Life's Next Chapter (17 page)

HELL IS A mild way to describe the past week. We were in court by Thursday. The judge finally declared Keith needed to have supervised visits until the custody hearing he surprised me with. We have a court date in January. What a way to start off the New Year. Beth has worked her magic this week, and I can’t thank her enough. I dread January, but Beth has faith no judge will grant Keith sole custody, especially with his actions lately.

Tonight we’re all going out for Beth’s thirty-second birthday. I’m really nervous about dinner. I pray my stomach doesn’t revolt over the food. I took a test, and I’m indeed pregnant. I called my OB and have an appointment next week. I’ll tell Luke tomorrow, so he can come with me, if he still wants the baby and me. I feel like somehow my life took a serious U-turn in a seriously deranged soap opera, almost bordering for Jerry Springer. This week, I had to sit my daughters down and tell them why a lady will be visiting them on their visits with their daddy. As much as I can’t stand Keith right now, I can’t have my influences fall onto my children. They didn’t ask for this fucked up mess their parents created for them. I’m so exhausted, with the effects of the pregnancy, the shit Keith is pulling us into, and my working hours. It feels so hard to breath sometimes. I had to hire Jeremy and Chad back to help me with the boarding. I can’t do it anymore, besides the smell makes me hurl and I can’t ride the horses for exercise. At least this way, I get a break from that task.

I’m just getting out of the shower when I hear the girls squeal that Luke is here. Shit, I’m running late. The shower felt like heaven, I must have stayed in there longer than I thought. Wrapping the towel around me, I walk into my room. The girls are running out of their room down the hallway to mine. “Momma, Luke is here!” Nicole jumps up and down in excitement. She’s my introverted child. She hides a lot behind Julia. But I love to see how Luke brings out the excitement in her.

“Well, go let him in. Tell him I will be ready soon.” I watch the girls rush down the stairs to let Luke in.

I walk into my closet and I know what I want to wear. I want to wear my red, strapless, clingy dress. I haven’t dressed up since our first date. I want to feel sexy one last time, since who knows when I’ll be able to wear this kind of dress again. Laying it on the bed, I head for my dresser to pull out a lacey black strapless bra and matching thong, figuring it might be the last time to be sexy with Luke. I slide the thong up and snap the bra on. I eagerly remove the red dress from the hanger and glide the dress over my head and down to my mid thighs. I’m feeling sexy and hot, until I look into the full-length mirror.
Aw, shit!!
What the…? I have a bulge in my lower belly. Not just a little, like I ate too much. No, a bulge like I’m two months or more pregnant, bulge. UGH! There goes my sexy dress. I can’t wear it. Then I remember I bought a pair of Spanx. Ah ha!! I’ll just slide those babies on and it will smooth it out. I don’t know whom I’m kidding here, it’s not a bulge of fat, it’s a flipping baby. Won’t hurt to try, right? So I yank the dress off, tug the thong off, and step into the Spanx. I pull, tug, and roll the Spanx up my thighs. I’m starting to sweat just trying to pull these suckers past my knees. I pull up one leg at a time. The towel on my head falls off, my wet hair is flying all over my face and neck. They’re not even to my hips yet.

Out of sheer exhaustion I lie on the bed. With my hips in the air, I pull the tight fitting undergarment up my hips and butt. In that moment, when my hips are thrusting up, the snug fabric slowly riding up my hips, Luke walks in my room. “Sunshine, what are you doing?” He’s laughing at me. Again, he catches me in another embarrassing moment. The one piece of clothing I swore I would never let a man see me in, and here I’m sweating on my bed, with this fabric barely around my hips, and my boyfriend walks in while I’m mid thrust, trying to get the thing over my ass.

“Luuuuuuke,” I whine, “you’re not supposed to see me like this…go…cover your eyes.” I sit up on the edge of the bed. As I stand up with the Spanx barely covering the object it needs to be covering

“Why are you putting on Spanx?”

I just look at him. “You know what Spanx are?” Completely baffled this hunk of a man knows what Spanx are.

“Baby, I do have a mother, two sisters, and a daughter. I probably know more feminine products than most guys.” Now I know I love him. This man didn’t even blink twice at what I was wearing.

“I want to wear a tight fitting dress. I need to hide some rolls,” I say as I look at the floor. I just lied to this man, the father of my soon to be child, and the man I’ve fallen in love with.

He helps pull up my Spanx in the back, and then helps me back into my dress. I can still see the baby bump, but Luke doesn’t even notice. “Damn, baby you look good in red.” I smile up at him and stand on my toes to give him a kiss.

