Beauty Series: Beauty From Love Part 8

I wonder if our babies will have his eyes. I hope so.

"What are you giving Jack Henry for his birthday?" Margaret asks.

I'm still smiling but for a different reason and I can't keep it from her. "I have a few things for him but one special gift. He asked for a baby and I've decided to give him one."

"Oh, Laurelyn." She cups her hands over her mouth to m.u.f.fle a squeal. "A baby. That's wonderful news. Have you told him yet?"

"No. I'll tell him tonight." I have something very special planned but I'm keeping that part to myself.

"He's going to be thrilled."

"I know. I can't wait to see his reaction." I'm pretty sure it's going to be a huge smile and then involve him taking me straight to bed.

Margaret claps her hand like a child. "Will you start trying right away?"

"Is tonight considered right away?"

She grins. "I have a bit of advice for you since you're new at this." She lifts her brows and whispers, "Put a pillow under your b.u.m ... after he does his thing. You shouldn't get up right away; let gravity work for you."

OmiG.o.d. Margaret is giving me pointers on how to keep Jack Henry's sperm inside so his boys will swim upstream. This isn't awkward at all. "Okay." That's all I can say.

"Stay that way about ten or fifteen minutes before you get up." She giggles before giving me a wink. "I can't wait to get my hands on another grandbaby."

Mum meets us at the door. "h.e.l.lo, birthday boy." She squeezes me hard before hugging my wife. "Laurelyn." She whispers something in her ear but I'm unable to make out what it is-just as she intends-and I'm reminded of another time when she did the same thing. These women get along too well. They're going to unite and plot against me.

The old girl is wearing an unusually large grin tonight. That can only mean one thing when it comes to Margaret McLachlan. She's up to something. "What's going on, Mum?"

"It's your birthday, son. I'm just thinking back on the day I gave birth to my firstborn."

I'm calling bulls.h.i.+t. "But you're smiling." She never smiles when she talks about having me.

"Of course I'm smiling," she says. "It was a happy day."

She makes a nice attempt at sounding sincere but I know better. This woman has told me about the day I was born countless times-mostly when I caused her some type of trouble or worry.

It's not really a story that will encourage Laurelyn to want to have our baby but she's bound to tell her about that day from h.e.l.l at some point. "She was in labor, without any kind of painkiller, for twenty-one and a half hours. I weighed over ten pounds and she thought she would die pus.h.i.+ng me out. I'm pretty sure she begged someone to kill her, although she's never admitted it."

Laurelyn's eyes grow large and her jaw drops. "Good lord. Over ten pounds?"

"I did not beg anyone to kill me." She playfully whacks my arm. "Not more than five times, I don't think. But I forgot all the pain when I saw him. He was so beautiful, Laurelyn. He had a headful of black hair ... and I'm glad because he was face up when he came out and his head was shaped like a cone. But then he cried and it was music to my ears. He was worth everything I endured and yours will be too."

Laurelyn doesn't need my mum hounding her about a baby. I'm already afraid I've pressured her too much, so I lift my brows as a warning. "Mum."

"I'm zipping it." She makes a motion with her fingers across her mouth and we follow her into the living room. There's a crowd, probably twice as many guests as usual. I see several of my mates and I know Laurelyn will be happy to meet them. Then there's the usual suspects-my parents, Evan and Emma with their trio, and Chloe. And Ben-f.u.c.king-Donavon.

I'm blinded by red. "Why the h.e.l.l are you here?"

"Jack Henry. Ben's a guest in our home." My mum's voice has an edge of warning to it but I don't care. She can whack me as hard as she'd like if she doesn't like what I have to say.

"No one's answered me yet. Who invited this d.i.c.k?"

Chloe's giving me the evil eye. "I did, and he's not ... a d.i.c.k."

I'm feeling ambushed by my own sister-and maybe by my own wife. "Did you know about this?"

"No." Laurelyn's voice has a high-pitched edge to it, so I take that as a sign she doesn't like being accused. "I only knew that Chloe was bringing the new guy she was dating."

My sister is out of her d.a.m.n mind if she thinks I'm gonna let that happen. "Oh h.e.l.l no. You're not dating him."

"I'll go out with whomever I want and there's nothing you can do about it, so stop being a d.i.c.khead."

f.u.c.k me. I can't let this happen. He's no good for her and I don't want him near my wife. "Chloe, there's things you don't know about him."

"Ben told me everything." I somehow doubt that.

"Hey, man," Ben says as he steps forward and gestures toward the patio door. "Could we step outside to talk this over instead of making a scene?"

Yeah. I'm sure he doesn't want to have this conversation in front of a crowd. It'll only prove how unsavory he is but I also fear what he'll say about me. He's aware that I didn't know L's last name after being with her for three months. I d.a.m.n sure don't want him bringing that up in front of the family, so he has me over a barrel.

