Mom and Dad were taking a lot of weekend trips lately, and Breanna and Konrad were almost never seen without the other. Though we were all healing and fully back into our normal lives, everyone was still very aware of how fragile life was, and were always trying to spend it with their significant other. With that in mind, each one of us, including Konrad and Brandon, had tried contacting Sir in some way to see if he would take back his words and let me into his life. Not one of us had gotten through or heard back from him. Two weeks ago, I had finally told everyone to just stop. Sir was stubborn and he wasn't going to change just because six people hounded him for a few weeks.
Mom and Bree were having way too much fun picking out clothes and nursery items for Gummy Bear, and buying maternity clothes for me. I was like their own personal life-size doll. I didn't complain though, it was fun and it made them so happy, so I continued to go along with everything. The only time the extended family could get together was Fourth of July, so we'd had an early baby shower when they were all in town for Mom and Dad's annual party. The only girls I'd been friends with other than Bree had all graduated at the beginning of June, so there weren't a ton of women at the shower, but we'd all had so much fun and being surrounded by Chase's family was more perfect than I could have hoped for. We'd invited Brandon's mom, but she and Jeremy had flown back to Arizona for two weeks to spend with her family, and today would be my first time seeing her since right after Christmas.
Brandon continued to come every day and despite what we were both so obviously wanting, always kept it on a friendly level. Not saying that wasn't hard, but it's what we had to do. We hadn’t brought up the day at the beach or my bathroom again, and he seemed happy just to be around. Every time I saw him he'd give me a hug, bend down so his face was almost pressed to my swollen belly and greet the baby. Sometimes just a 'Hello' and 'How are you treating your momma today?', and others he'd give a full recap of his and Konrad's morning surfing. It made my heart warm and stomach flip, but I wouldn't tell him that.
Like I'd suspected, Brandon was fighting again, and though I hated it, I kept my mouth shut. It wasn't my place, and it gave him a thrill and paid his bills, so who was I to voice my opinion? He still hadn't lost a fight, and thank God hadn't been back to the hospital. That didn't mean there wasn't a new bruise or cut brow every now and then though. Jeremy, Konrad, Bree and I went to every fight, I would sit there shaking and cringing until it was over, and after he'd showered and changed, would inspect his new injuries if there were any. Brandon laughed every time but let me do my inspections without complaint.
Breanna, Mom and I were coming back from another wonderful appointment of seeing my bear and getting a pedicure when my heart rate doubled. Brandon's Jeep was already in the driveway, and I couldn’t wait to see him and show him the new ultrasound pictures. What was coming later, seeing his mom again, I definitely wasn't thrilled for. I'd cheated on Brandon weeks after last seeing her, and I'm sure she didn't like the fact that Brandon and I were friends again. I forced myself to walk slowly to the house, but I don't think I was fooling Mom or Bree. As soon as I was through the door, Brandon was hugging me and reaching for the pictures.
“Look at him! He was asleep, but look at him sucking his thumb!” I exclaimed. Mom and Bree giggled when they passed us. Yeah, not fooling them.
He dropped down to a squat and put his hands tenderly on my stomach, “Hey little man!” Brandon's deep husky voice was warm and melodic whenever he spoke to him. “How could you sleep through the whole appointment, huh? Your momma was hoping to see you moving around today. Next time, right buddy?”
I watched the one sided conversation, biting my lip to keep from grinning like an idiot. Brandon would be such a good father. Whoa. Where did that come from? Don't go down that road Harper.
Brandon stood back up and absentmindedly began tracing shapes along my stomach. “What did Dr. Lowdry say?”
“She said everything's great!” That was another thing, he always asked how I felt and how the appointments went. Even Konrad and Dad didn't do that, “I go back in another two weeks, she said he's still big, so there's a possibility she's going to put me on bedrest after my next appointment to try to keep him in there as long as possible.”
“Bedrest?” His hazel eyes looked worried, “But she said everything is okay?”
I smoothed out his furrowed brow, and stared at his eyes. I'd finally figured them out. They were brown if he was shirtless, or wearing a brown or white shirt. Gray if he was wearing a black or gray shirt. Green was pretty self-explanatory, he had to be wearing green, and any other color would make his eyes the perfect mix of the three. “It's fine, don't worry about it. If I have to, it's just to make sure he doesn't come too early.” He still looked nervous, “So! How about we go see your mom?”
