Here's yet another chapter. I'll probably have the next posted sometime next week ... at least I hope to.
As always I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews and adds to alerts and favorites. Also special thanks to Northwoman, who as usual beta'd for me! Any mistakes you find are mine, not hers ... I never can keep my hands off of it after she has at it!
These characters belong to Charlaine Harris.
Eric's POV
I'd been swinging on the porch swing for about ten minutes when Jason's truck pulled up. The cool night air was giving me the extra energy burst I needed to get the swing set put together and now that help had arrived, I only hoped that we were finished before the sun came up.
"Hey man," Jason said as he got out of the truck and walked toward the porch.
"Hey, thanks for coming," I said as I stood up and started toward him. "When Sookie said you didn't mind I hope she was telling me the truth. I know it's late."
"It's no big deal. I was up anyway and frankly, you saved me from two hours of misery," Jason laughed. "Plus, I can remember when I was about five, waking up on Christmas morning and Mom and Dad had gotten me a bike. It just wouldn't have been the same if it wouldn't have been put together and these damn swing sets are a son of a bitch, so I've heard."
"Yeah, I was actually happy when Sookie suggested calling you. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it alone, but I'd have figured it out," I laughed.
Jason and I headed around back, got the pieces and the tools needed out of the shed, and got to work. It was almost four a.m. when we reached what seemed like the halfway point. The frame was up and all that was left was to put all the swings, the teeter totter, and the slide together, attach them, and put the walls and roof on the fort. I was so glad I had Jason to help because I was pretty sure that I would have never finished it had I have been working by myself.
"Dude, thank you so much for helping with this," I said. "I never would have gotten this thing put together on my own. It's definitely a two person job."
"Hey, no problem," he assured, shrugging his shoulders. "I'd do anything for Hunter, besides, I've wanted to talk to you alone for a while now, but I just haven't had the chance."
Oh shit! I thought, positive that the "protective big brother speech" was coming. There was no other reason I could think of that he'd want to speak to me alone. I knew the speech well because even though Pam is technically older than me by fifteen minutes, I'd given her dates the speech before, several times when we lived together. Mine was usually slightly modified from the version I expected to get from Jason, though, because most of Pam's dates were female and it wasn't like I could threaten to beat up a girl.
"Oh," I said trying to keep a smile on my face and trying not look nervous even though I was pretty sure what this was about ... and if I was right, I had a reason to be nervous.
At least he didn't know she was pregnant yet, at least I really hoped he didn't. I knew Tara had promised not to tell him, but I also knew when you lived with someone, sometimes things just had a way of slipping out. The last thing I needed was an angry older brother wanting my ass on a platter for impregnating his little sister.
"Yeah, I just wanted to thank you. Hunter needs a man in his life and I know I can be that man, but not full-time, so I'm glad he has you, too. I can tell he really looks up to you. You're good with him ... and good to him and he really loves you."
Well shit! That was the last thing I expected, I thought ... but a pleasant surprise, none the less.
"Jason, he and Sookie are ...," I paused to find the right words, then smiling, I continued, "They're my life, and I find myself wanting nothing more than to take care of them. I know that I can't and won't ever replace Remy, but I really do hope that one day he'll think of me as his father because I already love him like a son."
"Wow! I knew you and my sister were getting pretty serious, but I had no clue you were getting that serious. You know, I think Remy would've really liked you. He was one of my best friends growing up and I know he'd be happy to know that Hunter has someone like you there for him."
I felt better knowing that Jason didn't want to kick my ass and that he obviously knew nothing of the fact that Sookie was pregnant because I was pretty sure that if he knew that little nugget, he would want to kick my ass.
Although I had no intention of telling him she was pregnant, I did feel he had a right to know just how serious we were. Plus, I wanted him to know I wasn't going to just up and leave Sookie and Hunter. I was in this for the long haul.
"Yeah, we are very serious," I said, nodding. "You know, she asked me to move in tonight, so I'll be here full-time and," I paused and I reached into my pocket pulling out my Grandma's ring then continued, "I'm going to give her this."
Jason had taken the ring and was giving it a once-over in the dim light as he asked, "Is this what I think it is?"
