Love Unexpected (Navy Love Series Book 2) (21 page)

“They are pretty awesome.”

Our conversation is interrupted when I see the flash of a camera go off. Marshall is standing across the room with shit-eating grin.

“Maybe you two will be next,” He lifts his eyebrows to the sleeping babies in our arms.

“Let’s not rush anything, okay? Focus on the now,” I rush out.

I don’t want anything to scare Charlie into thinking babies or marriage or any of that is what I’m wanting to go to right now.

Everyone carries on with other conversations, but I keep my focus on Madison for a few more seconds. When I think the coast is clear, I sneak a glance at Charlie, only to be surprised by him staring back at me with an intense look in his eyes.

“What?” I whisper.

“Nothing.” He shakes his head, clearing the look from his face and places his hand on the nape of my neck, guiding me toward him where he proudly kisses me in this hospital room full of our friends and family.

“What was that for?” I say against his lips.

“Just because I can,” he murmurs back.

He pulls away from me and peeks down at Madison who’s waking up and starting to squirm.

I move my attention from the gorgeous man that is my boyfriend and see that my sister is sitting in her hospital bed watching us with a few stray tears rolling down her cheeks.

“You okay?” I mouth at her.

She wipes her eyes and nods, mouthing back the word
hormones
, with an eye roll.

Madison’s small cry begins echoing through the room. And Hunter, already the doting father, is by my side in a heartbeat carefully lifting her out of my arms and carrying her to the clear, plastic, infant bed for a diaper change.

“You want to hold Parker now?” Charlie asks. I quickly nod, excited to meet this handsome little guy as he places him in my arms.

He’s fast asleep, but that doesn’t take away from the beauty I see in him. I unwrap his blanket enough to get a good look at his body. The tiny little thing.

“How perfect is he?”

Charlie wraps his arm around my back and pulls Parker and me in close to his side.

“He is pretty perfect.”

It isn’t long before Parker is wailing his little bitty lungs out in hunger, so I perform a quick diaper change and hand him over to his waiting mom.

Two ounces of formula later, he’s in his crib and out like a light. Glancing at Tess, I see that she is fading as well. The adrenaline from everything must be wearing off now. Hunter is already napping in the small recliner with a snoozing Sawyer draped across his chest.

Jeremy and Marshall stepped out to get food for everyone and to grab the hospital bags that were left home in the rush of the night.

Seeing one grown man asleep, three snoozing little ones, and one exhausted momma, it looks like the perfect time for Charlie and me to leave.

I walk over to Tess and place a kiss to her temple. “We’re gonna head out, T. Get some rest, and call me if you need anything.”

“No.” Her eyes pop open. “Stay. Talk with me. We haven’t had any girl time lately.”

“Tess, you’re exhausted, and we couldn’t have girl time anyway. What about Charlie?”

She juts out her chin in the direction behind me, “You mean your man over there? The one who’s practically drooling while he’s passed out in a chair?”

I look back to see that I was wrong in my counting a few minutes ago. It seems there are two grown men sleeping and snoring in this room, along with all the littles. The exhaustion must have hit Charlie quickly. I watch him for a second and see his head bobbing back and forth where he’s not quite asleep yet.

Both of us snicker.

“You need to get some sleep; I’ll be back later today. And I obviously need to take him to bed.”

“Alright, sis, olive you.”

“Olive you too, T.”

Reed

Tegan drove us back to her apartment. It seems the roles have reversed now. Leaving Hunter’s house, it was Tegan who was worn out. Apparently meeting her niece and nephew has caused a second wind and pulled my fatigue out even more than before.

We both collapse on the couch as soon as we walk in the door, me sitting with my head leaned back along the back of the couch, her lying with her head in my lap.

“Thank you for going with me,” she quietly states.

I bring my head forward to look down at her and give her a small smile.

“I wouldn't have not gone, babe. You're my woman, and you needed me there, but also Hunter and Tess are my friends. I wanted to be there to support them as well.” I trace my thumb along her jawline. “But I mainly went for you. I’ll go anywhere or do anything to support you Tegan. Fuck, I don't know what it is about you, but I don't ever want to disappoint you, never again. I made that mistake once, and I had to suffer for four months without you.”

I had no intentions of confessing all of this. It's the fatigue, it's causing me to have word vomit. I need to shut the hell up before I confess way more than I'm ready to.

“I'm exhausted, you wanna go take a nap?” I check the time on my phone, it's pushing ten in the morning.

“That sounds amazing.”

We both fall into bed and have what I consider one of the best naps of my entire life.

It’s been two weeks since the twins were born. Two weeks of all of us fussing over these two tiny little things. Two weeks of all of my woman’s attention and free time being spent at her sister’s house, again. It’s like the wedding planning all over again.

