Redeemed Complete: A Military Stepbrother Romance (13 page)

“Yeah…” I trailed off, not knowing what else to say. What was unsaid was louder than any words. I could feel my cheeks turning red. It’s not like my stepmother was telling me to have a baby right now, this was a more general life thing.

My stepmother noticed that I wasn't speaking, looked back at me with concern, saw my embarrassment, and tried to bail herself out. “I mean, it's not that moving faster and having a baby is any better, it’s just what's right for them.”

“Yeah. They're really good together.” Good save, Ruth and Laurel. Way to avoid that weird conversation.

“Like I said, everyone moves a different speed. Slower, faster, neither is better.” Ruth turned back toward her dallying around the kitchen and I looked down into my cereal bowl.

It was mostly milk by now.

After I finished my cereal, I went back upstairs to get ready for Maggie’s party. Still no Harrison. It was strange; I wondered if he was avoiding me. He must be avoiding me! That made sense, after last night I might avoid me too. At least until I’d figured out how to feel about it. He’d revealed something that seemed to have been holding him back for a long time, and that must feel weird.

I still had no idea what to make what Harrison had said, and that wasn't even getting close to what I did after. It was 12 hours later and I could feel still feel his lips on mine, his cock inside me. I didn't know what had propelled me into having sex with him but I really needed to figure it out.

I headed into my room to pick out an outfit for the party, but when I got there, I stood in front of my window for a couple minutes and just stared, taking it all in. Our house was in a nice part of town, but nothing too fancy. Despite the cold and the recent snow it was sunny out, and I saw a few people taking mid day walks, and even a couple foolhardy joggers grinding out their daily miles, pushing clouds of steam out with every breath. I shook my head in disbelief. That was dedication to a cause.

As much as I wanted to keep what people watching from my window I didn't have time for this I turned to my closet and found a nice skirt and top I brought with me. This would do nicely.

Just before I left the house I grabbed my heavy coat, scarf, and warm hat. Hopefully it wouldn’t do too much to my hair.

There were no bathroom incidents like yesterday, but this time I kinda wanted one. Harrison and I had crossed a boundary and as forbidden as it was I wanted to explore it. Now if only I could actually find him.

Or maybe that would be a bad idea. At this point, I couldn’t tell.

Chapter 09 - The Shower

When I finally arrived at Maggie's house, the party had already started. I knew I would be late, but I took a little extra time to get ready, and do my makeup just right. I hadn't seen most of these girls since high school and I wanted make sure they saw the new me, the way I wanted them to see me.

Men like to think women dress up and spend all this time, money, and effort to look good for them, but that's really more of a byproduct. The real goal is to impress the other girls, the ones who you look up to and the ones you look across at. The ones you’d known in high school. The ones who’s looks and approval you didn’t want to admit to yourself that you craved.

If only men knew.

Maggie's house was quaint and decorated with baby stuff, streamers outside along the porch steps and a giant sign on the door saying ‘Welcome Baby Boy!’ I laughed. Knowing Maggie’s family the inside would be just as over done. They loved to celebrate even small things, so when something big came around like a new addition to the family, I was sure they’d go all out and so far I was not disappointed.

The house itself was a light off-white mixed with green, a green so light you probably couldn’t find it occurring naturally. It was one story, like all the others around it, with a chain link fence around it meant to keep dogs and little kids from straying too far. It was a nondescript house, but I’d been here so many times over the years that on a regular, non-baby shower day, it felt almost like a second home.

I guess New York was now my second home, so maybe this was a third home. Too many homes to keep track of.

Maggie’s car was in the driveway, taking up way more space than it had any right to. I almost saw it like a giant protective dog, warning predators away. In combination with the fence, Maggie’s house was well protected from…deliverymen.

I knocked and within a minute Maggie opened the door. She was dressed in a green maternity dress and she was beaming despite lugging her ‘beach ball’ all over the place. “Laurel! There you are! I was beginning to think after last night that you wouldn't show up.”

I smiled, excited at her enthusiasm. Maggie always had such an energizing effect on me. “I wouldn't miss it for the world.” We hugged and I pulled her in close, as close as I could given the large mass between us.
 

