Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Placing the box on the table, I link arms with my best friend, and we join my mom on the couch, cheering the Rampage on for a win.
I’m sitting on the bed with the contents of the box spread out around me. I’ve opened every single envelope in the box. I’ve read every word my dad wrote to me, in addition to the cards he picked. There’s a box of tissues that’s half empty and a used pile of said tissues sitting next to it.
Basically, I’m an emotional mess, but when my phone rings with a video call, I don’t hesitate to answer. “Hi.” I smile through the tears.
“What’s wrong?” Reid stands and starts walking. “Are you hurt? Is it the baby? Where are you?” he says, panic taking over.
“I’m at home. In our bed,” I tell him. “I’m fine. The baby’s fine. I’m just a little emotional.”
“Call Amanda, or I’ll call Sloane, and have her come stay with you. What can I do? I’ll grab a flight out tonight,” he says, rambling.
“Reid?”
“Yeah?” he asks, his chest heaving. Concern and worry shine in his eyes.
“I’m okay.”
“What is it?” I hear my dad’s voice. “Is it Bellamy? Is she okay? The baby?” Dad fires off questions.
“I’m okay,” I say again, feeling warm all over at having both of them so concerned for me and the baby.
“Bellamy?” Dad grabs Reid’s hand and moves to the phone to face him. “You’re okay?”
“I am,” I assure him. “Pregnancy hormones.”
“Good. Good. Okay.” He nods. “I’ll uh, just go,” he says, dropping Reid’s hand.
Reid’s eyes follow him as he walks away before focusing back on me. “Sorry, babe. We’re getting dinner in a private dining room of the hotel. He was there and saw me freak out.”
“It’s okay.” I smile because that’s what this man does to me. He has me smiling all the time.
“Tell me why you’re crying.”
I pan the phone to the mess around me. “This,” I tell him.
“What’s all of that?”
“Letters, cards, invitations,” I rattle on. “They’re from my dad. Mom kept them all these years.”
“She was keeping them from you?” he asks.
“No, not really.” I go on to explain everything that happened tonight. “I was so angry for so long,” I tell him. “And now, it’s hard to hold on to all of that when all I feel is happy.” This time, it’s my words making him smile.
“Yeah?”
I nod. “I love the life we’re building, Reid. I love this baby, and I don’t want to be angry anymore—these cards, the letters, the invitations to work and social events. I was young and blinded by what I thought I knew, and too damn stubborn to listen to reason, and my dad, he didn’t want my mom to push me,” I explain. “So many years I’ve lost with him.”
“That’s a lot to take in. I’m sorry I’m not there.”
“You are here, Reid. I’m in our bed. In the home we share.” I want to tell him that I’ve fallen in love with him, but I can’t do that over the phone. Besides, I’m wrung out emotionally. I need some more time to process all of this.
“What do you need?” he asks.
Just like that, instant support. This man, he’s never stopped showing up for me. Even when he’s thousands of miles away, he proves that he’s in this with me.
“Just time,” I tell him. “It’s a lot to take in, but I feel lighter in a way I haven’t in years. A lot of that is because of you.”
“Me?”
“You never gave up on us. You knew what you wanted, and you showed me how it feels to be the first choice. Despite your hectic career.”
“You and the baby are first always, Bell.” His eyes soften. “Are you okay there on your own? Want me to hop on a flight tonight?”
“I’m fine. Just working through my emotions.”
“I wish I were there to hold you.”
“Tomorrow.”
“You know it, Dream Girl. Try to get some rest. Call me if you need me. I don’t care what time it is.”
“I’m okay,” I promise. “Congrats on the win, number twenty.” I smile.
“Thanks, babe. Please try to get some rest.”
“I will. Safe flight.”
“Always, beautiful.” He blows me a kiss as he always does, and when the line goes dead, I miss him.
Chapter Seventeen
Reid
My palms are slick with sweat, and my chest aches from the rapid thud of my heart. Today’s the day. We’re mere minutes away from the ultrasound tech walking through the door, and we’ll see our baby on the screen for the very first time—tiny limbs, fluttering heartbeat, the soft curve of life just beginning. We also hope to be able to find out the gender. Are we having a little boy or a little girl to love, to raise, to build our world around?
It feels like we’re standing on the edge of something vast and irreversible. A single moment, quietly enormous, is about to change everything. Up until today, I’ve seen our baby growing, the proof in Bellamy’s rounding belly. I know he or she is in there, but seeing them, knowing we’re only halfway there, that we still have months until we get to hold our sweet baby in our arms, is a delicious torture.