I nodded and responded, "Yeah, it is."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for y'all, but didn't y'all just meet a couple of months ago? All of this seems ... uh ... a little fast. Doncha think?" he questioned as he handed the ring back to me.
I took the ring and slipped it back into my pocket, but didn't say a word. Honestly, I didn't know what to say. The truth was, he was right. We were moving fast and we had a good reason to be, but I didn't want to get into the reason. The bottom line was that I did love her, so fast or not, this was going to happen. I was moving in and I hoped she would marry me. We were going to be a family.
When I said nothing, in a very concerned voice, Jason added, "I mean, I'm glad you're around for her and for Hunter. Most guys wouldn't ever want the responsibility of raising someone else's kid, so I think you're a real standup guy, and she's happier than I think I've ever seen her, but moving in together and getting married ... that's some serious shit."
As he spoke, I could practically see the wheels in his head turning as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that after only two months I wanted to marry his sister and be a father to a child that wasn't mine. It didn't surprise me that it was so hard to understand, because I didn't even know if I could really explain it myself, especially without giving away the fact that she was pregnant.
Don't get me wrong, I did really love her, baby or no baby, but to say that things weren't sped up a little because of the baby would probably be a lie. And as far as Hunter not being mine ... that had no bearing on this situation at all. I knew she had Hunter the day we met and I knew that pursuing her meant being around for him. He was a part of the package and always had been.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence I nervously suggested, "We should probably get back to work," hoping that it would steer the conversation in a different direction ... far away from things that Sookie and I weren't ready to share.
As I got back to work, putting the pieces of the slide together, I realized that Jason was just standing there staring at me. Judging by the look on his face, his mind was still churning away. All of the sudden, out of nowhere the look on his face changed and his eyes opened wide like he'd just figured out the meaning of life or some shit.
"Whoa, Dude ... you knocked her up didn't you?" he proclaimed.
Panic, pure panic shot through my entire body as I clasped my hand over my mouth. I didn't know if I was about to pass out, throw up, shit my pants, or a combination of the three. I knew Sookie didn't want anyone else to know for at least another month, but he asked me and I didn't know if I could or even should lie.
Fuck! I thought. What the fuck do I do? I had no clue, but what I did know was that I had to play it cool. If I played it cool enough maybe I wouldn't have to answer his question at all. I knew that was wishful thinking. Who was I kidding? My initial reaction had probably said it all.
Before I had the chance to say anything, not that I knew what I could possibly say to get out of this, he retorted, "Dude, you don't have to answer that." Shoo! I thought until he continued, "The answer's written all over your face. You fucking knocked up my little sister."
I didn't know what was going to happen next and Jason's face was completely unreadable as was the tone of his voice. I had no clue if he was about to hug it out or punch me in the face. Fuck! I really hoped it was something closer to the hug it out end of the spectrum.
I guess he sensed my worry because he placed his hand on my shoulder and said, "Dude, relax. It's cool because I know she's old enough to take care of herself and she's happy, but she is my little sister and it's important that you know that I will rip your balls off if you ever hurt her."
He was careful to sharply accentuate the words, "rip your balls off", so I fully understood the scope of where he was coming from and I did understand. I understood completely, having a sister of my own. Although we'd spoken several times over the past couple of weeks he didn't really know me and had no way of knowing what my true feelings or intentions were.
"Jason," I assured, "I love her and I have no intention of ever hurting her. I know this is ... uh ... a little sudden and quick, but regardless, I do love her and I do want all of this ... her, Hunter, and the baby, and I swear to you, I'm always going to do right by them."
"Good. Now that that's out of the way, let's get back to work," he suggested as he squatted down and started putting the swings together. Then, he shook his head and started to laugh, "My little sister's having a baby!" as he continued assembling the swings. A few minutes later, smiling from ear to ear, he shrugged and questioned, "So, do you mind telling me when the fuck y'all were planning to tell me that I'm going to be an uncle?"
The sun had already started to rise as I stripped down to my boxers and slid into bed beside Sookie and there was absolutely no place else I wanted to be at that moment. I had been up for nearly twenty-four hours and I'd been outside in 30 degree weather for nearly the past four. I was completely exhausted and freezing.