Closer than usual, and Maggie clearly noticed.

“What's gotten into you?” We separated, and a glimmer of concern flashed over her face before the huge smile came back. One thing Maggie was always good at was figuring out my moods. I used to think that maybe I just wore my emotions on my sleeve a little too much, but no one else had that insight into me - Maggie just noticed more than most.

“Oh,nothing, I'm just really glad to see you. You didn’t need to come to the door.” I wanted to tell her all that happened last night but now was definitely not the right time. Today wasn’t about me, it was about Maggie and her new baby. My stuff could wait! At least, I hoped it could.

“Likewise. It's been too long!” She laughed to herself. “I know I should stay sitting down, but you know me, I wanted to greet everyone as they arrived. You’re the last one, so I can finally sit down.” she said with a chuckle. “Come on in, the party’s finally getting started.” Despite her words we still stood on the porch in the cold.

The moment hung there, an awkward pause. I looked down and fidgeted before I realized my hands were full.

“Oh! I brought you this. It's not much,” I said, looking down at the parcel I was pushing towards her. It had gotten a little crushed during our hug but it’s not like the onesie inside was going to get damaged by a little hug.

“Oh, you didn't have to! That's so nice of you. Why are we standing out here? Come on in, come on in, everyone’s looking forward to seeing you!”

I gulped at that last part. As much as I was excited to show off how much I’d changed since I’d last saw them all, it was a little intimidating to be different around people I’d known my whole life. OK, a lot intimidating. Still, no time like the present to shove off those fears and own it. I let Maggie lead me inside.

We went into the house. As soon as the door closed I felt the rush of warm air hit me, and hurried out of my coat to enjoy it. Maggie stood and patiently waited, a smile on her face, before taking it from me.

The interior was covered in party supplies. Not a surface its normal color. So many different shades of blue. “Your family really outdid themselves this time, Mags,” I whispered as I looked around, trying to see if there was any exposed surface not covered in baby blue or navy blue or periwinkle, and unable to find one besides the ceiling, which had streamers hanging down.

It was like a haunted house of baby boy. Except during the day and totally cute instead of trying to be scary, but a little scary in its own right.

“I know, it’s a little much. But everyone around here is so excited, I really can’t get on their cases about it. They’ve helped out so much…” Maggie’s voice trailed off. I was almost jealous of the support she got from her family. Despite being in a tough situation, young and married and pregnant with her husband an ocean away, her small but close-knit family had rallied around her and it looked like all was well.

I wondered what would happen in my family in the same situation, but then quickly pushed those thoughts away as fast as I could. No sense in getting down right now.

I made sure to check my outfit in the hallway and smooth out my skirt before we came to the living room. I just needed to relax, everything was going to be fine. Besides, as I’d conveniently reminded myself, this wasn’t about me. We were all here to celebrate Maggie and her baby.

We came to the living room and the four other girls there stopped talking to look at us. “Laurel’s here!” Maggie shouted. “Everyone, you remember Laurel!”

A chorus of hellos came my way, and I waved back. “Hey, everyone! It’s so good to see you all.”

So much for relaxing. This was a little weird. Of course I knew almost three of them from high school, but it’s not like we’d been close friends or anything. Lucy, Jane, and Joanna looked like they were doing well. Jane was visibly pregnant but not nearly at Maggie’s level; my guess was she would give birth some time in March.

The last girl I didn’t recognize. We looked at each other for a second before Maggie made an introduction. “Oh, Laurel, this is Gretchen. Gretchen, Laurel. Laurel and I were inseparable in high school. Gretchen and I go to school together at the community college.”

We waved to each other. Gretchen looked really nice and her smile was genuine. Maggie had mentioned making a new friend at school, so Gretchen must be her. Gretchen was tall, brunette, with curly hair that went down just past her shoulders. She was pretty and smiling. I liked her already. She wore a classy light green dress with a high neckline and was sipping from a glass of champagne.

“Won’t you join us?” she said, motioning to a seat next to her on the brown couch.
 