"We'll be back in a minute."

Laurelyn places her hand on my arm and whispers, "He's here for your sister-not me-so behave."

"Like that's supposed to make me feel better?"

L lifts her brow as a warning and it's the same look I've seen my mum give me a thousand times. "We're here to celebrate your birthday and I'd appreciate you not getting into a brawl."

"I won't, love. I swear."

We go out to the patio and I stand with my arms crossed as I wait for what he has to say. I can't think of a single thing I'd like to hear from this guy.

"I want to start by apologizing for my behavior with Laurelyn."

He's telling the wrong person. "Maybe you should apologize to her instead of me."

"I plan to, but I knew it wasn't possible if I didn't go through you first." He's right. I'm not sure I'd allow him to get that close to her. "I'm sorry I didn't give you the information you needed to find her, but it all seemed really weird to me. You were with Laurie for months and didn't know her last name. I a.s.sumed there was a reason for that and it was her own decision. I thought I was protecting her."

Protecting her, my a.s.s! I know how much pleasure he took in denying me what I needed to know. "You did it while wearing a s.h.i.+t-eating grin. You loved seeing me grovel."

"I won't say I didn't enjoy it. I wanted Laurelyn, and you came between us. I couldn't see then that you were the one for her, but I realize that now. It was always you. I never had a chance."

I'm not interested in discussing how much he wanted to f.u.c.k my wife. That much I already know. I'm more interested in what his intentions are when it comes to Chloe. He stands to gain a lot professionally by being a.s.sociated with this family. Or he could just be a b.a.s.t.a.r.d looking to give me a jab since he was unsuccessful at closing the deal with my wife. "What about my sister? You going out with her to p.i.s.s me off or do you see her as an opportunity to further yourself?"

"I like Chloe a lot and our relations.h.i.+p has nothing to do with you or your family."

"Just how did this relations.h.i.+p come about?" I ask.

"I'm in Sydney with my interns.h.i.+p, so Addie introduced us a few weeks ago and we hit it off. I asked her out and we've practically been inseparable since." A mental picture of an inseparable Ben and Chloe isn't something I need in my head. "I have my own business connections. I grew up in a family of winemakers just as you did, so I stand to gain nothing in that aspect by having a relations.h.i.+p with Chloe."

I still don't like this f.u.c.ker. "I'm not gonna bulls.h.i.+t you. I do not care for you at all-and I really don't like you being with my sister-but she's old enough to make her own decisions. If she chooses you, then that's her mistake, but I've got my eyes on you. You f.u.c.k with my sister-or my wife-and you're mine."

"I have no intentions of doing either, but you need to get used to the idea of me being around. I don't plan on going anywhere as long as Chloe wants me here."

f.u.c.king perfect. I'll need to thank Addison for this s.h.i.+t later.

The party wasn't a total bust. L met three of my mates-Trevor, Ellis, and Wade-which made her extremely happy. I guess she feels like that's an area she knows nothing about since she hasn't met them before. But there are reasons. They've been thick as thieves this year. I'm not sure I want to know what they've been up to because it can't be good. And I'm sure I'd have been part of whatever they have going on if I hadn't been so wrapped up in finding Laurelyn, but I have my priorities in order. They have theirs too: T and A-t.i.ts and a.s.s.

All three were checking out my wife right in front of me, but Ellis was shameless in his adoration of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. They looked awesome in the dress she was wearing but I still ended up telling them all to f.u.c.k off. Doesn't matter who it is, no one looks at my wife like that. a.s.sholes.

They cackled, thought it was f.u.c.king hilarious. I can't believe I was once just like those d.i.c.ks, but that was all before Laurelyn. She can't imagine all the ways she's changed me.

I'm driving us back to the apartment we keep in Sydney. I'd prefer to be home with L at Avalon for my birthday, but I wouldn't dare go against Margaret McLachlan's plans when it comes to an annual birthday celebration. She loves tradition, even demands it.

L didn't seem to mind and I think it's because she enjoys her new place in this family. It's quite different than what she had growing up. She enjoys being surrounded by those who love her, and boy, is my family crazy about her, especially Mum. There was something different between them tonight and I don't know what. Whatever it is, I've never seen Mum like this with Emma, or even Chloe.

"You're not okay with Ben and Chloe."

"No, I'm definitely not but what can I do? She's not a child. I have to remind myself often that she's the same age as you." Laurelyn and Chloe are different kinds of twenty-three-year-olds. L was forced to grow up fast so she's always felt more mature to me. As much as I love Chloe, she's been spoiled by all of us, including me, so it's difficult to think of her as an adult.

"Ben isn't a bad guy. Take me out of the equation and you wouldn't have had a problem with him. The two of you have a lot in common. I could see you being friends."

Maybe, but L is in the equation. "I don't know if I could ever be friends with him. He knew you were mine and still went after you."