"I love you," I whispered as I snuggled into her side and placed my hand on her stomach, which was something I'd started doing since I'd found out she was pregnant. It was ... well, kind of my way of showing the baby I was there, I guess.
When I'd come inside, I had been surprised to find that she was no longer on the couch. Apparently, she'd got up and went to the bed at some point. She'd changed her clothes, too, because now, she was in the t-shirt I'd been wearing earlier before our company had arrived.
"Eric, your hand's cold," she said groggily. "What time is it? Did you finish?"
Fuck, I loved the way she looked in my clothes, but I was way too tired to get too excited about it. For now, I'd just answer her questions and go to sleep ... but maybe later, once I'd gotten a couple hours of sleep, I thought.
"It's not even six yet, Jason just left, and I'm exhausted and freezing ... sorry my hand's so cold, by the way. Go back to sleep," I whispered, then kissed her temple and buried my head in her neck.
"I love you, Eric. Merry Christmas," she whispered as she rolled onto her side and snuggled even closer against me.
"Merry Christmas, Lover," I replied, then shut my eyes and let sleep overtake me.
"Wake up, Eric ... Eric, wake up."
I swear, my head had just hit the pillow and my eyes had just shut when I felt a little hand nudging my arm and heard a little voice telling me to wake up. What the fuck? I thought, then I realized it was Hunter and it was Christmas-fucking-morning and I had to get up and act all happy and cheerful, when all I really wanted to do was go back to sleep and say bah humbug.
"Eric, get up."
"Hey, little man?" I said sleepily as I slowly rolled over onto my back and opened my eyes.
Just as I realized Sookie was missing from the bed, he frowned and said, "Sookie's sick." A tear fell from his eye then he said, "I came to get you ... like you told me to; to open my presents and Sookie's sick again."
He sounded concerned and he had every right to be. He had no clue what was happening with her and although over the past few days we'd been pretty diligent about hiding the fact she was getting sick a lot, he'd seen her get sick enough to think something might be wrong.
"Oh ... well, you go get dressed and let me check on her, okay," I said. "I'll be out there in a minute. I'm sure she's fine," I assured.
I knew I had to get him out of the room and I also knew that Sookie and I were really going to have to reevaluate our decision to remain quiet about her pregnancy. Jason now knew, thanks to me, and I was not looking forward to telling her, and there was no way we could keep the truth from Hunter anymore. We had to tell him so we could explain why she was getting sick all the time.
Hunter crawled off the bed and headed out into the hall as I sat up, stretched, and let out a yawn.
"I'll be out in just a minute, Hunter. Don't you worry," I said as I got up and shut the bedroom door.
"Baby, are you okay? Do you need anything?" I asked as I walked over to the bathroom and leaned against the door frame.
Sookie was sitting there on her knees by the toilet, with the side of her face resting on the rim of the bowl. I hated that she had to go through this. I absolutely loathed seeing her so sick and I really wished there was something I could do to help, but I knew there wasn't.
"I'm fine. Just take care of Hunter," she managed to squeak out between heaves.
Really, I found it totally shitty that she had to go through all the hard stuff and all I could do was sit back and watch her suffer. It fucking sucked that something so wonderful, like bringing new life into the world had to be such a horrible experience, at times.
I walked over to the closet by the sink and got out a couple of washcloths, wet them, and handed one to her.
"I'm going to take Killer outside. I'll show Hunter the swing set and that will give you time to get through this," I said as I knelt down beside her. "I doubt it'll be a problem, but I'll try to keep him out there until you come out. That way, he won't see you again until you're okay," I added as I folded the other washcloth and draped it across the back of her neck.
I stood up, and then she groaned, "Eric," as turned to go back into the bedroom.
"Yeah Baby," I said, stopping in the doorway, turning back around to face her.
She threw up a little more, then said, "We have to tell him," as tears started to fall down her cheeks.
"I know, Baby, but don't you worry about that right now. We can talk about that a little later. Right now you just need to get better and I need to get out there so he doesn't worry," I said as I turned and entered the bedroom.
Sookie's POV
Forty-five minutes later, I was finally on my way outside. As I reached the kitchen, I noticed that no coffee had been made, so I did the honors. Once it was finished, I headed outside with a cup of coffee for Eric and a cup for myself.
