Work would have to wait, I’d soak in this moment before I faced my new reality. I’m just glad that my stomach had settled for now, Liam was not old enough to babysit Wrigley yet.
Ibarely got through the morning emails when Taryn came bursting in. She plopped Gem onto the mat with her brother, the two babbling back and forth as if they’d reunited after a long time.
Dani was right behind her, carefully taking Wrigley from me.
“Griff is here for him,” Dani explained in a hushed whisper, placing a soft kiss on his tiny head.
“And Ash is on his way for the twins,” Taryn added. “He only had one job this morning and finished it. Now you have no choice, so tell us what the hell is going on.”
“We’re going right into it, I guess,” I joked, though it held no humor. It felt like I was forever falling apart these days.
Neither one of my friends were going to let me get away with it that easily. They knew me far too well.
“Out with it,” Dani demanded. “You’re avoiding.”
I’d barely opened my mouth when Griff walked in, giving us all a quick, but gruff, greeting before taking Wrigley from Dani, his voice softening only for her. Once he’d walked out, my besties turned back to me.
Then it was Ash interrupting.
By the time the twins were gone as well, I had no choice but to lay it all out for my best friends.
“I woke up this morning, and my stomach was a wreck,” I started, trailing off as I fought to find the right words.
“Since you were just around our children, I’m assuming it went away,” Taryn said, giving me a side-eye, but it was playful. She knew me better than that.
“Obviously,” I rolled my eyes.
“Which means,” Dani concluded, “the nausea was something else. Something Taryn and I both are quite familiar with.”
They were right about that. I’d lived through both of their bouts of morning sickness. The thought of it made my stomach hurt now, but I quickly swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.
“I think I’m pregnant,” I blurted out.
Both of them gasped, despite the fact that they’d already figured it out.
“From the heat,” Taryn said, shaking her head. “Girl, and you haven’t talked to them in a month.”
“Something you’re going to have to rectify now,” Dani pointed out. Leave it to my best friend to put all my cards on the table and make me face them. “You have to tell them.”
“I have to go talk to them first,” I said. “I don’t want to just walk in and be like, ‘Hey, guess what, you got me pregnant. Sorry I’ve been avoiding you.’”
“That’s exactly what you say,” Taryn said. “They’re good guys, Bea. They’ll understand. Phoenix was not exactly an expected addition to your life.”
“A welcome one,” Dani tacked on, “but still unexpected.”
I ran a hand over my face. “I know,” I groaned. “Don’t you think I should see a doctor first to confirm it?”
Taryn rolled her eyes at me. “Girl, you know damn well that you’re pregnant. And why wouldn’t you want to just tell them?Let them go to the doctor with you. Having them there is so much better than doing it alone.”
Dani sat down gently next to me, and I hated that look on her face. The one that said she was concerned, but also being careful with me.
“Do you want them in your life?”
“Yes,” the word fell from my lips before I could stop it, and I realized I meant it.
Maybe it was the fact that I had Phoenix now that had me wanting to give her a stable life and a support group. But, it wasn’tjustthat. The moment I met those men, I felt safe around them. I was just too busy getting in my own way.
I had to take time to work past my own shit with Cameron, and honestly, everything that happened since then.
