Page 107 of Finding Fate
It takes him a minute to get it open, but shortly after, the paper tears and he pulls out the card. I hand him the quarter I already had ready to scratch the gold heart on the front of the card like a scratch off ticket. Above the heart is says ‘guess what’ and below it says, ‘scratch me’. I do the very top corner to show him how to do it. “Now you do it.”
I glance at Maddox and we both watch him. He sticks his tongue out the side of his mouth as he concentrates. I rub my fingers through the front of his dirty-blond hair. “It’s words,” he says.
“Will you read it to me like you’ve been doing at night?” My grandmother had been teaching him to read for a while, so I’ve kept up his daily reading.
“Okay.” He looks at the front of the card. “Y-you’re go-ing to be a big b-br-broth-er. Brother.” I get nervous when he doesn’t look up. He just stares at the front. Maybe it was too soon. Maybe we haven’t spent enough time with just him.”
“Madden, do you know what it means?” Maddox asks. My heart stalls and I feel panicky.
He still doesn’t respond. He’s staring down, not moving. I look at Maddox, my eyes filling with tears. “Madden?”
He finally looks up at me. “I was praying, Mom. You’re not supposed to talk when I’m praying. You’re supposed to say thank you when your prayer gets answered, so I did.”
My lip quivers. “What? You prayed to be a brother?”
He nods. “I been praying for a brother or sister for a long time. My friends at my old school had brothers and sisters.”
The tear falls. I grab him up and hug him tight, then kiss his temple. “Next summer you’ll be a big brother, sweet boy. Mommy is having a baby. Open the card.” I pull back some but keep my arm around him. He grabs the edge and opens it, the ultrasound photo from our appointment yesterday taped inside. I point to the tiny peanut-looking baby in the middle of the sac. “See this? This is the baby. It’s in Mommy’s tummy. We got to see its heart beating on the screen. Every month it will grow. Then next July will be its birthday.”
He looks at me. “Will I have a brother or a sister?”
“We don’t know yet. It’s still too little to tell. I think we will get to find out in February.”
“Okay.” He looks at Maddox and hugs him. “You don’t gotta get me a Christmas present, Daddy. This is all I want.”
Maddox’s eyes gloss over and his jaw clenches tight. What started as an accident turned into an answered prayer. The guilt over being upset in the beginning eats at me. He wraps his arms around him and squeezes him tight. “Of course you’re getting presents, buddy. We just wanted to give you this one early.”
“Gigi!” he yells seconds later, the moment gone. I look up to her standing at the bottom of the porch steps in her jacket, waving at us with a smile on her face.
Maddox opens his door and helps Madden out. “Go ahead, buddy. We’re right behind you.”
He takes off without a second’s lapse. I can tell Maddox is emotional and trying to get himself together. “I wasn’t expecting that reaction.”
He stares at me for a few seconds. “I’m telling you now, if that’s all he wants in life, get ready to beThe Brady Bunch, because you’re going to stay knocked up.”
I smile. “I guess it’s a good thing I’m Greek then. Big families are expected.” He just sits there staring at me, clearly still emotional. “Too soon for Greek jokes?”
His smile finally breaks. “I was just sitting here thinking of how everything comes together so perfectly, as if it was always going to work out.”
I nod my head. “Probably was. At some point I was going to be done waiting on your ass to come looking for me and go hunting. Only so many girls were getting freebies with my man before the guns were coming out.”
He huffs, making me smile. He hates when I bring up the girls he’s been with, which makes it more fun. Most guys wouldn’t feel bad about it. He does. And that’s why I’m able to let it go and joke about it now.
We’re slowly on the right track to fixing everything that went wrong. We got our prom dance at Riggan and Sayler’s wedding reception that was designed to be like a winter wonderland ball with ice sculptures and white twinkle lights and real swans for viewing in a massive fountain that was closed off so they couldn’t get out or people in. Right then I decided winter weddings are my favorite. Pictures came with it from the wedding photographer. I thought it was odd that for a few moments he took several pictures of us attheirwedding, but the second I saw Sayler smile at Maddox, I knew they had worked that out, and I loved her more for it that she was so selfless on a day that should be all about her.
It was everything I thought it’d be and more.
I’d never seen a very pregnant bride, or gotten an upfront view to something so beautiful, but she was stunning in her long sleeve off-white dress with the entire chest, upper back, and sleeves made of a lace design. The bottom started just below her boobs and cascaded to the floor over her belly like a waterfall. It was slimming. It was elegant. It was beautiful. I even saw Riggan—someone so masculine with all of his tattoos—cry a little when she walked down the aisle.
“I don’t know if it’s funnier that you aren’t joking or that you are,” he says, pulling me out of the memory. “You with a gun would be dangerous.”
I smile. “As long as you know that I’d do anything to keep you mine. A girl steps onto my property I have every right to pull the trigger. It’s a law.”
He grins at me. “I’m pretty sure by property they’re referring to real estate.”
“Eh, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. I’ll just plead insanity after the fact. Everyone else does it.” The bulge sitting fat and happy on his groin catches my eye. I glance down, my lips spreading. My eyes meet his. “You like my crazy. Most men would run.”
I love the heat in his stare. “Most men aren’t me, baby. Your possessiveness has always been a turn-on for me. I have a confession.”