I swear, the worst thing so far about being pregnant wasn't the fact that I was tired all the time, moody, or the fact that I threw up everyday ... it was the fact that I was limited to one cup of coffee per day. One cup per day ... what the fuck?
I learned real quick that as much as I liked a cup the minute I woke up, to wait because there was nothing worse than enjoying my one and only cup of coffee only to puke it all up minutes later. Now, I always wait until I after I get sick, then I have my coffee.
I slipped on my coat and coffee in hand, I headed out the door, then around to the back yard.
"What's this?" I shouted excitedly, trying to act surprised, like Santa had really brought the swing set last night and like I really wasn't just puking my guts out fifteen minutes before.
Eric turned around to me and with a smile and a wink, said, "You feeling better?"
"I am and I have coffee," I said just as Hunter flung himself off of the swing while it was in mid-air. "Hunter!" I shouted, causing Eric to turn around just as he flew through the air.
I knew there was absolutely nothing Eric or I could do other than hope he landed properly and didn't get hurt. I just stood there, frozen in panic, while surprisingly, Eric stood there cheering and egging him on, until he hit the ground.
I was pissed at Eric ... at first, but when Hunter landed, he landed on both feet, stood right up, and ran over to me shouting, "Look what Santa got me! Look, Sookie ... Santa brought me a swing set!" And he did it just like it was nothing.
That was when I realized that boys would be boys and I was apparently going to have to get used to it, but regardless, I'd seen enough of the swing set for one day, if that was how he was going to play with it. Plus, it was only a little after seven a.m. and it was freaking cold out, so I figured going inside, opening presents, and having a huge breakfast was a really good plan.
By this time, Eric and Killer were standing by me as well, so I handed Eric his coffee, bent down to Hunter and with a smile on my face said, "You know, Santa brought you all kinds of other stuff that's in the house. We should go in and see what else he brought, then we'll eat breakfast."
Hunter excitedly squealed, "Yay! More presents!" then ran toward the house with Killer chasing him at his heels.
As Eric and I followed behind, holding hands, Eric stopped suddenly, which stopped me as well, and said, "Sookie, I'm exhausted ... I'm so tired I can't even see straight ... and right now, I fucking hate Christmas ..." He almost looked like he was about to cry, but then a goofy smile formed on his face and he continued, "But regardless, I just want you to know that this is the best Christmas I've ever had. I love you."
"Oh!" I sighed smiling, "I love you, too, but I'm really cold, let's go in."
By nine o'clock, Hunter had opened his gifts and we'd eaten breakfast. Eric and I were crashed out on the couch, surrounded by mounds and mounds of Christmas wrap and boxes that I was seriously dreading having to clean up, and Hunter was running wild, playing with all of his new toys like a chicken with its head cut off.
While I cooked breakfast, Eric had helped Hunter put batteries in all his new toys and put a few together. They had everything up and running by the time it was time to eat, so after breakfast, Hunter's playtime began and it hadn't stopped.
I was exhausted, so I knew Eric was, even more so than I, because I'd gotten more sleep than him the night before ... but I was pregnant, so that had to count for something.
Fuck! I was pregnant ... I was going to have a baby! For some reason it all felt a lot more real at this moment ... probably because I knew we were going to have to tell Hunter, and everyone else for that matter, and I was really nervous.
I was especially concerned with how Hunter would react when we told him and I really hoped that he didn't feel hurt or like he'd be left out, which was a real possibility, especially given the fact that he wasn't mine or Eric's, biologically speaking ... and that was the last thing I wanted. I knew that no matter what, we had to make sure he understood that we were all a family, Eric, him, the baby, and me.
We also needed to tell him that Eric was moving in with us, which I knew he'd be ecstatic about. I'd overheard him ask Eric to stay with us a couple of times, so I knew it was something he really wanted to happen ... actually ... hearing him tell Eric he wanted him to stay with us ultimately made me realize that I wanted Eric here with us too.
"Baby, you look tired. You should go back to sleep for a few hours," Eric suggested, concerned, which drew me out of the thoughts that were swirling around in my head.
I wanted to take him up on his offer, but he was the one who'd had less than an hour of sleep.
