AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Colby stuck to her like glue for the first couple of days after she came home. I was anxious to tell him what was going on, but Billie was the voice of reason and had reminded me we’d had a shaky start with her catching a stomach bug.
Eventually I saw her point of view and we knew she’d be around the twelve week mark close to Thanksgiving, and as Colby had been due to spend the holiday with us this time, we decided it would be the perfect time to share our awesome news with the family.
During the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, another week away had been scheduled after receiving a call from a promoter I knew. We’d had an idea more gigs may happen after I’d contacted him, letting him know about our West Coast tour dates, asking him if there were any venues free for a few more dates once we flew back east.
Subsequently, he’d put together several more good paying gigs and I figured those would have helped to keep Strings happy. For me, the timing couldn’t have been worse, but I knew there was no way I could renege on the arrangement after he’d stuck his neck out for us.
The last thing I had wanted was to leave Billie again. If I was honest, I’d admit these gigs had been the furthest thing from my mind, but when they were offered, the guys were desperate to earn some extra money. We had nothing planned until RedA’s tour in February.
Writing down the dates, I was pleased there were only four and all in the same week. Mentally I calculated Billie would be week ten with the twins.
“Remember, I told you there was a possibility of tour dates in November?” I asked, Billie, as she was making up Colby’s bed. Billie’s head snapped up, her eyes narrowed and her shoulders immediately steeled.
Without answering me she began waving the sheet and straightening it out like she had nothing to say.
“Shouldn’t he be doing that for himself by now?” I asked, earning me a glare from Billie and a good degree of huffing as she straightened out his comforter. Frustration rolled off her shoulders when she stood up straight, and then she did exactly what my mom did to my dad when he pissed her off; slid past me without saying a word.
Damn.I’d heard jokes about hormonal pregnant women in the past but figured they were sexist views, but my sweet quiet woman had turned into a bear overnight.
My comment wasn’t a negative one, I knew moms liked to keep their kids little for as long as they could, however, with two newbies on the horizon I figured Colby had deserved a little more independence than she had been giving.
Seeking her out, I found Billie in the bathroom, the cleaning cart, mop, and bucket in her hand and I reached down and took it away from her. “We have someone who does this for us, remember?” I asked, as we had a housekeeper who came in for three hours every other morning.
“This isn’t her day,” she snapped, as she reached for the cleaning cart and I pulled it farther back. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, with concern. Placing the cart full of cleaning fluids down, I held her by her forearms and dipped my head to see her. When she continued to look at the floor, I swept my forefinger under her chin and lifted her face to look at her.
Tears welled in her eyes, and as soon as hers met mine she shook her head and tried to pull away from me. “Hey,” I said gently, “come on, darlin’, what’s going on? You’re upset because I have to do this tour?” Pursing her lips tight, she shook her head again, and averted her sad blue eyes. My heart cracked and my stomach suddenly felt like I’d swallowed a lead weight. “Talk to me.”
“What do you want me to say? We’ve had you home a short time and you’re preparing to leave again. And no, it’s not the gigs, it’s the timing,” she added, clarifying her position. “I spent most of this past week in the hospital.”
“I know and I’m sorry. But it’s only for a week, and then I’m here all the way up to February. If you’re concerned, we’ll take Colby out of school and I’ll take you both with me.”
“Oh, grow up, I’m not taking Colby anywhere near that junkie friend of yours, Wiggy.”
“Wow, Billie,” I replied, and shook my head. “Tell me what to do? You want me to blow the promoter off? I can certainly do that, but I’ll leave it up to you to explain to Hammer and Strings why they’ll be short of money over the winter.”
“I’m just angry that we can’t seem to get into a routine since you’ve been back. Having these dates hanging over us means I’ve not been able to plan.”
“Plan what?” I chuckled, because she sounded irrational. Meeting my gaze she stood for a long minute staring at me like I’d grown a horn, then burst into tears. “Jesus, what’s going on? Why are you so pissed? It’s not like you to take something and blow it out of proportion.”
“So it’s okay for you to do what you want, and I’m supposed to stay here and turn into a whale with your babies inside of me?” I blinked, stunned by her comment. It had been the first time she’d used what I did against me. I hadn’t wanted to go any more than she wanted me to, but I hadn’t chosen the timing of our situation.
“Is this you genuinely going off on me about this or your hormones fighting with me right now? If it’s you, then we can talk calmly about it, but if reasoning is against me then you’ll excuse me while I go lock myself in a padded room.” When she pouted then burst into tears I felt like shit.
“Come here,” I told her, and without waiting for her to reject me, I grabbed her by her wrist until she was close enough for me to wrap my arms around her waist. “Billie, this isn’t like you, if you really don’t want me to go then I’ll fix it. Say the word and I’m staying.”
“No,” she mumbled and sniffed. “I’m the one who is sorry, that was a petulant reaction and I have no idea where it came from. Of course, I want you here, but I know what you do involves you having to travel. I hate these mood swings, they take over sometimes and I feel powerless to stop these raging outbursts. I did it with Colby yesterday too and the poor boy only wanted extra cereal.”
Poor Colby, I’d obviously missed that and he must have felt confused by Billie’s outburst because he hadn’t been told about the babies.
“Look, it’s four gigs, six days and I’ll be home on day seven. I’ll speak to James and ask him to pick up Colby from school on the days you are working. His schedule is pretty fluid working for Dad. It’ll make him feel useful, please you that I’m spreading the brotherly love, and keep my band happy. The only person in all of this who won’t be happy is me.” My eyes softened when she looked up at me with those big blue eyes of her and gave me a watery smile.
“It’s really better between you and James?”
“I guess,” I replied. It sounded a little flat but without the usual hostility or clipped tone I’d used previously when she mentioned him.
“You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear this. When I was pregnant with Colby, I’d have given anything to have a sibling to share my experience with.”
“Yeah, but he won’t relate. He doesn’t have kids of his own,” I said, then cringed when I remembered what Charlotte had done.
“It’s not like he doesn’t want them,” Billie advised, and I wondered how she knew, then remembered they’d had dinner together while I was away.
“Feel a little better about the tour?” I asked.
“Yeah, sorry, I guess I just wobbled for a minute. I’m allowed to do that, right? I mean, hormone-wise.” I chuckled and kissed her head through her hair.
“Darlin’, you have every right to feel vulnerable right now, but having babies is a natural process for women. Given you’re carrying two, I had a sneaky suspicion there’d be fireworks. Besides, you look so fucking hot when you’re pouty or all fired up. Have at it, I can take it, just don’t mark my face…me being a handsome rock star an’ all,” I said, mimicking the accent of a wild Southern boy.
When she scuffed my chin playfully with her knuckles, I knew we were past another hump in our journey, but still hadn’t felt happy about leaving her before we knew her pregnancy was safely past the first phase.
