Our Time Will Come - An After Story

4

Hardin

"Come on Tess, There are only so many tight shirts you can make a guy wear in a couple of days." I groan as I fiddle with the collar of my white dress shirt. This thing is itchy as hell. "Hardin, you look very handsome, stop with the moaning, would you?!" she scolds me.

I turn around to take a real look at the beauty that is my wife. She is wearing a gorgeous, off the shoulder red dress, it clings perfectly to her curves and her hair is curled to perfection. She wears minimal makeup, yet looks absolutely stunning. There's a glow about her today that makes her look even more stunning. I whistle at her as she twirls for me. Fuck, I am the luckiest man alive.

"Kids, are you ready?" Tessa calls our children. Auden steps out of his room, not looking up from the game he seems to be playing on his iPad. Little man is dressed in a white dress shirt, blue pair of skinny jeans and a pair of brown loafers, much to Tessa's amusement. "Look at my baby, he's all grown up." I knew that she'd make a fuss, as she did last night when she forced us to wear matching tuxedos to my book launch.

Is she crying? Seriously? I swear her hormones are all over the place lately. "Yeah, yeah I look good." Auden smirks as he snuggles into his moms cuddle. That child of mine and his confident charm.

After calling Emery several times, she finally deserts her room, attitude as present as ever. "Nice of you to join us." I remark as I set eyes on her. "Whatever!" she rolls her eyes, placing a hand on her hip for extra effect. "Here we go, little miss stroppy." my subconscious chimes.

"You look lovely, baby." I tell her and her frown turns to a slight smile. I am taken back by how much she resembles her mother with her hair like that. Not only that, but she's wearing a burgundy coloured dress that resembles one that Tessa used to wear.

"We made some beautiful children." Tessa's glossy eyes beam into mine, her bottom lip still trembling. "Come here baby." I smirk while pulling her in for a cuddle. Why is she so damn emotional? I'm the one who's turning fo- forty tomorrow. It's probably her time of the month or something, we may have to stop by the store on the way to dinner and get her some plugs.

We arrive at the restaurant which is in fact one of my favourite places to eat when we come on vacation here. It goes by the name of 'Caesars' and the first time I came here with Tessa and the kids, I moaned about it being way too fancy and somewhere that Ken would eat, but it's grown on me. The modern wooden design of the place Is pretty neat, I can't deny and those fairy lights they have on the exterior of the building makes Tessa's smile light up every time.

Tessa and I park the Range Rover and enter the building, walking hand in hand through the lobby, the children dawdle behind us. We are escorted to our table and much to my surprise, everyone is already here. Fuck, the table is long. I begin to wonder if they borrowed it from Hogwarts or some shit. Damn you Landon for getting me into Harry potter.

I turn a deep shade of red when I spot a huge four and zero balloon. I debate pretending I'm part of the party next to them, which happens to be a table full of old dears, but It's too late when Karen and Kim start singing happy birthday at the top of their lungs. This isn't happening. I rush to an empty chair, sit myself down and try to hide the smile that's creeping on my blushing face.

Everyone is here, literally everyone. Tessa and Emery are seated further down the table, having a catchup with the ladies and Auden and I are sat with my father, well, fathers if you like and the rest of the men. I do like David, but fuck that man can talk, I can only take so much information about the different types of bread. He's a baker if you were wondering.

It's not long until we have all eaten our appetisers and the ladies are cracking open the champagne while we await our main course. Nora, who Tessa has grown very close to over the years, begins to pour them. "None for me thanks." my father says from across the table before she can fill his glass. She gives him an understanding smile. "Yeah none for me either." I add.

I just don't get the hype of champagne, it tastes like piss water to me. Like .. yeah! let's celebrate by drinking this liquid that tastes like hairspray in a fancy glass. No thanks. Plus, I'm still feeling the pain from last nights antics.

