Page 10 of Home for Nathan (Secret Springs)

Chapter

Nine

“ H ey, Nathan! Are you off work today?” Tim, the local librarian, met him out on the town square. “I was heading to meet some friends for lunch. Would you like to come?”

“Um.”

“I know Zion is out of town at some kind of snowboard signing or something.”

“He is.” His cheeks heated hard. He still wasn’t used to such a small town and how everyone not only knew all, but talked about it, too.

“And Saul will be there.”

“Oh, cool. I feel like I haven’t seen him in an age. I would love to go.” Thanks to Zion feeding him so often, he had a little cash for this kind of thing. It was a tiny bit embarrassing, or it would be if Zion made a thing of it.

He didn’t.

“Yay! Come on. I’ll drive. We’re headed to the hotel. We have the back room reserved. It’s just easier that way. The kids can play.”

“But you don’t have yours with you.” Tim had clearly been at work.

“Not today. My folks will pick them up after school. But a lot of the others will be coming.”

Nathan put a hand on his belly. “Nice.” It would be good to spend time with kids. Just to kind of get the feel for it. His biggest experience there were Saul’s kids, who were doll babies, and then waiting tables.

“So, how’s it going? I feel like I see you for five seconds at the deli counter.”

“I’ve been seeing so much of Zion I haven’t been into the library as often.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I don’t mind. I know you’ve been busy. New relationship energy and all that.”

Nathan rolled his eyes, but he had to laugh because it was true. He had been having new relationship energy all over the damn place.

“It probably seems a little weird, huh? You know, dating a guy after pregnancy as opposed to before.”

“Judging is not my jam,” Tim told him. “It’s not nice. Trust me, I explain that to my kids all the time.”

“But I have to admit, I feel a little weird.” Nathan put a hand on his belly.

Tim shook his head. “Saul used to say that. But nobody gets pregnant thinking that the person that they got pregnant with doesn’t want them, right?”

“I guess. I sure didn’t. I mean, I was on birth control. I wasn’t looking to?—”

“You don’t have to explain yourself. You’re having a baby, Nathan. It’s not as if you ever told Zion it was his.”

That cracked him up. “No, that would be awful.”

“I know! Especially given that you know who the sperm donor is, right?” Tim unlocked his SUV for them to climb into.

“Exactly. I would think Zion would totally know.”

“Anyway, my point is that no one’s here to rag you about this. We want to be your friends. But you already know that. You and Zion are a thing, though, yeah?”

Nathan nodded, because he really thought so.

“I think so, yes. I feel like it. It’s a little strange because I’m due in just a couple of months.

And I need to start getting things together, getting things ready.

And I want Zion to be into all that. That said, I don’t want Zion to think that I’m like this pushy bastard who—I don’t know. It’s just so complicated, yeah?”

“Trust me, it’s not just you. It was complicated for me.”

“Really?”

“Well, I wasn’t married when I got pregnant with my first one. We all have our own stories. This one’s yours.” Tim gave him a gentle smile, the short drive to the hotel going by quickly.

“I suppose it’s mine and Zion’s now. I guess I should talk to him.”

They pulled into the hotel, Tim gliding to a stop right up front so it was easy for him to walk in. “You’re okay, Nathan. You’re allowed to be freaked. You’re also allowed to think warm, snuggly, friendly thoughts about your guy, I promise. No one’s going to come after you.”

They headed into the hotel, through the lobby, and toward the dining room and conference area with the little banquet room in the back.

Nathan gasped when they entered, stopping in his tracks. The whole place was decorated with rainbow streamers and signs that said, “Welcome, Baby Girl!”

A bunch of tables were set up, and one held an enormous cake shaped like a Noah’s Ark, a rainbow tissue paper arch looming over it. Tons of presents filled another table, and people packed the room.

Coworkers. Saul and his kids. Friends.

And in the middle of it all was Zion, beaming at him, looking like a little boy who had done something really cool.

Nathan just stood there, mouth dropping open, absolutely shocked. “What… What is all this?” he asked, tears filling his eyes.

“Happy baby shower!” everyone cheered, and he was just gobsmacked.

“Oh my God. You guys.” Everyone was there, his boss, his customers. There was food and… And he just burst into tears, absolutely overwhelmed. “Oh my God, guys, thank you. What is all this? I mean, thank you!”

