Room for Just a Little Bit More by Beth Ehemann
To my husband, Chris, who taught me what unconditional love is. You often say that you’re lucky to be with me, but I’m really the lucky one. Thank you for all the swoony inspiration you’ve provided over the last 17 years. You’ll always be my Brody.
1 - Kacie
“Hello? Earth to Kacie! Are you gonna stare at that thing all day or what?”
My eyes shifted from my engagement ring to Alexa, who was sitting across the island from me. “You’ve had one of these for a million years now. I’ve had mine less than a day. Cut me some slack.”
She rolled her eyes and leaned back, stretching her lower back. “Yeah, yeah. In a week, it’ll be old news. Trust me.”
“What’s your problem, Negative Nancy?”
“This kid is the problem. It’s what, the size of an apple right now? How can it be causing me pain already?” She grimaced.
“Everything is stretching and moving. It’s probably gonna hurt for a while, unfortunately.”
“Yeah, well, remind me to ground him when he comes out.”
I laughed. “Today it’s a he? Yesterday it was she.”
“Who the hell knows what it is?” She threw her arms up in frustration. “Derek wants it to be a surprise and it’s driving me crazy. He wants that delivery room moment to be magical, and all I’m worried about is my vagina stretching out and all of my organs sliding across the floor.”
I chuckled. “That’s slightly dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Hell no!” Her eyebrows pulled together as she glared at me. “I’ve watched Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve watched those women scream and beat the crap out of their husbands.”
“It’s fake, Lex. All for TV, I promise. If you ever change your mind about finding out, I just might know someone with access to an ultrasound machine.” I winked.
“I’ll have to remember that the next time he refuses to go get me cream cheese wontons at one o’clock in the morning. Ruining the sex of his child would be the perfect payback.”
“If you say so.” I turned to the fridge and grabbed a bowl of grapes, setting them between us.
“So, enough about the devil child. Let’s plan this wedding.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“I just got engaged last night!”
“Yeah, and if you want to have your reception at Graybil Gardens or Beelow Hall, you better book today. Those are the best places to get married within a fifty-mile radius, Kacie.” She reached over and grabbed a few grapes, popping them into her mouth. “I had a woman come in last year to finalize her flower order who told me that she’d booked Graybil Gardens three years earlier and didn’t even meet her fiancé until a year later.”
My mouth fell open. “Seriously?”
“Yep.” She nodded slowly. “Talk about being optimistic, huh?”
“Or desperate,” I joked.
“Obviously,” she agreed, “but my point is all those places book up fast. You might even have to ask Brody to use his star power to get you in.”
Brody and I had been engaged roughly fifteen hours. I was on such a euphoric high from him asking me to marry him, I hadn’t even thought about the actual wedding itself, nor was I in any hurry to, but Alexa was stressing me out.
“Lex, we haven’t discussed any of that. We haven’t picked a date, talked about a location. We haven’t even told Lucy and Piper yet.”
“What the hell are you guys waiting for?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. We wanted to tell them together, and Brody told Fred he’d help him organize a bunch of stuff in the garage today.”
“You two are the weirdest people I know,” she accused playfully.
“Why?”
“Maybe not both of you, but you for sure.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“Why?” I shrieked.
“Most women have been planning their weddings since they were five. You’re the exception. I doubt you’ve ever really thought about your dream wedding.” She stared right at me, waiting for an answer.
I looked down at the island and tried hard to remember a time I’d given serious thought to my wedding, but I couldn’t find one. “You’re right.” My glance lifted back to hers. “At one point in time, years ago, I had hoped to marry Zach, but I always figured with our money situation it would be a courthouse thing. Once we split, I never really thought about it again.”
“Well, I definitely don’t think the money thing is going to be an issue now.” She chuckled.
“No, but some big, fancy wedding isn’t really my thing either.” I cringed at the thought of anything too stuffy. “You know that.”
“Better than anyone.” She grinned, shaking her head. “What time is it?”
I looked down at my phone. “Ten fifteen.”
Her eyes bulged. “Crap! Gotta go. I have a doctor’s appointment.”
We slid off our stools and I followed her to the front door.
“Good news, though.” She turned to me once she got to the foyer. “You won’t have to worry about the flowers.”
A sigh of relief left my mouth in a hurry. “Thank God. I was worried about that.”
“You were?”
“Yeah. You’ll have the baby by then. I didn’t know if you’d want to do it or—”
“Shut up,” she interrupted. “Of course I’d still do your wedding flowers for you. This baby isn’t going to change our day-to-day life, Kacie.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Okay. We’ll see if you still say that once he’s here,” I replied confidently.
She narrowed her eyes at me but kept quiet.
