Fall by Winter

It hit me with force that Mason would never be one of the strangers on Tinder who didn’t understand my family dynamic. Mason would never take away anything from me or our family, partly because he understood me, partly because it was his family too.

He was only trying to unite us.

“I’ve found my handyman already,” I blurted out, and my heart started racing. A heart I’d fucking lost at some point. “Actually, he found me.”

Mason side-eyed me with a faint smirk and set the canopy aside. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I licked my lips and set the Chinese food on the side table next to me. “He’s amazing. He paints the most beautiful pictures of the future, and I don’t want to hide anymore.”

That stopped him in his tracks for a moment. He hadn’t seen that one coming yet.

Suddenly, I’d never been surer.

I was so in love with him.

I pushed the blanket off me as I stood up from the chair, and then I walked over to him.

I felt what he felt now. In the beginning, he’d seemed so confident in us, and I finally got it. My wariness and fear had probably chipped away a piece of his assertiveness, but he’d been patient. So damn patient, and he wasn’t showing any sign whatsoever that he was running out of it. The opposite. But he didn’t have to wait any longer.

I closed the distance between us and pulled him down for a kiss.

“It’s us, Mason,” I mumbled against his lips. “I mean—us. Imagine the damage we could do to the world together.” I brushed my fingers over his scruffy jaw and let my heart speak. “I missed you before I had you. You’re the missing piece.”

He sighed and wrapped his arms around me tightly, and he kissed me back with so much passion that I felt it everywhere.

“This was supposed to happen,” I whispered. “We were meant to happen.”

He smiled into another heated kiss and cupped my cheeks as I wrapped my arms around his midsection.

“I mean it. I missed you so much. I can’t describe it.”

“You don’t have to,” he murmured. “I missed you too.”

He got it. I let the rivers of contentment flow through me, and I just reveled—

“Mason!” we heard Katie scream.

I gasped and jumped back, knowing what was happening before she could spell things out.

“My water broke!”

And Tristan wasn’t home from work yet.

Mason and I were pros, though. We exchanged a quick glance that said we’d continue this later, and then we bolted into action. He went first, tearing open the door that led into the house, and I followed him in.

We found Katie on the stairs with their baby bag. Her breathing was choppy, and the pain was written all over her face.

“I’ll get that for you, honey.” I jogged up and grabbed the bag from her. “Okay, so someone is eager to join the world. That’s wonderful. Mason, can you start the car and call Tristan?”

“On it.” Mason grabbed his keys and wallet before he was out the door.

“Have you started timing the contractions?” I guided Katie down the stairs and helped her with her shoes.

She sucked in a breath and shook her head.

“Are you feeling one now?” I asked.

She managed a jerky nod. “It’s fading, though.”

“Okay. I’ll time them. No worries. We’ll handle this until Tristan arrives.” I smiled and kept my voice calm, and I quickly pulled out my phone to see when the contraction began. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”

“He should be here,” she whimpered, clutching my hand. “Why is he late?”

“Oh, traffic. I bet it’s traffic.” I ushered her out after grabbing her coat too. She might want it later. “You’re in good hands, honey. We’ll call your doctor on the way to the hospital too.”

“Okay, good.” She took deep breaths. “Thank you, Lis.”

“Anytime. I’m just stoked to be part of it.” I gave her a quick grin. “Don’t you worry about anything. As soon as we hear from Tristan, I’ll have him call your parents so they know your baby girl is on her way.”

Mason was waiting for us out on the sidewalk, and he opened the door to the back seat of his car. “He sent me to voice mail, so he’s probably on the phone. I’ll call him once we’re on the road.”

I threw the bag into the car, then spread Katie’s coat over the seat.

Katie let out a cry and shrank in on herself in pain, and okay, my God, that was fucking quick. This was going to be a fast labor. Mason must’ve thought so too, because he didn’t wait to call his son.

“Breathe, sweetheart,” I encouraged. “You remember the exercises?”

She nodded and whimpered and tried to breathe in through her nose.

As soon as the pain had faded again, I helped her into the car and didn’t leave her side. Mason was behind the wheel a second later, and he pulled out from the curb.