At Peace (86 page)

His head stopped its descent and he said,
“Right here, Vi.”

“I liked that but what I have to say right
now needs to be between us.”

That tender look left his face and his eyes
locked with mine.

“What?”

“Not that the girls can’t know…”

“What?”

“
Soon…
ish
,” I went on.

“
Buddy,
what?
”

“
We just gotta figure out... um
–”

“
Vi…” he was getting impatient, I could
tell. He always was when he had to repeat himself which,
unfortunately for Joe who lived in a house with three women, was
often.

“
I’m pregnant.” I blurted and Joe’s entire
frame went solid.

Then he whispered, “What?”

“
I know it’s soon. It seems my body’s
incapable of waiting to get pregnant until
after
I’ve said any marriage vows but I missed a couple
of pills and I thought I caught up but –”

“Vi –”

“I guess I didn’t.”

“Buddy –”

“And this is a lot. I know. The whole mess
and then the next mess and then more mess and now this vacation and
then you asking me to marry you and now this. The girls, I don’t
know –”

“Baby –”

“I’m worried. Only so much they can take.
Keira’s been the baby since –”

“Vi. Shut it.”

I shut it and stared at him.

“How pregnant are you?” Joe asked.

“How pregnant can you be?” I answered
nervously, not certain about his question and I saw his mouth get
tight.

“How many months, Vi?” he continued.

“Eleven weeks,” I answered and his sky blue
eyes went unfocused.

“Nearly passed it,” he muttered and I
stared.

“Passed what?” I whispered as the three month
mark was the mark you couldn’t cross for an abortion and I thought
he might be thinking about that. If he was, I would be shocked and
it would hurt a lot, too much and furthermore, I couldn’t do that.
I thought he wanted a baby and I thought he’d be happy and I wanted
a baby if it was our baby and it was. I figured maybe he wouldn’t
want it this soon but I thought he’d still be happy.

Though it was too soon. We still hadn’t
settled. He’d just proposed the night before.

Well, thinking about it, he seemed pretty
settled and the girls seemed okay with everything but it was all
still relatively new, living life as us without the cloud of Daniel
Hart and the heaviness of mourning shrouding our lives.

“Passed the three month mark,” Joe answered.
I thought his answer followed my train of thought and bit my
lip.

“Yeah,” I said and his hand pressed gently
into my belly as his eyes went there.

“
We’ll wait.” His voice was soft and his
eyes were still at my stomach.

“For what?” I asked and his gaze came back to
my face.

“You two. To get passed the three month mark.
We’ll wait until we know it’s all good with you and the baby then
we’ll tell the girls.”

I felt a shimmer of electricity against my
skin and I whispered, “Joe.”

If I meant to say more I couldn’t have.
Something shifted into his eyes and stayed there. Something
peaceful and warm and so beautiful, looking at it, I couldn’t
breathe.

“Crash,” Joe whispered back and I
blinked.

“What?”

“That’s the sound of my side of the scales,
buddy,” Joe said and my hand left his at my stomach and went to his
scarred cheek.

“Joe,” I whispered again.

“Kid’ll be beautiful,” Joe whispered
back.

“Joe,” I repeated.

His hand pressed in at my belly again, a
slight movement, a sweet one. “Gorgeous,” he murmured.

“Aren’t you gonna kiss me?” I asked.

“Yep,” Joe answered but didn’t move.

“Well?” I prompted and Joe grinned.

Then he moved but he didn’t move toward my
mouth. His hand slid up the tee I was wearing and his head moved to
my belly. His arm wrapped around my hip and I watched his dark head
bend and felt his nose slide along my skin and then his lips rested
there.

That’s when I felt the tears slide out the
sides of my eyes.

“You happy, baby?” I whispered my question
and his arm at my hip convulsed but his head came up and he looked
at me.

“Yeah,” he replied, the word was heavy and it
was thick.

