Page 22

Marie

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A lyssa and Caroline help me with my makeup and hair as we wait for everyone to arrive for the party. I can’t believe how many people are coming but the girls wouldn’t take no for an answer.

They’ve been annoying me for days. They act as if I secretly know what I’m having. Either through intuition or I’m lying about not knowing. I have no idea what I could have done to prove I have no fucking idea. But here we go, the day is here.

I shoo them out of the room so I can squeeze into the gorgeous lavender colored maternity dress I bought last week and smile at myself in the mirror.

I already look full-term and am just barely ‘half-way’.

I’m uncomfortable and tire so easily, but Dr. Patterson is a lifesaver and hired someone to help me out at the rink so that I don’t have to do much of anything except quick exams, stitches, icing injuries, and yelling at the team about keeping the fights clean.

And he gets some days and nights off now.

This is his passion. Hockey. And I have a feeling he’s ready to just sell the clinics and focus his time on the team.

I wouldn’t be surprised.

“Marie! People are starting to show up!”

I bend down to get my gold sandals on my sad, swollen feet and head out to the front door. I smile and hug Logan, his fiancée Bianca, and Blake. Landon and Nolan have been here since eight AM, and just left again to pick up the desserts not too long ago.

I’m not sure who else is coming, aside from the Evans family – including Brenton – and supposedly James. I let Nolan invite the whole team, but I’m only super close to a handful of them.

Mostly the first line because of James, the guys that have been there for years.

“Hey! Thank you for coming,” I step back and show everyone into the living room.

There’s a table set up for gifts and another for everyone to sign a book.

There’s even a Photo Booth out back, the jacuzzi is lit up and warmed.

The smoker is ready, and there are more tables outside, along with standing heaters to keep everyone warm.

We’ve had some snow lately, but nothing too crazy yet.

Bianca winks at me as she heads straight to the gift table and drops off five bags that she’s grabbed from the group she entered with. I roll my eyes lovingly at her and grab a glass of lemonade from the kitchen before I work on putting some music channel on the TV.

Bianca looks adorable in a pair of white jeans, a blue top, and her dark blonde hair is pinned up. Her massive engagement ring flashes in the sunlight that’s streaming through the windows.

I’m so damn happy for them. Even after all of the drama with the team, the owners, and her management team, they pulled through and are finally getting married. I hope I find that type of love one day.

Blake comes up from behind and hugs me, loudly kissing the back of my head. “Congrats again, little M. You’ll have to let us all take you shopping once the genders are revealed.”

I shake my head and spin around, sending him a look. “No! No shopping. The girls are already itching to spend all of my money on the babies!”

He winks at me and rubs his fingers through his red hair.

“Good. We’ll all pitch in.” I stick my tongue out at him and sit down to watch as the girls form a small group with Bianca and Logan, murmuring lowly, little shits.

Probably trying to get everyone to help with the nurseries.

I never got around to setting up an office space, so I still have two empty rooms. If the babies are opposite genders, then I’ll be putting together two separate rooms. Christ.

They’ll both be in my room with me for several months, probably for the first year from what I’ve read, so I’m not too worried about the separate bedrooms for later on.

About an hour later the house is packed. The entire team showed up, and even James just stepped through. Alone, shockingly.

God he looks so good. Still a little sad, but he cut his hair and is wearing nice clothes. His muscles bunch as he stalks in and glances around, smiling widely at me and the twins.

My brows raised quite high at him actually being alone. I was expecting him to go back on his word. Of course his gorgeous arms are littered in colorful, massive gift bags. Several of them. When did he have time for shopping and a haircut?

Nolan shows him to the overflowing gift table and Dr. Patterson, Annika, and Patti all show up last.

I walk around, giving hugs, making small talk with everyone. The WAGs have always been friendly, but I really only get along with Bianca. I’m actually surprised that Daniel and Charlie haven’t shown up.

Then again, probably not a good idea with how much alcohol is around the house and backyard. It would be a buzzkill for the poor team. He can really be a dick sometimes.

This is incredible, though. I never imagined I would have this much support. After everything fell through with James for all those months, I just assumed that it would all be a mess and I would just be with the girls.

