“Shit, Mom. You’re going to have to teach Keegan how to make these chocolate bars. They are delicious.” Camden strutted into the room, not realizing the battle that was ensuing. He paused and looked around the room. “What the fuck did I miss in here?”
And just like that I snapped. I screeched and dove at Dodger over the table. There were some remaining dishes that were in my way that I heard crashing to the ground. Dodger backed up and continued to plead with me to let him talk to me privately and it would all make sense. It fell on deaf ears. I wanted to hear nothing from him. What he did was a low blow. Too low for my mind to wrap around or accept.
As quickly as I was crawling across the table, I was hoisted in the air and being tightly held against a warm hard chest.
“Easy.” Camden’s voice tried to soothe.
“When your brother lets me go, I’m going to kill you.”
Dodger had the audacity to roll his eyes.
“You know what, Macie? Fine. We are going to talk about it in front of everyone.” He walked around the table and stood in front of me. “You want to hit me after I talk, whatever. I’ll take it.” He bent a little and looked me in the eyes. “I wanted that house just as much as you did. From the moment you told me to turn and really look at the house objectively, I saw it too. I saw our future there. I saw you. I saw me coming home to you every night, or you coming home and kicking your feet up on my lap so I could rub them. I saw you being my wife and us cooking meals together. I saw our things that you’d strategically place because you’re secretly a perfectionist and you’d move them over and over until they were just right. I saw us raising this baby in a happy home. I saw the day we brought him or her home from the hospital, and long nights. I saw it all and I want everything. Ever little ounce of crazy, and fun, and fights. I wanted it and I wanted it in that house.”
I shook my head and wiped my eyes. “But you bought it even though I was already doing that. Why?”
He dropped his head, incapable of showing me his hurt. “Because you bought that house, it and everything in it would have been yours. Just yours. You haven’t let me in yet, Mace. And if you got a place for you and the baby all by yourself, you’d take that independence and run away with it and I’d be left behind still begging for the crumbs you give me. If I bought it, I would make sure that it was something for the three of us.”
Holy shit. When he put it that way, I understood. And he was right. I force my independence. I would have constantly thrown in his face that the house was mine and he had no right to it. I could pick and choose when I’d allow him in. I would still be living with keeping one of Dodger’s feet outside the door.
I wiggled a little. Camden squeezed. I glanced back at him and gave him a look that said, it was okay. I wasn’t going to hurt his brother. He loosened his arms and I stepped away from him, and into Dodger. I hated seeing him look so broken. That maybe I’d been cruel versus hard to get.
I placed my fingers under his chin. “So it’s ours?” I asked him hopefully. “We have a house?” Placing the emphasis on the “we.”
Dodger tilted forward and put his forehead against mine. “We do.”
I quietly laughed and felt a few more tears fall from my cheeks. “Oh man, I have a ton of furniture to buy.”
His beautiful crooked smile tipped up since the argument started and it was a relief to see it. “One room at a time, Mace.”
He kissed my forehead and I sighed in contentment. Being in Macie/Dodger world, I completely disregarded the fact that we’d had an audience the entire time. That was until someone cleared their throat. We pulled away from each other to look and see that Donna was bawling happy tears, and she was holding Paul’s hand.
“A baby?” she asked, almost scared the words would make it disappear.
Dodger shrugged bashfully. “Huh, yeah.” His hand rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry you found out this way. We were going to tell you today, just not like this.”
A loud gleeful scream came from Donna’s mouth, and I was pulled into a crushing hug by Paul. Donna was holding Dodger and crying like a baby speaking words that made no sense. I couldn’t help the laugh that came from my throat. Jesus, this family was crazy. Would have been nice to have had the same reaction from my family, but it occurred to me, that it was okay. This was my family. The Brooks opened their hearts and home to me and I’ve been a part of them for a couple of years now.
Donna slapped at Paul to move. She embraced me warmly.
“I’m planning the baby shower,” she stated firmly.
“No problem.”
“Excuse me!” Keegan interrupted. “I’m doing that planning with you.”
Donna nodded. “Absolutely! It will be the baby shower of all baby showers.”
I pulled back. “Don’t go overboard, ladies. It’s really not a big deal.”
Paul scoffed. “Do you know who you’re talking to? Everything with this woman is a big deal.”
“You hush.” Her southern twang scolded.
She hugged me again then looked at me like she was seeing me through new eyes. It was a little awkward and uncomfortable, but I understood. I don’t know why I would have expected anything less from Donna and Paul. They would be thrilled to be grandparents no matter how it happened. They loved kids.
“You doing okay? Morning sickness and all that under control? Have you seen the doctor? How far along are you?”
“Mom, slow down with the questions.” Dodger grinned at Donna.
“I don’t believe I was asking you, mister.”
He rolled his eyes. “Just oblige the crazy lady,” he said to me.
“Morning sickness has been a real pain in the butt. I couldn’t keep anything down except popsicles. I’m about twelve weeks, and we just saw the doctor. So far so good.”
She clapped her hands like she couldn’t contain herself.
“Not to sound insensitive or anything but can we talk about something else that’s equally cool and fun?” Camden made the most comical face.
“What’s that?” Dodger asked.
“Baseball, dipshit. Congrats and all that, I’ve already expressed my happiness, but I really don’t want to hear about Macie’s puking schedule.”
“You really are an ass sometimes,” Keegan grumbled.
“Yep. And if you’re a good girl, I’ll let you touch my ass later.” He slapped her butt as she walked past him. She let out a yelp.
Donna clucked her tongue at her son’s crude behavior. The banter always made me smile.
“We can play, but no baseball for you, Missy.” Paul pointed at me.
“Oh my lanta, it’s not like I’m crippled. I’m pregnant.”