Page 24 of More Than A Fixer-Upper (Hope Runs Deep #13)
Chase
March
I pace the hospital waiting room, heart pounding. The school called to say Rosalie needed an ambulance. After a week of illness first the kids, then her she’d finally returned to work. Watching my family suffer through that virus was brutal. I felt helpless.
New Year’s Eve was the best day of my life. Rosalie and I got married. Two days later, Gerald, Rosalie, and I stood in court together. Drew and Winnie became Keaton officially, legally, and forever. My family.
Then my dad showed up.
He’d driven past my house, saw someone new living there, and learned I was married with kids.
He sat on the porch and cried. Lacy blocked his number after calling him a disgrace.
She said she was ashamed of him and of me.
Her words hit him hard. He didn’t know what he needed, but he came looking for me.
He apologized. For everything.
We got him into a rehab center in Casper. He asked for extended mental health treatment no alcohol, full supervision. He’ll be home in May. When he’s ready, he wants to help at the bed and breakfast. A caregiver. A fresh start.
My phone buzzes.
ROSALIE: You can come back now.
ME: On my way.
I rush to her room. She’s pale, lying in the hospital bed, and my stomach twists.
“Do you still have the flu? Did you push yourself too hard?”
She opens her mouth, then closes it. My worry spikes.
“I’m pregnant,” she says quietly. “I never had the flu.”
“What?” I whisper. “We’re having a baby?”
Tears fill my eyes. I reach for her belly, overwhelmed.
“Drew and Winnie are my children. I’m excited to watch you grow with this baby. I hate that I missed everything with them.”
“You’re not mad?” she asks, voice trembling.
I shake my head and kiss her gently.
“I thought you didn’t want kids.”
“I didn’t,” I admit. “But Drew and Winnie opened my heart. I didn’t know how to be a dad. Now I want a thousand kids with you.”
“A thousand might be pushing it,” she laughs through her tears.
A tech enters to take her for an ultrasound. I go with her. I can’t stop smiling, my hand resting on her belly the whole drive home.
“What do you think the kids will say about being big siblings?”
“I think they’ll be grossed out that their parents are having sex.”
We both laugh. But when I heard the swishing sound of the baby’s heartbeat, I bawled. It’s the third best sound I’ve ever heard after Rosalie saying “I love you,” and Drew and Winnie calling me “Dad.”
“I just want to stay home tonight and do nothing,” Rosalie groans. “But Winnie has a basketball game.”
I chuckle. “Mama, this weekend you’ll be a lady of leisure. I’ll wait on you hand and foot.”
“You always say the sweetest things when you’re not being a menace with those dirty words,” she teases, winking at me.
I groan, knowing I’m about to walk into a high school gym with a hard on.
I park the truck and turn to her. “Payback tonight, love. I believe some slow edging is in your future.”
I kiss her, and she sighs.
“God help me. Now I have lady blue balls.”
I laugh as I close the door behind me.
I love this woman.
THANK YOU FOR READING ROSALIE AND CHASE’S STORY! I really hope you loved it.