I thanked God that I’d gone ahead and put fresh sheets on our bed earlier today. Josh had given me hell about it the whole time. The last thing I’d wanted was for Ari to be searching through all the boxes for clean sheets.

As I stepped into our room, still holding Ari in my arms, I heard the moment when she let out a gasp. She wasn’t prepared to have our room all set up and ready. I softly laid her down on top of the quilt that Emma had made for us.

As I pushed Ari’s beautiful hair back behind her ears, I leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“You’re so beautiful, Ari. I love you so much.”

She closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, I could see the moonlight from the window sparkling in her eyes.

I slowly pulled her up to me as I started to kiss her. The moment she bit down on my lower lip, I let out moan. She sat up on her knees on the bed and started to take off my shirt. We only broke our kiss long enough for me to get my shirt off. As I removed her shirt, she placed both of her hands on chest, and then slowly started to push me down onto the bed. Her whole body was shaking, making me wonder if she was nervous or just cold.

I watched her face as she started to unbutton my jeans with that damn smile of hers. I would do anything she asked me to do just that smile. I lifted my h*ps up off the bed as she began to take my pants off.

Her head snapped up at me and she raised her eye brows. “Commando, huh?”

I just laughed as I pulled her down on top of me. I rolled her over and started to slide off her shorts. I sat up and stared at her. God, her body is amazing. She was wearing a pair of pink lace thongs with a matching bra. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. I looked up at her perfect chest and moved my eyes down until they landed on her panties. I softly moved my hands up her legs. The moment my hands touched her, she jumped and got goose bumps.

“Ari, are you feeling up to this, baby?”

“Jeff…please don’t stop! Please.”

I started to pull down her panties and off her legs when my f**king cell phone rang. Motherfucker! Are you kidding me?

I ignored it, and I made a mental note to get my f**king phone number changed. I wasn’t even sure if Ari noticed the phone ringing because she didn’t move or make a sound. I reached over and turned on my iPod.

I leaned down and started to kiss the inside of her thigh. She let out the most amazing moan I’d ever heard. I wanted to taste her so f**king bad.

I moved up to between her thighs and quickly took her in my mouth. She grabbed my hair and pushed me in closer. The sounds that she was making were driving me crazy. I placed two fingers inside her, and her whole body jerked up. Then, I placed another finger inside, and she started to call out my name.

I stopped kissing her after she seemed like she was coming down from her orgasm. I placed soft kisses all along her hips, moving up to her stomach, until I came face to face with her. The love I saw in her eyes was amazing. She seemed to be glowing. She let a small smile play across her face before she moved quickly, flipping me over. She was now sitting on top of me with a devilish grin on her face.

“It’s my turn to be in control, baby,” she said as she aimed her h*ps on top of mine.

The moment she sank down on me, I felt like I was going to lose control. I ran my hands up and down her body. With each motion, she about killed me with her moans of pleasure.

“Jesus, Ari, you feel so good.”

She threw her body back, and before I knew it, she was calling out my name again. This time, I lost all control and came right along with her.

She laid her head on my chest, trying to catch her breath.

“I love you, Jeff. You have to know how much I love you.” She slowly looked up at me.

Son of a bitch. She was crying again. It felt like someone had just kicked me in the stomach. Just then, Maroon 5’s “Wipe Your Eyes” started to play. Perfect f**king song. I wiped off the tears from her face as she smiled at me. My heart shattered into a million pieces. She was hurting, and I couldn’t fix it. She put her head on my chest.

“I know, baby. I love you just as much…if not more.”

Lying there with her in my arms, I listened as her breathing become more and more relaxed as she finally drifted off to sleep. I rolled her over and pulled the sheets up over her. I sat there for a few minutes, just watching her sleep. She seemed so at peace. I wished that she was that way when she was awake.

Then, I heard my phone chirp. I knew that who-ever had called before had left a message because my notification alert kept going off. There was no way I would have told Ari we needed to stop, so I could check my phone. I already knew who had been calling.

I quietly moved off the bed and reached into my jeans pocket to get my phone. Sure enough, there was one missed call and one voice mail message from Rebecca.

I walked through the living room and stepped out onto the front porch. Rebecca had sounded panicked in her voicemail. She’d said she needed to know if I was alright because she had been trying to get a hold of me all day. No shit.

I looked at the time. It was close to 1 a.m. I guess I better call her.

“Jeff! Oh my god! I’ve been worried sick. I’ve been calling for hours,” Rebecca said.

“Well, Rebecca, I’m fine. I told you that I was coming out to Mason and that I didn’t get very good cell phone coverage here. If it was important, you could have left a message.”

“I remember that now. Gesh, it must be pregnancy mind. I tend to forget things a lot lately. I was wondering what you were doing this weekend. I really need to get the baby’s room ready, and I’m afraid that I’m running out of time. Is there any way you can help with painting and setting up the crib and such? I can’t get anyone to help me.”