The only plus to her attention being elsewhere is I've been working longer hours, getting some of our birds ready to ship out on another deployment.

Work hasn't been the same since Tess left, but at least I still have Jo and J.C. to hang out with when they aren't arguing or giving each other the silent treatment. With this upcoming deployment, I know at least one of us will have to go out on this one. I can only hope it isn't me.

I know that sounds really shitty, but I'm alright with that. I don't give a fuck, honestly; my priority right now is Tegan and our relationship, not another deployment. And I think it might do those two some good to get a break from each other.

Everyone is still in the dark with what exactly is happening, or
has
happened, or
will
happen with them. All we know is what we’ve speculated from their cryptic behavior.

We won't know who is going until after the Christmas holiday. That is, unless one of us decides to volunteer.

I got a random text today from Hunter asking if I could meet him for coffee at the Dunkin’ Donuts down the street from the base entrance. I let the guys know I’m stepping out for a lunch break and climb into my truck.

Worry starts to nag at me; I don’t know why he’d need to meet with me. The last time it wasn’t a great meet-up when he texted me.

I park, walk in, and go ahead and order my coffee and one of their breakfast sandwiches. I don’t care what time of day it is, a Dunkin’ Donut sandwich is always a good idea.

His Jeep pulls into the parking lot and parks next to my truck. He climbs out and proceeds to pull Sawyer from the back seat. They walk in and he nods in my direction. Sawyer sees me and sprints as fast as her little legs will go across the small dining room to me.

“Hey, sweet girl. I didn’t know your dad was bringing with today.”

“He told me he was comin’ ta see you. I thought Teevan was gonna be hewre too.” She looks around searching for her aunt.

“Oh no, I’m sorry, babe, I was at work, and Tegan is, too.”

She climbs up in the booth beside me. “It’s otay.”

Hunter slides into the seat across from us.

“What’s up, man?”

“Hey, man. Come here Sawyer, sit by me and you can play on my phone.”

She quickly hops down from my side of the booth and plants herself beside her dad. He pulls a set of headphones and his phone out of his jacket pocket, setting it all up for her. Once she’s zoned into something on the phone, he brings his attention back to me.

“Sorry, I know this was last minute. I just wanted to talk.” He nods toward his daughter. “Couldn’t get away without this one.”

“No big deal. What’s up? What’d you want to talk about?”

“I haven’t had a chance to thank you to start off with.” I look at him confused. “I know you didn’t have to come to the hospital, and honestly, after the way Tessa and I have shunned you since we saw that kiss at the wedding, I’m surprised you did come. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t.”

“Hunter, dude. I know you guys didn’t approve before the wedding ever happened, and I know I went about the entire Tegan situation wrong. But I still would have been there, even if Tegan and I weren’t together, I would have been there for that. You two are some of my best friends, you especially.”

He slowly nods his head taking in everything I’m saying.

“The Tegan situation is the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

Mentally, I roll my eyes, I really hope he isn’t here to talk me out of being with his sister-in-law, because that isn’t happening.

“I know it probably doesn’t matter to you, but I just wanted to say I’m proud of you for standing your ground and being honest with Tess and me. I truly hope the best for you guys.”

“Seriously?” I ask, dumbfounded.

“Yeah, seriously. I thought you two were just fucking around back in the summer. I didn’t know you actually cared about her.”

I shrug my shoulders. No matter how many times I claim it was just sex at the beginning, I know that’s a lie.

A lie that I hate that I allowed myself to believe for so long. A lie that was the cause of four months of both of us being miserable.

“Honestly, man, that’s what I wanted originally. I was too afraid I wouldn’t measure up to give her anything more, but I think even back then—no, I know even back then I was already falling for her.”

“So you were serious at Thanksgiving? You’re in love with her?”

“Fuck yeah I am. I just gotta figure out how to tell her now.”

“Want some advice on that?”

I shrug.
What can it hurt to hear what he has to say?

“Sure.”

“Just say it, Reed. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture or anything like that.”

“I know, but I want it to be for her.”

Hunter leans back in the seat and smiles.

“You’re so fuckin’ head over heels, aren’t you?”

I meet his smile with one of my own.

“Fuck, man.” I look at my phone. “I’ve gotta get back to work.”

We both start to collect all of our trash and Hunter gets Sawyer’s attention to move out of the booth.

“Alright, man.” He claps a hand on my back. “I guess I’ll see you later then.”

“Thanks for this, Hunter. I appreciate it.”

He nods as I walk away and head back to work.

Christmas is less than two weeks away, followed by our trip to Michigan. I don’t know which I’m more nervous about: giving Tegan her gift or introducing her to my parents.