Laurel wanted to come but she was at home cursing B-ry for putting such a big baby in her. She would be popping any moment now. I could tell that B-ry had a nervous edge to him all night and the only reason that he was even over here was that Laurel had ‘gone all hormonal’ and told him to get out for a while. We all laughed at that. It was also hard to imagine because Laurel had been nothing but nice and sweet to me. But then again, I knew how those pregnancy hormones made you go crazy sometimes.
“I love this place,” Cami said as she looked around. “It’s so you.”
“It feels so… right,” I said with a glowing smile.
“I’m so glad things worked out for you two.”
“I didn’t think it would for a while there. I really thought that it was all too much for him,” I told her.
“I know, but I think it worked out the way it was supposed to.”
“I agree.”
My eyes looked across the room to find Mouse’s eyes already on me.
My Malcolm.
My heart.
My first and forever love.
“Shit,” B-ry said catching everyone’s attention. “I knew I shouldn’t have left her. Cami? Cami!”
He looked around even though we weren’t hiding.
“Cami, she’s in labor. What do I do?”
I covered my mouth because it was so funny and strange to see him freaking out like this.
“B, calm down. Deep breath,” Cami said and took in an over exaggerated deep breath to show him. “In and out. Abigail is with her, it’s all going to be okay.”
She pulled out her phone and I figured she was calling her sister. She walked out to the back porch as she talked.
“You got this, man,” Mouse said to B-ry with a slap on the back. “Just remember how excited you were when you found out.”
“Right.” There was a blinding smile that overtook B-ry’s face. It was weird, but beautiful to see.
“She says the contractions just started. Her water hasn’t broken and her doctor said to wait a little before heading to the hospital. You have time to go get her.”
With that, B-ry, Cami, and Brand left to go make sure she was okay. Cami promised to call us when they were headed to the hospital.
We were on edge for the next hour.
Finally, Cami sent me a text message telling me they were headed out and everyone else rushed out to be there for them.
“Go, Malcolm,” I said seeing that he was torn on what to do. “They were all there for me when I had Chry, you need to be there for them.”
I wanted to go but I knew I needed to keep the kids here. I’d go as soon as they were settled in and things were more quiet. Though I had a feeling that half the club would be there at all times while they were in the hospital.
Because that was what family did. And I’d learned that family didn’t always mean that you shared blood. It wasn’t always people that were connected by a last name. It was people that cared about your soul and looked out for your heart. People that were there for you no matter what you were going through.
This was my family.
I got the kids ready for bed and tucked in.
Then cleaned up the mess that was left behind.
I couldn’t help but walk around our house even though it was still pretty empty. In my mind, I worked out where all the furniture was going to go. The couches and TV stand would come tomorrow. And there were many more things we still needed to get. But I was already on the verge of being overwhelmed and kept having to tell myself that although I wanted it all done now, we had plenty of time. After all, neither one of us was going anywhere.