“Or she.” I tried to stifle my laugh.
Alexa shot me a quick glare and disappeared out the door.
An hour later, the girls were playing out back with my mom and I was in and out of sleep on the couch in the living room when Brody sat down next to me, gently gliding his lips along my neck. His hot breath made all of my little hairs stand up. I cracked a smile as a small moan escaped my lips, but my eyes were too heavy to open.
“Wake up, Sleepyhead.”
Still smiling, I shook my head.
“No?” He laughed.
“Shhh. I’m sleeping.”
He gave my shoulders a small shake. “The girls are heading up the hill with your mom. Let’s tell ’em!”
I cracked one eye open and peeked at him. The fact that he was as excited as I was about our engagement was beyond adorable, but wait…
Sitting up quickly, I squinted at the bright sun coming through the French doors. “How are we gonna tell them? Are we just going to blurt it out? We haven’t talked about it.”
“Kacie, not everything has to be planned out.” He grinned as he tucked a piece of my wild hair behind my ear. “Let’s just see what happens.”
Before I could argue, the doors flew open and Lucy and Piper came into the room, arguing over whether the frog they’d just seen by the lake had yellow or blue eyes.
“Morning, Twinkies!” Brody smiled at them.
“Brody!” Lucy ran and jumped into his arms. Her tiny hands cupped his cheeks and she frowned at him. “Where were you this morning? We didn’t see you.”
He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. “I was waaaaaay in the back of the garage helping Fred organize a bunch of boxes and stuff.”
Piper’s eyes grew huge as she took a step forward. “Did you see a spider?”
“I did.” He laughed. “A few of them, actually.”
Piper shuddered. “I hate spiders.”
I reached out and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her in close so I could nuzzle my nose into her hair. She smelled like sunscreen and fresh grass. “I know you do, baby. But don’t worry. They’re way, way in the back of the garage.”
“I hate spiders too.” Brody smiled sweetly at her as he grazed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “But I promise to always kill all the spiders for you.”
Piper didn’t say anything, simply offering a shy smile in return.
“Hey, I have a question for you guys. What’s your absolute favorite Disney movie?” Brody looked back and forth between the two of them.
They looked at each other for a split second before blurting out, “Cinderella!”
“Mine too!” He looked at me and winked before returning his gaze to them. “You know how after the prince tried the slipper on Cinderella and it fit, they got married and lived happily ever after?”
The girls nodded, their eyes fixed on Brody’s face as they hung on every word he was saying.
“Well, last night I asked your mom to marry me.” His hand slid over and covered mine, squeezing it gently. “And guess what? She said yes!”
A tiny gasp sprang from Lucy, and Piper’s mouth dropped open, both of them looking stunned. Their big brown eyes looked back and forth between Brody and me until Lucy turned and threw her arms around Piper’s shoulders. They started hugging and jumping up and down excitedly.
I frowned and looked curiously at Brody. While I was happy they were so excited, their reaction was unexpected.
Then I learned why they were so thrilled.
“We get to live in a castle! We get to live in a castle!” they sang out as they jumped in circles, pumping their little arms up and down.
“Wait, wait, wait.” I held my hands up, trying to get their attention.
“Do they think—”
“Yes,” I interrupted Brody, quickly turning back to the girls. “Guys, guys, listen.”
They stopped jumping, but their smiles still clung to their faces.
I sighed, not wanting to crush their sweet little dreams, but unless Brody was the prince of some faraway country in Europe and forgot to tell me, we were most likely not gonna live in a castle.
“Ugh, I don’t know how to break it to you guys, but we aren’t gonna live in a castle,” I said quietly.
Their faces fell like someone had just given them a puppy and then quickly taken it away, or in this case a castle.
“But… in Cinderella they live in a castle,” Lucy whined.
“I know they do, baby, but we don’t have a castle,” I explained.
“Where are we gonna live, then?” Piper asked.
Crap.
“Well… um…” I looked at Brody, desperately searching his face for an answer. “We’ll probably live—”
“We’ll get a castle,” Brody blurted out, a huge grin spread across his face.
“Yay!” they cheered and started dancing again.
“Wait.” I reached out and tried to stop them, but they’d moved too far out into the room. They spun round and round as I turned toward Brody, staring blankly at him. “You know they’re six and they remember everything, right?”
“I know.” He confirmed proudly, his mischievous green eyes smiling at me.
“Brody, you just promised them a castle. Like… a castle!” I repeated incredulously, thinking he must not have heard me the first time.
“I know.” He laughed as he watched the girls celebrate. “But look at them. How could I not? Don’t worry. I’ll figure something out.” He reached over and patted my thigh.
Oddly enough, I believed him.