Chapter 18: : Chapter 17

“Are you sure you don’t want me to fly out there with you to help get you settled into your new home?” Momma lugs the last of my suitcases to the waiting car while I push the one on wheels. I told her Frank and Dane would take care of it, but my mother has never been one to wait on a man.

A well-kept woman, she may be, but a delicate flower, she is not.

“I’m positive.” Bittersweet tears well in my eyes. “I feel bad enough about leaving Daddy. I need you to stay by his side until you can both come together.”

My father really is doing so much better. He’s regaining his color and his strength, but he’s still having chemo multiple times a week and can’t travel. And while I have talked to the doctors myself and all signs point to him eventually making a full recovery, provided his treatments continue to work as well as they have been, it’s still hard as heck to leave him.

But as my father has pointed out many times over the past few weeks, I’m a married woman now, and my place is with my husband.

And he’s right. With Lyle is absolutely where I belong. It’s where I want to be. I can’t keep letting residual fear from Daddy’s health scare keep me from living life.

I’m already halfway through this pregnancy at nearly twenty weeks, and Lyle deserves to share in this experience. I want him there to feel the first kicks right alongside me and to watch my belly swell.

“Don’t forget this,” my brother says, holding Maui’s carrier away from his body as if the bird could bite through the hard plastic.

“I was coming back inside for that.” I glare at Dane, taking my baby from him. “It’s okay, Maui.” I smooch at his cowered form through the see-through panel. “Don’t be scared.”

Poor little thing is petrified. He’s not made a sound since I put him in there. It’s unlike him to be so quiet, but he also hasn’t ridden in one of these things in nearly eight years, when we first brought him home. So, it makes sense that he’d be unsure about the whole thing.

I set his travel cage on the back seat so I can run back into the house and give my dad a proper goodbye.

“Hey, Sweet Pea.” He rocks forward, lowering the footrest on the recliner where he’s been dozing. “You all set?”

“Think so.” My lip trembles while I try like hell to maintain my composure. I move to lean in and hug him, but he stops me.

“I’m gonna get up and give you and my grandbaby a real send-off.” It takes him a solid minute to peel himself out of that chair. Then he slips his arm through mine, just like he did on my wedding day, a gesture that tugs at my heartstrings. “Off we go.”

He escorts me to the car, where my mom and brother are still waiting to say their goodbyes.

One by one, they wrap me up tight, offering words of encouragement. Telling me how proud they are. And how much they’ll miss me.

“Why does it feel like I’ll never see you guys again?” I ask once I’m situated in the backseat with the window down. My heart feels as if it’s being split in two.

“It’s a new chapter, Sammi-girl.” Momma reaches in to squeeze my hand. “Change is always hard at first, but you’re gonna rock it!”

“You call me any time day or night if my buddy ever needs to be put in his place. I’ll be on the next plane out to whoop his ass into shape.”

“I’ll remember.”

“Ain’t gonna be necessary,” Daddy says, shaking his head. The man has quickly become my husband’s biggest champion. “Never seen a man look at his girl the way that one looks at you.”

“That’s a sweet thing to say.” A smile pulls at the corner of my mouth while the tears I’ve barely held at bay silently trickle down my cheeks.

“Oh, Sweet Pea, we sure are gonna miss you around here.” Daddy opens my door and leans in for another hug. “You’re gonna be just fine. Lyle’s gonna take good care of you and that grandbaby of ours.”

I nod into his shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of his aftershave. “I’ll be back to visit soon.”

“You better,” he says, before stepping back and gently closing the car door. “Go spread those wings.”

“Okay,” I say, smiling out at my family as I swat away the wetness from my cheeks. “Guess we should get going so I don’t miss my flight.”

“See you soon.” There’s a crack in Momma’s voice that brings forth another wave of emotion from me.

I hang my head out the window when the car starts rolling, waving like a lunatic until we round the corner and they disappear from view.

“Don’t you even think about opening that door,” Lyle threatens from the car, where he’s retrieving my bags. He wouldn’t let me carry more than my purse and the bird, and I only got the bird because I think Lyle’s a little scared of my precious baby.

My pulse picks up speed as I twist the key in the lock and push it open, taunting him to spring into action—and it works.

My luggage clatters to the ground as he takes off at a sprint to join me at the entrance to our new home.

He’s breathing hard and smiling even harder. “On this twenty-ninth day of October,” he announces like a total nut, as he scoops me into his arms and makes great ceremony of carrying me over the threshold, “we begin the process of christening every room of our marital home.”

