SWNOVELS Chapter The Red Zone: Epilogue
“YOU’RE TELLING me that you got pregnant on my wedding night and I didn’t?” Scarlett’s mouth fell open as she grabbed the positive pregnancy test from my hand with widened eyes.
“Don’t give me that look… you were already six weeks pregnant on your wedding night. It’s not my fault you didn’t know!”
“Fair point.” She nodded in agreement, still staring at the test while blinking rapidly.
I peered over her shoulder to get another look at the dark lined plus sign on the blue and white stick, eyeing it with disbelief. When Scar and I finally drew our gazes up to each other after a beat, our faces softened and small smiles tugged at the corner of our lips, almost like we were mirroring each other’s expressions.
“You’re having a baby.” Scarlett’s lower lip started to tremble. “I’m so happy for you.”
“We’re having babies.”
“And they get to grow up together.” She bit her lip to control a sob, and I wasn’t far behind her.
At this point, my eyes were completely clouded with tears. “All of our kids are going to get to grow up together—Lea’s included—just like we did.” With one blink, warm droplets began rushing down my cheek. I tried to brush them away with the back of my hand, but they fell faster than I could manage. “Oh, God. Is this what the entire pregnancy is going to be like? Am I just going to be a crying, blubbering mess for the next eight months?”
We both laughed to hold back the tears that stung the back of our throats. As kids, we dreamed of raising our children the same way our parents had raised us, and now that was going to become our reality.
God, how did we get so lucky?
Shit. Why are these pregnancy hormones making me so emotional?
“Were you guys trying?”
“I mean… we were definitely practicing.” We both threw our heads back with a laugh. I mean, sure, October and I might’ve gotten a little risky on their wedding weekend after I left my birth control at home. Growing up Scarlett’s mom always told us, “one time matters,” but I never realized the full weight of that saying until now.
My legs started to feel weak. What was October going to think about this?
“Now that you’re pregnant with his kid, I have a confession.”
“Oh, God. Should I sit down? Let me sit down.” I dropped back onto the closed toilet seat lid.
“Remember your surprise birthday party a few years ago?”
“How could I forget? It’s not every day you get mounds of hors devours dropped on you.”
Not only that, but that was the night that changed everything for October and I. It was the first time we had allowed ourselves to be vulnerable with one another—in more ways than one, if you know what I mean. So much changed that night, and looking back, I couldn’t be more grateful for it.
“Yeah, sooo, about that… I might have paid that server to bump into you knowing that you’d fall backward into October’s lap.”
“What?” I gasped. “You were the one responsible for my twisted ankle? How’s that possible? That server looked so remorseful!”
“I know. Who would’ve guessed that I’d ask the one out of work actor, of all people? And in my defense, I didn’t think you’d twist your ankle. I just thought you would fall into his lap and chat or something.”
“Or something?” I repeated, like she hadn’t been the one pushing for the two of us to become friends with benefits all along. “I can’t believe you—”
“Before you finish that sentence, I should probably tell you I’m also the one who tipped off October about Bobby being weird with you at Lea’s party.”
“I can’t be mad about that one.” I lifted a shoulder in a small shrug. “Any other confessions you’d like to startle me with?”
“Well, since you asked…”
“I was joking…” I trailed off, raising both brows. “But now you’re telling me there’s more?”
“Yup,” Scarlett said, straightening her posture and drawing back her shoulders. “Remember when we were all in New York in February after winning The League Bowl?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, that horse-drawn carriage wasn’t for you and October to ride off in after the engagement.”
“Excuse me, what?” My mouth dropped open.
Scar doubled over in laughter. “You were both so blinded with happiness that you didn’t notice when Lea paid the driver to go along with it and pretend like you guys were the couple he was picking up.”
“Oh, my god.” Heat flooded to my cheeks. “What happened to the other couple?”
“No idea.” Scar hunched her shoulders upward. “Lea said she took care of it. Whatever that means.”
“Jesus, were you responsible for his neck injury when we first got together, too?”
“No, that was the other guy’s fault. But if I had known…” She raised her brows at the idea.
“Scarlett!”
“What? I’m just kidding.” Scarlett laughed. “When are you going to tell October?”
“I mean… right now, I guess?” I shuffled to my feet, pushing my hair out of my face. “I’ve never done this. Am I supposed to wait or something?”
“I don’t know… Abel was standing over me the entire time, practically jumping out of his skin waiting for the results. Meanwhile, it was the most nerve-racking five minutes of my fucking life.”
Scar and Abel eloped at their beach house in Malibu a few weeks ago, less than twenty-four hours after getting engaged. What she didn’t plan for was finding out that she was pregnant a week later during their last-minute honeymoon trip to Fiji.
Apparently, she was sick the entire time, thinking she got food poisoning until Abel bought a test from the resort’s convenience shop and convinced her to take it. Little did she know, she was about to find out her “food poisoning” was actually my soon-to-be nephew instead.
Now, here we were a few weeks later trying to pinpoint when I had gotten pregnant based on my last period. We backtracked, remembering I had been out of town for two weeks prior to our trip to Malibu, and October had left immediately after to spend a week in Boston helping move his sister, Hallie, out of her sophomore dorm and into a townhouse right off the Warren University campus.
Which meant her wedding was the only viable option.
Turning to face the mirror, I ruffled my hands through my hair and wiped underneath my eyes before turning to Scarlett with a weak—but happy—smile. “Alright, how do I look?”
“Like you just walked out of a funeral.”
“Good enough.”
We opened the door to her bathroom, and walked down the hallway before stalking down the steps toward the living room where the boys were watching the Boston Benders in the playoffs.
They’d both verbally deny it, but Abel and October had become best friends over the past two years. They watched sports together all the time. Frequently went outside to drink beers with Fortune and grill things while the three of us girls stayed inside and chit-chatted about everything and nothing.
