Second Chance Vow

“Twenty-nine is not that young, and I swear this kid is all Julian. Stubborn, demanding, doesn’t ever listen to me.”

“Sounds like your brother.”

She lovingly smiled. “How are you holding up?”

“Is that why you’re here?”

“Well, I mean, you guys do go before the judge this afternoon, right?”

“Four o’clock.”

She looked down at her watch. “So that means you have six hours to change your mind.”

“Autumn,” I coaxed. “Not you too.”

“Kinley, Christian is miserable. He’s not sleeping, he’s barely eating, he’s drowning himself at the hospital. He leaves before dawn and doesn’t get back to the ranch until midnight, sometimes later.”

I wiped down the counter. “That’s just Christian, Autumn. He’s a workaholic.”

“I know.” She sighed. “He gets it from my dad. He’s just trying to provide for you, though. He means well. You know how much he adores you. He always has. When I was a little girl, I used to admire you guys’ relationship so much. I wanted what you had.”

“And look, you ended up with his best friend.”

“Yeah … who would have thought, right?”

“I did.”

“What?”

I nodded.

“No way.”

“I never told you this, but on your seventeenth birthday, I saw him follow you out into the woods.”

She gasped. “You did?”

“Who do you think kept Christian away from you?”

“Oh my God! Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“We didn’t really get close until you had Capri, and by then I didn’t want to bring him up.”

“I can’t believe you never told me.”

“Julian thinks he was all sly when it came to you, but he wasn’t. I could always tell he loved you.”

“Really?”

“Of course. What’s not to love?”

“Well, the same goes for you and my brother, Kinley. I know you don’t want this divorce. The whole family knows you don’t want this divorce. You guys are just going through a rough patch.”

“It’s more than a rough patch.”

“Marriage is a lot of work—I don’t have to tell you that. Especially with a man like my brother. He’s bullheaded and super aggressive, but he loves with all his heart and soul. You’ve been together for twenty years. That’s a very long time to be with someone, and trust me, half the time I want to kill Julian. Especially now with all these hormones, and he thinks I’m the world’s most beautiful pregnant woman.”

“You are.”

“I’m not. I’m a whale.”

“Autumn, you’ve barely gained, what? Twenty pounds?”

“Twenty-two.”

I teased, “Such a whale.”

She held her belly. “I think I have to go pee again.” She thought about it for a second. “Wait, no. It’s gone. False alarm. What were we talking about?”

“Wow. Mommy brain is real.”

“You have no idea. I forget everything. Thank God for Julian, or I’d forget to take all my vitamins.”

“Awe, he makes you remember?”

She swooned. “He brings them to me in the morning with water and breakfast.”

“I think that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s the least he can do! I’m carrying his soccer player of a son who thinks my uterus is a soccer ball. Plus, he wants to have sex with me, like all the time! There’s barely any room for this baby and my organs.”

I laughed, I couldn’t help it.

“It’s not funny! I don’t need another thing inside of me! Everything turns into sex. He rubs my feet, his dick’s inside of me. He gives me a back rub, his dick’s inside of me. He thinks I’m like a fucking pinball machine that he can poke all day long.”

“And you love it.”

“Ugh,” she dramatically exclaimed. “God help me, I do. We’re going to end up with ten kids, watch.”

I jerked back. “Ten?”

“Oh yeah! If it were up to Julian, we’d have at least seven. He’s already talking about our next baby, when this one isn’t even born yet.”

“He’s going to give you some time to recover, though?”

“I wish! Last night he was talking about how awesome it would be to have two kids under the age of one.”

“Wow.”

“Right? He’s insane. And don’t get me started on Capri, who isn’t any help either. She’s ecstatic about having a brother. Especially since she doesn’t have any cous” —she caught herself— “shit, I’m so sorry. Mommy brain again.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Autumn. I know how excited she is to have siblings. Capri is a doll, and she’s going to be an amazing big sister.”

“Look at me.” She shook her head. “I came here to talk about you and all I’ve done is talk about myself.”

“I appreciate the distraction.”

She sat on the stool. “How are you doing? Like for real? Don’t give me the bullshit version.”

I inhaled a deep breath before sitting on the stool beside her. “To be completely honest, since we signed our divorce papers two months ago, I’ve been a fucking mess.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“You’re doing it. You’ve been checking in on me every week. Your mom and dad come by every other. I didn’t expect to still have you all in my life.”