Beck woke up to the smell of maple syrup and bacon. At first he thought his brain was playing tricks on him, but he slowly peeled one eye open and saw Jade standing in front of him, a tray of fluffy pancakes, bacon, eggs and a cup of coffee in her hands.
"Happy birthday, handsome."
"What time is it?" He sat up and checked the time on the digital clock next to their bed. "It's already 11?"
Jade shrugged. "I decided to let you sleep in."
Beck couldn't stop the smile from appearing on his face. "You cooked me breakfast?"
"Yes." Jade put the tray down on the bed. "Don't I always give you breakfast in bed for your birthdays?"
Beck nodded. "Yes." Beck and Jade were in a good place. These past few months were nice. They talked, they laughed, Beck was finally regaining Jade's trust, and Jade was finally able to go out in public without the crippling fear. Things were finally starting to feel normal, whatever "normal" was for them. "But I wasn't expecting it."
"Well I'm a stickler for tradition, Oliver."
"Thank you."
"You're twenty-nine today! Last year to live it up before you're an old man."
"Thirty is old?"
Jade nodded. "Oh yeah. Our cool days are slowly fading away."
"That sucks."
Jade grabbed her cell phone and checked her messages. She had one from André.
From: André
Hey, when will the birthday boy be ready?
She sent him a reply.
To: André
I'll have him ready in an hour.
"Who are you talking to?" Beck asked, his voice muffled because of all the food.
"It's a secret. Hurry up and eat!"
Beck grabbed his coffee mug and took a sip. It was plain black, just how he liked it. "What are you up to?"
"I'm not up to anything." Jade lied.
Being married to a professional actress was hard because Jade was an excellent liar when she put her mind to it. Beck eyed her.
"Why are you rushing me? It's Saturday and it's my birthday. I plan on spending my day in this bed."
"No, you have plans."
"No I don't."
"I made plans for you, birthday boy."
"Ooh, what do you have planned for me?"
"I'll give you a hint." Jade crawled out of their bed and walked over to her closet. She disappeared inside the massive room, leaving Beck extremely curious. What was his gift?
"What is it?"
Jade exited her closet with a brand new set of golf clubs. The lovely set was exclusively designed in Japan, rare, and expensive ($3,500 to be exact), but that didn't matter because Jade had more money than she knew what to do with.
"You, your dad, Robbie, and André are going to spend the day golfing. And when you get home, we'll go to dinner."
"Where?"
"I can't tell you everything. Some things need to be kept secret."
What Beck didn't know was that Jade was throwing him a huge party. She just needed him out of the house all day to do so.
"Fine."
"Do you like the golf clubs?"
"I love them. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now you need to start getting ready."
Beck pulled Jade in closer to him. "You smell like bacon grease."
"Yeah, that's because the bacon grease tried to burn my skin off." Jade showed Beck her arm, where a red mark was forming on the pale skin. "You're lucky I love you birthday boy, because I wanted to quit."
"I appreciate it." Beck moved the tray off of his lap and swung his legs around the side of the bed. "But I'm not hungry right now."
Jade frowned. She burned herself for nothing? "Okay, well-"
She couldn't finish her sentence because Beck scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder.
Jade squealed upon being lifted off of her feet. "Beck! What are you doing?"
"We're taking a shower."
"Together?"
"Yeah. And you aren't saying no to the birthday boy."
Jade laughed. André was just going to have to wait a little while longer.
"We come bearing cake!"
Jade was able to turn her attention away from her cell phone to look at Beck's mom, Nora and his aunt, Emily carefully walking into the kitchen with a large box.
"Oh thank goodness." Jade sighed. She held up her phone. "I was about to call the bakery and ask if anyone came to get the cake."
"Sweetheart, this smells amazing." Nora moaned. "Be glad we didn't eat it all on the way home."
"This cake cost me a fortune. I'd have to kill you guys if you ate it." Jade opened the refrigerator doors. "You guys can put it in here for now. Did you guys peak at it?"
Emily shook her head. "No. The cake was already boxed up and ready to go."
