Page 45 of Between Brothers

“Not at all, I’ll follow you back to the club on the bike?”

I nodded and went to my dad, putting a hand on his forearm and raising on tiptoe. He bent so I could kiss him on the cheek and grudgingly said, “Should have brought him around sooner to meet me.”

“Dad!” I scoffed. “It’s only been a few weeks!”

“Right, well, it was nice to meet you Joseph. You take care of my little girl.”

“Likewise, sir, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I felt like I’d missed something, like some sort of esoteric caveman conversation had happened in the twenty minutes I’d been away to shower and dress. I rolled my eyes but Blue followed me back to my car and insisted on opening up the door for me, handing me the keys he’d hung onto. I adjusted the seat and mirrors while he fired up his motorcycle and put on his helmet and protective eyewear.

He followed me back to the club and when we got there, had me park over with a bunch of other cars, pointing where he needed me to go. I pulled in and he backed his motorcycle into line with the rest in front of the club.

He met me half way across the lot with Cell at his side. Kissing me quickly, he said “Back in a few hours.”

Cell leaned down and kissed me much the same and winked at me. “Go on inside where it’s warm.”

I smiled at them and called lightly, “Be careful,” before I went inside.

“Oh my god, she’s here! Hayley!” Melody called and it was all excitement. I laughed and smiled as she came running up and hugged me tight, dragging me along to the circle of women sitting around in chairs that had been moved to make one in front of the air hockey table against the wall.

The toddlers and babies played on blankets on the floor, or napped and I was a bit taken aback when Mel pressed a glass of wine into my hand.

“It’s eleven o’clock in the morning!” I cried.

“It’s noon somewhere, and for those of you that can drink, please do!” Everett said.

I looked across at Shelly who held her new baby boy and said, “And you?”

She shook her head and wrinkled her nose, “Pregnant again.”

“What!?” You just had him!

“Big families require commitment, a lot of fucking, and sometimes getting pregnant back to back,” she said but she glowed with happiness.

“Aww, he’s so beautiful,” I said when she leaned forward so I could see him. Eldritch James Pauley was barely ten weeks old.

“My doctor told me to wait at least eighteen months before getting pregnant again,” Mandy said and Shelly sighed.

“Believe me, I wanted to, this wasn’t planned at all. Neither was Eldritch,” Shelly said with a gusty sigh.

“At least you waited longer between Harmony and Eldritch,” Everett said.

“That was a birth control failure, this was a total we didn’t use any because we were too drunk failure…” Shelly looked up at me and said, “Harmony had some kind of allergy to breastmilk and was a formula baby. We went straight formula with Eldritch, we didn’t want to risk it, so please don’t think I was drinking and breastfeeding!”

I shook my head and took a sip of the blush in my glass and asked, “Why would that be any of my business?”

“Oh, girl!” Everett said, rolling her eyes, “Women are so out of bounds when you’re pregnant or have a new born. Always getting into your business trying to touch your stomach – ”

“Always with the unsolicited advice,” Mandy agreed. “I was once standing in the aisle comparing diapers and a woman walked up and told me that I was basically doing it wrong by even considering store-bought diapers. That I should be using cloth and a laundry service.”

“I remember that! That was with Eden, wasn’t it?” Shelly asked.

“Yes!”

I listened politely and waited for the inevitable question of when I was planning on having kids, but surprisingly it never came. They traded funny and sometimes horrifying stories of people’s rudeness and laughed about much of it, but not one asked about it.

Hayden and Ashton both expressed their desire for children, though while Hayden had pretty much come to grips with not having any children of her own and just having her stepson Connor to dote on, Ashton still seemed deeply saddened by the prospect of never having one of her own.

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