I felt my stomach tighten at the thought.
She was weak.
She hadn’t been able to move around much on her own in what felt like forever. She needed help to the bathroom sometimes because she was so weak.
And, surprisingly, it was Alison who stepped up to the plate when I had to work—which was more often than I would’ve liked.
Alison, who was now sitting on the porch next to Coreline, looking on with a shit-eating grin, as if she was excited to see the upcoming fight in action.
“I’ll drive right behind you to the restaurant,” she suggested, her hand cupping her chin as she looked up innocently at me. “That way, if she gets too tired, I can be there for her to get into the passenger seat.”
“Restaurant?” I asked.
“Restaurant,” Coreline confirmed.
I bit my lip, stupid for even considering taking her on the bike when she was so tired and weak. Oh, and pregnant. Don’t forget pregnant. That was getting harder and harder to forget every single day. She was literally all belly.
“We’re celebrating Toddy getting her braces on soon and making the new Dallas club team that formed here last month,” Alison said. “And she really wants to go out to the new restaurant right on the outskirts of town.”
I sighed. “That’s five minutes. And you can ride there, but not back.”
The way Coreline clapped her hands in excitement, which was about all the enthusiasm she could show nowadays, made my heart warm.
I’d put a new seat on the bike for her a few months into our relationship. One that cradled her a little bit more and allowed her to relax into it when she got tired.
Which I knew she would, riding on the bike.
The next ten minutes, riding well under the speed limit because I was slightly terrified, was the best ten minutes of my last month.
When we arrived at the restaurant, she tugged on my sleeve and pulled me backward until I was practically leaning against her body.
The feel of her belly was enough for me to stop and lean only my head back.
She kissed my nose, which was the only thing she could reach, and said, “I love the hell out of you, Tide Crow.”
I closed my eyes as the warmth of her words rolled over me.
“I love you, too. Mrs. Tide Crow.”
She snorted. “You’re so sexist.”
“I’m your sexist.” I didn’t contradict her.
I helped her walk inside, my hand around her body, tucking her tight into my shoulder, giving her a little extra hold when she started to flag.
At least, I’d thought she’d been flagging.
In reality, she was slowing down because our baby was inside of her doing somersaults.
She stopped right outside the main door and pressed her hand to her belly, her eyes hopeful.
“Try now,” she urged.
I pressed my hand where hers was and felt the smallest of kicks.
My eyes flared, and a jolt of adrenaline coursed through me.
All these weeks that Coreline had been feeling the baby had been the pits. I’d wanted to feel him or her so badly, but her being so small, it’d been almost impossible for me to differentiate between kicks and Coreline breathing.
“Wow.” I grinned, flashing my teeth at her. “I just… wow.”
I didn’t have words.
Even worse, I felt like I was about to fucking cry.
Then again, I felt like that a lot lately when I was around my girl.
“Would you two stop standing in front of the door?” Alison grumbled. “Swear to freakin’ Christ. Y’all make me sick with this lovey-dovey crap. There’s a line behind you, for God’s sake.”
I helped move Coreline out of the way of the door and sure enough, there was a long line.
But it was Coreline’s words that had me hesitating. “There’s the girl we all know and love.”
I chuckled. Because she was right.
Alison had stepped up to the plate in a big way with her sister, her own life, and then with Coreline’s sickness. But she was still crabby as ever.
“Yep.” I paused to press a kiss onto her lips. “Knew she wasn’t far away.”
“Oh, look.” I heard her whisper as we walked past a large group near the front door. “Isn’t that the club that… you know?”
I looked to find the club that’d once claimed that piece of shit that punched Coreline in the face. I caught the president’s eyes as we passed, and a look passed between us. One of understanding.
“Yeah, it is,” I confirmed. “Oh, look. There’s Toddy already eating her dessert.”
Coreline burst out laughing, and I chanced one more look backward.
• • •
Later that night, as we lay in bed, I was broadsided by Coreline’s question.
Mostly because I hadn’t been expecting her to ask about it again. I’d thought I’d thoroughly distracted her with my kisses.
Today, for the first time in six weeks, she’d had enough energy to do other things.