“A boy!” Bailey yelps, and everyone cheers in excitement.
The sudden surge of joy sends a shiver down my spine. A wide, genuine smile stretches across her face.
Bailey sniffles, tears staining her wet cheeks. “Atlas,” she echoes, testing the sound of it on her tongue. “It’s perfect. He’s perfect.”
Monty groans, patting Jase on the back in such a brotherly way. “He already sounds like trouble.”
Jase slides an arm around my waist, pulling me close. “While we’re at it. I think it’s time for another surprise, don't you think, wife?” He looks down at me, his eyes brimming with warmth and a hint of mischief.
Nash frowns. “Wife?”
“We got married,” I squeal, laughter bubbling up from my throat, and escaping in a rush of joy. “A few weeks ago, actually.”
The room goes silent for a full second as everyone looks around at each other, stunned, and back at us to see if we’re joking.
Bailey bursts into tears, Brynn immediately hugging us both at once, babbling about bridesmaids, bachelorette parties and champagne, and how she can’t believe we didn’t tell her.
“Don’t worry,” Jase cuts in, laughing. “We’re planning something big for all of you. Just later, when we finally get to sleep again.”
Bailey’s still crying, sniffling harder as everyone turns to look at her. Unable to contain herself, she blurts out, “I’m pregnant.”
Now it's Cam’s jaw that drops in surprise just as he and Holly walk over to congratulate us. “What?”
“And we’re engaged,” she adds, beaming through tears. “I didn’t want to tell you all today, cause I didn’t want to make this about me, but I can’t stop crying cause I’m so excited. These damn hormones, Moe, why didn’t you warn me?”
“When?” Billie asks, surprised she hadn’t figured it out. “I asked her last week, when we went away for the weekend up to New York.”
“I knew it,” Brynn says, hugging her sister tightly. “Didn’t I tell you, Cam?” she says, asking her brother.
I gasp, shoving Jase as I pull my best friend and sister-in-law into a hug. “You’re going to be a mom,” I whisper, laughing and crying all at once. “We’re going to raise our babies together.”
“Guess this family just doubled overnight,” Monty mutters, wiping at his eyes. “Anyone else?” he jokes, but at the same time his face goes grim.
Hours ago, our home was bursting with love, laughter, and joyful chaos alongside our loved ones who gathered to celebrate the birth of my little boy. It was much needed after the year it’s been. However, everything we’ve endured as a group has brought my brothers and Jase’s siblings together in a way we’d never expected.
There’s so much to unpack, between Jase and me being married, to becoming parents, and seeing that soon for Nash and Bailey, but it’s nice to be just the three of us again. It’s quiet and peaceful, though it surely won’t last long as we now have a newborn around.
Thankfully, Atlas has been such a good boy.
The dishes are washed, thanks to Billie, who made everyone take part in the cleanup. The balloons hang deflated, and everyone has gone back to their homes for the night, with a promise to return first thing in the morning.
Seeing my brothers become uncles has been incredibly heartwarming. The way they carried Atlas like a little football, his tiny body in their huge hands, was truly beautiful. Or, as Raven so casually put it, ‘instant ovary explosion’.
She’s not wrong. There should be a warning label. Hot guy with baby—side effects may include swooning and ovary overload, because watching Jase as he lies on his back in bed, shirtless, with Atlas curled on his bare skin, is surely making me eager to have another.
Atlas’s tiny hands are fisted in Jase’s necklace, his mouth open as he dreams whatever babies dream. The dim lamp illuminates the shadows of his muscles along his chest, and oh God, Jase looks at peace in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. Their breathing falls into the same rhythm, a slow, steady pace, their breaths soft and even in sleep.
His hand keeps moving in slow, unconscious strokes over our son’s back. Our protector.
I watch them from my side of the bed, propped on one elbow, my heart so full it almost hurts. I never imagined it could feel this good to have someone at my side through life’s most joyous events. But I’ve never been happier. I can’t look away.
My boys.
My chest aches, because for the first time, I think I understand why I had to survive all of it. All the nights I cried myself to sleep waiting for a mother who never came back, the birthdays that passed without a call from my father, the years of pretending I didn’t care when people left, or when my brothers stayed away. Grief brought me here. To this bed, and this moment with a man who refused to let me run anymore. Who made a promise to show me what it would be like if someone stayed.
Time brought me a child who has no idea how much he’s already healed me just by existing. I think about the girl I was before him, fierce on the outside, brittle on the inside, and I want to hold her and whisper,‘It’s all worth it’.
Jase shifts slightly, murmuring in his sleep, and Atlas stirs, snuggling closer into his chest. My throat tightens, tears spillinghot and fast down my cheeks. This is my family, and for the first time in my life, I don’t feel broken.
