FULL NOVELXO HUGE STEPS: Chapter 26
Jamie’s breathing fast like he just ran a marathon, and Abi looks like she’s about to pass out. All I can do is shut the front door, and exhale.
The light’s already starting to leak away from the sky, turning half of it a deeply-tinted magenta. It’s funny how such a beautiful thing can come right after something so ugly.
Debating on whether I should take her hand or not, I decide to sit down on the couch. We had the day off today, but I feel exhausted. The excitement of buying things for the baby has all but worn off, and all I see in the middle of the living room now is the look on my mom’s face when Jamie told her the truth about us and Abi.
Fuck.
I don’t even swear internally very much but there isn’t any other word that can convey what I’m feeling. Jamie slides down onto the couch next, all the usual confidence and energy gone out of him. We both seem to turn our heads to Abi.
“Well, that went well,” she says and then bursts out laughing. I think she’s in shock and I look across at Jamie who shrugs and starts laughing too. “Seriously.”
“I actually thought that Jamie did a surprisingly good job,” I mumble.
Abi nods, putting her face in her hands. “The look on my dad’s face. I felt like I was going to wither up.”
“He’s really pissed,” Jamie agrees.
“It was never going to be an easy conversation,” I say. “But I think it might have been better if they hadn’t heard the news via the town gossips.
They both nod, groaning at the thought. “Trust Cody to go shooting his mouth off.”
“That’s Cody’s area of expertise,” Jamie says.
Abi groans again. “I shouldn’t have told him but I couldn’t get him to understand that I wasn’t going to get back with him.”
I put my hand on hers. “They had to find out sometime,” I say.
“And it’s hardly like me and Jared were the stealthiest men on the block,” Jamie says. “Going baby shopping…what were we thinking?”
He’s right of course. We should have all been a more cautious but our shopping spree was for a good reason. We wanted Abi to see how we felt about the baby. We wanted her to know we’re committed.
“They’re going to be upset for a while. They both will. But they’ll eventually have to come to terms with it,” I reply. I half believe it, but I know it’s what Abi needs to hear right now.
“Natalie probably hates me now. I’ve corrupted her perfect sons.”
Both Jamie and I snort. “You don’t have to blame yourself for that,” he says. “There were quite a few corrupting influences that came around before you.” He wiggles his eyebrows and Abi chokes out a laugh.
“I’m being serious,” she says. “I know how close the three of you are and I couldn’t stand the idea of being the thing that comes between you and her.” Abi brings her arm down over her face, burying her eyes in the crook of her elbow.
“What are we going to do?” she mumbles.
I turn to face her, wanting to move mountains just to make her feel good again. I draw her arm away so she has to look at me. “We’re going to do what we planned. This doesn’t change anything, Abi. We’re having a baby and as much as that fact might disgust our parents, it’s coming anyway. We’re gonna do what we were planning to do, except now we don’t have to dread coming clean. They know and we can just get on with it.”
“And you don’t need to worry about coming in between us and our mom. She may be…unreachable right now, but it’s not like she’s going to disown us,” Jamie says.
“Pfft.” She folds her arms across her chest. “I’d be careful before you make any more assumptions,” she replies.
I take her hand in mine and rub small circles on the back of her hand with my thumbs. “Me and Jamie have always admired you. You have this strength that most people don’t seem to give you enough credit for. And you’re always honest, but still kind about the truth. You never intentionally hurt others, and you have a pure heart. I know this whole thing really hurt you, and I’m sorry you’re having to go through all this but you know we’re always going to be here to help make it a little more bearable wherever we can.”
Jamie steps up to the plate. “Yeah, absolutely. And Abi, you’re going to be like the most amazing mom, because like Jared said, you’re pretty much a badass. We know what a strong woman looks like—we lived with one for most of our lives. And don’t worry about Mom or your Dad. They’ll come around. And you’ll see then—everything will all turn out okay in the end.”
“Even if we can’t get them to accept everything during the pregnancy, I bet things will change once the baby’s born. They’ll take one look at their first adorable grandkid and put on the blinders. The kid will win ‘em over by its supreme cuteness, and then this will feel like a distant memory,” I add.
Abi’s shoulders seem to relax a little as she nods. “Maybe.”
Her eyes are shining, but the tears don’t fall. I push a stray wave of copper behind her ear, still in awe of just how beautiful she really is. It’s not our fault we fell for Abi when we met her. How could we not, with these eyes and that soft hair?
Jamie rubs her knee, his fingers looking like their itching for more of her. He leans down, kissing her quietly, before she returns the kiss fully, placing her hand on the side of his scruffy face.
I slip my hands under the fabric of her shirt around to her abdomen, holding her as I kiss around the nape of her neck. The chills that explode across her pale skin trigger something inside of me, and I twist her hair out of the way, peppering either side of her neck with slow, deliberate kisses, patiently waiting my turn.
Then suddenly she stops. “You said you love me,” she whispers. “You said it to dad.” Her eyes are fixed on Jamie but then she turns to me.
“You know how we feel,” I say softly.
She shakes her head. “I didn’t know that,” she says. “I knew you cared for me, but love?”
“From the first day we met you at that restaurant, we had a thing for you,” Jamie says. “We used to argue about who was gonna make a move on you, then we were all living in the same house and you didn’t seem interested and it just didn’t seem like it was ever going to happen for either of us.”
“But we got to know you, Abi,” I tell her. “Every family meal and night in front of the TV. We were soaking you up.”
“Love is a big word,” Jamie says. “But we mean it, honey. We loved you before you agreed to marry Cody but neither of us was prepared to admit it because you didn’t seem to see us.”
“I saw you,” she says softly. “The first photograph was enough to drive me crazy.”
I snort. “Was it the one of us dressed in suits for our uncle’s wedding?”
She nods, grinning. “You both looked so serious.”
“We were channeling our inner bad boys,” Jamie says. “Mom loves that photo.”
“I love it too,” Abi says. “I wanted you both so much but I thought I was going crazy. What kind of person wants to be with two men at the same time?”
“A greedy one,” Jamie quips an Abi punches him on the shoulder.
“Greed is not a bad thing,” I add.
Abi grins. “You love me,” she says happily.
“We’ve established that,” Jamie says. “What we haven’t established is how you feel about us.”
“You don’t know,” she asks.
We both shake our heads. I mean, I know she’s attracted to us, and I think she likes us, but as Jamie said, love is a big word.
“I love you both,” she says, putting her hands on our knees. “I can’t believe you didn’t know.”
“You were planning to marry Cody a few weeks ago,” Jamie says.
Abi shakes her head. “I loved you, but I couldn’t see a way for it to be anything other than a dream.”
“Looks like your dream has come true,” I say.
“It feels like that,” she says and my heart skips a beat. “But I don’t want our parents to hate us because of it.”
“We can’t change the way they feel right now. They’re shocked…angry, but in time they’ll see that what we’ve said is true. They’ll understand that this is something good and they’ll accept it.”
“I hope so,” Abi says.
“We all do,” Jamie adds.