“You need a baby shower,” Saul said with a grin. He was such an amazing friend. “You need all the things!”

Tim led him to a chair that was all decorated with balloons and glitter, and it was all so beautiful and so unexpected. His heart was just pounding from the shock.

“I can’t believe all of this.”

“We all wanted you to have this!” That was Hank, who was grinning from ear to ear.

“We did,” Zion said to him, helping him sit down.

“You! You were in on this. Telling me you were going out of town.”

“Well, I had to, baby. You make it hard to get stuff done if I’m not sneaky.” And then to his shock. Zion knelt down in front of him. “You deserve a baby shower.” Zion handed him a keychain, which held a key. “A baby shower. A nursery. A house to do it in. You deserve it all.”

That was it. Nathan was just going to die. Really wasn’t any other choice. No other options. He was just going to explode from sheer joy. He did manage to nod, though. And take the key ring, staring down at it. “You want me to move in with you?”

“Well, I want more than that. I even have the ring. But I was going to do that in private later tonight.”

His eyes went so wide they pulled at the corners. “Married?”

“Yep.” Zion’s eyes were so green. And gold. And perfect in their hazelness. “I want that.”

“Oh.” He stared, his lips parted.

So Zion kissed them. “I know it’s only been months and not years or anything, but you do it for me. And I realized not too long ago that I wanted you in my life for good.”

“I—I can do that?”

“Yep. Me. My yurt. My dog. If you want us.”

“I do want you. All of that.” He sobbed once, and Zion kissed him. Hard.

Cheers went up from around the room, his friends all clapping and hooting for them.

Saul walked over to him, chuckling softly. “It’s the perfect surprise.”

Nathan just shook his head, his whole self feeling frozen but totally alive. “I had no idea.”

“Yes, sweetheart, that’s what a surprise is.”

“He proposed,” Nathan blurted.

“I know. I’m so glad.”

His boss wandered over, winking at him. “I am too, because I tell you, you’re getting too big to work behind the deli counter. I’m glad to know you have someone who’s going to take care of you.”

He almost argued, and then Zion slipped something on his finger. The ring. It felt heavy on his hand, and he knew then that he was so, so in love.

Who was he fooling? He’d been in love since the start.

“I do, and I’m unbelievably lucky.”

Zion chuckled softly. “Me too. So how do you feel about rainbows to decorate the nursery?”

“I think it’s perfect. Which room is going to be the nursery?”

The one next to ours. I was going to make it an add-on to the master. This is better.”

The tears began to come again because he couldn’t help it. “The one you said was going to be a big closet.”

Zion nodded. “I’m a little farther along with things than I admitted to, and I’ve been keeping you out of certain rooms. We are totally set whenever you’re ready to move in, babe.

The house is safe for you. I mean, we’ve got tons of work to do, but still, it’ll be nice to have our house. And your studio.”

He blinked at Zion, confused. “What?”

“You don’t have a studio. You haven’t had one in a long time.

I found the key to the storage building that you have and, well, let’s just say I told the guy there what the situation was, that we were getting married, and I was surprising you.

He asked around and figured out that I was telling the truth, so he let me clear your storage building out, so the pod is waiting, and we can spend part of the winter getting your yurt set up so you can work. Do your real job.”

“This is wild.” People didn’t have lives like this, where they made mistakes and got pregnant and then got everything they ever wanted, with people who they thought were amazing ending up actually being amazing.

“Are you sure you want all of this? It’s complicated, and this is a complication that won’t go away.

You just moved and you’re trying to start a business and?—”

“Hey, now. This is not a complication. This is our little girl. And we’re going to raise her, and have a ball, and teach her how to snowboard. Maybe she’ll be in the Olympics.”

“Maybe…” He could see it. She would have the best teacher if she did, that was for sure.

“Come on, it’s time to play games, you two,” Saul said. “You can do all this mushy stuff anytime.” Saul cracked up. “Time for belly-measuring guesses, beauties!”

He laughed, because he realized the kids were playing with Torah and a few of the other dogs in the corner, that people were ready to eat and drink and be married, and that he had a house and a fiancé and a studio.

All to go with his baby on the way.

They’d gone from slow and steady, to hot as fire, to settling down, all in a matter of months.

If this was a dream, he didn’t want to wake up.