Page 39 of Unbound

She purses her lips, tossing the sponge into the sink. “Okay.”

After she gets her shoes on, I grab an old quilt of my mom’s out of the closet and take her outside to the truck.

We drive down to the beach in silence. It’s a nice day, but it is a little chilly. After parking the truck, I walk around to her side and open her door before grabbing the cake, the quilt, and the reusable grocery bag out of the back seat.

“What is all this stuff?”

“We’re having a picnic.”

“Oh.” She takes the blanket from me since I can barely hold it all.

We walk down the cobblestone path to the sandy area. The waves are crashing against the shore, and the sun is starting to crawl down toward the blue water. We find an open area where there aren’t many people wandering about. She spreads out the blanket while I set the cake and the bag down. I kneel down in the sand, still wearing my camouflage pants and green T-shirt from work.

I set out the tray of deli sandwiches, fresh fruit with strawberry dip, and the two wineglasses I bought for us to scoop out the side of the cake with.

She takes a seat on the blanket, sighing heavily. She’s wearing a pair of black leggings and my black Redford Ranch hoodie.

“You want a sandwich, or should we dive right into the cake?”

She laughs, shaking her head. “Were you just craving cake?”

“This is a special cake.” I hand her a wineglass.

“Special how?” She raises a brow.

I pop the clear plastic lid off of it.

“Just wait and see. Now, close your eyes.”

She obeys. I guide the rim of her glass to the side of the cake before putting mine beside it and closing my eyes.

“All right, on the count of three, we’re going to push it down and scoop off a big piece, okay?”

“Okay.”

“One, two, three.”

We push down, pulling our cups back and flipping them over.

“You ready to look?”

“I guess?”

“Okay, open your eyes!”

We both do, seeing the blue cake in the glasses at the same time. She gasps, suddenly realizing why we’re doing this with the cake.

“Oh my gosh … it’s a boy.”

I grin at her, lifting the cake to my lips to lick some of the icing.

“You were right.” I lean forward, kissing her nose as tears flow down her cheeks. “Are you okay with this?”

She nods, laughing despite the steady flow of tears. “I’m glad. I wanted to know. I just … I’ve had a hard time facing this whole situation, but you … you being here with me and making this special and doing so much is just …”

The tears start really falling then, in buckets. She’s fully sobbing now. I set both of our glasses down, wondering if I made a huge mistake with the whole idea of the surprise gender reveal. I scoop her up onto my lap, cuddling her close.

“Shh, baby. You’re gonna be okay. You hear me? I know this is hard, but I’m right here. I’m not going to leave you to deal with this on your own.”