Jade party planner, Val walked through the door. She was holding her cell phone, iPad, and a cup of coffee.
"Hello ladies." She greeted brightly. "Are you ready to have an awesome party?"
"Yes."
"Great. The decorators should be here in a few minutes to set up the tents in the back. Your pool is covered, right?"
Jade nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay. The caterers will be here soon, and the servers are coming with them. Then the last people to show up are the performers. Acrobats, contortionists, fire breathers, the works. Since we're at a house, we can't do everything but the performers will do the Chinese chairs, the contortion act, the unicycle duo, and the jugglers."
Jade's eyes lit up. She was throwing Beck a Cirque du Soleil inspired birthday party, and from what Val just told her, her vision was coming together.
"Thank you so much. I wouldn't have been able to do this without you."
Two months after calling off the divorce, Jade and Beck were finally on solid ground again. Jade was on solid ground again, and Beck had been...great. Beck deserved a big party and this was the best type of distraction for Jade. For the past month she had been trying to make everything perfect from the food, to the DJ, to the entertainment.
"You're welcome. I'm just doing my job."
"Jade is there anything else you need us to do?" Nora asked. With the party planner there, she felt useless.
Jade shook her head. "No. I guess it's time for us to get dressed."
Nora pointed to Emily. "Well, if there's nothing else that needs to be done, we're gonna go back to my house to get ready."
"Okay." Jade unlocked her cell phone and checked the time. "Tori should be here in a few minutes anyway."
"We'll see you in a few hours."
Jade waved goodbye to her mother-in-law and her sister as they walked out of the kitchen and left the house.
All of twenty minutes later, Jade's normally quiet house was chaos. People arrived to set up the chairs and tents in the backyard, the caterer and his team came and wasted no time cooking (grilled salmon, lobster tails, chicken skewers, mac and cheese sandwiches, sliders, spicy cauliflower bites, tofu stir fry, cotton candy, cupcakes, rice krispy treats, multiple types of popcorn, an ice cream bar, and enough candy to satisfy any child's sweet tooth), and the DJ was out back putting his equipment together. Jade felt like she was in the middle of a tornado.
"Jade? Jade are you here?"
Jade smiled upon hearing Tori's voice. "I'm in the kitchen!"
"It smells amazing in here." Tori said, making her presence known. Her outfit wasn't that different from Jade's, wearing an old Hollywood Arts t-shirt, André's sweatpants and a pair of Old Navy flip flops, which were the only things that didn't hurt her super swollen feet. "I'm starving."
"You're always starving." Jade said, rolling her eyes. She pulled her best friend into a tight hug. "But this food is for the party."
Tori frowned and sighed. "You're no fun."
"You can search the pantry for snacks, but whatever the chef is cooking is off limits."
"Fine. I just talked to André. He said that they were almost finished golfing, but he's gonna stall and take them all out for lunch. If need be, he said that he could fake car trouble."
"There's just so much left to do. I'm still in my sweatpants! I need to get dressed."
"You already know what you're wearing right?"
"Yeah, I'm set. But I'm still waiting for hair and makeup to get here."
Tori maneuvered through the group of people crowding Jade's kitchen and opened up the pantry. She spotted a box of Chocolate Chip Pop Tarts on the shelf and instantly grabbed them. "How about you take a deep breath and sit down. You're going to drive yourself insane."
"You're right. I need to calm down." Jade craned her neck to check the time on the stove. "I'm going to take a shower and start getting ready. You think you can keep an eye on things down here? Make sure nothing gets misplaced or broken?"
Tori ripped open a Pop Tart with her bare teeth and gave her friend a thumbs up. "You got it, babe."
Jade eyed Tori one more time before making her way out of the kitchen. Hopefully her pregnant friend actually paid attention and didn't just eat everything in sight.
.
.
"You falling asleep over there, Oliver?"
Beck nodded and continued to rest his head on the passenger seat window of André's car. "Yeah, I'm tired."
"Well you need to wake up."
"We've been gone all day." Beck replied. The men played not one, but two rounds of golf and had lunch. It had been a long day. "The sun is setting."