We are speaking amongst ourselves and I notice a fuss at the opposite end of the table. Kimberley is laughing obnoxiously loud and Tessa is blushing. "What's so funny, ladies?" I chime in, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"Tessa isn't drinking, and she didn't drink last night either, she loves champagne!" I just know that she's going to start some kind of conspiracy. Yes Tessa does love champagne and I've never known her turn it down, but didn't Kim consider that Tessa may simply just not want any? Typical nosey, big mouth Kim.

"It's not a big deal, I'm just going to stick to water tonight." Tess shrugs and I nod at her in encouragement. "You're not pregnant.. are you?" Nora gasps like she is in some court room drama. I know that they mean no harm, but if they continue to embarrass my wife like this, I'm going to flip.

I guess they aren't aware of the fact that we've been trying to get pregnant again for four years now, since Auden was five years old. We kept it to ourselves as all the false hope became too painful to share with others. I clock on when Karen and Tessa's mother shoot a deep scowl at Kim and Nora. 

Karen and Carol are the only people Tessa has truly confided in when it comes to this and I'm sure they can sense the discomfort on her face. "What? No! of course not." Tessa blushes even further and I feel a sudden urge to remove her from this painful situation. "Mommy, are you pregnant?" Auden repeats. Fuck, they've even got the kids repeating it now.

I hate the way that Tess looks all flustered and make a mental note to check on her later. She's already sensitive today and this could really trigger her. I take my eyes off her while Ken shows me something on his phone about the football that I couldn't give a shit less about. I nod, pretending I heard everything that he just said. Seconds later, I glance back at Tessa, only to realise that she has left her seat. I glare at Emery hoping she'll know where her mom disappeared to, she shrugs her shoulders.

"Dad, keep an eye on the kids for me will you?" I request. "Sure." both Ken and Vance say in-sync. Fuck that's awkward, I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that. I search the premises trying to spot my wife, I check outside and I check the car and she isn't there either. My last resort is the women's toilets. I can't exactly just go in there can I? I'd rather not be referred to as Herbert the pervert for the rest of my life. But I don't want to get Kim, or Nora and especially not Emery to go in there and get her as they're probably the reason she is hiding in the first place.

"Tessa" I call her name as I hold the door open. She doesn't answer me, but I know that there is nobody else in there, so I step inside. She's in here, I can see her sparkly black heels under the cubicle. My heart breaks as I hear a quiet sobbing coming from the very same cubicle.

"Tessa, baby what ever is the matter?" my voice is soft. She doesn't speak, she just opens the cubicle door. Her mascara has run down her face and she is holding something. "Is that.." she nods, confirming what I thought. Tessa is sat on a toilet in a fancy pants restaurant, crying hysterically and she's holding a pregnancy test. Oh no.

"Baby, is that was this is about? Don't worry about it, honestly we have options, we can adopt, we can-"
"Hardin it's positive" she blurts out and my heart skips a beat. Did she just say what I thought she said?!

"It's, it's positive??" I yell, unable to contain my excitement. "It's positive!" she repeats, a smile creeping upon her face, though the tears are still streaming. "We're gonna have a baby!" she stands from the toilet seat, excitably wrapping her arms around me. "We're gonna have a baby!" I repeat, I'm now jumping up and down with glee. She Bury's her head into my chest as relief courses through my veins. I'm finally going to be a daddy again. "This explains a lot." I smirk as I run my hands through her hair, she doesn't say anything, she just nods and smiles as she continues to hold me.

"Hardin." she lifts her head and looks me in the eye. "When did we even..?" She breaks out into a fit of laughter. It's funny that I have to even think about the last time we had sex, before this morning of course. "I don't know... maybe that weekend when Emery had a sleepover with Addy at Landon's and Auden was with your parents in Washington for the weekend? We were at it like rabbits that whole weekend." I remind her, unable to contain my laughter. "Surely not, that was weeks ago." she smirks, she's right. "Yeah, surely not" I realise. It can't have been that long.