Page 34 of Fever: Love In Scrubs

I felt a weight being lifted off my chest once I told Jaxson about the baby three weeks ago.

We’d decided to keep it a secret until we could plan a surprise to tell the family.

I was so excited to be a mother. At first, the thought of bringing a child into the world scared me.

What if I died like my mother? My baby would be raised by some amazing women, but they wouldn’t have me and that scared me.

I had a dream that it happened a few nights ago and I woke up in a fit of tears.

Jaxson listened to me vent about it and offered me some encouragement.

The next day at work, he introduced me to Dr. Desmond Wilder.

His girlfriend, Yara Sinclair, owned a center for kids who lost their mom during childbirth and she had some amazing resources.

She, herself, had lost her mother and we connected over that shared loss.

“Hello, in there,” I sang, rubbing my belly.

I stood in front of the mirror in nothing but my bra and panties. I already had a little belly from just my weight, so I wasn’t showing yet, but my stomach was hard. Jaxson emerged from the bathroom in nothing but his towel. When he saw me, he smiled and came over to kiss and caress my belly.

“Hey, Daddy’s baby,” he said softly as I stroked his head. “How you doing in there, lil’ one?”

“He or she is just fine.”

He stood and kissed my lips. “And how is mommy?”

“Mommy is fine too. Just hungry.”

“Well, lucky for you, I have us a picnic brunch planned.”

“From my favorite spot?”

“Of course.”

“I’m gonna be devastated if this baby doesn’t let me eat my favorite food anymore.”

So far, I hadn’t had any morning sickness. My breasts were a little tender now and I had been sleeping a little more, but all else was well.

“I’m sure once those cravings kick in, you’ll find something new that you’ll love.”

“I’m sure I will.”

He slapped my ass and walked over to the dresser. “Go on and get dressed so we can head out.”

I was all smiles as I headed into the walk-in closet.

Last week, we started moving into the new house.

While we were still waiting on a couple pieces of furniture, we’d moved a good bit of my furniture over as well as all our clothes.

For the past week, we’d been staying here and I was loving the place.

I woke up every morning and curled up in the bay window in the living room to watch the sun rise with a mug of green tea, since I wasn’t drinking coffee anymore.

The neighborhood was so quiet and peaceful.

I hadn’t run into any Karens, so that was a plus.

I noticed that there were mostly black professionals on our street, and I loved that.

A few families had come over to introduce themselves and they were all so nice.

Jamari had made friends with two of the neighborhood girls across the street and I could tell she was going to like it here.

Once we were all moved in, I had plans to sell my childhood home.

I came back and made it into the place I’d always deserved to live in and it healed a part of me.

I didn’t feel like I needed to hold on to it any longer.

We were starting a new life with brand new blessings and I couldn’t live in my past. The present and future deserved my full attention.

I was pregnant with my first child and I had a whole teenager that needed me.

My girl had been doing so good since starting therapy.

She had her moments of sadness, but she always pulled through.

I hated that she had to lose her mother to be happy, but as long as she was happy, that was all I wanted.

Amandela was currently sitting in jail, still awaiting trial.

Apparently, the courts were backed up and she was denied bail, so she had to sit there.

Once she sobered up and realized what she’d done, she’d called Jaxson every day for weeks.

He always ignored her and even went as far as changing his number.

She then called his mother, crying about how sorry she was and how she let her anger get the best of her.

She claimed she wanted to make things right.

As if she could.

She’d royally fucked up and there was no way she could ever come back from this.

When the news broke about what she’d done, her mother randomly popped over at my in-laws talking about she wanted to be there for her granddaughter.

Jamari politely told her to go back to wherever she’d come from because she hadn’t been around in years and she didn’t need her now.

Jaxson, however, told her to go to hell and of course, I co-signed with my man.

I settled on a long, flowing sundress and a pair of sandals, then added gold jewelry to accessorize.

I decided to leave my curls wild and free because that’s just how my man loved it.

After throwing on a little lip gloss, I headed downstairs to meet him in the foyer. He had a picnic basket in his hand.

“It took you long enough, woman,” he teased.

“You can’t rush perfection.”

He chuckled as he leaned in to kiss me. “You can’t. You ready?”

“Yep.”

We left the house and climbed into his Range Rover. As he backed out, I hooked my phone up to the car and put on some music. The smooth sounds of Jesse Powell’s “You” came through the speakers. I horribly sang my heart out as I touched my man’s face and fingered his beard.

He grinned at me. “Baby. I love you, but you gotta keep your day job.”

I playfully slapped his arm. “See if I serenade you again, sir.”

He grabbed my hand and kissed it. “You can sing horribly to me for the rest of our lives. Just don’t sing to my baby. You might scare them.”

“Kiss my ass, Jaxson.”

“Bend that thing over.” He reached over and gripped my thigh. “I need you to walk a few steps ahead of me so I can watch it jiggle in this dress. You knew what the fuck you were doing.”

I laughed. I did know what I was doing. This man loved my ass in my MuMus. Every time I walked around the house in one, I found myself snatched up and bent over. I loved it.