"Don't you have dinner plans with the wife?" André asked, keeping up the ruse.
"Yup."
André turned into the gated community in which Beck and Jade lived, waving at the security guard as he did so.
"Where are you guys going?"
"I'm not sure, actually. She never told me, and I didn't make any specific requests."
"Probably somewhere fancy, maybe in Beverly Hills."
Beck silently agreed. "That's true. We haven't gone to Mr. Chow's in a while."
In all honesty, Beck didn't care where they went. A few months ago, the thought of spending his birthday at home with his wife was a foreign one. He was just glad to be with her. But now that he was thinking about it, Mr. Chows sounded great.
André pulled into Beck and Jade's expansive driveway, which was empty, save for Beck and Jade's cars. That was unexpected considering all the guests that were currently in the backyard.
The car stopped and Beck unbuckled his seatbelt. He reached into the backseat and grabbed his golf clubs, which were now his favorite birthday gift. They were perfect.
"See ya later, man." Beck said, smiling at André.
"Bye. Have a good night." André pulled his phone out of his pocket and pretended to be occupied with the small silver device.
Beck got out of the car and walked up the driveway. He fished his key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open.
Unbeknownst to him, André didn't leave. Instead he waited a few seconds before getting out of his car and sneaking into the backyard through the gate on the side of the house.
Beck locked the door behind him, dropping his keys on the table in the foyer. It was getting cluttered with mail and other miscellaneous items. "We really need to clean this off."
The house was super quiet. He at least expected Jade to have the television on.
"Jade? Jade, are you here?"
He heard Jade's heels colliding loudly against the hard floors. Within seconds, she appeared in front of him.
"You're back home! How was golf?"
"Golf was good." Beck looked Jade up and down. She was all dressed up, in a skin tight black jumpsuit and high heels. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you."
What really caught Beck's attention was the necklace Jade was wearing. She had her engagement ring and wedding band on a simple silver chain. He carefully touched the rings.
"This is new."
"Yeah." Jade didn't know if she could put her rings back on just yet, but this was a start. "Do you mind?"
Beck shook his head. "They're your rings. Do whatever you want with them."
"Okay." Jade grabbed Beck's hand and tugged him. "I have to show you something."
"What?"
"I did a bit of shopping today, and I found something for the backyard."
"Like what? Did you buy more floaties for the pool?"
Jade didn't reply. She just led Beck to the back of their house. Thankfully, the chef and serves moved everything outside, so the kitchen was spotless and looked like no one had been cooking at all.
"It's so dark out here." Beck said, looking out the sliding glass door.
"I'll turn on the lights."
Jade opened the door and turned on the lights. Immediately, all of their friends and family jumped up.
"SURPRISE!"
Beck jumped back in shock, but instantly broke out into a huge smile. The backyard was filled with people, everyone wearing black, except André who was still wearing his clothes from the golf course.
He turned to Jade. "You did this?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Do you like it?"
It was one of those rare times where Beck was at a loss for words. He couldn't actually believe Jade put this all together.
Their entire backyard had been transformed into a giant circus tent. Bright multicolored lights were hanging from the tent, a unicyclist was riding around, juggling bowling pins, someone dressed up as a clown was standing in front of a cotton candy machine, women were doing contortionist tricks on top of the pool, which had been covered by a glowing, colorful glass pool cover, a man was breathing fire, servers were walking around with trays upon trays of food, and to Beck's left, their outdoor bar was fully stocked.
Beck turned to the bar and walked behind it. He grabbed a bottle of champagne and picked up a knife sitting on the bar and shot the cork off of the bottle. "Happy birthday to me!"
Everyone clapped and cheered. The party was officially underway.
Beck put the bottle down on the bar. When he turned around Jade was standing behind him.
"You did this?"
"Do you like it?" Jade's eyes were wide and hopeful as she waited for him to respond.
"You have truly outdone yourself, missus. This looks...amazing."
Jade let out a sigh of relief. "I was nervous about if you'd like it or not."
"I love it."
"Thank God. Now go upstairs and change your clothes. I left something on the bed for you to wear."