"If anyone should go back to sleep it's you," I insisted. "You're the one who hasn't had any sleep," I said, then added, "Plus, I know you want to be up to watch football tonight." Waggling my eyebrows, I laughed, "It's the Chargers and the Titans ... I know you're excited."
"About that ... uh ... Jason and Tara are coming over to watch the game," he said nervously, which I found a little strange.
I didn't see any reason he should be nervous about Jason and Tara joining us. They seemed to get along fine ... unless something had happened last night that I wasn't aware of.
"Okay. Why do you seem nervous? Did something happen last night that you should tell me about?" I asked concerned.
"Uh ... kind of," he stammered before plastering a goofy smile on his face. "But we should really talk about it in private," he suggested, shifting his eyes toward Hunter, so I'd understand that this was a discussion we should not be having in front of him. "It's really nothing," he assured.
I seriously doubted that it was nothing, especially given his reaction, but we weren't going to have any time soon to have this discussion. Hunter was just too hyper at the moment to leave alone, even if we were just in the next room.
"Look, we obviously can't talk about this now, so why don't you go lie down while I clean up this mess and watch Hunter. He'll eventually crash and then we can talk. Okay?"
When Hunter had finally had the chance to play with every single toy Santa had brought him he calmed down and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. All it took was me popping in a DVD and the next thing I knew, he was asleep. I took that as my opportunity to go and talk to Eric.
I went into the bedroom and crawled into the bed beside him. I wrapped my arm around his chest and gave it a little squeeze as I said, "Eric ... Baby … Eric."
He didn't budge, which didn't surprise me. I knew he was really tired before he'd even left the living room, which actually took a little convincing on my part, and he'd only been asleep for about three hours, so I decided to give up on waking him. Being a little tired myself, I snuggled against him and soon I was fast asleep.
Eric's POV
I woke up with my hard-on pressed very tightly against Sookie's rear ... and fuck me, I liked it!
Slowly, I allowed my hand to creep its way up from her stomach, where it had been, to her breast, and then I breathed, "Mmm," as I buried my head in her neck and gently trailed kisses down to her shoulder toward her arm and lightly pinched her now pebbling nipple through the material of her shirt.
"Oh ... well, good evening, Principal Northman," she said groggily, yet seductively, turning her head around slightly so she could see me and also allowing me better access to her neck.
"Oh," I said as I continued to explore her neck, shoulder, and arm with my lips, "and good evening to you, too, Ms. Stackhouse," I added as I began slightly moving my hips, grinding my erection against her ass.
Fuck! It felt good and I so wanted more, but I had just caught a glimpse of the clock and realized we had to stop. Unfortunately, Jason and Tara would be here in less than two hours and before they got here, we still needed to shower and we still needed to talk, not to mention the fact that as far as I knew, neither of us had a clue what Hunter was doing at the moment.
"Fuck!" I growled in frustration as I pulled away from her. She eyed me questioningly as I said, "Baby, it's after four thirty. Jason and Tara will be here in a couple of hours and we need to get up, get dressed, and check on Hunter."
"Fuck!" she spat.
"And we need to talk about things," I added apprehensively.
"Fuck!" she spat again.
"We should probably check on Hunter first," I suggested, then to lighten the mood I smirked, waggled my eyebrows and added, "But rest assured, we will be continuing this later."
She laughed, "Damn right we will ... but you're right. You go check on Hunter and I'll start heating up the leftovers from last night," she said as she sat up and flipped on the lamp.
Once in the living room, I found Hunter was still on the couch asleep, so I left him there. I knew we'd pay for it later, because he would inevitably fight us on going to bed, but I also knew that we needed the privacy at the moment.
After helping Sookie in the kitchen, we headed back to the bedroom together, both dreading the conversation which was lying ahead. She took a seat on the bed and I, very nervously, took a seat beside of her and started talking.
"Sookie, I need to tell you what happened last night and I really hope you don't get angry," I said hesitantly. "Jason was telling me how glad he was that I'm around for Hunter and that got us on the subject of us ... well, him realizing how serious I was about Hunter made him see how serious we were getting ... and well, I thought he should know. Uh ... I wanted him to know that I wasn't going to hurt you or Hunter. I wanted him to know that I was going to stick with you guys, no matter what ..."
