AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know you can bring him by whenever,” she said.
That involuntary reaction came swift, and I had to swallow down the insults that threatened to erupt. “Rachel, you and I both know that isn’t happening.” I faced her. “Be happy that I’m even here.” I adjusted the strap of the baby bag and glanced back at the party.
Phoebe ran up to us and hugged her mother’s legs.
Rachel picked her daughter up and held her on her hip. “Well, I’m glad you could make it,” she said, and then she walked away.
I wanted to go after her and apologize, but it only took remembering the look on her face when she told me Dexter proposed to keep me rooted to the ground. I remained there long after Rachel reassumed her hostess role.
I stood outside of interaction, watching the mothers and their children. There were cries and laughter, and the air was filled with the scent of dessert. Kids ran past me, some fell, and I was overwhelmed by the chaos of it all. Eventually my eyes found Dexter, who’d been watching me.
I wondered what he was thinking. Was he happy not to be saddled with the outcast? I sent him a weak smile and he waved me over. I shook my head, still smiling.
He picked Dylan up and made his way over to me. Then, he took my hand and led me toward the rest of the party.
It reminded me of what he’d done to teenage Noa. What he’d done to Blue.
He’d brought me to life. He made meexperiencewith him. He wasn’t afraid of what people thought. He was determined to have me live—beside him.
I sat on the ground beside Dylan and Dexter, and I was filled with the oddest sensation of belonging. Dexter went and got a cupcake, and I grinned as I fed Dylan some of the frosting.
“He can only have a little,” I told Dexter, who mock saluted me. I elbowed him with a laugh, and though Dylan cried when I shoved the cupcake in my mouth, he settled down when Dexter showed him the toys strewn across the floor.
We were playing with Dylan when I looked up and saw Rachel watching us.
I had to stamp down the way I almost pitied her. The look in her eyes, the sadness that lurked behind them.
It was those emotions that led her to lie to me. So, I turned away and continued to play with my family—even if Dexter wasn’t reallymine.
Noa
“Call Dexter,”I yelled as I gritted my teeth in pain. “He needs to be here.”
I ignored the surprise in Miranda’s eyes as she grabbed my phone from my purse and dialed his number. The pain of the contraction ebbed as I heard the phone ring and reached out my hand. Miranda pressed the phone to my ear and when I heard his voice, I blinked back tears.
“Dexter? It’s me,” I said, feeling stupid.
What else could I say?
Could I apologize for not finding him and telling him?
For not keeping him in the loop once he knew?
It was too late for that.
When he started saying all the things that made my heart break all over again, another contraction started in and I interrupted him, the pain reminding me of the matter at hand. “There’s no time. The baby is coming.”
I sat back in pain, bracing myself as Miranda took the phone that slipped to the leather seat of her usual car. They exchanged words I couldn’t focus on as I tried to remember to breathe. She told me he was on his way as she rubbed my back.
The next hour went by slowly, only the contractions signaling the passing of time. My baby would be here soon.
The baby I made with Dexter, I thought as he walked in.
I never thought, throughout the months as my pregnancy progressed, that I’d be giving birth to my baby with Dexter holding my hand. As impossible as it seemed, I felt like I was falling in love with him all over again. Maybe it was the way he took hold of the situation and calmed my nerves. Or maybe the way he offered me baby names like he was just as in love with the idea of our baby as I was.
I was looking right into his blue irises when he said, “Dylan.”
Yes.
