Page 97 of Between Brothers

Chapter 43

Blue

We had to apply for a marriage license and apparently that shit took a little more time than we wanted, but that was okay. It gave the girls and yeah, even the guys, enough time to really plan the surprise reception. It also gave Everett the time to pull strings and get in touch with the one major concession that I wanted.

We were offering the three man band a lot of money to play at our reception. Yeah, the guys from the Harvest Festival and our first solo date. I wanted to remind my little one of all the good things about our relationship. I wanted her to be happy and I figured that would do it.

We were out back of the club, chillin’ around the fire pit. Hayley was laying on her side along the bench, head on the top of my thigh, staring into the flames. I’d been prepared this time, had picked up a light, fuzzy and cuddly throw from a local discount store to keep her and the baby warm.

“What about, Ezekiel?” Thirteen asked and Hayley laughed.

We were trying to come up with a boy’s name and a girl’s name for the baby and it’d sort of devolved into the worst names ever to name your baby.

“That one’s actually not bad,” I said and Thirteen looked at me from across the fire where he and Dani lounged on the hanging bench opposite of ours.

“Really?”

“I knew a Zeke once,” I told them. “He was a good kid… kept me out of trouble when we were both coming up together. My dad, he was a drunk. Zeke and his family would give me a place to crash when my dad ran afoul of the bottle.”

“Where is he now?” Hayley asked, voice a little far away as she was pretty much hypnotized by the flames.

“Died. Joined a gang, took a bullet when we were fourteen that paralyzed him, took eight more years but the bullet migrated and eventually finished the job.”

“Damn,” Reaver said and shook his head. Hayden looked grim in his lap, and he looked up at her. “No worries, Doll, I don’t have any hardware still floating around like that.”

She sniffed and her eyes welled up and she nodded, “I know.”

Reaver sighed and I echoed the sentiment… It’d been a real long time, fuck, pushing three years since he’d been shot and Hayden still hadn’t let it go. I didn’t think she ever would.

“What about Gertrude, or Eunice?” Data asked and there was a bunch of aww’s and hell no’s.

“Baby, not old lady!” I laughed.

“What? Those old ladies were babies once.”

“You hear about that celebrity that named her kid Audio Science?”

“No!” Hayley cried, “Absolutely not naming my kid, boy or girl, something that doesn’t even sound like a name.”

“I always thought Sailor would be a cute name for a little girl,” Hayden said and Reaver laughed.

Hayden gave him a withering look and he said, “Oh, shit! You were serious,” which made the rest of us laugh, even Hayden.

“You’re such an asshole sometimes,” she said between giggles.

“Just don’t name her ‘Tulip’ or some other flower name that’s just fucking stupid.” Trigger said.

“Flower names aren’t stupid!” Sunshine argued.

“Well yeah, not a flower name like ‘Rose’ but could you imagine calling your kid Tulip, or Hyacinth or some shit?”

“Sounds like a dog’s name.”

More laughter. Hayley rolled her head to look up at me and I looked down into her beautiful face. She rolled her eyes and I grinned, bending at the most awkward angle ever to peck her on the tip of her nose.

“Why does this have to be so hard?” she complained.

“You should do what Shelly did,” Ghost called walking up.

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