The Night That Changed Everything

Chapter Twenty-Four

My gaze suddenly meets hers, my eyebrows rising in bewilderment, “Did he tell you that?” I ask, my voice filled with optimism.

She shakes her head and takes a seat opposite me, “No, but he doesn’t need to.” We both turn to look at him as Maddie tackles him to the floor, letting out a laugh. “He’s a good guy and I’m not only saying that because he’s my little brother,” she says, “He’s got a good heart and the right intentions.” I nod as she continues, “And he acts completely different when he’s around you and trust me I know, I’ve seen tonnes of girlfriends come and go.”

“He’s amazing,” I confess, “At first I wasn’t so sure because girls are always eyeing him up and I thought I'd never be good enough for him. Or maybe one day he'd get bored and not want to deal with a baby, and then he would find some other blonde, blue eyed sweetheard." 

“But he’s Damion and he loves female attention,” Emma explains, “That’s how most guys are, they don’t do it purposefully.”

“And then there’s Rosie, his ex-girlfriend,” I mumble, rolling my eyes.

“You don’t need to worry about anyone,” she smiles, “Trust me, Damion’s smart enough to not mess with any other girls when he’s got you. I’ve never seen my brother so happy or so settled down, he never takes his relationships serious but this is different.”

“I hope you’re right, but I do trust him and,” I pause, “And I do love him.”

She smiles at me in awe before saying, “Well there’s no point in telling me that, you’ve got to tell him for yourself,” glancing at Damion who is breathlessly chasing a hyperactive Maddie. The door bell sounds, echoing throughout the house and entering into the garden. Emma stands up, straightening out her blouse as she says, “Well I better get that.”

I let out a sigh, leaning back against the white garden chair as I rest my hands on my round stomach. The scent of the sizzling barbeque floats throughout the atmosphere, the faintly grey smoke drifting off into the cloudless, blue sky.

I look ahead to see that Damion is walking towards me, clutching onto Maddie’s legs that are swung over his chest as she rests on his shoulder. “Well you guys were having fun,” I chuckle, seeing the worn out expression floating on Damion’s face. He lowers her down from off his shoulders and she skips off into the house.

He then takes a seat next to me and takes hold of my hand, beginning to rub my palm and play with my fingers. “What were you and Emma talking about?” he asks.

The corner of my lips turn upright into a knowing smile, “Just stuff, you know, girls stuff." 

His left eyebrow rises, “Oh really, like what kind of stuff?” he questions, eager to find out.

I lean towards him, my mouth centimetres away from his ear before whispering, “Like how much your vagina stretches when you’re giving birth.”

His eyes widen in horror as he pictures my description before recoiling into his chair, “Look I don’t want to know about it, just stop, please.” I laugh, playfully poking his toned arm before resting my head on his shoulder where he then rests his head onto mine. Heels clatter in the distance, sounding louder as the person walks towards the garden. A female voice verbalizes followed by a laugh which Emma joins in with. “Why does that voice sound like Mary-Anne’s?” he asks, sitting upright and looking towards the garden door.          

Emma walks into the garden, followed by a slightly shorter woman with dark black hair like the African night. Her silk, straight hair has neatly been brushed back into a high rising ponytail, allowing her defiant cheek bones and striking, crystal blue eyes to be on show. There’s something about her that looks rather familiar, the way that her eyes share the same remarkable blue as Damion and Emma’s and the way that her face is beautifully structured. That’s when I notice, its Damion’s other sister.

“Well would you look at you,” she grins, her eyes meeting Damion’s as she walks over to her brother, her black ankle boot heels clanking against the stone patio. He stands up, chuckling as he greets his sister, their arms clinging onto each other as they tightly embrace.  “I’ve missed you so much,” she explains, still hugging him tight.

I smile, thinking about how Damion has such a strong family and how they all share such a close relationship. Hopefully we can build a family like that of our own. Seconds later, after laughing and reuniting with his sister, Damion turns around and takes my hand. I stand up, pulling down my dress and smiling as he explains, “Kayla, this is Mary-Anne, my sister, and Mary-Anne, this is Kayla, my girlfriend."

She smiles, leaning forward and hugging me, “It’s lovely to meet you Kayla,” she says, “And well, congratulations,” as she looks down at my stomach.

“Thank you,” I smile, “And it’s great to finally meet you.”

The next hour passes by smoothly. A handful of Damion’s friends and family join us, who I greet and converse with, feeling completely at home. Judy then takes a seat at the head of the large, family sized, outdoor table, calling everybody over. Everyone walks over to the table, holding their glasses of champagne and cans of beer before taking a seat. Damion holds out my seat for me and I chuckle, my cheeks lightening as Mary-Anne smiles at us.

The chef walks around the table, placing a line of prawns and a grasp of fresh salad onto our plates. I press my lips together, desperately trying not to let out a moan at the mouth watering food in front of all of these people. Damion sees me staring at the food in anticipation and whispers into my ear, “Calm down tiger.”

I let out a laugh, pinching his thigh under the table which leads him to jump. He dramatically gasps before tickling me under the table where I begin to hysterically laugh, shaking the table as I try and stop his moving fingers. We begin to laugh, oblivious to everyone who has drawn their conversations to a pause, sampling gazing at us in confusion.

Judy then clears her throat, raising her eyebrows at us like a mother telling her two children to behave. We both press our lips together, holding back our laughter as we straighten ourselves out in our chairs.

“Let’s raise our glasses,” Judy announces, “To Damion and the lovely Kayla and their little bundle of joy that will be joining us soon,” she smiles.

Everyone smiles and the twelve glasses unite in the centre of table, sounding a clink before saying, “To Kayla and Damion.”

We all begin to consume our meals, my eyes closing as the flavoursome prawns awaken my taste buds. It’s like everything either tastes so much better when you’re pregnant or absolutely revolting, in this case, these prawns taste like heaven. My eyes bolt open as Damion’s older cousin who’s sitting opposite me asks, “So have you guys thought of any names yet?”

I wipe the corner of my mouth with my napkin before turning to Damion and saying, “Well we’ve thought of a few.”

“But we can’t agree on any,” he continues, “Like Kayla thought of the name Alby, I mean who names their son Alby?”

“But Alby’s such a cute name,” I protest, slightly chuckling. "I guess we just really need to sit and talk about it."

Damion laughs as he retrieves his ringing phone from his pocket, his smile slowly fading away as he sees the caller ID. He nervously gulps before saying, “I should probably take this,” as he stands up.

“Is everything okay?” I ask. He nods, walking away from the table and into the house as he answers the call. Well that was weird, that must be an important phone call. Returning to Damion’s cousin Dylan, who’s waiting for our conversation to resume, I say, “So do you think Alby is a cute name?” He inhales deeply in consideration before shaking his head which leads me to laugh, “Okay maybe not then.”

Twenty minutes later, as I’m dining into my main course, a rack of ribs and sweet potato fries, Damion finally returns to the table. With my mouth half full, I say, “Oh, I thought you’d never return.”

He lets out a sigh as he takes a seat, “Yeah, it was just an old friend back from college,” he says, failing to share eye contact with me as he stabs his fork into his fries. I sadly smile at him, knowing that he’s lying. Feeling that I’m staring at him he looks to me and smiles before placing his hand on my thigh, lightly squeezing it in reassurance, but the last thing I’m feeling right now is reassured.