Chapter Ten
Here Macy was again. Every movement precise, she placed the pregnancy test strip on the bathroom counter in front of her and looked up at her reflection in the mirror. But there was one major difference from when she’d been here before. Ghost stood behind her, waiting to see the results with her. And wait they did, the s econds stretching out like years until she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Has it been long enough?” she asked nervously, her gaze flickering up to meet his in the mirror. He stood behind her, arms wrapped around her waist. Both of them had agreed not to look at the results until a couple of minutes had passed, then they would look together.
He lifted his left hand to check his watch. “I think it’s been more than enough.”
“I’m afraid to look,” she said. “Do you think we did it this time?”
Seth grinned, nuzzling her neck. “We damn sure worked at it hard enough.”
Macy giggled as his breath and lips tickled her sensitive skin. “We did, didn’t we?”
“And hey, if it didn’t happen this time, we’ll work at it again. It’s not as if we didn’t have a good time.”
“Okay,” she said and took a deep breath. “Are you ready?”
“I don’t know. Are you?”
“I don’t know.” Their gazes remained locked in the mirror.
“You said you’ve been feeling tired and a little queasy in the morning.”
“And I have, I’m just afraid it’s wishful thinking. That I want it so bad I’m manifesting it.”
“We could always, you know, look and find out.”
“But I’ll be so disappointed if it’s negative.”
“Don’t be. We have plenty of time.”
“I know. But you know me. I’m impatient.”
They were silent for a moment. Macy swore she could hear her own pulse in her ears. She could feel his against her back, steady and a little fast. He was nervous, too.
“Ready?” he asked. “On the count of three?”
She closed her eyes. “Okay.”
“One. Two…”
All her hopes and dreams centered on this moment.
“Two and a half.”
Macy’s eyes flew open. “Seth!”
“You’re the one who’s afraid to look. I’m ready.”
“Really? You’re totally ready?”
“Absolutely. You’re the one being weird about it.”
“Then look. And you can tell me. You’ll know before I do.”
“We’re supposed to do it together. Do you really want me to look first?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Well hell, let’s go all out. Call Candace and Brian over here. They can look and tell us.”
She rolled her eyes. “Now you’re being ridiculous.”
“We can call your mom and dad, too. They can all come over, and tell us if you’re pregnant or not.”
“Let’s get serious.”
“I’ve been serious. You’re the one stalling.”
“Okay, Mr. Two-and-a-half. I was ready to look.”
“Then look.”
“Count again.”
“All right. Three .”
She gasped, but at the word, her gaze jerked downward of its own accord. So did his. Like ripping off a Band-Aid. They both stared at the test results, the only sound their breathing.
And then all she could do was turn around and collapse against him, feeling his strong arms tighten around her until the breath was chased from her lungs. Even though Macy closed her eyes, the image she’d just seen danced in front of her eyelids as she felt tears well and spill.
That plus sign had stood ten feet tall in the results window.
She was pregnant.
She was pregnant!
“Are you okay?” he asked, and she heard the slight tremble in his voice. It killed her in the very best way. But how to explain how she felt right now? Like she was 100 percent changed from who and what she’d been thirty seconds ago, and the enormity of it staggered her. Nothing that used to matter before they’d stepped into this room together mattered anymore, except for him and the life he’d put inside her.
But she had time to tell him all those things. “I am. Are you?”
“Baby, I’m fucking fantastic.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Scared?”
“Nah. What’s to be scared about?”
Against his chest, she smiled. Of course he would say that. But she felt how his heart rate had kicked up even more, a strong throb beneath the softness of his T-shirt. His fingers slid through her hair as he held her close.
“Do we tell everyone now, or wait a couple of months?” she asked.
“What’s wrong with it being our little secret for a while?” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, and she nodded.
“I like that.” Their little secret. She relished the thought of sharing knowing glances with him while they were around their loved ones, giddy with excitement at what they had accomplished while everyone else was in the dark. They would have plenty of time to decide the perfect occasion to let everyone know.
But, God, it was going to be hard to keep this secret! Especially from her best friend who would probably ask right out how things were going in their attempts to conceive.
“Candace will figure it out,” Macy said. “There’s literally no way she won’t.”
“You’re probably right. And if she knows, so will Brian, and then so will everyone else at the shop.”
“And we probably shouldn’t tell our friends before we tell our families.”
“So what are you thinking?”
“Let’s give it a couple of weeks. Then we’ll tell them. We probably won’t be able to keep it any longer than that.”
He scoffed. “You won’t make it that long.”
Macy gave an exaggerated gasp and lifted her head to look up at him. “You have no confidence in my secret-keeping abilities, do you?”
Seth’s eyes crinkled in that adorable way when he smiled. “Nada. I know how you are. You’ll blurt it out the first time you see Candace. Admit it.”
Okay, he might have a point. She couldn’t imagine anything harder than seeing her friends or her mother and not letting them in on this amazing, magical news right away. But she would do her best.
There was another thing she couldn’t imagine, either. Standing in this bathroom and discovering these results without Seth by her side, without his arms around her as she learned that their lives were changing forever. He deserved to be a part of this moment, so she would be eternally grateful that things hadn’t worked out the last time she’d been in here stressing over a pregnancy test. Things had a way of falling into place, didn’t they?
Macy smoothed her hand over the back of Seth’s head and marveled, for just a moment, at how far they had come from where they began. And at everything that lay ahead for them, so much that she couldn’t wrap her mind around it all yet. But they had almost nine months to get it all done.