"Yes ma'am." Before leaving the backyard, Beck planted a kiss on Jade.
.
.
"You seriously have no idea how happy I am right now." Tori gushed, sitting at a table with the gang.
"Why are you happy, Vega?"
"This food is amazing," Tori started, "and there's so much so I can go back for seconds."
Jade playfully rolled her eyes at her friends. At four, almost five months pregnant, Tori wanted to eat everything in sight.
"She's eating all of this, but I guarantee that I'm gonna have to stop at Chick-fil-A on the way home."
Tori glared at her husband and slightly nudged him. "I don't have a taste for Chick-fil-A, so you're in luck. But on top of that, I have these."
Tori lifted her foot up. Instead of wearing heels, she was wearing a pair of Mickie Mouse slippers from Disneyland. "The only thing that would make this party better is a masseuse."
"Well I have Tori's seal of approval." Jade's eyes swept across the table, looking at all of friends. "Is everyone else having fun?"
"Jade stop asking us that." Cat ordered. "Yes, we're having fun, this party is awesome."
"Sorry, I can't help it." Jade anxiously dug her nails into her hand— a bad habit she picked up after she lost the baby. "As the hostess, I need everything to be great."
The DJ changed the song, and instead of the upbeat dance music he had been playing for the past hour, it was a slow RnB song.
"Is this...Toni Braxton?"
"I Love Me Some Him." Tori perked up. "André! We had our first dance to this."
André stood up and extended his hand. "You think your swollen feet can handle a dance?"
"I can still dance circles around you, Harris, slippers and all."
"Come put your money where your mouth is, mama."
Tori reached for her husband's hand and let him pull her out onto the covered pool, which was being used as a dance floor.
As they walked off, a server walked by their table, holding champagne flutes on a silver platter. Jade grabbed one quickly, not wanting to disrupt the guy's movement. She took a sip and put the flute on the table.
"Have I told you thank you?" Beck asked.
"A few times." Jade replied.
"Thank you again."
"You're welcome. I'm glad you're having fun."
"Are you having fun?"
Jade smiled. "Yes." She held up her hand for Beck to see. There was a butterfly painted on it. "I got painted for you, by a grown woman dressed in a fairy costume."
"Hell must've frozen oven. Pigs are flying."
"I'm gonna make you make you get your face painted if you keep teasing."
"That stuff would make me break out, and we can't ruin this money maker."
Jade rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, pretty boy."
A clown holding a handful of balloons walked over to where Beck and Jade were sitting. "Does the birthday boy want a balloon animal?"
Before Beck could reply, Jade jumped up. "Yes, I want him to have a crown."
Beck sighed in agreement. "I guess I'm getting a crown."
"Coming right up."
Jade walked behind Beck and put her hands on the back of his chair.
The music was cut off and Jade turned around so she could yell at the DJ. But before any obscenities could leave her mouth, she saw her mother in law standing next to the DJ, the microphone in her hand.
"What is Nora doing?"
Beck turned around and saw his mom. "I have no idea." He shot his mother a quizzical look and she waved him towards her.
"Come here, sweetheart. You too Jade."
Jade pulled Beck out of his seat and they walked towards the DJ's booth. She had no idea what her mother-in-law was about to do or say, and she was actually a bit nervous.
Beck removed his hand from Jade's and stood next to his mother. Nora wrapped her arm around his waist.
"I gave birth to this handsome man twenty-nine years ago," Nora started. "Can you believe it? He was just a seven pound blob with a head full of hair, and he's all grown up, and I can't believe time has flown by so fast."
"Beckett Oliver, in my extremely biased, rose colored mom vision, is amazing. He's smart, he's handsome, he's kind, he's thoughtful, and I haven't had a lick of trouble out of this boy, save for a few crazy antics in high school. I don't think I could ask for a better son. And I would do this entire twenty nine years all over again, without changing a thing."
Nora turned to Jade, who was standing quietly next to them.
