Page 38 of Saving Tracey (Finding Hope #1)

Four Years Later

TRACEY

I scowled deeply at Trevor when he put way too many packs of birthday cake cookies in the shopping cart. He sent me a sheepish smile, almost making my scowl disappear, but I kept it in place. "What? I know you've been craving cookies, baby." He wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed me gently.

"That doesn't mean I need them!" I snapped at him.

He pouted at me, making the scowl drop from my face instantly. I hated when he gave me that look. I could never stay aggravated with him. "I just wanted to make you happy."

I sighed, my eyes watering, my emotions way too damn close to the surface these days.

I bit my bottom lip to try to keep it from trembling.

Trevor sighed, pulling me against him as much as he could with my protruding belly sticking out so far.

"No, don't cry, baby,” he begged me, pressing a kiss to my temple. “I'll put the cookies back."

I sniffled. "I want the cookies," I admitted. "I just don't want to look like a whale."

Trevor laughed a little, pulling back so he could kiss me softly. "Baby, you're not a whale.” He shook his head at me. “You're eight months pregnant. If you want cookies, eat cookies. Besides, you heard the doctor—you’re not gaining enough weight."

I had just come from the doctor a couple of hours ago, and my midwife had informed me that even though my baby was at a very healthy weight, I still wasn’t gaining the correct amount of weight for how far along I was. Honestly, I didn’t understand how because I ate all of the fucking time.

"Trev, what did you do now?" Lucas asked as he walked up with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

Trevor shot his little brother a scowl, making me sigh. "I told you to meet us at home.”

Lucas shrugged. "Yeah, but I wanted to come shopping with you guys, so here I am,” he said with a grin that was practically identical to Trevor’s.

I shook my head in amazement. Lucas was the spitting image of Trevor. At ten years old, the boy was fluent in sarcasm, and he loved getting under Trevor's skin. Trevor loved him though, and he constantly told me he wouldn't ask for anyone else to be his brother.

When we had graduated high school—me by a hair—Trevor had enlisted into the Marines. As soon as he came home from basic training, he asked me to marry him, and the day before he was supposed to go back for schooling, we went to the courthouse to get married.

Now that he was back home from serving his four years, we were planning a proper wedding. Though, when he had gotten back, he hadn't wasted any time in getting me knocked up, that was for damn sure.

When Trevor and I had signed the papers for our house, Lucas had withdrawn again.

His nightmares were coming back since I wasn't living with Dale and Glenda anymore, and he didn't have Trevor around anymore.

Trevor convinced Dale and Glenda to allow Lucas to come live with us, and so here we were, taking care of a ten-year-old boy with a baby girl on the way.

"You don't listen for shit, do you kid?" Trevor asked him, sighing in aggravation and shaking his head.

Lucas's face fell at Trevor’s words, and I sighed, moving away from Trevor as I walked over to him. "Come on, kiddo. Let's go get some ice cream, hm?"

Lucas was still dealing with being scolded.

He understood that there were some things he couldn't do, and he followed rules extremely well.

It was just when Trevor snapped at him a bit too harshly, Lucas shrunk back into his shell.

I knew Trevor didn't mean it harmfully; that was just how Trevor was, and sadly, there was still some part of Lucas’s brain that was wired to automatically fear men.

I heard Trevor curse under his breath quietly as I waddled off with Lucas's hand in my own.

When we got to the ice cream section, Lucas's eyes instantly lit up.

This was something Trevor and Lucas certainly had in common—they both loved ice cream with a damn passion.

I mean, hell, I ate a fuck ton of ice cream, but those two still ate more than I could ever think of eating.

"Hey, Luc, check this one out," Trevor said, pointing through the glass to a certain ice cream that I was sure was some new flavor they hadn’t tried yet.

Lucas's eyes lit up, and he rushed over, swinging the ice cream door open and grabbing it.

I smiled softly. After years of abuse and neglect, Lucas was healing.

Granted, he still shut down when people called him Lucas, and he still got frightened at the thought of new people, but he was doing all right for the most part.

And me? Well, after my gunshot wound healed properly, Trevor and I walked daily. We first started around the bedroom, then around the house, and then we ventured outside. I struggled at first, but Trevor never gave up on me; he refused to stop until I was walking properly again with no pain.

I no longer had nightmares with my parents as the stars, and the last time I’d had any kind of flashback was right after Trevor left for basic. I had gone back to therapy once he left to get help on my own, and I had to admit that it kind of helped.

