant I was watching her like a hawk the rest of this pregnancy. If that meant she was admitted to the hospital and under supervised bed rest, I was absolutely game with it.
“I can’t wait for the day you have kids,” Cael told me, not even looking up from his hand. “I predict girls. All girls. With piercings, and tattoos, and enough boyfriends to make you go prematurely gray.”
“I don’t think the tattoos and piercings part was much of a threat, Cael,” McKenna laughed. “You do know your brother, right? The kid who has his nipple pierced?”
“Had,” I corrected.
McKenna grinned over at me. “Whatever. The point still stands.”
True. They didn’t know about other, more intimate, piercing…
And if the twins were girls? Or if one was a girl? You better believe I was going to be okay with her expressing herself however she needed to. I wasn’t about to suppress anyone’s spirit, not when I knew secondhand how hard it could be to get that freedom back. I believed one hundred percent that Asher was finally the person she was supposed to be, but fuck, the road wasn’t the smoothest.
“Speaking of kids…” Sydney, my sweet, sweet sister-in-law said, staring in my direction.
“Chief, play your hand.”
Sydney kept her eyes on me, lifting a brow.
“Yeah, I’m going to bed now,” I deflected, pointing over my shoulder. “See you all in the morning.”