Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 15704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 79(@200wpm)___ 63(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 79(@200wpm)___ 63(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
“Harbor and I have some news to share,” Elliot announced.
“You’re getting married!” Remi shouted, jumping from his chair, his beer already raised in a toast. I snickered. Remi was a work of art and almost as wild as my man. He never failed to put a smile on someone’s face with his little outbursts. There was no filter between his brain and his mouth.
Elliot, laughing quietly, drew me in front of him and cupped my belly. Cecily and Athena’s eyes comically widened, and they began to make little squee sounds. “No—not yet, anyway.” My heart skipped a beat in my chest at the promise in his words. “Harbor and I are going to have a baby!”
A loud cheer went up in the room before we were swept up in hugs and congratulations. Elliot kept one arm around me, like he was trying to protect me from being toppled by his excited brothers. Probably a good idea, honestly. The only gentle ones were Adler and Seb, who had already been down this road and essentially seemed to think pregnant women were extremely fragile.
When I looked up at my boyfriend’s face, my heart squeezed in my chest. He looked so happy surrounded by his found family with the one he was creating wrapped up in his arm.
Feeling my eyes on him, he looked down, smiling softly at me. I love you, I mouthed.
He leaned down and kissed me in response.
Epilogue
Harbor
I was bored out of my mind. I’d only been on maternity leave for three days, and I was already losing my mind. There was nothing for me to do. Elliot had hired a cleaner to come in once a week when I was six months pregnant because he didn’t like my feet swelling and had decided I needed to actually rest on my days off. So, there was nothing for me to clean, and I did all of our laundry my first day home. And Elliot always loaded the dishwasher before he left for work each morning, so there weren’t even dishes in the sink.
I groaned and grabbed my phone off the armrest of the couch, pulling up my group chat thread with Athena and Cecily. I’d text Elsie, but she was working.
Harbor: What are you ladies doing today?
Cecily: I’m debating going shopping and getting a pedicure for a little self-care.
Athena: LOL someone sounds bored.
Harbor: Bored straight out of my mind. Cecily, you want company?
Athena: Um, excuse me! I wanna come!
Cecily: Tell your husband that. It’s his job.
I snickered. God, I loved these ladies. They’d quickly become more than just friends in the past few months; they were family. Like sisters. They even welcomed Elsie in with open arms when I invited my best friend out with us for girls’ night a couple of months ago.
Athena: Maybe I will. But seriously, I could go for a pedicure and some shopping. We going kid free?
Harbor: As kid-free as I can be right now.
Athena: Woman….
Cecily: Yes. Kid-free. Robin is with Chelsea today.
Chelsea was Cecily’s best friend and also the assistant manager of the strip club Cecily owned. Chelsea was… a work of art, honestly. She as as wild as they came. I’d honestly never met anyone who was more… out there.
Athena: Cool! Then we can all agree to meet at the clubhouse in an hour?
Cecily: Woman, who made you boss?
Athena: I made myself boss, and I’m sticking my tongue out at you. Clubhouse. 1 hour.
Harbor: I’ll be there. And will one of you wonderful, sweet, kind ladies pick me up that new shake from Dairy Queen? Large pretty please.
Cecily: I knew you were gonna ask for something when you called us wonderful, sweet, and kind.
Athena: Oooh! I’ll pick it up because I’ve been wanting to try it! See you in a bit!
Harbor: Thank you, Athena! And yes, Cecily, because I know how to butter you up. *wink emoji*
Cecily: You can butter me up anytime, baby. *wink emoji*
I quietly laughed. Cecily and Athena were so easygoing. We were in no way romantically interested in each other, but the teasing was fun nonetheless. And it really got our men going. I was pretty sure it was one of Elliot’s fantasies, though he had yet to admit to it. And he was never going to get that fantasy fulfilled. None of our husbands were.
I eased off the couch, my big belly making it a lot harder to do than it used to be, and made my way to the bedroom to put on a pair of leggings and a tank top. The weather was warm today, and I could not be fucked to try to get into something cute when I was swollen and hotter than normal.
If someone didn’t like the way I looked, they could look the other damn way. Simple as that.
I tied my hair up into a messy bun on the top of my head and swiped some mascara on my lashes. I settled on the bed for a moment, already out of breath, and pulled up my text thread with Elliot, though I wasn’t sure he’d see my message any time soon. I knew they’d been pretty busy the past few weeks, especially since Adler was trying to prepare them for Elliot taking some paternity leave.