Cade pulled me into his arms kissing me firmly. “You are not fat. You are beautiful, you have never been more beautiful to me than you are right now.”
I raised an eyebrow. I seriously thought he was lying. Granted, my maternity wardrobe kicked ass. Today I was wearing a white gypsy style sundress with beautiful blue embroidery, wide sleeves and an empire waist that fell over my stomach. It showed a decent amount of leg, lucky for me, cankles was not something I had gained, but unluckily due to the ‘unable to see my toes’ situation I had to wear flat metallic flip flops.
“Seriously? I feel like Free Willy.”
“How about I take you upstairs and show you just how sexy you are,” Cade whispered in my ear, trailing kisses down my neck, his hand sliding up my dress.
I leaned my head against his shoulder and let out a slight whimper.
“Well, sex is another thing on my list to get this little girl out,” I told him slowly.
Cade growled and picked me up, directing us towards his room.
It had been a roller coaster few months. It was amazing to be back, surrounded by my dysfunctional biker family and back at my store for some normality. I was beyond happy with Cade, even if his normal crazy protectiveness had been ramped up due to the human growing in my stomach.
That protectiveness seemed to have extended to every member of the club as well, considering the fact there was almost always someone around. Rosie and the girls had been amazing, treating me exactly as before, handing me orange juice instead of margarita when we were poolside.
The whole town seemed to have rallied around me. I had constant visitors to the store, just coming in to chat to see how the pregnancy was coming along.
Luke was almost a daily visitor, bringing me a muffin every time he stopped by. My appetite being the way it was, I almost offered to have his child every time he handed me the ball of delight, I would have, except…you know.
Amy seemed to be back to her colorful self, or she was doing a real good job of hiding her grief. She didn’t say a word about Brock to me, even though there was more than a few meaningful glances from both sides. I had watched him pull her away for more than a few heated conversations. Whether she thought I would judge her or not, she remained silent on the subject and I didn’t want to push it. Not that I did judge her, she deserved happiness, wherever she found it. And I also had realized she never told me who she was choosing before all the shit went down.
There was still a dark cloud that hovered over my happiness. Sometimes I would be doing something normal like cooking dinner and the loss of Ian would creep up on me, the pain slicing through me like a knife. Sometimes it would last for a moment, other times I struggled to get through the day. I spoke to my parents regularly. They were keeping busy, always doing something, going somewhere, but they were struggling. I would hear it when my mother’s voice started to crack on the phone or when my father spoke just a little too rough. I kept waiting for it to get easier, it didn’t. I guess I just had to get stronger and maybe remembering Ian wouldn’t hurt quite so much.
The baby was something for me to focus on, to look forward to and alternately freak the fuck out about. After much debating, Cade and I had decided we would live out at his place. I felt like I was abandoning Amy, since we hadn’t even lived in our house a year, but she convinced me she didn’t mind.
“Seriously, Gwen, I love you and living with you is the best, but I like my beauty sleep so you’re practically doing me a favor by taking you and your future child somewhere I don’t have to hear it screaming at two a.m,” she joked. “And it means we’ve got another redecorating job on our hands. Got to revamp Cade’s bachelor pad so it’s suitable for you and Supe.”
I agreed with her on that one. Cade’s house was nice, and more than big enough for the three of us but its décor screamed single man. I had expected some argument from Cade on that score, but he had just kissed me on the head and said “Do whatever you want to make it a home for you and Bun. Just don’t do anything with the fucking TV.”
What I did get an argument about was who was paying. I had been more than happy to finance the renovation considering I was the one insisting on it, but Cade got seriously defensive when I mentioned it.
“You are my woman, and this is my baby, I will take care of you both, you aren’t paying a fucking cent,” he declared over the dinner table. I fought the urge to roll my eyes, I had expected nothing less from the macho man.
“Cade, it’s not like I don’t have the money, and I think you underestimate my freakish ability to spend. I can pay.” I don’t even know why I even tried to argue.
Cade’s eyes had narrowed. “I know all about your spending habits, Gwen. I’ve seen your fucking closet. I’ve also seen where you grew up, the car you drive and the house you bought. It’s not lost on me you come from money. But the moment you became my woman, the moment I put that baby inside you and that ring on your finger, those moments meant I take care of you in every way. Including bankrolling whatever crazy shit you’ve got thought up for this house. I got money babe, I’m more than able to keep you in the lifestyle in which you are accustomed.”
I opened my mouth at this point to argue with his prehistoric ideas but he stopped me.