“You have until the middle of August. Why are you in such a rush to get the baby’s room done this weekend?”

“Jeff, please. You never know. What if something happens and the baby comes early? Please. If I have to beg and plead, I will. I really need help. My parents have pretty much disowned me. I have no one.”

Motherfucker! Ari’s going to be pissed. “Fine. I’ll be there sometime tomorrow morning. It’ll probably be closer to lunch-time.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Jeff! You don’t know how relieved I am. I’ll plan on making us lunch.”

“Okay. I’ll be there around eleven.”

“See you then Daddy!”

I ended the call and almost felt sick to my stomach. I turned around to see Ari standing in the doorway. Fuck.

“So, now, you feel like you have to go outside and talk to your baby mama at 1a.m.”

“Ari, it’s not like that. I just didn’t.”

“I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday with Dr. Wyatt.”

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“Only the fact that Rebecca and I share the same doctor. No, nothing is wrong. My mother asked me to get tested for Fragile X, so I am.”

“Shit, baby. Do you want me to go with you?”

She shook her head. “Sounds like you have a busy weekend planned. You better get to bed,”

Ari turned and walked away from me, leaving the front door open.

Fuck me! Why the hell did she have to wake up and over hear my conversation? I followed her into the bedroom and tried to get her to talk to me.

“Jeff, I’m tired. I don’t feel good, and I have a lot on my mind. I’m not really in the mood to talk to you about how you’re going to play Daddy and fix up a f**king baby room!” Ari shouted.

“What the hell do you want me to do, Ari? Leave her to fend for herself? She needs help, and her family has abandoned her. You really want me to be that cruel to her?”

Ari glared at me before she grabbed a pillow and a blanket.

“I’m sleeping on the sofa. I might need to get up in the middle of the night. My stomach is feeling sick again.”

“Ari, please don’t sleep out in the living room. Stay here with me, baby.”

Ari turned to look at me, and I could see the tears building in her eyes. Motherfucker, this sucks. She gave me a weak smile and then turned and walked out of the bedroom.

I sat down on the bed and pushed my hands through my hair. Why couldn’t it be Ari who was pregnant and not Rebecca? Why do I keep hurting the one person I loved the most? Laying down, I stared the ceiling until around 4am. My heart was breaking a little more with each passing minute. I never once heard Ari get up and get sick.

My alarm went off around 7:30. I got up and walked out to the living room to find that Ari was already gone.

Heading back to the bedroom, I grabbed a pair of jeans and put on a t-shirt before I went to my truck.

This day is gonna suck.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

GUNNER

Jeff and Ari had left a while ago and I was exhausted mentally and physically. Not to mention, I was pissed that we had to cut our damn honeymoon in half.

Grams and Gramps had been talking about my dad for the last hour. I looked over at Ellie. She was struggling to keep her eyes open. I thought back to the day before yesterday when I’d watched her sleep on the beach. My heart hurt so much from just thinking about how much I loved this girl.

She must have sensed me looking at her; she looked up at me and smiled. Her smile stopped my whole world. I would do anything to see her smile like that. She winked at me and then turned back to Grams.

“Emma, please let me know what I can do to help out with the party. Or maybe you need help getting things ready for when Grace and Jack get here? Whatever I can do to help keep Jack comfortable, please just let me know. I’d love to help out in any way.”

“Ellie, darlin’, you’re a sweetheart. I’m so sorry y’all had to cut your honeymoon in half. Your mother is sick over it, Drew. Drew?”

I couldn’t peel my eyes away from Ellie. I swore that this girl didn’t have a mean bone in her body. The minute I told her about my dad having a heart attack, she had started packing up our things. She had never once said a negative thing about giving up our honeymoon. Now, she was offering to help out a man who didn’t even bother to show up for our wedding.

“Gunner, maybe we should head to the cabin. You must be exhausted,” Ellie said with a sparkle in her eye. I smiled back at her and her smile grew bigger.

“I’m sorry Grams. I couldn’t pull my thoughts away from my beautiful bride sitting over there. What did you say?”

Grams let out a laugh, and Gramps stood up and hit my back.

He leaned down toward my ear.

“Go on home, son. We can talk tomorrow. I can see that you’re itching to have your bride in your arms.”

I laughed as I stood up and shook Gramps hand. I swore that the bastard grew wiser by the minute.

Ellie stood up and hugged Grams. They talked about getting together tomorrow to cook up a storm. Then, I noticed Grams leaned in as she whispered something to Ellie. Ellie pulled back with a surprised look on her face as nodded her head. Grams pulled Ellie in for a longer hug as she said something to her. I couldn’t even listen to what Gramps was saying to me. The look on Ellie’s face was so sad. What the hell is going on?

***

The drive to the cabin seemed like it took forever. I held Ellie’s hand the entire time as she looked out the window into the darkness.