Both my hands went to his face and I smiled
through my tears.

“Good.”

His head bent again and with my hands still
at his cheeks he kissed my belly once more. Then he moved up and
rolled, his arm at my hip taking me with him so I was on top. One
of his hands slid into my hair and the other one slid into my
panties and over my ass.

“Mawdy! Joe!” Kate shouted, Joe’s hands
stilled and my head came up but Joe’s eyes went over my shoulder to
point in the direction of the door he couldn’t see. “Taylor’s got
boogie boards but the water’s cold and he says we need wetsuits. He
says there’s a surf place in town where we can get them. He’s gonna
take us there. Is that cool?”

“
How much do wetsuits cost?” I shouted back
and Joe’s hand tensed on my ass and I knew he didn’t care how much
wetsuits cost firstly because he tended to get the girls anything
they wanted even after we’d had several conversations about
him
not
doing this
(conversations he totally ignored) and secondly because them going
to town, which was a twenty minute drive away, meant we’d have some
serious alone time.

“Don’t know!” Kate shouted back.

“
Ask Taylor,” Joe ordered, “my wallet’s on
the kitchen counter. Grab the cash you’ll need.”

“Cool!” Kate shouted.

“Joe!” I hissed, looking down at him.

“Baby,” Joe grinned, smiling up at me.

“
Oh!” Kate kept shouting. “I sussed it this
morning! Taylor’s got the hots for Keirry. Just so you know. I’m
Little Miss Matchmaker!” she declared proudly.

At these words Joe got tense and then he
knifed to sitting, me astride him. His eyes were pointed at the
door and they were narrowed. One look at him and I knew that he
hadn’t quite cottoned onto the beach frolicking and teenaged
flirting likely because Keira was Joe’s little helper and even
though logically he knew she was a teenage girl with a gorgeous
face, fantastic hair and a body built for a bikini, illogically he
couldn’t conceive of these same things and couldn’t abide a boy-man
named Taylor who lived next door acting on liking them.

“Joe,” I murmured as we heard the door
slam.

Suddenly Joe shouted, “Kate!”

I jumped at his shout but he set me aside and
knifed out of bed at the same time he grabbed his jeans from the
floor.

“Joe, Keira’s fifteen,” I reminded him as he
pulled up his jeans.

Joe ignored me, stalked to the door buttoning
his jeans and repeated, “Kate!”

“Joe!” I yelled but he was gone.

That’s when I realized, even with a new baby,
Keira wouldn’t stop being one, fifteen years old, thirty or a
hundred and five.

And that’s when I fell to my side, curled my
knees into my belly and burst out laughing.

I stopped laughing and smelled Joe’s hair on
the pillow, his scent all around me and the bright sun shone down
on our bed through the many windows. Then I heard Joe’s indistinct
deep voice and Kate and Keira’s not indistinct giggles.

I put my hand to my belly and tilted my chin
down to look at it.

“Crash,” I whispered to Joe and my unborn
child.

Our baby didn’t reply but that was okay. I
figured, in our family, she’d one day learn the way to make her
opinion known.

* * * * *

Five minutes later Joe came back and he told
me the girls were gone with his cash, his ATM card and his PIN
number.

Before I could protest this, he also told me
that Taylor had been given the Joe Talk and knew if he fucked
around in his Jeep or did anything else to piss Joe off, there
would be badass-alpha-male-father-figure retribution (this was not
Joe’s description, it was mine).

Before I could protest
this
, he took off his jeans and rejoined me in
bed.

Then I found that
being pregnant had the added bonus of me
getting the top with my favorite part of Joe underneath me between
my legs. Then I found that being pregnant had the further bonus of
inspiring Joe to break his record of giving me as many orgasms in
as many positions as he could perform.

Which was to say a lot.