“That’s a lot of rooms.” I giggle as he sets me back to my feet, not at all opposed to the idea. My hunger for this man is insatiable.

“If you lose the bird we can start right here in the foyer.” He puts a hand behind his head and begins to thrust his hips in circles, making his semi quite noticeable as it flops around in those strategically planned gray sweats he’s rocking—

.

“As tempting as that sounds, I really need to get him in his cage with food and water. He’s getting depressed from being confined for so long.”

“Fine.” He scowls at Maui playfully. “Let’s go get your little precious situated.”

I follow him to our bedroom, where I’m met with the most unexpected surprise. “This…this is the bed from my Pinterest board!”

He grins. “It is. And that’s the vanity and those are the lamps…”

“How did you do all of this so fast while recording?” I was honestly expecting to spend the first few nights sleeping on a blow-up mattress while shopping for furniture.

“Didn’t take much. All I did was hire an interior designer and tell her to find everything she could from your boards and the closest matches to those she couldn’t.”

“This is incredible!” It’s the exact natural wood bedframe with tufted cream head and footboards I had envisioned. The bedding and pillows are varying shades of creams and whites with light blue and yellow accents. She found everything, down to the bright yellow peonies in a vase resting on the glass-topped bedside tables trimmed in muted gold.

“If there’s anything you want changed, please tell me. I want it to be everything you dreamed.”

“Oh, Lyle.” My eyes start to sting from the influx of emotion. “It’s already so much more.”

Pregnancy is wild. My moods range from hormonal to horny. There’s not much in between. I’m either weeping from my eyes or leaking from my lady bits.

“I had her match Maui’s things as best she could to keep with the ambiance.” He swirls a finger in the air, making him look like a total snob.

I spit out a laugh. “I’m sorry. You just sound so funny using such fancy terms.”

He shakes his head in mock disappointment, pointing me in the direction of said setup that blends so well, in fact, I didn’t even notice the ornate gold cage sitting right there in the corner.

“Maui, look!” I open his carrier and coerce him onto my finger. “You got a new mansion too.” I set him on the perch up top where there’s already water and his favorite food blend waiting.

He instantly perks up, running back and forth along the pole, scoping the place out.

“I think he likes it!”

“I’m glad.” He grips my chin in that delicious way he’s made a habit of doing and kisses me breathless.

I’m literally gasping when he backs away.

“Now open that door.” He points to what will be baby bean’s nursery.

“What did you do?” I ask, my skin prickling with excitement as I walk over and twist the knob.

“Hopefully something that won’t have me sleeping in the pool house on our first night in our new home.”

“That sounds promising…” I give the door a little push, revealing another surprise that instantly has the waterworks flowing. “What? H—How? Lyle…this is perfect!”

“I know we don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy yet, although I have a strong feeling one way.” He briefly sticks out his tongue. “But you wanted the same furniture either way, right? So, I told her to go for it and figured you could personalize it once we know.”

I can hardly catch my breath to speak as I cross the room, running a hand along the wood rail to my dream crib. I clasp a hand to my mouth. Speechless. Utterly speechless.

“I—is this okay?” he asks, no doubt getting nervous at the sight of his pregnant wife sobbing.

I nod. “It’s perfect,” I choke out, making my way over to the plush cream rocker situated near the window. “You even got the light fixture,” I notice when I take a seat, cupping my bump, and rocking baby bean for the very first time.

It’s a huge globe made of wicker, similar in color to the rest of the wood in the room. I wanted a nice, neutral pallet. A soothing environment for our baby, regardless of the gender. And did he ever deliver.

“Can’t take too much credit,” he says, beaming. “It was all Angelica.”

“So, you’re telling me all I have to do is make Pinterest boards for the rest of the rooms, and it’s just going to happen?”

His broad shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. “Pretty much.”

“Wow,” I say, rising from my seat. “And they say money can’t buy happiness.”

He barks out a laugh. “You’re a mess.” He reaches for my arm, pulling me flush to his chest.

I crane my neck, looking up at my prince. “I’m your mess.”

“Damn right you are.”

“Was your heart set on starting in the foyer?” I ask, nibbling my lower lip.

I feel his cock thicken against my belly at what he must know I’m suggesting. “You had some place else in mind?”

I rub my bare foot along the fluffy rug. “I was thinking we could start right here…”