“Thank you.” I say as I walk to the bathroom. “Give me twenty minutes to do my hair and makeup. Can you do me a favor and make sure the girls have their overnight bags by the door? They’re staying at Ella’s tonight. Her mom is watching them and Ella’s girls.” He winks at me and walks out the bedroom door. I finally take in a breath; I didn’t even realize I was holding it.

Thirty minutes later and we’re all out the door. Luke places the girls’ booster seats in his truck and loads them in their seats. I walk to the driveway to the sound of him whistling. “Kate, you look amazing,” he mutters to me as I walk to his side and give him a kiss in front of the girls. “Girls, doesn’t your momma look beautiful?”

The girls laugh and cheer. “Momma, you look like a princess,” Nicole chimes to me.

“Momma, you look like a movie star,” Julia proclaims.

“Thank you, love bugs!” I walk around his truck with Luke behind me. I’m wearing my black high heels, my sexy red dress. I blow dried my hair straight and really did up my makeup. I don’t think I’ve worn makeup since our first date. We drive to Ella’s, and drop off the girls. They were so excited to see Alexis and Brooke. Nina, Ella’s mom, has a night of activities planned for them. I gave her my cell number in case she needed me, and then Luke, Ella, Chris and I walked out. Chris and Ella were going to the beach after dinner for a weekend getaway, so we take our own vehicles.

We’re meeting Beth, Jacob, Olivia, and Mike at a restaurant across town on the lake. It’s small and intimate, and every seat has a beautiful view of the lake. We have a small, private room. We all meet and hug one another. Beth’s glowing; she’s due in over a month and half; Ella’s four months pregnant and the size of me. You can barely tell she is pregnant; it looks like she swallowed a golf ball. I look like I’ve swallowed a softball, which makes my nerves go into a frenzy sitting here, thinking I’m having twins again. We all find our seats and I pick one on the end, in case I need to run to the bathroom. There is one seat still open. “Beth who else is coming?” I ask as she sits to my left.

“Ethan’s in town, so he should be here soon.”

I smile at her. “Wow, that’s great.” Ethan is Beth’s older brother, who lives in North Carolina. I don’t think I have seen him since the wedding. Beth doesn’t go into detail about why he’s back visiting, so I shrug it off. Luke sits to my right and Ella sits next to Luke. I introduce Luke to everyone and we sit, making small talk.

The waitress comes to take our drink order. Luke orders me wine, and when I tell the waitress I just want water, he gives me a funny look. I whisper to him I didn’t think it was fair to drink when my friends couldn’t. Even though I know Olivia ordered herself a drink.

“Kate, have a drink. I don’t mind.” Beth says to me as she looks at the menu.

“No, it’s fine, I’m not in the mood for a drink.” My reason doesn’t seem to bother Luke. The waitress leaves and we continue talking. Ethan walks in towards Beth. She stands up and gives him a hug. He rubs her belly, and then walks to Jacob and they give each other a manly pat. Ethan is about to take his place next to Jacob when he looks over at Luke. “Luke Ashton?” Ethan questions his name.

Luke looks at Ethan then back to Beth. “Ethan and Elizabeth Parker…holy shit. I knew you looked familiar,” he booms as he points to Beth. Luke pushes his chair back, walks around the table, and shakes Ethan’s hand. Ethan looks a little taken back by Luke’s welcome. “Damn man, it’s been a long ass time. How long?” Luke asks.

“Ten plus years, I saw you when you came back from your first tour. How are you? How is Danika?” Ethan quietly asks.

“Dani is great, she’ll be eighteen next month and is in college. Damn, man, it’s so great to see you.” Luke pats Ethan on the shoulder before he walks back to his seat. Ethan slides into his chair and doesn’t look like his happy go lucky self. Either I’m just being a dumb blonde or my brain has been taken over by hormones. How do Luke and Ethan know each other from a decade ago?

“Can I just say I am blown away? What a small world? Katie, to think, your man’s little sister was dating my brother so many years ago. Could you imagine if you two met ten years ago?” Beth enthusiastically blurts out. Luke sits there and ponders on it.

“No, I can’t. We wouldn’t be who we are, or where we are right now. I wouldn’t have had my girls, and they are the best thing I’ve ever done. So, I’m pretty happy we met when we did, this was our time.” Looking to Luke, he just nods his head.

Beth is on a roll tonight. “Luke, how is Leah, where is she now? What does she do? Does she still dance? Does she…?”
Good golly Miss Holly what the hell is she drinking
.

Ethan cuts her off and asks, “So, Beth, have you decided on a name for the baby?” They aren’t finding out the sex. So we all have been on pins and needles trying to find out what the baby’s name will be.