I was so rambling and just needed to get on with it and tell her that I'd spilled the beans. It really probably wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things after tonight anyway because the other thing we needed to talk about was telling Hunter and if that went down, there was no keeping the secret any longer, but I was still nervous as hell.
"Anyway, I told him that we were moving in together," I said, careful to leave out the part where I told him I wanted to marry her, "and he went on for a minute about how happy he was for us, but then he started going on about it all being so fast."
I was still rambling and I wasn't even sure if she was actually following what I was telling her. Shit, honestly, I wasn't sure if I was really following what I was telling her I was rambling so badly ... I really just needed to get to the point.
I took a breath and nervously said, "That's when he figured it out."
"Wait," she interrupted. "What do you mean; 'figured it out' ... figured what out?"
Grinning, hoping that my smile would keep her from yelling at me, I admitted, "He knows, but I didn't tell him. He guessed it."
Sookie's POV
"Are you serious?" I asked.
Eric didn't say a word, so I knew he was very serious. Jason knew I was pregnant.
I was pretty perturbed, but not because Jason knew or because Eric told him ... it was more like I was just pissed at the whole situation. I was hoping to have at least one more month of getting used to being pregnant ... which wasn't getting any easier, by the way ... before I announced it to the world. Being so tired and emotional all the time was hard enough to deal with without having everyone you know up in your business.
Unfortunately, we had no choice but to tell Hunter immediately. He'd seen me sick one too many times to write off, but with him knowing, it meant we had to tell everyone else because he was a kid and kid can't keep something like that secret.
"You know what, it doesn't matter anyway! Everyone's going to know soon enough anyway!" I said as I shook my head and rolled my eyes.
Welcome to seven months of people being in my business even more than usual and treating me like ... like I'm helpless and made of glass. Fuck! I was not looking forward to it. I got enough of that from Eric, not that I minded when he did it, but being the baby's father, he was the only one who was allowed to treat me that way.
"I'm sorry," Eric said wincing. "I hope you aren't too angry with me."
"I'm not," I said shortly. "I'm not angry with you at all. I'm angry with the situation. It's hard enough to go through this with nobody knowing and I just know that it will be so much worse once they all know. Do you realize the whole town will be in our business?" I asked, then paused briefly to take a deep breath before adding, "And what about Hunter? What if he feels left out or like he's less important because he's not ours biologically? I don't want him to feel like the red-headed step child," I lamented.
"I'm sorry, Baby," he chuckled as he put his arm around me and pulled me against him. "I don't mean to laugh," he assured. "It's just that red-headed step child comment got me."
He gently brushed his lips against my temple and stroked my hair as he more seriously said, "I know it's hard, but you'll get through it and I'll be here to help you. I love you, Sookie. You're going to have my baby and I'm going to be here with you every single step of the way ... and you're going to be a great mom to our baby just like you are to Hunter. We're going to be a family and we're going to be very happy. I know it."
I sighed, "I'm just sick to death of being limited to one cup of coffee, sick of throwing up every day, sick of Christmas, sick of crying at the drop of a hat, I'm just sick of everything and I'm sick of being sick of everything! And I'm never going to get used to being pregnant! I feel like I'm going crazy!" I spat.
Eric continued to hold me and continued to assure me that I'd get through the next seven months. After a few moments I was feeling much calmer. My daily freak-out was officially over ... thank God.
"We have to get dressed," I suggested. "Tara and Jason will be here in like an hour and a half and we really need to tell Hunter before they get here."
"Are you sure you're okay to tell him tonight? We could probably put it off another day or so ... if you'd be more comfortable."
"We need to get it over with," I insisted.
"Well, what does he know about pregnancy?"
"Uh ... well, I really don't know. We've never talked about it, but I guess it's possible that Remy and Hadley may have explained something to him about it."
"We'll start there, then. We'll ask him if he knows about where babies come from. If not then we'll explain it. It's really pretty simple with kids his age. You'd be surprised how well they understand the clinical stuff," he said smirking.
I nodded. Leave it to Mr. Kid Expert School Principal to know exactly what to do. That was one thing I loved, but at the same time hated about Eric ... he was so much better with Hunter than I could have ever been and frankly, I was tad bit jealous.