It was going to be so much fun.
“Are you happy?” he asked, trailing his lips over her ear and down to her neck.
“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.” She turned her head to meet him in a kiss. “There’s nowhere else on earth I would rather be than here, right now, with you.”
“Macy, every moment with you has been that way for me. Every fucking moment.” Then his kiss turned hungrier. God, he always managed to start that melting in her chest, that warm glow that spread out until every part of her was heated and trembling for him.
“Guess we’d…better…take advantage of these…spontaneous moments…while we still have them,” she said, only managing to push out the words when he let her come up for air.
Macy felt his smile against her lips, then his tongue danced in for another taste. “We’ll always have them,” he told her. “We’ll make them if we have to.”
“I think making spontaneous moments defeats the purpose of spontaneity.”
“Whatever you want to call it,” he growled, cupping her face with both hands. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
She hadn’t realized tears were streaming until he used both thumbs to wipe them away. “It’s all happening, baby. Everything we wanted.”
We . Macy couldn’t even begin to tell him how much it meant to her that his dreams matched her own. There had been a time when she doubted, at least a little. She couldn’t allow those little insecurities to creep in anymore, not when he showed her every day, with his every breath, with every beat of his heart, how inconsequential they were. How much she meant to him.
“Thank you,” she whispered, stroking the side of his face and staring into his eyes. Normally dark and unfathomable, right now they shone. Seth shook his head and opened his mouth, but she moved her hand to lay a finger against his lips. “You’ve changed a lot for me. I know you’re willing to change even more. But I don’t need it. I love everything about you. Sometimes I worry about things I don’t need to worry about, but you’re the one constant in my life, and I need you just that way. Constant. Exactly as you are. Especially now.”
He smiled, looking a little puzzled. “I know that.”
“Do you really? I don’t tell you enough. We disagreed about the band, and I’m afraid it made you doubt me.”
“So…you’re saying not to trade in my GTO for a minivan just yet, right?”
Macy laughed at the hopefulness in his voice. “Hell no. It all began in that car, right? And you say I already have a mom ride. You keep that car from now on if you want. I never get tired of seeing you in it.”
“And my job? I mean, I have other ideas of things to do, but I’m happy there, and—”
“What would we really do without Dermamania?” It had all begun there as well. The relief in his expression almost pained her. “You do what makes you happy. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
“I have to admit it’s nice to hear you say it,” he said.
“Then I’ll say it more.”
He shook his head and gently pressed his lips to her forehead. “You’re perfect the way you are, love of my life.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were still working toward one of those spontaneous moments.”
“You know me well,” he murmured, beginning to steer her into the bedroom with a wicked grin. Suddenly, he stopped and scooped her up into his arms before continuing toward the bed. “Better idea. I need to carry you around while I still can, right?”
Macy squealed and broke into laughter, but she couldn’t let him get away with that one. “While you still can, huh? Before I get big as a house?” She poked a fingernail into his chest. “Oh, I’m gonna make you pay for that one, Seth Warren.”
“Baby, I’m looking forward to it.”
He had never known he could feel this way.
The idea of a baby had been somewhat abstract. The knowledge of a baby, of evidence that a life was nestled inside his precious wife, that he’d played a role with her in creating it…it was a life-changer. In that fraction of a second when he’d seen the plus sign, all the petty concerns that plagued him on a daily basis had vanished. Gone. They were nothing compared to this amazing news.
A few years ago, the man he’d been would have felt trapped, freaked out. Actually, he’d been there before and knew exactly how he’d felt. The man he was today had never felt more free. All thanks to the woman in his arms, showing him what was important. He tried with every kiss and every caress to show her how grateful he was as he made love to her.
“You don’t have anything to worry about,” he told her after, his hand gently caressing her still-flat belly as they both watched, both dreamed about the future. He couldn’t wait to see her grow with their baby. “This is everything, Macy. I’ll fight like hell to protect you, and this one. I promise. If I’ve ever made you feel unsure, I’m sorry. I’ll do better for you both.”
She put her hand on top of his. “I love you so much.”
“I didn’t have much hope for anything when we first got together, you know. You changed everything for me.”
“Sometimes it scares me to think maybe you’d rather things go back to the way they were back then. You were so different, and I worry that you think you made a mistake getting married to me. That I ask too much.”
He caught her face in his hand, stroking her cheek. “Never think that. I can’t even imagine not having you. I wouldn’t be able to breathe, baby. You’re it for me. If you ever doubt it again, ask me, and I’ll tell you, show you, rent billboards to announce it to the world, I don’t care. Whatever it takes. Because there is no reason for you to ever feel scared of that. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and I can’t wait for this next journey with you.”
Her eyes filled with tears, shining with love. Ordinarily that would undo him, but he knew these were happy tears. “You can really be sweet when you want to be.”
“I’ll even be sweet all the time if you ask me to.”
And there was the devilish grin he knew and loved. “Nah. I also like it when you’re bad.”
He was glad to hear it, because he happened to think they were the perfect mix. Dynamite one minute. Pure tenderness the next, like now. Snuggling her closer, he buried his face in her hair, breathing her in. His very reason for living. He’d never thought he would need nor find another, but with their discovery today, she’d given him that, too.
Maybe he didn’t deserve it, Seth thought as his love, his wife, the mother of his child began to doze in his arms. But he would damn sure take it.
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