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Book Baby
Charlotte
“Congratulations on your new book baby!” My sister-in-law, Violet squealed as she tugged me into her arms for a hug. “I’m so happy you’re here. I’m so happy you’re back with Cade and that the two of you are doing so well. It’s been a whole year, Charli! New book, new marriage, new life!GAH!This book club is going to be epic. So much happiness!”
Little did she know…
My latest Adaline Paige mystery,My One and Only, had just hit e-readers and bookshelves today and I was honoring the occasion with a release party at Violet’s coffee shop. Since I’d moved back to town and remarried her brother, I had a standing invitation to take over her weekly book club whenever I wanted, and tonight was my night to celebrate.
As usual, she’d gone all out with fancy snacks and drinks. Her shop was decorated with candles and streamers, and my books were distributed in piles across the various tables around the shop for people to buy and have me sign. It was set up to be a great evening.
My bestie, Gwen, passed me one of Vi’s signature martinis and held her glass up for a “Cheers!” but I only touched the glass to my mouth with a smile. Not one drop of alcohol would pass these lips, not after the news I got this morning.
“I’ll grab some snacks. Save us a spot on the sofa,” she called over her shoulder as she headed for the buffet table in the corner.
Elizabeth, my Sweetbriar Stop-and-Go confidant and Gwen’s sister, not to mention my biggest reader-fan-supporter in town, shot me a wink. She’d been the one to ring up the ten different varieties of pregnancy tests I had panic tossed across the counter at her along with a plethora of snacks and candy earlier today. In fact, she’d been the one to suggest the huge bottle of water I would require in order to produce enough pee to take all the tests. Elizabeth had always been a helper.
Those ten minutes in the Stop-and-Go restroom had been the most highly charged of my life. Waiting for all the lines to turn pink or blue, the tiny little plus signs to form, and the word “pregnant” to cover the little gray screens had been an experience I would never forget as long as I lived. I’d ran out of the store with my plastic bag full of positive tests like I was escaping from a crime scene while Elizabeth had stood, incredulous, behind the counter as I left her there with no explanation.
I couldn’t tell her first, even though I knew she had to know the tests were positive based on my mad dash out her door. Cade had to be the first one I spoke the words out loud to.
“I’m pregnant”,had been on repeat in my brain on a loop ever since this morning. I’d spent forever getting ready for tonight, twisting side to side in my full-length mirror searching for any physical sign that it was real, but of course, it was way too early for that.
“Oooh! Busted! You’re not drinking tonight,” she whispered. “Tell me I’m the first to know.” She swiped the martini glass out of my hand, surreptitiously chugged the contents, and replaced it all in the span of approximately thirty seconds. “I got you. Your secret is safe with me.”
“Thanks.” I grinned at her. “And yes, you’re technically the first. I’m telling Cade tonight when he gets home. He’s been crazy busy at work all day. This is the kind of news one needs to deliver in person, you know?” Cade was the chief of the Sweetbriar police department. He spent his days keeping the town safe and his nights making me the happiest woman in the world.
“Oh, totally.” She mimed zipping her lips. “I will not say a single word. I swear.”
“You’re good people, Elizabeth. I appreciate you.”
“You would not believe the secrets I have stored up in this brain of mine. People buy very telling combinations of random shit in a convenience store. Like a stack of pregnancy tests and a flight of Hot Pockets, for example…”
I let out a laugh. “I can only imagine.”
“Speaking of that—imagining—how about you imagine a guest spot for me in your next book?” Her eyes twinkled into mine. “Can I help solve the murder? Or even better! Kill me off.”
“You got it. Maybe some Stop-and-Go carnage? A murder in the chip aisle, or death by a poisoned Hot Pocket, perhaps?”
“I love all of that. I’ll adore anything you write. I just want to be immortalized in one of your stories.” We locked eyes. “I’ve decided. Kill me, Charli. Make it gory—”
We turned when Violet clinked a fork against her glass to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s raise our glasses and toast to our own Keli Marlowe’s latest book.”
The room broke out in cheers and congratulations, and as usual, I turned bright red with embarrassment. I lifted my empty glass and tossed a grin to Elizabeth.
“Congratulations, Charli,” she murmured. “I’m thrilled for you. For the book baby and the baby baby.”
“My next story will be extra gory. Just for you.”
Soon enough, Gwen, my sisters-in-law, and all my Sweetbriar friends surrounded me, and I signed books, and I gave hugs as we chatted about stories and life. I could not be happier to finally be back home, where I belonged.
I was so lucky to have been able to create the life I’d always dreamed of and even luckier that I got to reclaim the one I had to leave behind to do it.
I couldn’t wait to tell Cade he was going to be a father.
Dreams really could come true if you believed in yourself.
Baby, Baby