Nolan and Landon have barely left my side since the house started filling up and Brenton is running around helping, making sure his parents and everyone else are comfortable and with drinks and snacks in their hands at all times.

No less than ten times has he told me to sit my ass down and eat and drink water so that my legs don’t swell.

I haven’t been dealing with any other issues outside of that.

My blood pressure has been perfect, so has all of my blood work and urine, so I told him to go have a good time and not to worry about me.

He shook his head at me and is now helping Logan and Blake grill the food out back.

“He’s a great guy,” Nolan murmurs in my ear and I nod slowly.

“Yeah… Too bad he’s more likely to want to fuck you instead of me.”

He chokes on his beer and narrows his eyes at me, sending me a disbelieving look. “Don’t be so crude, little Marie. I still know all of your tickle spots.” I step away from him and hide behind Landon, laughing hysterically.

“Don’t you dare, Nolan Reed! I will kick your ass!” I yell and everyone around us chuckles as they move their nosy gazes towards us and our antics.

James smiles softly and makes his way to us, wrapping me up in his familiar arms, but he quickly lets go and steps away. “Hey.”

I smile up at him. “Thanks for coming.”

He nods and steps back clapping Nolan and Landon on their backs. “Of course, I wouldn't miss this for the world.” He winks and sips from his beer, “The girls look happy.”

I glance over at them and see they’ve now conned Mrs. Evans into their little group of secrets and I roll my eyes. “I think they’re planning on putting together some sort of registry, conning everyone to buy me everything they think I’ll need. They’re expensive girls and very convincing.”

James shrugs, smirking at them. “We all have the money for it and we all love you.”

I snort and glance around at the crowd of people, I guess he’s right. “Yeah, I love all you assholes, too.”

Landon and Nolan squeal and wrap me up in their arms and I groan as they slowly spin me around and then take me towards the couch. “All right, time for you to sit and relax. We’ll eat, play some games… then it’s time to open your presents!”

______________

I wave off the last person to leave as I relax on the couch and close my eyes as I lean back. My whole body feels like I was hit by a bus.

“Holy crap, I’m exhausted,” Alyssa moans from beside me and I snort at her.

“Too much sleuthing today? Wear yourself out?”

“Shut your face, M.”

Caroline chuckles from the floor and continues organizing all of the gifts. I have enough gift cards to last me ten years, it feels like… I’m too afraid to check the amounts.

James had tiny jerseys made with his number and name on the back, in four different sizes from newborn to size small, a gift certificate to a day spa, a gift card to Target, and another to the local baby store. Knowing him, there’s enough money on both of those to last a lifetime.

Everyone else added random toys, books, and gender-neutral clothes.

Landon and Nolan were incredible and we got to play a game with the cupcakes. They were all passed out and the ones that had candy in the middle were the ones with the correct genders…

One blue and one pink. One of each.

I cried, and so did the girls.

Everyone was so excited and then Alyssa and Caroline went around with their phones as they probably conned everyone into sending money to some secret account to pay for everything we need.

I just let them do their thing. They’re excited, how could I tell them no?

A lot of the guys stayed late and helped clean up the house. We also now have a full fridge full of leftovers, and Nolan took the rest of the beer and booze home with him.

Morgan and his wife were having a screaming match in the front yard for half of the duration of the party, so the girls helped entertain their three kids in the backyard…

I wish I knew what I could do to help. By the time Morgan came back in to eat some food, his wife was gone and everyone blew out a breath of relief.

He was mostly silent after that and just sat around watching his kids and thinking too hard, it seemed. Every time I tried to talk to him, he would wave me away and distract me by placing his toddler in my lap, which worked.

“Come on, let’s set all of this in one of the empty rooms. We can separate it all and figure out the gift cards once we start shopping.”

Alyssa and Caroline grab all of the bags and goodies, skipping down the hall to the bedrooms. I relax back into the couch and stare up at the sleek white ceiling.

My phone buzzes along the coffee table, I grunt as I bend forward to grab it. It’s getting too hard to maneuver around this massive belly.

James: Thanks for letting me stop by… Let me take you shopping when I get back? The girls will have a blast and I can even set up all of the furniture.

Me: I’ll think about it.