Six Months Later
“I love my bed,” I say to Hudson, hands on my hips.
“And I love my bed.”
We’re deciding what to merge and what to purge. We agreed to live in my house. Adley made the decision, which was good because I didn’t want to move. My place is a little bigger than Hudson’s, so it made sense.
The day after Hudson proposed for the second time, we picked up Adley and told her that Mommy and Daddy were going to be a couple and were going to get married. She didn’t understand it all, but she loved being the flower girl at our wedding last month.
“Flip for it?” I say, grabbing the quarter we’ve already used to decide which kitchen table and which couch to keep.
“Whatever, you can have your bed.” He waves me off.
I drop the sandwiches for lunch on the table and wiggle between him and the table, straddling him. His hands mold to my hips, and I want to grind, but our daughter is in the other room. “You secretly love my bed.”
“Babe, I love any bed you’re in.”
“You and your sweet answers.” I playfully roll my eyes.
“You can have your bed, but I want to bring my chair.”
“Ugh, I hate that chair.” Not really, but I have to make it appear I’m sacrificing something.
Adley runs in and stops, then groans.
“Come here.” Hudson holds out his arm, and Adley runs to his side, where both of us hug her. “My girls.”
There’s nothing better than hearing those words.
“Let’s eat.” I move off Hudson’s lap, and Adley climbs right up into her chair.
“I have a boyfriend,” Adley says after we’ve started eating.
Hudson chokes on his sandwich.
Who? I try to hold back my smile.
“Holden.” She gives us a proud smile.
Well, that’s a very grown-up thing. I’m not sure you’re old enough.
“No boyfriends until you’re twenty,” Hudson chimes in.
“He asked me, and I said yes. You said yes to Daddy.” She bites her sandwich, looking at us as if confused why we don’t get it. “Can he come over for a playdate?”
“No,” Hudson answers, shaking his head.
Sure, I’ll talk to his mom.
The doorbell rings, and I catch sight of a delivery guy walking away from the door. I get up and open the door and find a small box on the porch. It’s a special copy of the book I was writing at the cabin—the one where I altered the ending a bit since it was too close to publication to do with my publisher’s copy. Hudson and I will only ever see this copy I had specially printed for us. I pick up the box and bring it over to the table.
“What’s that, Mommy?” Adley asks.
My new book. I tear open the box and take out a copy to show her.
“It’s your mommy and daddy’s love story,” Hudson says, taking the book from my hands and thumbing through it.
Adley’s nose scrunches up. “Why would someone read that?”
Because we’re two people who went through a lot before we figured out what everyone else already knew. I smile at her.
“I knew.” Hudson winks at Adley, and she giggles. “Mommy was the one in the dark.”
She giggles louder, and I roll with it because I love us, our family.
The back door opens, and Harper comes rushing through, short of breath, continuing on to the powder room.
“What are you doing?” Adley laughs.
I look at Hudson, and we share an expression of what the hell is going on.
The toilet flushes and the faucet runs before Harper comes out.
“Nice of you to stop by,” I say.
“It was an emergency. I gotta talk to you.”
“Okay, want to have a sandwich first?” I ask.
Her hands fidget in front of her. “Yeah, I should probably eat.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Hudson asks her, but Harper sits down, ignores him, and starts in on her sandwich.
Adley slides down from the table.
“Where are you going?” I ask her.
“Bathroom.”
“Oh wait.” Harper shifts to slide out of the chair.
Adley sees it as a challenge and runs into the bathroom, slamming the door.
Harper’s hands land on the closed door. “Adley.” She fiddles with the handle, but it’s locked.
“Relax, she’ll be out in a second. Is your stomach upset? Do you have the flu? Because I just sanitized everything after we all had that nasty cold.”
Harper isn’t listening to me. She keeps trying the doorknob, saying Adley’s name over and over. The door opens, and I’m happy the commotion is over.
“What’s this?” Adley comes out with a pregnancy test in her hand.
Harper snatches it away.
Hudson spits his water all over the table with a look of fear. Not a great sign for what I was planning on telling him tonight.
I stand from the table, my mouth hanging open, thinking back to when Harper was here a couple of days ago.
Harper looks at the test, then at Hudson. “You!” She points right at him.
My stomach coils, and Hudson’s face goes pale, his eyes turning to me. “Is that yours?”
I shake my head. I’m not exactly lying but toeing a line.
“Your friend did this to me,” Harper says.
Then I put it all together. The wedding, our wedding.
You slept with the best man? I’d seen them eye-fucking each other a few times, but she never told me she slept with him. I wonder why.
She grunts. “It’s false, it has to be. I’m going to buy more.” She walks out of the house before we can say anything.
Adley stands there frozen. “Can I have one of these?”
“No!” Hudson shouts and puts his head down, massaging his temples.
Later that night, after Adley goes to bed, I sit next to Hudson on the couch and hand him my new book, opened to the epilogue.
“What’s this?” he asks.
“Read the epilogue. Out loud.”
He narrows his eyes but takes the book from me.
Bea and Pete got married in a small ceremony for only their family members. Which didn’t end up being that small because there were a lot of family members.
Their honeymoon was amazing, but they came back with a souvenir. Bea worried about telling Pete. They were just starting their life together, and this would bring a new challenge for both of them.
She bit the bullet and sat him down one night after their daughter was asleep, took his hand, and placed it over her stomach, unable to speak the words. She saw Pete’s mind working, trying to figure out what was going on until it clicked, and he linked his fingers with hers.
“Really?” he asked.
She nibbled the inside of her cheek and nodded.
A warm, happy smile creased his lips, and he took her in his arms, kissing her. When they closed the kiss, he rested his forehead on hers. “Another baby?”
She nodded again. “Yeah.”
He hugged her so tightly she wondered why she had been so worried about telling him in the first place.
Hudson closes the book and raises his eyes to mine, silently asking.
I nod.
He throws the book in the air and grabs me, hoisting me up off the couch and spinning me around. “We’re having a baby!”
As I laugh, I’m not sure why I was worried. Hudson is always ready for things before me. If he had waited in the first place, we might not have gotten here, and that would have been the most tragic love story ever.
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Be sure to check out the first book in our new small town series, Plain Daisy Ranch,
Retired football star, Ben Noughton returns to his small ranching town, and the woman he left behind fourteen years ago, who wants nothing to do with him.
Interested in Palmers' parents' love story, also set in Lake Starlight? Be sure to check out Rules for Dating Your Ex a second chance, small town, redemption story!