"And you Miss Jade West Oliver, you are...fiery. You came into my son's life fourteen years ago full speed ahead, and you turned everything on its axis, and that scared the hell out of me. You drive my son crazy, you push his buttons, you make his head want to explode. But, he has been head over heels for you since day one. He would go to Hell and back for you, and I know you'd do the same, no questions asked. You love my son like crazy, and for that I am thankful."
"I know twenty-eight had come with more ups and downs than anticipated..." Nora stopped herself before she continue her sentence. The entire world knew of the turmoil Beck and Jade went through and now wasn't the time or place to discuss it. She also knew Beck and Jade would not hesitate to shut the party down in things got too heavy, so she wanted to choose her words carefully.
"This year has been crazy, but you have dealt with it with incredible strength. You're better than me, honestly because I don't have the wherewithal to endure what you have, and I sit back and admire and envy you for it. You are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of us when it comes to wisdom and maturity."
"I could talk about my baby for hours upon hours and not get tired, but not everyone is me, so I'll wrap this up. Happy birthday Beck, I hope twenty-nine is great to you because no one deserves it more. To Beck!"
"To Beck!" Everyone else echoed.
Nora put the microphone down and stepped away from the booth. She wrapped her arms around Beck's shoulder. "Happy birthday, sweetheart."
"Thank you, mom."
"Now let's enjoy the rest of your party."
"Deal."
.
.
Jade walked back inside her house and hurriedly closed the sliding glass door behind her. The later the party went on, the colder it got and being outside wasn't cutting it anymore.
She moved past the crowds of people standing around in her house and walked to the hall closet where she and Beck kept random coats and jackets. Grabbing an old Hollywood Arts hoodie, Jade slipped it on and rejoined the party. She spotted Tyler, Karen, Richard, Nora, Beck, and Beck's great aunt Claire sitting in the family room. Tori was sitting in the chair facing the television, snoring quietly. Beck spotted her instantly and moved over to make room for her on the couch. Without skipping a beat, she plopped down next to him.
Beck put his arm around Jade's waist and she leaned into his side. "You tired, hostess?"
"Exhausted. I've been up since the crack of dawn."
Beck moved his plate in front of Jade's face. "Well, did you at least get a slice of cake? It's delicious."
Jade sighed and rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't get a slice. I didn't think."
"You're in luck because I saved you a slice, and it's in our room."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." Jade grabbed Beck's fork and dug into his slice of cake. "I didn't give you permission to eat mine."
"I didn't ask for any."
That was such a Jade line, something she would say a few years ago before she lost her...spark. It made Beck chuckle to himself and he relented, handing over the entire plate to her.
"Touché, doll."
"Jade dear, this is such a lovely party."
Jade looked up and saw Claire smiling warmly at her. "It was crazy putting it all together, but yeah, it turned out great."
Aunt Claire wasn't someone in Beck's family that Jade was particularly close to. The woman was in her early 80s, she had no filter, and was very loud. But she was Beck's great aunt and they only saw each other on major holidays and birthdays, so she sucked it up and dealt.
"You know, you've lived here for six years and this is my first time in your home. It's a shame." Claire continued. "This is a nice house."
"Thank you."
"It's a little dark thought. And cold. A home is supposed to be warm and inviting."
Their Hollywood Hills mansion was only built seven years ago, and everything about it was modern. Their big stainless steel kitchen, the marble floors, the big open rooms, the ceiling to floor glass windows, the cool colors of the furniture like gray, blue, and purple. The only rooms considered "warm and cozy" were her bedroom and the nursery. Jade liked modern and her in-law's snide comments weren't going to change her mind.
Nora rolled her eyes. "The furniture is just fine, Lovey. I think Jade did a good job decorating."
Jade turned around, shot her mother-in-law an appreciative glance, and mouthed "Thank you," to her. Nora winked in response. She knew how...difficult her aunt could be.
"I didn't mean anything by it. I'm just saying this house isn't very conductive for having a family and raising children."
Nora could already tell this conversation was not going to end well. But before she could steer it in a different direction, her aunt opened her mouth again.
"Speaking of children, are you and Beck ever going to try again?"