"So, after we tell him, I'm assuming we're going to tell other people?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said. "I guess we kind of have to, because all it would take would be Hunter mentioning it in front of the wrong person and all hell would break loose."
Amelia, my other best friend, was specifically who I had in mind. She was going to kill me when she found out. She, being the drama queen that she is, didn't speak to me for three days after she found out about me and Eric because I'd hid it from her. She'd actually found out through town gossip, which only made the situation worse. I knew she needed to hear that I was pregnant from me and not from someone else.
The way I figured it, it wouldn't be too hard to keep it a secret for another week even with Hunter knowing. He and Eric would be home all week and I had to work almost every single day, so the chances of Hunter being around someone he could tell were slim to none.
"Well, the way I see it is that we should be able to keep it under wraps for about another week, even if we tell Hunter tonight. Y'all will be home all week and I work, so I don't think he'll be running into anyone or be anywhere where he could spill the beans. That'll give us a little time to figure out the telling people part."
"Hey! Let's plan a dinner for next weekend ... we can invite our friends who we want to tell and make one big announcement," he suggested.
"Okay, that would work perfectly," I said, then suggested, "Do you want to do it on New Year's Eve instead of next weekend? That could be fun."
"No!" he frantically retorted, and then evened his voice, smiled, and said, "I want New Year's Eve to be just me, you, and Hunter ... that is if that's okay with you?"
"Next weekend it is, then," I proclaimed.
Tara and Jason were on their way and it was now or never. I was still really concerned about how Hunter was going to feel about the fact that I was pregnant, but Eric continued to assure me that he'd be fine.
"Hey Hunter," I said as Eric and I walked into the living room where he was playing with his new toys. "Eric and I want to talk to you for a minute," I added as we approached, then sat down on the couch.
Earlier, while I'd gotten showered and dressed, Eric got Hunter ready then took him into the living room to play with his brand new toys. He'd been there ever since. Even as I finished re-heating the leftovers from Christmas Eve, he remained completely enthralled.
"Hey little man, come here and sit down for a minute," Eric added, patting his knee.
Hunter walked over to Eric and climbed up onto his lap as I said, "Sweetie, you know how Eric's been staying with us?" He nodded. I continued, "Well, he and I have decided that he should stay."
Hunter started smiling ear to ear and said, "You're stayin' Eric! You're really not gonna leave us and go home anymore ... and Killer gets to stay too?"
"Yep, little man, I'm not leaving. This is my home now ... with you and Sookie," Eric said smiling, then laughed, "And Killer gets to stay, too."
Hunter started to squirm down off Eric's lap. Quickly, Eric stopped him by grabbing his waist as he said, "Oh no you don't. We have a little more to talk to you about, Little Man."
"Okay," Hunter replied.
I loved watching those two together. There was really nothing better. I swear, sometimes I thought Eric was Hunter's entire world. The way Hunter would look at Eric with such admiration and the way Eric treated Hunter like he was his own son ... it just always made me smile and I hoped that it was always that way between them.
"Uh, Hunter ... uh ... like Eric said, we have a little more to talk to you about," I said nervously before Eric interrupted me and totally saved the day with his awesome "Kid Expert, School Principal" skills.
I'd never been so relieved as I was when he chimed in and simply asked, "Hunter, do you know where babies come from?"
I would have taken another five minutes to get to that, had I have kept talking. I was so fucking lucky to have Eric, I thought.
"Mommy told me that babies come out of ladies' bellies," he proclaimed proudly then added, "She told me there was a baby in my teacher's belly last year when she got fat, and that it lived there and grew until it was ready to be born. That's why she got fat ... and she told me I was in her belly before I was born."
I chuckled a little. His explanation of his teacher's pregnancy was adorable. It was so innocent and simple. Hopefully, we could keep our explanation that way as well.
"That's exactly right, Sweetie," I said smiling, then asked, "How would you feel if I had a baby in my belly?" I asked, then I just held my breath and hoped for the best.
So ...
When is Eric going to pop the question?
and ...
How is Hunter going to react to the news?
That'll all be in the next chapter!
Tell me what you think ...