"But he didn't get me and he never will because I'm yours and that isn't going to change." She reaches for my hand. "He was very sincere in his apology to me and I truly believe he likes Chloe for the right reasons. Please try to tolerate him for her sake-she really likes him."

I better not regret this. "I'll give him a chance, but his a.s.s is mine if he does anything to hurt my sister."

"I'll gladly turn you loose on him, McLachlan." L reaches for her phone. "Nothing from Addison. She and Chloe have been hanging out a lot since the wedding, but I'm puzzled about the reason she didn't tell me about them."

I'm not puzzled. "She didn't want you to tell me so I could ruin it before it got started."

"Maybe. She'd expect you to go apes.h.i.+t crazy, so maybe that's it. But she's been weird lately-sort of like she's checked out on me the last couple of weeks."

Addison's never been great at being there for L so I'm not sure why she's surprised by this. "Ask her to breakfast when we get back to Wagga. Take her to Fusion and you can coerce the truth out of her with their Belgian waffles. They're magnificent."

"Speaking of breakfast, I'm going out to eat with your mum and the girls in the morning before we go back."

"That sounds good."

"What will you do while I'm gone?"

"Sleep in."

She looks at me skeptically. "You don't sleep in."

"I do once a year because I need my rest after my wife gives me birthday s.e.x all night long." Her laugh tells me she must think that's pretty funny. "Don't tell me you find that humorous because I'm wrong."

"You're not entirely wrong but there's more to it than that."

"Partially wrong?"

"I refuse to answer that. You'll find out in two minutes when we're inside and you open your gift from me." Nice. I bet she's going to wear some s.e.xy lingerie.

We go into the apartment. L tells me to sit on the couch while she gets my birthday gift from our bedroom. I'm not so sure it's what I was thinking. She isn't acting like herself-she seems nervous.

She returns to the living room and sits next to me before placing a small rectangular box in my hand. It's wrapped in chocolate-brown paper with a blue ribbon bow and definitely isn't big enough for lingerie-unless it's really tiny.

"Open it."

I remove the bow and tear into the paper as I ponder what could be inside. It's a simple white gift box. What is this? A bracelet? I hope not since I'm not a fan of men in bracelets, but I'd wear it if it's what she gave me.

I remove the top and I'm confused by what I see. "A pregnancy test?" She just had her period a couple of weeks ago, so she can't possibly need to take a test.

"No. It's an ovulation predictor. It tells me when I'm most fertile."

I can only think of two reasons she'd use this: to avoid having s.e.x on the days she's fertile so she doesn't become pregnant, or the complete opposite-because she's ready to. "And you want to know when you're fertile because ... ?"

"You asked me to have your baby, and this is me saying yes." A smile spreads across her face. "A baby ... it's my gift to you."

I lean over to kiss her mouth and stroke my thumb over her cheek. "Best gift ever."

She lifts a brow. "I took a test earlier and I'm ovulating."

It's weird. Something about hearing her say those words makes me want to throw her over my shoulder and haul her down to our bedroom so I can bury myself deep inside her. "Does that mean you want to start trying now?"

"I do."

"I love when those two words come out of your mouth. It means something crazy good is about to happen."

I get up from the couch and tug so she'll stand with me. I put my hands on her lower back and pull her close. No hug. No kiss. I simply look into her eyes. "This is what you want, right? You're not agreeing because you feel pressured or because you know it's what I want?"

She strokes her hand down the side of my face and I reach up to cup my hand over hers. "It's all I've thought about since you asked on our honeymoon." She laughs. "It's totally insane to be married a month and try to have a baby on purpose, but it's what I want. I'm ready to start our family."

"Our family. I love the sound of that."

"Me too."

I clasp her hand in mine and lead her down the hall to our bedroom. "Can I have a minute? I want to change into something special for you."

Yes! I knew she'd be putting on some hot lingerie for my birthday. "Yeah. You can have two if you need it." She walks into the closet and comes out with a shopping bag. Whoa. I wonder what's in there? "Take as long as you need."

She gives me a naughty grin. "Be back in a jiffy."

This is it, McLachlan. You and L are going to make a baby. There's no going back after it's done. Hmm. I'm surprisingly calm about it, but I guess that's how it feels when you know it's right.

There's no reason to still be dressed when L returns. We both know what we're here for, so I take off my s.h.i.+rt and trousers and place them on the chair in the corner of the room. I'm only wearing my boxer briefs when she comes out of the bathroom and stops in the doorway, leaning against the frame. She s.h.i.+fts her weight to one leg and places a hand on her hip, pus.h.i.+ng her b.r.e.a.s.t.s up in her ivory chemise. It's a bra at the top with sheer fabric flowing to the edge of the tiny triangle between her legs. It's the ultimate prelude to baby-making.

"What does the birthday boy think?"