That question brought everything to a complete stop. The entire living room got silent, and everyone turned to Beck and Jade, anxiously waiting to see how they would answer.
Jade froze. Her throat closed up, and her skin instantly felt clammy all over. The question hung awkwardly in the air, because she honestly had no idea how to answer it.
"We aren't thinking about that." Beck answered, calmly. He pulled Jade in closer to him, sensing her anxiousness. "We're just focused on what's happening right now."
Claire seemed content with the answer because she didn't press the issue any further. She just back in her seat and said nothing.
Jade didn't feel as content as the older woman. She felt the exact opposite. No longer having an appetite, Jade pushed the plate of cake off of her and dropped it on the coffee table. She untangled herself from Beck and jumped out of her seat.
"Excuse me, I'll be right back."
She left the living room and walked down the hallway, trying to get the their downstairs bathroom. She found it and turned the doorknob, but it didn't budge. Jade banged her open palm on the bathroom door, and it flew open, Taylor on the other side.
"Oh, hi Jade."
Without saying a word, Jade pushed past Taylor and sat down on the toilet, practically hyperventilating.
Taylor slowly closed the door behind her and locked it. "Jade? Are you okay?"
"Just feeling really overwhelmed right now. I'm running on no sleep, I'm trying to make sure everyone is having fun, I haven't eaten, and Beck's aunt is driving me crazy."
Jade couldn't believe she actually spilled all of that to Taylor. Her stepmother wasn't exactly her favorite person, but it was like word vomit.
"Stay right here, okay. I'll be right back."
Taylor unlocked the door and stepped out of bathroom, leaving Jade alone.
Jade put her head against the corner of the cool countertop and tapped her foot repeatedly. She was just having such a good time. Why did Claire have to ruin it?
Jade heard the door open again, and without looking up, she said, "Go away."
"It's me. Taylor."
Jade looked up and Taylor was standing in front of her, a bottle of water and a small face towel in her hands.
Taylor handed Jade the bottle, which she accepted. "Here, drink this."
"Thank you."
While Jade drank the water, Taylor turned on the faucet and ran the towel under the cold water. A few seconds later, she turned the water off, squeezed the excess water out of the towel, and put it on Jade's forehead.
"I might be overreacting, but I don't think it's nice to ask a woman who lost her baby six months ago when she's gonna try again for another one." Jade rambled.
"Someone asked you that?"
Jade nodded. "Yes, and I'm trying my hardest to stay calm."
"What did they say?"
"When am I gonna try again? Try again?"
Jade didn't like the way that sounded. It made it sound like the first go around was an entire fuck up.
"I just don't like being asked about babies. I've made that incredibly clear to everyone, or at least I thought I did. I'm trying really hard to keep it together, but questions like that send me back six months."
Taylor stayed silent because she didn't know what to say. She didn't have kids, biological ones at least, and she didn't know what it was like to lose one. And she was actually bonding with Jade. One false move and it'd be over.
"Family can be a lot, but at the end of the day, everyone loves you and means well. And we're all lost. None of us have degrees in psychology. No, we aren't you and Beck, we don't know what it's like to one day be prepping for a baby, and then...not, but as a family, we don't know what to do or say to help." Taylor bit her lip. "Am I making sense here? It sounded better in my head."
"You're doing fine."
"We're all walking on eggshells here, and sometimes we're gonna say stuff that isn't very tactful."
That made sense. "I'm exhausted, maybe that's why my reaction was so ridiculous."
"It wasn't ridiculous." Taylor argued. "You're entitled to your feelings."
They say in silence for a few more minutes, neither woman wanting to ruin the extremely fragile moment.
Jade took another sip of her water. She removed the towel from her head and dropped it in the sink before standing up. "I have to get back to being a gracious host. Thank you for...this."
Taylor smiled and shrugged, playing with a few strands of her auburn hair. "You're welcome." She opened the door. "Now go out there and play hostess."
Jade exited the bathroom, Taylor a few steps behind her, and walked back into the living room. She scanned the group of people, looking for Beck, but she didn't spot him.
Instead, she walked back outside since that was where a majority of the guests were. She saw Beck standing by the popcorn machine, talking to André.