“Yes, yes, sit, Laurel, sit!” Maggie exclaimed as she sat down in her chair.
 

I moved over to the couch and sat down. Almost as quickly as my butt hit the seat, Gretchen handed me a glass too. I took a tentative sip, not wanting to have too much too soon, but everyone else was already at least a glass in, and it looked like Maggie and Jane were keeping up with her ginger ale. I wondered if stock in soda companies would drop after Maggie gave birth.

I looked over at Lucy and Jane, sitting next to each other on another brown plush couch. They were close friends in high school like Maggie and I had been, and from the few seconds I’d been around them it looked like not much had changed in that department. They were gossiping and chit-chatting with the rest of the group, but it seemed like their conversation was more pointed and directed between the two of them. They were both blondes - they’d been on the track team and aside from Jane’s pregnancy had clearly kept their figures.

Something about the two of them set me on edge, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Like a spot on your back that itched but you couldn’t reach back that far. I shook my head a bit, trying to dispel the feeling.
Focus on Maggie, Laurel. She’s the one you’re here for.

Joanna, for her part, sat back and didn’t say much. I wasn’t quite sure why she was even here - Maggie and I hadn’t been close to her at all back in school. Things must have changed since then for her to be invited.

We talked and bantered back and forth for an hour while sipping our drinks and eating little snacks, taking even littler bites. I was enjoying myself, but I never felt like I could figuratively let my hair down and just relax around these girls. Not the way I could when it was just Maggie and me.

It wasn’t just that I didn’t feel like I knew them well enough, which was true, but the entire conversation - about school or work depending on who it was, men, lack of men, travel plans, all that stuff - it just seemed like it was less about us reconnecting and more about each of us trying to subtly one-up the other. Nothing super overt or anything, no one saying, “oh yeah? Well, I…” but the effect was still there. It was mainly Jane and Lucy doing this, and they definitely drove the conversation. Maggie and Gretchen played along, while Joanna and I tried to stay out of it while being polite.

It felt like each of them was trying to prove to themselves that they’d made the right choices and were happy with their results. But I couldn’t tell if any of them actually were.

I tried to stay mostly out of that gamesmanship. Joanna and I were the only ones who’d left town after high school, and it spoke volumes that we left when Gretchen had actually come to Summitville specifically to go to school - she was from an even smaller town, one that didn’t have a college at all.
 

Talking to her was a breath of fresh air. Unlike Jane and Lucy, she didn’t seem to have any illusions about where she was or what she was doing. She just seemed, well, happy to be there.
 

It was so refreshing and I could tell why Maggie liked her so much.

After about an hour, Maggie piped up. “OK, girls, it’s time for the good stuff! Presents! And then you can all get out of my house!”

We all laughed, each of us minus Jane and Maggie at a minimum two glasses of champagne deep. All our presents were on the coffee table between us, and one by one we picked ours up and handed it to Maggie, sitting on her reclining chair between the couches.
 

The first one, from Lucy, was a bunch of baby toys, rattles and blocks, mostly. Maggie passed them around and we all giggled at how advanced children’s toys had become since we were little.
 

As the blocks with letters on them came to me, I felt the first twinge of the day. I looked over at Maggie. She was super pregnant, looking even more so than she did last night, but it fit her so well. Like she was finally in her element. Of course I’m sure she’d have given anything to have her husband Chris home to be with her, but she almost never betrayed that slice of happiness missing from her life.
 

I wondered if, hoped that I would someday be fulfilled like I could tell Maggie was. And if someday, please have that day come soon, thanks in advance.

The next present was from Jane, and it was a doozy. It was a book, and not a children’s book. “Sex After Pregnancy” was its title, and the cover art featured a very sexy curvy lady in the arms of an almost impossibly well-chiseled man. We all had a laugh as the book passed around. I held my tongue at commenting - this didn’t exactly seem like the most appropriate gift to give someone whose husband was deployed around the world, but Maggie took it in stride and thanked Jane profusely. I knew Maggie well enough, she didn’t take things personally and let things like that slide. Jane, for her part, didn’t look like she’d considered the idea. “For when Chris comes back!” she said.