The six of us had a sweet little life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Oh, did I mention that Lea moved into the house next door a couple months ago?
Behind our backs, Scarlet slipped the positive test into my hand, giving me a knowing smile before we walked into the living room.
“October, uh, can I talk to you… in private?” I jerked my head toward the kitchen.
He got up from the couch with his brows crinkled together, and Scar swooped into his spot, curling up against Abel’s side. He peered down at her with a smile as he reached over to place a hand on her tiny baby bump.
My heart did somersaults at the sight of the two of them, and I nearly wept right there in the middle of the living room out of pure happiness.
Damn pregnancy hormones.
Was it really going to be like this twenty-four-seven? Because if so, I was going to need a constant supply of facial tissues within reach at all times.
Blinking back my tears, I caught up with October, who was making his way around the kitchen island. Once we were out of earshot of Scarlett and Abel, I stood in front of him with both hands behind my back and eased out a breath.
October placed both hands on my waist, gripping firmly as he squinted down at me with concern flashing in his eyes.
“I have something to tell you…”
“Let me guess,” He looked off behind me like he was thinking for a moment before he snuck a hand around my back with a mischievous smile and snatched the test from my hands. “You’re pregnant.”
“What?” I whispered, mostly to myself. “How’d you know?”
“I am all-knowing and all-seeing.” He winked, mocking the phrase I had used on him many moons ago.
I flicked the back of my hand against his chest playfully. “Wait, really? How’d you know?”
“I didn’t know for sure, but I had a hunch. You’ve been sleeping in until noon all week and it feels like you’ve been going pee every five minutes lately…”
“Why did you say that? Now I have to pee.” I crossed my legs, and we both laughed under our breath as he pulled me into a big bear hug.
“We’re really having a baby?” he said in a soft voice, pulling back to look down at the test while blinking rapidly
I looked up at him with tears welling in my eyes and nodded while he smoothed my hair out of my face and kissed my forehead.
“I think it’s going to be a little girl.”
“Really? I was hoping it’d be a boy, so he could play sports with Emerson and Rowan.”
“No, she’s a girl. I know it.”
“If you say so.” I rolled my eyes with a little laugh. “But do we really have to stick to the month for names thing?”
“Of course.” He squared his shoulder. “It’s only right.”
A few weeks after we got engaged, October confessed that he’d been thinking about our future kids’ names for a while. Then, he went on a twenty minute long tangent about how we had to name our kid, or future kids, after a month like our names were.
“Are you still in favor of August for a boy, and June for a girl?”
“Yeah, we’ll call her Junie for short.”
“That doesn’t make sense, Junie has more letters than…” I argued, crossing my arms, but he cut me off with a long kiss.
He pulled back to whisper against my lips. “Just go with it.” He rubbed his right hand over my stomach, and I had to fight back another spat of tears that threatened to break.
Thankfully, the throat tightening sob that wanted to escape dissipated as soon as the front door opened and Lea’s rust-colored hair brightened the entryway.
“Rowan just went down for his afternoon nap, and I need nutritional support before I go pump again.” Exhaustion was written all over her face as she plopped down on the couch. Then again, having a five-week-old would do that to you.
“I have some chicken stir-fry in the fridge,” Scar perked up. “I’ll go heat it up while Mae shares her news with the crowd.”
Lea looked over at me with a tired but self-approving smile as October and I walked back into the living room to join everyone. “You finally figured out that you’re pregnant?”
“How did everyone know but me?” I gasped.
“I might’ve been sleeping standing up when you came over last week, but I still noticed you getting up to pee every five minutes.”
“That’s exactly what I said!” October chimed in.
Okay, now I really had to pee.
“Are the two of you going to get married now that you’re having a kid?”
Truth is, we weren’t really in a rush for the whole marriage thing. Maybe next summer, once football season is over, we’d go somewhere warm, like my parents’ place in The Keys, and make a weekend out of it.
“Ehh, we’re thinking about trying this engagement thing out for five years… maybe ten.” I lifted a shoulder.
“I was thinking more like fifteen.” October followed up, looking down at me with a silly grin while putting an arm around my shoulder. My heart still hammered against my chest every time he gave me that look. “Twenty, tops.”
Averting my gaze back to the middle of the room, the three of them stared back at us with neutral expressions.
“They’ll be married by the time the baby comes. Who wants to bet on it?” Lea proposed. The suggestion brought a smirk to her lips.
“I’ll put a hundred on them not making it past the end of summer.” Scarlett held out her hand for Abel’s wallet, and he shook his head with a small chuckle as he reached into his back pocket before handing it to her. “She won’t want to look pregnant in her wedding photos.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Lea rolled her eyes while flailing her hands up in the air.
“Mom brain,” Scarlett offered, to which they both nodded in silent agreement.
“What the hell, you guys? I didn’t know we were still making bets about each other.” My eyes grew openly amused, and we all erupted with laughter.
Call me sentimental, but an easy smile played at the corners of my mouth as I looked around the room at everyone, acting all friendly, smiling, and bantering with each other in a relaxed manner. My heart clenched at the sight, and I could already feel my eyes growing misty again.
Three years ago, if someone would’ve come up to me on the street and told me that my life would’ve looked like this, I would never have believed them. In fact, I probably would’ve laughed in their face and told them they were insane.
Yet, here we were, defying the odds together. It was the life Scarlett and I had dreamed of as kids, and having Lea here only made it that much sweeter. Plus, I’m pretty certain my five-year-old self would be proud of myself for snagging my crush too, even if I went about things a little bit backward.
I rested my head against October’s shoulder and he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “I love you,” I whispered softly.
“Likewise.”