"Hey."
"Hey." Beck looked Jade up and down. "Where'd you go?"
He was a bit worried that Jade ran off after his aunt brought up kids, but he didn't want to make a big deal about it during his party. He'd bring it up later.
"Bathroom." Jade replied. "Then I stopped to talk to Taylor."
"Really?" Beck's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How did that go?"
"Good. It was just some girl talk, you know."
"Yeah." Beck grabbed Jade's hand. "Come on, come dance with me."
Jade allowed Beck to pull her into the crowd of people dancing in the middle of their backyard. She could do this. For the next few hours, she could keep her shit together for Beck's sake.
"We are gonna have so much cleaning to do in the morning."
Jade rolled her eyes. "We? We're not doing anything. We're rich and I hired a cleaning crew to come here in the morning." She felt their bed dip and turned to her right to see Beck next to her.
"You're smart."
"I know." Jade rolled onto her side so she was facing Beck. "Did you have fun?"
"I had a lot of fun. Did you have fun? I felt like you didn't really enjoy yourself."
"Yeah, I did. I'm just glad it's over and I can sleep for a week." Jade was exhausted. As soon as their last guests left, she ran upstairs and landed face first on her bed, not even bothering to take her clothes off.
Jade lifted her leg and put it in front of Beck's face. He grabbed her foot and pulled her heel off. It fell to the floor with a soft thud. He did the same for the other shoe.
"Thanks." She rolled over and sat up. "Unzip me, please." Beck did what he was told. Jade stood up and disappeared into their bathroom.
With Jade gone, Beck was left alone with this thoughts. What his aunt Claire said was weighing heavily on him. When were they going to trying again for another baby? Were they even going to have another baby. Up until then, he didn't really think about trying for another baby, but he knew he wanted kids, he wanted to be a dad.
A few minutes later, Jade was back in their bedroom, wearing only her underwear. "I'm so tired, but I really want to go downstairs and get a slice of cake."
"It'll be there in the morning, babe."
Jade picked up one of Beck's shirts and put it on. "True. I'll have cake for breakfast."
Beck watched as Jade moved around the room, putting her clothes back where they belonged, taking off her jewelry, and getting ready for bed.
"You like staring at me, Mister Oliver."
Beck jumped slightly at hearing Jade's voice and then chuckled. "I do, Missus Oliver. I do like staring."
"You stare at me a lot when something is on your mind." Jade said. "What's up?"
"Just thinking."
"What are you over there thinking about?"
"We were having a really nice time tonight, and then my aunt brought up babies, and I've been thinking about it ever since."
Jade stilled while listening to Beck talk. "Oh really?"
"Yes. And I was just-"
"Babe, I'm really tired. Can we talk about this in the morning?"
"You don't even know what I want to say."
Jade shook her head. "No I think I do." This was a slippery slope in the making, and Jade wanted to avoid it at all costs.
"Then just hear me out, okay?"
Jade sighed, "Beck-"
"This almost feels like weird deja vu, you know. When you and I first had the conversation about kids, in the exact same location."
"It's not the same." Jade replied, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I know it's not, but it feels like it. Have you put any thought into having more kids?"
"No, I haven't."
"That's understandable, because I haven't put much thought into it either, but now it's been planted in my head and I can't stop thinking about it."
Before Jade could think of something else to say to end this conversation, Beck opened his mouth again.
"Do you want you want to have another baby with me?"
Jade licked her incredibly dry lips. "Beck, can we please save this for tomorrow?" They were having such a good day, why did Beck want to end it on such a sour note?
"Why?" Beck asked innocently. "It's just a yes or no answer."
"We know it doesn't just stop at a simple yes or no."
"Can you at least give me-"
"No, Beck!" Jade snapped. "No. No, I don't want any more kids. Now please just, stop talking."
That got Beck to stop talking almost instantly. Jade could tell by the look on his face that they were in for a long night. Fuck.
Seriously, I did not realize just how long it had been since I last updated, and I was like, "Damn, get it together and update!" Hope you guys enjoyed. :)