“TANNERITA HAS A NICE RING to it, Hayden!” Tanner states loudly before he wraps his lips around a pink balloon and blows into it with all his might. He yanks it out of his mouth and begins knotting it, refusing to take his eyes off of me. “You think I’m joking, but I’m not. My niece deserves a name that is going to make her stand out in a crowd.”
I shake my head as I lay out the charcuterie board on the coffee table in the sitting room.
Gareth’s deep voice cuts in next. “Tannerita is a name that will get our niece thumped in primary school. It’s bad enough she’s related to you by blood, Tanner. Let’s give the girl a chance to survive with a normal name.”
Camden chortles at Tanner’s crestfallen face. “Broseph, you truly are a righteous idiot.”
Tanner is completely undeterred. “You just aren’t a big picture thinker like me, Cam. But it’s not your fault I took all the brainpower in the womb.”
“Brainpower?” Booker interjects with a twisted look of judgement on his face. “That’s the word you’re going to use when bragging about your intelligence?”
Tanner releases an unknotted balloon that sputters around the room as he darts for Booker. In a flash, Tanner has Booker on the floor in some sort of human pretzel-looking thing that has his arse pressed right against Booker’s horrified face.
It’s not pretty.
Bruce pounces over top of them, barking up a storm while we all watch in gleeful delight. At the same moment, the lift door pings open with a seven-month pregnant Vi standing inside.
We all freeze in shock as she takes in the scene. “What in the—”
“You’re early,” I stammer, dropping the box of crackers and rushing toward her like I can somehow conceal the surprise baby shower we’re setting up behind us. “You weren’t supposed to be home until five.”
She places her hand on my shoulder and looks around me to take in our flat that basically looks like a messy pink explosion went off all over. “What is this?”
“A baby shower,” Gareth replies with a prideful smile. Normally, Gareth is very stoic and unfeeling, but I’ve noticed that he’s been different these last few months. Almost as if he’s softening a bit. With him living in Manchester, I often wonder what goes on in his life up there that none of us ever see.
Camden adds, “Hayden said you are having one with your mates, but it’s just a girls’ thing. We think that’s rubbish, so we told him we were having one for you as well.”
I shake my head, my eyes warming affectionally on my surprised fiancée. “I couldn’t talk them out of it. Your brothers are pushy sods.”
My words are said in jest, but in reality, I love the annoying arseholes nearly as much as I love their sister. The Harris Brothers are difficult not to love. They are unapologetically themselves all of the time. And, even though they are in each other’s business and constantly rowing about something because they are all so uniquely different, they listen to each other and care about what the other thinks. There’s a tremendous amount of honour and respect between these four men. And they have welcomed me into the fold despite my background and my rocky moments with their sister. Now, I’m able to thoroughly enjoy watching the antics they get themselves into on a regular basis and give them a knowing smile that says, “I told you so.”
“This is incredible,” Vi says, her face lighting up as she takes in the enormous baby banners taped to the windows that overlook the balcony. There are a few game stations set up and pink balloons strewn about the floor that Bruce is constantly nipping at like they are his own personal dog toys. And of course, a special display of cupcakes from her favourite shop.
Finally, Tanner releases Booker from his grip, and Booker stands up while sheepishly adding, “Are you pleased, Vi?”
Vi lets out a garbled laugh, tears I hadn’t even seen forming spilling out of her eyes as she ruffles Booker’s hair. “I’m completely overcome.”
“That’s good, right?” Tanner stupidly asks.
Vi nods. “Yes. It’s very good, Tan.”
The next couple of hours include lots of laughs, lots of happy tears, and some ridiculous baby games that Tanner and Camden found on Google—one of which includes sampling various unmarked jars of baby food and identifying the flavours, and scoring each other to see how many we get correct. Tanner makes our stomachs churn when he greedily polishes off the remaining jars of food like he hasn’t eaten in weeks.
“What?” he baulks from his seat bedside Gareth, who’s staring daggers at him. “These mashed peas are healthy!”
“God, you’re embarrassing,” Camden says running his hand through his hair as he bows his head in shame.
“Who am I embarrassing you in front of?” Tanner mumbles around a tiny baby spoon in his mouth. “It’s just us here!”
“Your soul should be embarrassed of you,” Booker replies, his nose wrinkled in disgust.
Tanner simply shrugs and grabs another jar while Vi laughs and laughs. It’s a beautiful sight. But it’s her brothers who laugh the hardest when Vi decides to claim her cupcake in the middle of some baby quiz we’re all taking.
Without a word, Vi sets down her quiz, leans forward from her spot on the sofa, and grabs a pink frosted cupcake from the tray. She brings it to her mouth and delicately swipes her tongue across the top, careful not to actually eat any of the frosting. She sets it back in its place on the coffee table and resumes her quiz.
We all stare at her in confused silence.
She finally looks up. “What?”
Camden is the first to reply. “Mind telling us what that was all about?” he asks, gesturing to the recently saliva’d cupcake.
She shrugs her shoulders and replies, “Bacon Sandwich Rule. I licked it, so it’s mine.”