“We have,” she says, loudly, for all to hear. She smiles to Jacob. He nods his head, saying it’s okay to tell everyone. “If it’s a boy, it will be Jacob Matthew after his daddy, but we will call him Jake. If it’s a girl, we’ll name her after Jacob’s mom, Madeleine Rose, and call her Maddie.” The room fills with claps and squeals. “We just felt since the other boys were named after men in their lives, the fourth boy should be named after an important man in his life.”

I clap my hands. “It’s a boy then, huh?”

She just shakes her head because she knows what I’m getting at. “No, Katie, we really don’t know what it is, even Jacob has no clue.”

“Even though I think it’s a girl.” Jacob spills. “What? She is just different this time around, especially her cravings. I’m a doctor, I notice these things.” He groans to us. “I can just picture a little girl with her daddy wrapped around her little finger, with three protective brothers. She will be a blessed little girl—”

“Either way I don’t care as long as our daughter has a friend to play with,” Ella slides in that last sentence. We all drop our jaws and look to Ella who is smiling. “Yep, we’re having another girl.” Poor Chris looks so outnumbered.

Beth asks, “So what will you name her?” Ella looks to Chris and they both laugh. “We’re still deciding. Chris thought it would be cute to name her a C name, since we have A and B so far. He picked Carly. This being another girl, I can’t think of another girl name, yet.”

“Luke has a daughter name Danika.” I say as I raise the water glass to my dry mouth. My two best friends look to me as if I grew two heads and six eyes. I know I’m a shithead of a friend and have not filled them in with any of my latest news. Luke looks at me as if he thinks I’m embarrassed that he has a daughter. I don’t know if it’s the morning/evening sickness about to make an appearance, but I have a gut feeling this isn’t going to turn out right.

“Luke, we didn’t know you had a daughter. Obviously, Katie is leaving us out of her personal love life. Tell us about her.” Beth urges Luke to carry on.

He looks to me for help then explains, “Danika goes to UCF; she just started her freshman year and turns eighteen next month. She also just joined a sorority and works at the GAP in the mall. That’s about it.”

I jump in and include, “she’s beautiful and looks just like her father.” He places his hand on my thigh and rubs up and down smiling at me.

“You must have had her when you were a teenager?” Jacob barks out.

“Yeah, I was eighteen when she was born. Her mother and I dated for a while before I found out she was pregnant. She had the baby; I left for the Army. Few months into Danika’s life she didn’t want the baby, so she signed over her parental rights and I’ve been a single father since then, with the help of my parents. That’s about it.” Everyone looks at Luke with complete humbleness and admiration.

“That’s pretty impressive, man. You should be proud of yourself. I didn’t have my first child till I was thirty, and I was still fumbling with being a father. I can’t imagine being one at the age of eighteen. That’s amazing,” Michael says to Luke from the other side of the table.

“You just do what you have to do, but it does make you grow up.” Saved by the waitress, and Beth orders first then the waitress goes around the table. I’m last, and hearing what everyone is ordering is making my stomach roll. I usually get the seafood dishes when I’m here, but tonight I’m not digging the seafood. “Can I just get the pasta with the sauce on the side, no meat?”

Luke’s gaze is sympathetic. “Are you still sick?” he tries to say quietly, but my girls have ears.

“You’re sick, what’s wrong?” Of course, it’s Ella.

“Nothing, I’ve just been dealing with a stomach bug. I’m getting better, but I don’t want to chance it with a heavy meal,” Assuring them as I unravel my napkin and try to place it in my lap. Ella just gives me her stare, she reminds me of Roz from
Monsters, Inc
. She has the face, and I can already hear her quoting the line from the movie about how she’s always watching me. I can see the wheels spinning in that head of hers.

Conversation continues easily; the men are really intrigued by Luke, they have asked him about his job, his deployment to Iraq, and how did he survive puberty with a teenage daughter. Beth seems to be in her glory. I raise my water glass to propose a toast. “To my sister from another mister, I love you, and I couldn’t be happier for you and the life you lead. You are beyond beautiful inside and out. To think, this time two years ago, you pulled me into Jacob’s office to witness the most incredible miracle in life. The moment you were going to be a mom to three sons. Look at you today, still glowing and expecting another baby. You’re an incredible mom, wife, sister, and friend. I love you. Happy Birthday, Bethy!” We all say, “Cheers,” and clink our glasses. She and Jacob can’t keep their hands off of each other or their mouths. Technically, they’re still newlyweds. She and I have come so far over the years. To think we met at the age of six. We’ve gone through some battles and some glories together. I want to tell her I’m pregnant. I so wanted to put my two cents in about jumping on the pregnancy bandwagon. But, I need to have a serious long talk with Luke. We are so new to this, and it’s so damn early to bring a child into our relationship. We don’t even know everything about each other. I sympathize for my unborn child, and I sympathize for Luke and my stupidity.