After a few moments, all the worry left his eyes and a slow unsure smile spread across his face, “I have something for you, Harper.”
“Really? What is it?”
He took my hand and started walking me down the hall, “Promise me something, if you don't like it, you have to tell me.”
“I'm sure I'll love it…you have it in the nursery?” I asked confused when we walked up to the door.
“Promise.”
“I promise.” I squeezed his hand tight and opened the door. I didn't have to search around for it, or them should I say. “Oh my God. Brandon. Did you buy these?” Yes, I know that was a stupid question, but I couldn't believe this.
“Is that okay?”
“No, I mean yes, it is. But Brandon, that's a lot of money!” There was a dark cherry wood crib, dresser, changing table and a large leather glider chair. I remembered how much Brandon made from winning those fights, but I knew exactly how much these all cost since I was planning on buying them myself, and they definitely weren't cheap.
He shrugged, “I just need to know if you like them.”
“I do, I absolutely love them.” He'd even put the bedding in the crib that I'd bought. “You shouldn't be spending your money on this.” I walked over to touch everything and picked up one of the baby blankets Bree had bought and draped it back over the edge of the crib.
Brandon came up behind me and turned me so I was facing him, “I wanted to do this for you.”
“But that is really expensive Brandon.”
“Harper,” he smiled softly at me, “please don't worry about it.”
I smiled and took a quick glance around me again, “Did you put them all together by yourself?”
He nodded, “Bree texted me as soon as you guys left this morning. I had just finished when she said you guys were down the street.”
“And you set up the bedding too?”
“No,” he huffed a laugh, “I'm pretty sure I would have messed that up. They must have ran in to do it while we were talking.”
That made more sense. “Thank you,” I reached up and kissed his cheek, “so much.”
“You're more than welcome Harper.” He roughly whispered. After a few minutes of us silently holding each other, his phone rang. “What's up? Yeah, we'll be there in an hour. Alright. Bye.”
“Jeremy?” I guessed.
“Yeah, he said Mom’s afraid we aren’t going to show. So are you ready?”
I nodded but inside I was shaking my head furiously.
We said bye to the family and headed over to his mom's house, stopping to get some Golden Spoon for the four of us on the way since I'd been having ridiculous cravings for anything sweet lately, and secretly thought I needed to come with some form of a peace offering. I was shaking by the time we pulled up in front of the gorgeous house overlooking the beach, I hadn't even been this nervous when I first met her. Brandon was carrying the Golden Spoon bag full of frozen yogurt and toppings and I seriously considered ripping it out of his hands so I could use it as some sort of shield, but the door was already opening.
“Hi sweetie!” His mom smiled and pulled me into a warm hug. Guess the shield hadn't been necessary.
“Hey Mrs. Taylor.”
Brandon chuckled softly and attempted to turn it into a cough, I guess he could hear the quiver in my voice.
“Oh come on now, you know you can call me Carrie.”
That offer still stood? Good to know. I smiled and tried to sound normal this time, “How've you been? I love your new place, I'm so glad you decided to move here!”
“Us too! We needed a change and I love this side of the family.” She gasped and her fingers flew to her mouth and then fluttered to my stomach, “Oh, look how big your belly is! How far along are you now?”
My jaw dropped, “Uh, thirty weeks.” Did she think it was Brandon's baby or something? She was acting just the same as at Christmas.
“You're so close! Are you ready for him to finally be here?”
She even knew it was a boy? I shot a questioning look to Brandon but he was getting everything out of the bags and putting it on the counter. “Yes and no. I want to hold him and see him, but I think I'll miss this.” I said pointing to where he was currently sleeping.
“That's exactly how I felt with both of them, I think that's normal.” She rubbed her hand over it once more and turned to Brandon, “You got frozen yogurt! Oh my God it's like you read my mind! I've been craving it all day.”
Apparently I'd been stressing out over nothing. This had definitely not gone as I'd feared. Brandon handed me my bowl and said he was going to check on Jeremy. Carrie sat down next to me at the table and gave my hand a quick squeeze.
“I've missed you girl! How are things? How are you doing after what happened to Chase? I was so sorry to hear about that.”
“I'm okay, so is his family. We're just trying to move on, but it was really hard at first.”