I hadn't heard from my mother in years, and I preferred it that way. I never reached out to her, and she never reached out to me.

Angelina was so excited to be a grandmother, and Kaleb and Krista were ecstatic to be an aunt and an uncle. Emily was acting like it was a 'whatever' kind of thing, but she bought stuff for the baby all of the time, and I knew she was secretly excited to see the 'spawn of Trevor’, as she put it.

I could still remember the day that I found out I was pregnant.

Trevor was so fucking excited that we didn't leave our bed for almost a whole twenty-four hours.

After we finally decided we had been in bed long enough to ‘celebrate’, he called everyone and asked them to come over so he could share some news.

Since then, Trevor had been even more over-protective of me than he used to be.

"Hey, man,” a familiar voice spoke up.

I looked up from the shopping cart at the same time Gabriel walked up, doing a weird hand thing with Trevor and giving Lucas a high-five. Gabriel smiled at me. "Grocery shopping?"

"No shit," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

Trevor tried to hide his smirk but failed. My attitude during this pregnancy has been his favorite form of entertainment. Whereas before I was still pretty quiet and didn't say much, now, whatever I thought normally came right out of my mouth without a second thought.

Gabriel grinned and looked back at Trevor. "Hey, I've been trying to reach you, but your phone is off or some shit."

Trevor grimaced, shooting me a playful scowl. I just smiled sweetly back at him, making him shake his head with a small smile on his lips. "Tracey dropped my phone in the pool by accident. I haven't been able to replace it yet. What's up?"

"I just opened my automotive shop downtown, and I was wondering if you wanted a job. You'd be playing manager, but helping to fix the cars as well."

Trevor looked over at me. I smiled, nodding at him. He never made decisions without consulting me first. Though he had enough money saved up from being in the military, I knew he was going nuts just sitting around the house all of the time.

Trevor looked back at Gabriel. "Yeah, man. Of course. When do I need to start?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Tomorrow morning would be great."

Trevor nodded. Gabriel looked down at Lucas. "Hey, Luc, if mama bear over there approves," I scowled at the nickname that Gabriel liked to call me to get under my skin, "then you can tag along too after school. We can teach you a few things about cars."

"I'm not a fucking mama bear,” I snapped, resisting the urge to childishly stomp my foot.

Gabriel grinned. "Oh, yes you are. You couldn't be more protective over Luc here if you tried."

I scowled, pushing the cart down the aisle away from him before I decided to run him over with it. I wasn't standing around listening to Gabriel call me a fucking mama bear. His mission these days seemed to be to get on my everlasting nerve.

I put everything on the belt at the cash register and pushed the cart up to the end so Trevor and Luc could load the bags into the cart. "Oh wow, this is a lot of cookies,” the lady said as she rang them up. I gritted my teeth in agitation. "My OB always told me to watch my diet."

"How about you watch your mouth,” Trevor snapped from behind me, walking up and kissing my cheek. "According to her OB, she's not gaining enough weight. Mind your fucking business."

I sighed. There was Mr. Over-Protectiveness right there.

Trevor loaded the bags into the cart with Lucas's help. I pulled out my debit card to pay for the food, but Trevor stepped up behind me quickly and swiped his own card. I scowled at him. "I was going to pay for it," I muttered.

He grinned, leaning down to kiss me. "I've told you over and over again that you don't have to spend your money."

He grabbed the receipt from the cashier. When we got home, our dog Max ran up to us. Max was a rescue dog. He was extremely old and probably wouldn’t live much longer, but I couldn’t stand to see him left in the shelter to pass away.

Lucas grinned, rubbing the dog behind his ears. "Hey, Max, let's go swim!" Lucas shouted, dropping his book bag on the floor in the hallway. He yanked his shirt over his head as he ran toward the sliding glass door.

I scowled at his retreating back. "No running on the concrete!" I yelled after him, worried he would trip and fall and badly hurt himself.

Trevor laughed, kissing my shoulder as he walked past me into the kitchen. "Mama bear on the patrol." He laughed, making sure he was out of arm’s reach when he said it.

I glared. "Not you, too."

He grinned, walking back over to me and wrapping his arms around me, leaning down to kiss me. I moaned softly against his lips, reaching up to wrap my arms around his neck. "It's alright to be a mama bear, baby." He nuzzled my neck. "Mama bear is a fucking turn-on."

I laughed, hitting his shoulder and walking around him. I swear, Trevor was insufferable, but I wouldn't change him for the world.