I look at Ava and she rolls her eyes. “I’m the one who brought you the test. When you didn’t send a negative test with an ‘I told you so’ I already knew.”
“This feels really anticlimactic for how nervous I just was.”
“We don’t care that you’re pregnant; we do want to know who the baby daddy is though. That’s the hot gossip. Ava said you didn’t sleep with bar man.”
Ava gasps, cutting off Willow. This is how most of our conversations go when we are all together; no one really gets a whole thought out, we just keep layering new pieces until we forget what the original topic is. “So what is going to happen with him now that you're pregnant?”
“I did not sleep with him; that wasn’t a lie. I texted him yesterday and told him that I had to cancel our date, and that I am no longer looking for a relationship.” I consider stopping at that, but with the way Ava’s looking at me, completely engaged and invested, I finish out what actually happened.
“He pushed, and thought we had great chemistry, which we did. I tried to gently let him down, but when he kept pushing, I told him I was having a baby, and as a shock to no one, ithas been crickets since.” I look between the two of my very best friends to see if I have satiated their need for information.
“So, he’s not the dad, then who is?” Willow asks.
They are, in fact, not satiated. There is only one option for who my baby daddy is. “Take a wild guess.”
“Rhett,” Maverick pipes in.
“I thought you needed to get some sleep before the big hurrah,” Ava says, using her fingers as quotation marks.
“Trying to sleep in a room with you three discussing such riveting topics is pointless. Plus, it got interesting with the whole bar guy thing.” He sits up, stretching his hands over his head.
“Two points to Mav for pointing out the obvious,” I say as I clap for Mav’s victory over the great mystery.
Ava laughs at the interaction before looking back to me. “Did you tell him yet?” she asks.
I nod.
Willow does a rolling motion with her hands. “And…how did he take it?”
“Better than I did. I had a panic attack and cried so hard I almost threw up.” Now that Mav is awake, I walk over to the couch to sit.
“I know this is really scary, but how great is it that we get to raise our babies together?” She does an excited wiggle while clapping her hands.
To be truthful, that is going to be the best part. Getting to raise the next generation of our family together. “I’m already terrified for their teenage years.”
My brother and the boys were so damn rowdy together. It makes my heart happy that my child will get to have that same childhood.
“Also, I haven’t told my mom and dad yet, so try and keep a secret better than my brother did, will ya? And Weston doesn’tknow it’s Rhett, so add that to the vault for now,” I demand, looking around the room.
Mav does a zipper motion and throws away the key. I’ll have to trust them to keep it between us until I get the courage to tell them myself.
Ava looks to Willow. “Got any hot gossip that can top that?”
“No, and babies aren’t on our agenda til next year to answer your follow-up question,” Willow says, sitting on the end of the hospital bed.
There’s a knock at the door before the nurse walks in. “Hey guys, I just need to check her.”
“We will be right outside,” I say, getting up and walking to her bed. I give her hand a quick squeeze. “Thanks for letting us be here.”
“Thanks for giving her a cousin,” she whispers, just for the two of us to hear.
Willow and I leave the room and make our way to the cafeteria. It’s going to be a long night and we need to fuel up on snacks.
At five thirty-two AM, Maverick and Ava’s life changed forever. Really, all of ours did. This is my first niece. In the last couple of weeks, I've had a lot of promotions. First mom, and now aunt.
Gracie Jo made her appearance at six pounds and seven ounces of cuteness. And an exact replica of Ava. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with babies, but that pretty girl got every good piece of her mom.
Weston made his way in before his day started; Rhett, Mabel, and Jack weren’t far behind him.