A lot later, after I had a nap and the girls
had come back. After they boogie boarded while Joe alternately
walked into the kitchen to feel me up and walked onto the deck to
scowl at Taylor and I putzed around in the kitchen making Christmas
cookies that felt weird to make with the sun shining and me wearing
shorts (but I didn’t mind). After all of us eating Joe’s delicious
grilled halibut while sitting out on the somewhat windy deck. After
Kate retired to her and Keira’s room to text Dane and listen to her
MP3 player and Keira retired to a moonlit stroll on the beach with
her Christmas Vacation new boyfriend, I walked out on the deck in a
cardigan and jeans and stared at the dark sea.

Joe walked up behind me and one of his arms
closed around my chest, the other one around my belly and I felt
his lips touch my neck.

“Baby,” I whispered.

“Yeah,” he said in my ear.

“Are we lucky?” I asked and his arms
tightened.

“Nope,” he answered.

“Nope?” I asked, surprised.

“We earned this, Vi.”

“Yeah,” I whispered and settled back into my
man.

Like always, Joe was right.

* * * * *

It was morning, the restaurant quiet, Theresa
Bianchi the only one there.

She roamed the floor, moving through the
hostess station, by the bar then winding her way through the
tables, passing the booths, all the while her eyes on the
walls.

Even though she scanned the walls just in
case a different inspiration struck, she knew before she even got
there where it was going to go.

She went to the booth Cal, Vi and the girls
sat at that first night they came to the Pizzeria.

Theresa slid in and set down on the table the
hammer and nail she was holding as well as the tape measure, level,
pencil and frame. Carefully, she lifted the photo of thirteen year
old Vinnie Junior and Cal off the wall and then pulled out its
nail. She measured, she deduced, she used the level, she used the
pencil, she hammered in the nails then she hung the frames.

Vinnie Junior and Cal back over the booth
they always sat at when Vinnie was alive, their favorite since
forever.

And the booth that Bella always led Cal and
Vi to when they were up with the girls – if it was free.

Next to the old picture was the new. Another
eight by ten. Another black and white. Katy and Keirry standing
front and center by the bar, both wearing tomato sauce stained
white aprons, both holding forth a big pizza pie that Benny had
taught them to make. To their back right Benny and Vinnie Senior
stood. Vinnie’s eyes were on Keira and his mouth was open, saying
something that made both girls laugh. Benny was looking to his
right where Cal and Vi stood.

Vi had her head to Cal’s shoulder and her arm
around his waist but she was laughing into the camera or, more
accurately, at Theresa behind the camera. Cal had one arm around
her shoulders and the other arm was curled around Angie, holding
his baby daughter to his chest. But his eyes were pointed at
Benny.

Benny and Cal were smiling at each other,
men’s smiles, secret smiles.

Theresa stared at the picture thinking her
boys looked handsome.

And everyone looked happy.

She picked up the hammer, level and tape
measure and, grinning, she walked away.

####

About the Author

Kristen Ashley lives in the beautiful West
Country of England with her husband and her cat. She came to
England by way of Denver, where she lived for twelve years, but she
grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana. Her family and friends are loopy
(to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen’s Mom moved her and her brother and
sister in with their grandparents when she was six. Her
grandparents had a daughter much younger than her Mom so they all
lived together on a very small farm in a small farm town in the
heartland. She grew up with Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO
Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).
Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and
love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting
better.

Discover other Titles by Kristen
Ashley
at
Smashwords

Rock Chick Series:

Rock Chick

Rock Chick Rescue

Rock Chick Redemption

Rock Chick Renegade

Rock Chick Revenge

The ‘Burg Series:

For You

The Colorado Mountain Series:

The Gamble

Sweet Dreams

Other Titles by Kristen Ashley:

Penmort Castle

Three Wishes

Connect with Kristen Online:

Official Website:
www.kristenashley.net

Kristen’s Blog:
www.kristenashley.net/menu/blog.html

Kristen’s Facebook Page

Cover Art by Maxine Hayes,
Contact:
[email protected]