Since the pregnancy announcement, his whole attitude toward me had shifted, but I wasn’t bothered. I came in half-ass expecting his pushback toward me honestly. Shit, I would be the same way if my only child—my daughter—brought home some strange man ten plus years her senior, dropping relationship and baby bombs all in the same dinner.
“Yes, against McKay’s wishes, I told them a few days ago. They were planning our family holiday activities and I wanted them to be aware of her and the baby before certain events got too far ahead and it wouldn’t be safe for her to participate. But they haven’t met her yet either. Much like McKay, I wanted to make sure we were solid before we started meeting family. But yes, we can definitely make that happen. And my parents, Anna and Paul, would love to host. I’ll have McKay give you the details in a couple days.”
For the first time tonight, McKay’s person found its way onto me. Her hand landed on my thigh as a subtle warning that I was doing way too much. I knew and didn’t care. I was trying to mark my territory and place in her life.
“Dad, is that necessary? We’re having a baby, not getting married,” McKay whined. I leaned over, kissing her cheek for added reassurance.
“Baby, it’s necessary. Our families are blending, regardless of your last name not being mineyet. Both sets of grands will have access and might have to communicate without us being around.” I could see the stress in the worry lines on her forehead so I kissed there too. I knew McKay was regretting getting me involved at this point. I had done nothing but dig her a bigger hole than she was already in.
Not to mention, every opportunity for my hands or lips to be on her, I’d openly and willingly taken advantage of. The only place I had yet to be blessed to taste was her lips that looked so fucking soft and damn near begged for my attention.
“No, you’re right. It’s just that all of this is moving fast.” She sniffled and I saw tears welling up. I wasn’t sure if this was real or not until a tear fell. Immediately, my hand moved to catch it.
“Hey, shh… remember, what I said, you’re not doing this alone. It’s you and me in this together, everything is going to be okay. Breathe, baby.” I stayed close to her face, doing the breathing exercises I had her doing with me the other day, holding her eyes with mine. I used my fingers to massage her neck at the same time to calm her nerves completely.
Another set of tears fell and I caught them too.
“Okay, you’re right. I’m just…” She stopped mid-sentence, putting on a smile and nodding through her anxiety.
I had to keep in mind that even though we hadn’t discussed boundaries when it came to blending our families, I knew this part would come up. It would be necessary for either mine, hers,or both and I was prepared to handle the situation without any added pressure on McKay. I wanted her only concerns to be eating, sleeping, and baking the baby.
The sound of Chris clearing his throat made me remember we weren’t alone, but I didn’t break my stare down with McKay to address him.
“Change of plans, Chris, we can exchange numbers and I’ll pass you the details. The less stress on McKay, the better. And if the dates and times don’t work, let me know. We have plans with my family this weekend but I’m sure my parents would love to do something the following weekend,” I said as I finally gave her parents my attention again. I reached into my pocket to get my phone, passing it across the table to her dad who, for the first time since he opened the box, gave me an approving nod as he plugged his number in. He didn’t smile but his tone changed this time when he spoke to me.
“I agree and will let you know. But next weekend should be fine.”
That was all that needed to be said for Chris to do more than ask questions about whether I was man enough to take care of his daughter and our baby. I learned he was a professor at Crescent Falls University and her mom was a retired elementary school teacher but still volunteered at Little Einsteins.
By the time I got McKay home, I felt her energy was much calmer than when we’d first left earlier. However, I could still see the wheels turning in her mind. I was only supposed to walk her up, but once up here, I came in and took a seat on the couch while she got comfortable. By the time she came out, she took a seat next to me before going for the ice cream we’d gotten that was waiting for her on the coffee table. We were attempting to share the pint, with her offering me a bite after every three scoops for her. I wasn’t expecting it honestly, but I welcomed it. I knew she wanted to talk but I didn’t rush the process.
“I’m just trying to understand why you think my family meeting yours is such a good idea, BK. And before you fix your lips to sell me that same bullshit you gave Chris, you gon’ have to do better with me because I just feel like we’re mixing too much by getting them together. This is already a lot for both sets of families on a separate tip, don’t you think?”
It was clear in her wild eyes that she was freaking out. I took the waiting scoop McKay still held out for me as she told me off.
“Baby, I know we skipped that part when we were planning this, but it’s needed. You have to trust that I will take care of everything.”
She kissed her teeth. “Either Mickey or McKay, no pet names, Burkeley. You don’t get the right to throw me off by distracting me when we’re not around eyes. You did that enough tonight,” she snapped, making me smirk, which granted me a nasty eye roll as she damn near snatched the spoon out of my mouth. I tossed my hands up in mock surrender, fighting my urge to smile because she was serious right now.
“No, you’re right. My bad, McKay. All I’m saying is that this step was bound to happen between our families with Peanut involved on both ends. Now, I meant what I told your dad. I don’t want you stressing over shit. The only part you have to play is my woman carrying my baby. This was my idea, so I’ll do everything else. Now, this weekend is the haunted house, and again, are you sure this is safe for Peanut?”
“Yes, BK. Again, I’m not handicapped, just a little bit pregnant. Will your parents be there?” she asked before she fed me another scoop. I smirked because I knew this was her little ass peace offering after just taking my last one away.
“Yes. There are very few events they won’t be in attendance for. Well, my mom anyway. My pops does the games with Art and me. I imagine Anna and Amber will plan another activity for you ladies that day, so fair warning on that invite.” Her head wasshaking, which had me laughing as I tapped her legs so she could put her feet in my lap. With no hesitation, she swung her body around as if she had done it a million times now.
“Get used to that too, McKay. I’m not saying you have to, but they will for sure try,” I said as I wasted no time grabbing her foot and massaging it. I didn’t even know I had a foot fetish until I saw McKay’s jade green toes. Since then, like everything else about this damn woman, I couldn’t get enough.
“I don’t think I could hang out with your people without you,” she said, a slight moan behind her words.
“Why?”
“Because I might fuck up and blow our whole cover by not knowing an answer to a topic about you or us that we never covered or I forgot about.” That had my laugh rumbling deep and heavy because I couldn’t see that happening, especially not when McKay was so up on reminding me about these damn rules.
“I promise you’ll be fine.”
We got quiet, with only the TV playing lowly in the background before she spoke again.
“M&M, huh?” My grin spread slowly.
