Page 108 of All In
Yvonne.
My tears broke. She held her arms open, and I moved in, held her tight, whispering, “I’m going to miss you most of all.”
She laughed and rocked me side to side. “Oh, baby. Me too. But I’d move halfway across the country for your Teddy too. Sex on astick.”
We laughed, and I knew that’s what Yvonne planned all along, to make the goodbye bearable.
“What am I going to do without you?” I said, wiping my nose.
“You take care of that baby,” she said. She sniffed and pulled away. “Go on, now, before I change my mind about letting you leave.”
I stepped off the plane, and headed out onto the concourse, wishing Theo could’ve met me at the gate. I used the extra time to rehearse the little speech I’d spent the entire flight preparing, going over and over it in my head, until it was a perfect.
I spotted Theo waiting for me at baggage claim, looking gorgeous in a deep blue henley and jeans. My pulse thundered in my ears.
“Hey, babe,” he said, his smile wide and easy. He wrapped me tight in his arms and gave me a deep kiss. “God, I can’t believe it. You’re here for good. That was our last back and forth flight. How was it?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Theo stared.
“Oh, shit,” I said. “I had a speech, but I saw you and…It’s too fast, isn’t? It’s too fast and maybe the wrong time, right? I mean, you just bought an entire business, and I’m supposed be working on a new albumfor Sony,for crying out loud, and holy shit, this comes along…”
Theo blinked and looked down at me. “You’re pregnant?”
“I am. It’s crazy, right? Or…maybe not?” I gnawed my lip, trying to read his face. “Maybe it’s…really wonderful?”
He didn’t seem to have heard me past my suave opener.
“You’re pregnant,” he stated, and I saw the words sink in, and spread over his face like a sunrise. His smile…oh God, I’d never seen anything more beautiful.
“You’re really…? You’re going to have a baby? I’m…going to have a baby?”
I wiped a tear with the cuff of my sweater. “Yeah, honey. We are.”
Any doubts about how he might react were tossed to the wind. I let out a little cry as Theo enveloped me in his strong embrace, lifted me, spun me around, and when he kissed me, the salt tears I tasted weren’t mine.
I insisted that we see his parents immediately. It didn’t feel right to spend one more second together and not explain to Beverly about us.
“I’m nervous,” I said as we drove to the house. “I think she’s afraid her memories of Jonah and I together don’t mean what she thought they did. And we’re having a baby. She’s going to feel ambushed.”
Theo nodded, preoccupied with his own thoughts.
I took his hand, pried it off the steering wheel. “Your dad’s going to be proud of you. How can he not?”
“He’ll find a way.”
“You’re not thinking about the baby? Maybe that it’s too soon or…interfering with your plans…?”
Theo stared at me aghast. “God, Kace, no. I’m so happy that you are…that we are.” We’d come to a red light, and he turned in his seat. “I love you.”
“I love you too, but—”
“No, I mean I love you and that’s it. I love you. I love you however you are. No strings or conditions. I love you, and that’s it. Okay?”
I bit back a smile. “Okay.”
Twilight had just begun to fall when we arrived. Beverly opened the door, a careful, guarded look on her face.