Her brothers burst into laughter while I quizzically watch them all high-five their sister. It appears to be a student-surpassed-the-teacher moment that I certainly don’t need the details of to enjoy the show of them all laughing together.
After her brothers leave, I sit at the kitchen island drinking in my beautiful fiancée who’s currently standing at the kitchen sink, barefoot and pregnant. Call me barbaric, but there’s something really fucking perfect about the image in front of me, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
“Are you ready for your final surprise?” I ask, interrupting Vi as she hums a tune to herself.
“There’s more?” she asks, drying her hands and turning to look at me.
I nod and lift up a white scarf of hers with a waggle of my brows. Her eyes darken because this is the same scarf that we’ve used in the bedroom.
“Head out of the gutter, Bunny,” I state, my voice deep and warning.
“That’s impossible around you, Hayden.” She smiles and rubs her belly. “These pregnancy hormones don’t help matters.”
I shake my head and walk over to her. “I really hope those don’t go away after the baby is born because I quite like my horny fiancée.”
She giggles and takes the scarf from my hand as her eyes drop down to my groin. I hurry to blindfold her before I forget about the surprise and end up taking her to bed instead.
Carefully, I walk her toward the balcony doorway that we concealed behind a giant banner so she wouldn’t see the surprise until after her brothers left. I pull down the obnoxious “It’s a Girl” sign and slide open the door, gently helping her walk over the threshold and into the night air.
“Stay right here,” I whisper, leaving her to hustle around Bruce and over to the outlets to plug in all the lighting.
“What are you doing?” Vi asks, her head turning into the new lighting shining through the scarf.
“Patience, Bunny. Patience.”
She harrumphs with annoyance. “If you’re drawing me a bubble bath with the intention of leaving me to relax by myself, I’m going to be a very rude rabbit.”
I chuckle at her tone. “It’d be hard to draw you a bath on the balcony.”
“Semantics,” she murmurs, crossing her arms over her chest.
Once I am certain that everything is perfect, I stride over to stand behind her. My hands wrap around her waist, stroking her swollen belly. The belly that I’ve loved watching grow these last several months.
Vi’s head falls back onto my chest, her hands wrapping around mine as I feel our daughter kicking inside of her. It’s still as miraculous today as it was the first time I felt her move. Since then, there hasn’t been a single day that’s gone by that I don’t touch the life we created together.
I rest my chin on Vi’s shoulder and inhale the scent of her hair while murmuring in her ear, “I know you’ve hated not being able to climb the ladder to sit up on our rooftop garden lately, so I had Vincent help me bring your oasis down here.”
I untie the scarf and step aside to watch her take in the newly decorated balcony that went from a simple slab with a few lounge chairs to a stunning secret garden. Vincent brought in some small trees in planters that are elaborately decorated with twinkle lights. There are loads of colourful pots overflowing with blooms that are situated around the lounge chairs. In the corners are large leafy arrangements that have a tropical feel to them. On the ground, he added some fuzzy rugs and throw pillows that bring more colour and cosiness to the entire area.
“This is my baby present to you, Vi,” I state as her jaw remains dropped and her eyes wide.
“I thought you hate Vincent,” she says with disbelief in her voice.
I smile and shrug. “The bloke knows what he’s doing.”
She giggles and shakes her head. “I’ve been trying to tell you that.”
She walks into the space, rubbing her belly as she takes everything in with wide, sparkling eyes. Off in the corner is a smaller version of the round sofa bed she has on the roof with a small running water fountain beside it.
She turns on her heel and places her hands on her hips. “Get over here, Hayden,” she says with a sternness to her voice that I quite like.
I quirk my brow and do as I’m told because there’s not much that can keep me away from her these days. I slide my hands around her waist as she twines her fingers behind my neck and presses her firm belly against me.
She pulls my forehead down to hers and says with a happy sigh, “You never cease to amaze me.”
“Are you joking?” I reply with a haughty tone. “You’re the one doing all the work.” I rub the sides of her belly affectionately, impressed by how she manages it all the way she does.
“It’s not work to love you, Hayden,” she replies, her voice trembling with emotion. “It’s like breathing.”
My heart thunders inside my chest because surly she can see that she’s given me my life back. Surely she knows that having her with me makes life worth living.
“Marry me, Vi.” I repeat the words I said to her several months ago.
She laughs. “You know I will, Hayden.”
“Marry me now,” I urge.
“Who will officiate?”
“Bruce.”
“He does have a way with words.” She giggles and then cups my cheeks to look into my eyes. “Marrying you will be the happiest day of my life, Hayden. But not now. We’re having a baby and life is so wonderful. We are perfect right now. Let’s just enjoy it and worry about the wedding business later.”
I purse my lips together and drop a chaste kiss on her forehead. “As long as your forever is mine, Bunny.”
She looks up at me with a smile. “Always, My Hayden. Always.”
The End…
…but not really, because the Harris Brothers Series is now live and complete! Dive into the first brother’s book, , or read on for a sneak peek!
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