Invisible Strings

Chapter Thirty-Six

Brantley's POV:

About a month has passed since I'd told Delaney that I wanted her and the kids to move in. In that time, I've been happier than I have been in a long damn time. There was something to be said about waking up with your arms wrapped around the woman you loved. There was something to be said about cuddling with her on the couch while the kids had a movie night.

But if one thing came from spending so much time with someone, it was that you learned when something was off.

And things were off. But not in a bad way. Moreso in a way that made me more aware of how tired Delaney had been lately and about how she couldn't seem to get enough chocolate. Both symptoms had my gut telling me that she needed to take a pregnancy test but the side of me that thought that my chances of having more kids after losing Amber was doing its best to convince me that Delaney was just tired because she had been busting her ass trying to get a curriculum set up for the school and to boost he enrollment numbers all while wrangling four kids since I had been in a writing mood lately. Even though I'd told her to call me and I would put down my guitar when things got too hectic, she'd told me that she didn't want to ruin my creative process and that she didn't want to be the reason that my fans didn't get the new music that I had teased a few days ago on social media.

But my conscience was eating at me and so was the guilt over her carrying all that she had been for the past week or so. Which was why when she had headed over to the school to meet with a potential student and their family to show them around, I'd taken it upon myself to call mama and call in a favor. Of course mama had agreed to keep the kids without argument so that Delaney and I could have a couple hours to ourselves; hours that would be spent papering the woman I loved, feeding her food that was both tasty and nutritious, and having a conversation about what I thought I knew.

I had just lit the peach scented candles that Delaney had placed in the living room when I heard her SUV pull up into the driveway.

Dressed in worn jeans that had a hole near the crotch, no shirt, and my hat backwards, I walked to the door and stepped out onto it, leaning against the pole. I watched as her steps faltered when she saw me. Even from a distance, I could see that she liked what she was seeing.

"Kids are with mama." I said when she stepped up onto the stairs of the porch. "She's watching them for a few hours so we can have some alone time."

"Is that so."

"Yep." I said, pulling her into me. "I know you have been tired lately and I wanted to give you a few hours just to sit down, relax, and decompress."

"Thank you." she said around a yawn, proving just how tired she is.

"Come on, let's get you inside." I said, taking her by the hand. "Food will be here in a few minutes."

"Ugh, I don't think I can eat, B. My stomach has been weird all day."

Alarm bells went off in my head, telling me that my suspicions of her being pregnant were legit. My heart was racing and I felt short of breath as I tugged her hand, forcing her to stop and look at me. "What do you mean weird, baby?"

"I think I'm getting a bug or something." she said, waving her free hand dismissively. "Oh god, what's that horrible smell?"

"Baby, I think–"

Before I could finish what I was about to say, Delaney took off at a run, headed for the bathroom. She didn't have time to shut the door before I heard her emptying her stomach into the porcelain throne. When I walked in, she was bent over the toilet and was retching so I pulled her hair back and ran my hand down her back soothingly.