We pulled up to my favorite breakfast and brunch spot and he got out to go get our food. While I waited for him to return, I checked in with my aunt and cousin. It was hard keeping this pregnancy from them, but we were planning a barbeque for next weekend to finally share our news with the family.

Jaxson finally returned and I sat back and relaxed. At some point, I fell asleep because when I woke up, Jaxson was standing in my open door, unbuckling my seatbelt.

“Come on here, sleepyhead.”

He helped me out of the car and closed the door. As I looked around, I realized we were at the park where we had our first unofficial date.

“You are not about to put me on the pedal boat again, are you?” I asked.

He laughed. “No pedal boat today. I do have a surprise for you, though.”

I smiled. “I love surprises.”

“I know you do. Come on.”

He grabbed my hand and led me down the path that ran through the park.

It was so peaceful out here and I couldn’t wait to sit by the water and eat.

As we ventured down the path, my eyes settled upon a beautiful set up in a clearing.

There sat a white furry rug with red and white decorations.

There was a small table with flowers and rose petals scattered around along with some big ass fluffy pillows on the ground.

The set up was blocked off with decorative arches covered in sheer linen curtains.

When I noticed we were heading in that direction, I stopped.

“This is for us?” I asked.

“This is for you .”

I poked my lip out. “Jaxson.” I whined. “Baby.”

Tears were already swelling in my eyes. That was another thing. My hormones had me super sensitive right now. The smallest kind gesture made me cry.

As we stepped into the beautiful space, Jaxson helped me down onto the comfy pillow before taking a seat himself. I was all smiles as he set the table for our picnic. When the food came out, I damn near drooled because I was so hungry.

“It smells so good,” I said, licking my lips.

We joined hands and he blessed the food before we dug in. I sat there chewing and doing a little happy dance in my seat as the flavors danced on my tongue.

“You are adorable,” Jaxson said, smiling. “I could watch you be happy for the rest of my life.”

“Well, as long as you keep feeding, loving, and fucking me the way you do, I don’t think I’m going anywhere.”

He stared at me lovingly. “You won’t.”

“Are you ready for next weekend?” I asked, forking a helping of eggs into my mouth. “I can’t wait to tell everyone about the baby.”

“Me either. Pops is ready to burst at the seams with excitement. He said it’s been hard not to rub your stomach when he sees you.”

“You know that man calls me every morning at sunrise to check on us?”

During one of our conversations, I told him how I was an early riser and he said he was too. Since then, he’d called me every morning after the sun came up. After he checked in, he said a prayer and let me go. It took everything in me not to cry after every phone call.

“Pops loves you. Choosing him to go with you to that appointment made him feel special.”

“He is special. Hell, the whole family is special. You are really blessed to have them.”

“So are you, baby. They are just as much your family as they are mine. Even more so now.”

I smiled. “It’s a beautiful feeling.”

“How would you like to make that feeling permanent?”

I almost choked as I took a sip of my juice. “What?”

Jaxson stood and came around the table to help me to my feet. He took my hands in his and stared deeply into my eyes.

“Wynter… I love you. I never expected to fall in love with you so soon, but this journey, while not without hiccups, has been beautiful and so worth it.

You have been worth it. You bring peace and calmness into my life where there has been chaos and heartbreak.

My daughter not only loves you, but she respects you so much.

The way you pour into her so unselfishly.

You freely gave your heart to a little girl that needed it and that made me fall even more in love with you.

“You opened your home to us without a second thought in our time of need and made us feel welcomed. You’ve gone above and beyond to take care of us, and I just want to take care of you.

I want to spend the rest of my life showering you with all the love you deserve.

I want to do life with you. Raise our family with you. Grow old with you.”

He pulled a small box from his pocket. Tears streamed down my face as he went down on one knee. When he opened it, I dropped my head into my hands. Before me was the most beautiful pear-shaped diamond ring.

“I knew how important it was to ask for permission before I asked this question. Your aunt and your cousin gave me their blessing.”

He nodded behind us, and I turned to see both our families standing there with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. My aunt looked at me with so much love and nodded her head.

“Will you marry me, Wynter? Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

I couldn’t speak. All I could do was nod my head.

He slipped the ring on my finger, and it was a perfect fit.

The man barely got off the ground before I was in his arms, hugging and kissing him.

The claps and cheers from our family rang out.

Even strangers had stopped to join in on congratulating us.

When we finally parted, I looked down at the ring in awe.

Who knew coming home would lead to this.

I had a family. I had my man and our daughter. I was carrying a baby made in pure love and now… I was going to be a wife.

Our families came closer to congratulate us with hugs and kisses.

I was in such a state of bliss, that I didn’t want to wait until next weekend to share our pregnancy news with them.

Every person that was important to us, was here right now.

Why wait? I looked at my man and he seemed to read my thoughts.

“Wynter and I have something else to share with you,” he said, slipping an arm around my waist. His hand went to my stomach and he smiled down at me. “We are having a baby.”

The screams and cheers around us seemed to amplify.

The women were hugging and crying while the men were dapping each other up and grinning.

I could feel their happiness and excitement for us.

Every worry I had about things moving too fast had slipped away over the last couple of months.

We’d prayed for this. We wanted this and we deserved this.

We were ready.