Page 131 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

He’sup?

Blake popped his head out of the den. “I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. Meet my first official employee of Blake Parker Financial.Surprise!” Then he popped back into the den leaving me dumbfounded. And then, because this was the new me for the time being, I burst into tears.

By the end of the party, my baby’s new nursery was hooked up, my real baby had to make room for my food baby, and my head hurt fromallof the crying. Our designer, who’d also been invited, cried tears of joy over each new piece of furniture right along with me. Ant helped Blake load the truck they’d rented to haul our gifts to the new house. They’d weathered the shower in Ant’s den watching some game.

The Vermont house sold faster than ajackrabbit in a fuckin’ contest, as Murielle would say, madding us bank off of the sale. We moved it to an early retirement fund for my mom and Carl so they could travel. Carl refused to take money from us outright—we tried.

We moved into our new Michigan house three weeks before the big event. I’d woken up in a mood. Everything felt off. I swelled more than I thought seemed normal.

“Blake,” I called as I fell backward onto the bed, too dizzy to stand. He walked into our room.

“What—” He rushed to my side, dropping down next to me. “What’s wrong? Baby, you look off.”

“I don’t feel well.”

He pushed on the swollen skin around my ankle and the skin didn’t indent. He stood right away, pulling his phone from his pocket, pressing a number, and then rattled off our address. “My wife is thirty-six weeks pregnant, and she’s swollen all over. She’s dizzy. This isn’t right.”

He paced the floor.

“Please hurry,” he said before hanging up. Then, after shoving his phone back in his pocket, he walked over to me. “Come on, Glory. We need to get you to the front room.”

“Did you call an ambulance?”

“Baby, you need help. I’m worried your blood pressure is off again. If you go by ambulance, you’ll have medical help and will get seen right away.”

“You’re Blake Parker. They’ll see me right away, anyway.”

“But my finance skills won’t help you in a medical emergency. Their medic training will.”

He won. Of course, he did.

They admitted me right away. My IV held all sorts of medications, making me feel sort of loopy.

The next thing I knew, my room flooded with worried friends. Pen and Ant, my mother and Carl, Sierra, Murielle—you want the tea? We moved her into my old house. I didn’t have the heart to sell it because of my dad, and she got to save on rent, only paying for utilities going to the place. And then Pete strode in.Pete—I know! Sierra kept a close eye on the man, even as she stayed to the opposite side of the room from him the whole time. Jupiter showed too. She didn’t up and leave the family like Blake and I but her showing up today was a bigup yoursto the Vermont Parker Clan.

Pete smiled at Jupiter because he was a good guy and she had the Parker looks. But that smile paled in comparison to the longing he threw Sierra’s way about every ten minutes. That man had itbadfor my best friend.

Come hell or high water, I’d figure out why she put the stop on Pierra.

The nurses tried to push our friends out, but when you were a Parker, even in a hospital suite, you kind of got to have your way. Well, until my blood pressure shot up again for no apparent reason. Then everyone, with the exception of Blake, had to wait in the waiting room.

They rolled me into a maternity OR and injected medication into my spine. Blake wore a paper scrub hat, booties, and a long-sleeved hospital gown thing. They instructed him to stay by my head and not look over the blue curtain.

I shot him theyou better look over that curtaineyes because I wanted to see what was going on. Blake neededto bemy eyes.He held my hand as the anesthesiologist made small talk with us to keep us calm, I supposed, but I wasn’t worried. The doctors assured us that my blood pressure should start to move back to normal once the baby was out.

Maybe four minutes after slicing me open, we heard a baby cry. I lifted my head, given that remained the only body part they allowed me to lift, aside from my arms, and I watched as the nurse walked my little one over to get checked and weighed.

He walked our baby over to us. “Mr. and Mrs. Parker, meet your baby girl.” The nurse set our daughter into my husband’s arms and I swore that no other moment in the history of humankind meant more to me than this moment right here.

Later in the day, after my stint in recovery, Blake and I got to introduce our baby girl to our family.

“Everyone,” Blake said, “meet Maria Penelope Sierra Jupiter Elizabeth Parker.”

And just like that, the room collectively fell in love.

Chapter Thirty

One year later…

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