Page 11 of Wedding Whitney
Kane frowns. “Your family definitely adds a level of stress, but you two shouldn’t be at odds right now. Maybe the best thing would be to move to a hotel.”
I sigh. “The problem is that the only person whom that would hurt is my grandmother, and she’s not the one making us miserable.”
“You want me to talk to him?”
“Maybe?” I look up at him thoughtfully. “Just to reassure him, you know? I’m here. I love him. And I’ve told him that, but maybe hearing it from the perspective of one of his friends will help convince him.”
“Okey-dokey.” Kane rubs his hands together. “But not until we’ve ridden this baby. I’m fuckin’ psyched.”
“Me too.”
I manage to grin because I’m looking forward to all the rides today.
I’m still worried about Jake, though. He swears he’s fine, but I see the tension in his eyes, know he didn’t sleep well even though we were together last night, and he’s more important to me than everything else.
“It’ll be okay,” Hailey says softly, squeezing my arm. “You’ll see.”
“I hope you’re right.”
It's hard to see past what’s happening now, despite our upcoming wedding and honeymoon.
Chapter 7
Jake
Between the Go Karts, the Oil Derrick, and the Roaring Rapids, it’s a busy day, even when I’m sitting on a bench with the double stroller in front of me. The others are riding all the fun roller coasters, but staying with the twins doesn’t bother me. Hank is my buddy, and even though Kelsey is more attached to Whitney since she spends a lot of time over at Kane and Hailey’s house, the twins are comfortable with both of us.
I like kids, in general, but my ex-wife’s dozen miscarriages have me hesitant to try again. The specialist we saw told us our genetic disorder is extremely rare and it was just bad luck that both of us carried the gene that kept Addy from being able to carry a baby to term. I still worry about it because I don’t know if I can go through another miscarriage, but I still want to be a dad.
Obviously, miscarriages happen a lot, even without genetic disorders, especially early in pregnancy, but I went through so much with Addy, and it feels like there’s suddenly a lot of pressure to have kids. Not from Whitney, but from everyone else. Her family, our friends, even my teammates.
No one’s being a jerk, just a lot of lighthearted teasing, but my demons are scrambling to the surface in a hurry. I don’t know why I’m suddenly stressed about it and chalk it up to pre-wedding jitters, but all this stress is starting to piss me off.
Hank’s wail of distress as he comes awake pulls me back to the present, and I scoop up the fussy baby.
“Hey, big guy,” I soothe. “What’s the matter? I’m here.” Hank buries his head in my shoulder, and I bounce him a little.
Being a dad would be awesome, I think.
And maybe that’s the problem.
I really do want to be a father, but it doesn’t seem to be a priority for Whitney, and until we get the results of the genetic testing, it feels like I’m in a holding pattern emotionally. We can’t even discuss a timeline until we know, but initially, I hadn’t even wanted to do the testing. Now that we have, I want to know immediately, and from the outside looking in, it looks like I’m being indecisive as fuck, which isn’t like me at all.
“Hey.” Kane sinks down next to me.
“He just woke up, and he’s a little cranky,” I say, handing over the baby.
“They’re not used to this heat,” he says, bouncing Hank on his knee until he laughs.
“Me either.”
“So everything okay? You’ve been kind of quiet today,” Kane looks over at me curiously.
I blow out a breath and give him an overview of what’s been going on with Whitney’s father and brother.
“Oh, fuck them and the horses they rode in on.” Kane makes a face. “You and Whitney should still elope.”
“Believe me, if her grandmother wouldn’t be crushed, we would have already done it.”
