Chapter Nineteen
“So, how’s it going with the little lady?” Harrison asked, dealing out the cards.
Brooks glanced up and gathered his hand.
“That well, huh?”
Cole nodded at him. “What’s going on?”
Brooks released a deep sigh. It wasn’t something he’d planned on getting into. Poker night was his opportunity to escape from All Things Domestic. Although lately with Cole and Kiersten and their new baby, and Chris in a fairly serious relationship for once in his life, and Brooks sort of married with a baby on the way, a lot of their conversation had been taking a domestic turn.
Harrison, the odd man out as the only unattached one in the group, didn’t mind, although he did seem to view them all as strange and pitiful zoo creatures that he enjoyed observing from the outside but had no intention of getting close to for fear they were contagious.
“Things are going great. When Marcus isn’t around. Except he always seems to be around now,” Brooks said.
“Well, that’s a good thing, right? That he wants to be there for his child,” Chris said.
“Sure. Except this is Marcus we’re talking about. I don’t know if he’s there because he wants to be there for Leah and the baby, or if he’s there to screw with me. He’s got to be loving that he’s the father of my wife’s baby. He couldn’t have planned this any better if he’d done it on purpose. I don’t know how much longer I can deal with him.”
“Yeah, well, seeing as he’s the father, you’re going to have to get used to him. You’ll be the stepfather to his kid. If you stick around,” Cole said.
“Can you imagine having to deal with that man, having to co-raise a kid with him for eighteen years? Hell, I don’t think I could do it without another guy always trying to one-up me and get in my way. How am I supposed to do it with him pulling his usual Marcus shit? He’s already got the whole biological father thing on me. He’s been trying to work on Leah, too. And she doesn’t know him like we do. All she sees is a charming guy, with old family money, who wants to be involved in raising their kid. Who wouldn’t want that?”
Harrison shrugged. “Maybe she already has who she wants.”
Brooks glanced up. “She hasn’t said so.”
“Maybe she doesn’t know it’s an option. Have you said anything to her?” Cole asked.
“No.” Brooks shoved back from the table. “And I’m not going to.”
“Brooks,” Harrison said. “Look, I know it’s up to you, mate, but you’ve been different the last few months. In a good way.”
“Gee, thanks,” Brooks said, cracking open another beer.
“He’s right,” Cole said. “You’ve been happy. And responsible. Hell, you have showed up for every single meeting, on time, and haven’t made an inappropriate pass at anyone in months. And you’ve been happy about it. We’re going to have to revive your mother next time she comes to visit. She won’t recognize you. And we get it. A good woman will do that to you.”
“Well,” Harrison added, “they get it. I don’t want it. I’m good the way I am.”
Brooks snorted.
“But you,” Harrison continued, “I don’t think you’ve ever been happier. Who knew that being a responsible adult would be your dream come true?”
Brooks rolled his eyes. The only problem was they weren’t wrong and that was all due to Leah.
“Look,” Harrison said. “Yeah, it sucks that there is another guy in the picture. And it really sucks that guy is Marcus. However, she barely knows him. She spent one night with him. She’s been living with you as your wife for the last six and a half months. Do you really think all of that time with you means nothing?”
Yes, that’s exactly what Brooks thought, what he feared. And even if it did mean something to her, it didn’t change the fact that Marcus wasn’t going away. Brooks had no real rights in this situation, no place. He was her husband, sure, legally, on paper. But neither one of them had entered into the marriage with the intent of making it real, so in his mind it wasn’t. It didn’t matter how many rings he put on her finger. If she wasn’t intending to be his wife for real when he did it, they didn’t matter.
And the baby…the baby was hers. It terrified him to admit how much he cared for the little one already and she wasn’t even here yet. What kind of a mess would that be to bring her into a world where he and Marcus were locked in some eternal rivalry? Being a stepparent would be hard enough. Having to co-parent with Marcus? Having Marcus always in his life…for decades? There was no way that would work.
Brooks shook his head. “Until she wants me for real, I’m going to go on assuming that our relationship is as it started.”
“Well, maybe you should talk to her about it,” Harrison said. “She might not know she has the option of keeping you. It’s not like you have ever advertised that the whole wife and family thing was something you wanted. She probably assumes you can’t wait to get rid of her.”
The thought sent another spear of pain shooting through Brooks, but he ignored it. “It’s probably better that way, anyway,” he said. “Easier.”
“Easier for who?” Cole asked.
Before he could answer, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced down at the text. Then things got very strange. Like he was looking at the phone through a long tunnel. He could hear the boys in the background, but nothing they said really registered. The only thing he could focus on were those four words blaring at him from his screen.
It’s time! Come now!
“Brooks?” Harrison said. “Did you hear me?”
“I’ve got to go,” he mumbled.
He spun to find his three best friends staring at him like he’d lost his mind. They weren’t wrong. He couldn’t think of anything but getting to Leah. But once he did…oh my God. She was having the baby. Right now. It was coming right now. But he wasn’t there. She needed him. He needed to get there. How was he going to get there? Oh yeah, he had a car. He needed to drive fast. He needed to go now.
“Brooks!” Cole said, snapping his fingers in front of Brooks’s face.
Brooks blinked up at him while the world slowly came back into focus.
“Leah’s having the baby,” he managed to get out.
He’d never seen a phrase have such an effect on a group of men before. They all shot out of their seats and started scrambling around, throwing jackets at each other, patting pockets for keys, yanking phones out of pockets so they could start calling people.
“Let’s go!” Cole called.
Brooks realized he was still frozen to the middle of the room. “Let’s go! We have to go!” he said, suddenly filled with the energy of a dozen Red Bulls as awareness flooded through him.
He ran for the door with one thought blaring through his brain. He had to get to Leah.
Their baby was coming.