“I love you so much more, baby. Let’s go sit in a hot bath.”
He let go of me, and I collapsed onto the bed.
“I’ll just wait here while you take your fine naked ass in there to draw me a bath.”
“You got it, babe.”
***
The moment I slid down into the hot water, I let out a sigh and closed my eyes. Thank God this day is over. I loved our wedding, and it was more than I could’ve ever dreamed of. But fuck, I just want to go to Paris.
I felt Jeff get into the tub with me, so I moved up so he could slide in behind me.
I leaned back onto his chest, and now it was his turn to relax and a sigh.
“So, Paris, huh?”
He let out a chuckle. “Yep, we leave tomorrow afternoon. Ellie did me a huge favor by making sure your passport was up to date.”
“Well, she wasn’t very sneaky about it. She just came out and asked.”
Jeff started laughing. “Damn that girl. I really wish she would get pregnant soon,” Jeff said, his voice turning sad sounding.
I put my hands to my stomach, silently thanking God for our blessing.
“She will, baby. She just needs to relax and stop worrying about it. Let’s get back to Paris. What made you pick Paris? Est-ce parce que je parle si bien le Francais?”
I knew Jeff had no idea what I’d just said, so I let out a giggle.
“Yes,” Jeff said with a laugh.
I turned around and looked at him. “Do you know what I just asked?”
He smiled that big ol’ smile of his and nodded his head.
“Alright, smart ass, what did I say?”
“You asked if it was because you spoke French so well.”
“Je pense que le bébé est un garçon.”
Jeff sat up really quick. “How do you know it’s a boy?”
Oh my god! “I don’t! I said that I think it’s a boy. When did you learn French?”
Jeff leaned back and took me with him. I could feel his chest moving up and down, so he must have been laughing.
“The day Gunner and Ellie got married, I was giving him hell about being so damn romantic. I said something about taking Ellie to Paris when she got pregnant. I liked the idea of taking you to Paris because I remembered you and your parents talking about when you went to France before and how much you loved it there. When y’all started speaking in French at dinner, I wanted to know what you were saying, I bought Rosetta Stone for French that night, and I’ve been trying to learn the language since then.”
I sat up, turned around in the bathtub, and looked at him.
“Vous imbécile romantique.”
“I think you just called me romantic,” Jeff said with a wink.
“Close. I said you romantic fool! Je t’aime, Jeff.”
“Je t’aime, Ari.”
Turning to face him, I wrapped my legs around him in the bathtub and smiled.
“I’m ready, baby, if you think you can handle me,” Jeff said with a wink.
“Bring it on, Mr. Johnson, ‘cause Mrs. Johnson is one horny pregnant woman.”
“Fuck yeah!”
***
Jeff and I collapsed on the bed around 4 a.m. I couldn’t move, and I was starving. I rolled over and cuddled up next to him. He was already asleep, and the motion of his chest going up and down was relaxing me even more.
I thought back to our wedding day yesterday and the night that followed. I didn’t think I’d ever be as happy as I was right now.
Then I smiled when I thought about the baby.
That statement wasn’t true. This was just the beginning of many more happy moments.
Just the beginning.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
GUNNER
Late May
I walked around on the slab and took notes. Ellie hadn’t been feeling good for the last two weeks, so she took a trip into Austin with Ari for a change of scenery and some shopping. The house was coming along nicely. Now, we just needed it to stop raining so damn much, so the framing could get going.
I looked up and saw Josh driving up in the Jeep. What the hell? This is a nice surprise.
He jumped out of the Jeep and came walking up to me, reaching to shake hands.
“Dude, what a nice surprise.”
Josh smiled and slapped me on the back. “You couldn’t have picked a better spot on the ranch to build y’all’s house. Nicely done, bro.”
I smiled as I looked around. Our tree, the same tree where it’d all started, was going to be in the back yard of our new house.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want it to be anywhere else. My dad is pushing the hell out of me to get this house done. He’s tired of living with Gramps and Grams. To be honest, I think that’s why they are traveling so much.” I said with a laugh.
“Where are they now?”
“Las Vegas!” I said with a chuckle.
My drill instructor father had turned into a carefree wild and crazy man ever since his heart attack last year.
“What brings you out here?” I asked.
“Jeff, needed some help taking care of some things, and I think a few of those mares are ready to pop. With Ari so close to the due date, he just wanted an extra hand around. I knew about a month ago, so I stopped taking in new orders, and my dad is covering for me. I sure needed the break from work.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You know Jeff is going to work your ass to the bone, and I might call on you as well.”
“Bring it, dude. The more work the better. You know I love it out here, and this shit is relaxing for me. Besides, I needed out of the city. If it wasn’t for Lynda, I think I would move out this way. I love Fredericksburg. I really think I could easily move the business out there and still be close enough to Austin to do work there.”
“Damn, dude, that would be awesome to have you closer.”
“Yeah, if only Lynda wanted the same thing I wanted, I’d be set.”
“How are things with y’all?”
Josh shrugged his shoulders.
“Have you seen Heather since Ari and Jeff’s wedding?” I asked.
“No, I heard some shit though that bothered me.”
Fuck. I knew where he was going with this. Ellie and Ari had tried to talk to Heather, but they couldn’t seem to get through to her. Heather had turned to going out and partying all the time, so much that even Amanda was worried about it.
“What did you hear?”
“Just that she’s been partying a lot. Do you remember Smitty from UT?”
“Yeah, I remember Smitty.”
“He said she goes out every weekend. Do you know if any of that’s true?”
“I hate to say this, but yeah, Ellie and Ari have been really worried about her. She seems to go after her school shit hard all week, and then ever Friday and Saturday night, she goes out and drinks with a few friends from school. When Ellie tried to talk to her about it, she said it’s the only way she could forget for a while.”
“Forget what?”
“Dude, that’s the million dollar question.”
Just then, I heard my truck driving up. I smiled when I saw Ellie jump out.
She ran over and hugged Josh. “It’s so great to see you.”
“Ellie, you look beautiful. Country air seems to agree with you rather well,” Josh said as he spun Ellie around.
“Josh, you can’t stay away for so long like that.”
“Josh is talking about moving out toward Fredericksburg maybe.”
“No kidding. Heather just interviewed with the elementary school out there. Did you know that?”
Josh looked surprised as shit.
“Um, no, I had no idea. I haven’t talked to or seen her since the wedding. Last I knew, she was going to interview with Mason.”
“Yep, she did, but she hasn’t heard back from them yet. She’ll be graduating this summer, so we plan on having a big party for her. You’ll come, right?”
“Of course, you can count on me being there. Alright, y’all, I’m gonna let ya go. I’m gonna head on back up to the house and say good-bye to Garrett and Emma. I’m sure Jeff has a laundry list of shit for me to do. Maybe we can all head out to dinner tonight?”