CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
I lace my fingers with Blake's and tightly squeeze. He tugs me to his side and I snuggle against his warm arm and sigh.
"Are you sure we can't sneak away?"
"You begged me to come here, and you forced me to wear a nice shirt, we can stay for at least twenty minutes."
"Can't I make it up to you at home?" I wink.
Blake pauses, then a smile creeps across his lips.
"It's too late, I've seen you already." Axel laughs.
We spin around and Axel swoops in for a hug. Blake hooks his arm around my waist and looks around the lavish living room.
"Congratulations on the new home, it looks good."
"Thanks, but I can't take any of the credit."
"Neither could I." Blake chuckles. "Unless you count rearranging the furniture dozens of times as contributing to the general aesthetics."
"Then thank you." Axel grins. "How have you been? Why do you want to sneak away from the party? Grace has been excited about this for weeks."
"Just tired." I shrug.
"She's actually worried about her water breaking."
I raise my eyebrow and the pair laugh.
"If you're worried about the mess, don't worry, I know where to send the cleaning bill."
"Ha-ha, very funny!" I glare.
"Oh, I try very hard!" Axel smirks.
"I'll just go somewhere else, preferably where people sympathise with the pain I go through with growing a human inside my body."
The pair chuckle as I wander to Grace who's chatting with someone. The woman smiles at me, but swiftly darts away.
"Your home is stunning!"
"Thank you so much! Ugh, it's been so stressful with cleaning and buying all the furniture."
"Don't stress anymore, it's amazing!"
"Once I've consumed enough wine, I'll enjoy this party way more." She chuckles.
"I wish I could join."
"You're almost there, then we can crack a bottle and celebrate!"
"Yes, I can't wait."
Grace peers to the side and grins.
"Sorry, my mother just arrived and she's going to freak if I don't show her around."
"No worries! Enjoy the rest of your night and congratulations again."
I drop onto the cozy couch and sigh. I've reached that point where pregnancy sucks. There's no more glow and everything hurts. I've also surpassed the cute bump, might explode. At this point, I don't care about birthing pain, I'm ready to push her out.
"Are you ready to escape?" Blake grins.
"Mm, I think I'm enjoying myself now."
"You look like you're in pain."
"Aren't I always in pain?" I chuckle.
"What can I do to help?"
I tap his knee with my fingers and shrug.
"What about a foot rub?" He raises an eyebrow.
"Are you crazy? We're in the middle of a party!"
"So what." He shrugs. "You're almost nine months pregnant and you're in pain. If they don't like it, too bad. One day they'll understand if they don't already."
"Thank you." I gush.
Blake moves to the ottomen and I flick my shoes off. I place my feet on his lap and his fingers work magic across my feet. I tilt my head back and sigh. Blake tugs on my foot and my eyes spring open.
He shakes his head and I giggle.
Another woman plonks beside me, cupping her round belly.
"I wish my husband would do the same thing."
"Is he here?"
"He's grabbing drinks."
"Perhaps you'll get lucky tonight." I smile.
"I can only wish! Do you know what you're having?"
"We're having a little girl! What about you?"
"We're waiting until the birth."
"We did that with our last child and it's amazing. I couldn't wait this time around."
"What's your other child? Is this your second one?"
"London's our adopted daughter. My brother passed away before she was born, so both of us have raised her since she was born. Blake and I had a beautiful baby boy, be he was born premature and passed away."
She clasps her hands around her belly.
"I've had some angel babies too. It's heartbreaking."
I clasp her hand and smile.
"Where's your husband? You deserve a foot rub!"
A man wanders into the room with two drinks in hand. He takes a seat beside the woman and passes her a drink. He glances at us and chuckles. He places his drink down and sits beside Blake.
"I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Emma and this is Oliver."
"I'm Ava and this is Blake."
"Wonderful to meet you! Emma was worried she wouldn't have anyone to talk to."
"Ava didn't want to come either." Blake laughs.
I roll my eyes and shake my head.
"How do you know Axel and Grace?" Emma tugs on a smile.
"We met Axel through a mutual friend. What about yourselves?"
"Family friends with Grace."
"Oh nice." I nod.
Emma shuffles on the chair and grimances.
"I need a bathroom because this little cherub is sleeping on my bladder."
Oliver helps Emma off the chair and guides her out of the room. Blake steals her spot and I rest my head against his shoulder.
"Perhaps coming out wasn't too bad." I sigh.
Charlotte bounds into the room with Kyle trailing after her. They sit on the ottoman and Kyle wraps his arm around her waist. He has that love sparkle in his brown eyes.
"How was the honeymoon?"
Kyle squeezes her waist and chuckles. "I wish we didn't have to leave."
Charlotte nudges him away and sighs.
"Completely amazing! We're going to be that family who go skiing on summer break." She chuckles. "I wasn't sure about the snow but once we got to Canada, I was completely blown away."
"I'm happy you enjoyed your time." Blake nods.
"Any surprises we should know about?" I nod towards my belly.
Charlotte wrinkles her nods.
"Maybe in a few months because we want to enjoy being married for a little longer."
"Fair enough." I nod.
"We might need a few more vacations before we settle down." Charlotte winks.
"Yes, but we're getting a new house sitter since some of our plants died." Kyle shoots me a look and I gasp.
"I did not kill your pot plant! I told him he had more to live for, but there was nothing I could do, he'd made up his mind."
"Plants don't kill themselves, nor do they have problems," Kyle grumbles.
"Welp, now we know why the plant wanted to kill himself." I slap my hand on my knee.
Kyle shakes his head while we laugh.
* * * * *
Blake flips the bedroom light off and leaps into bed. He places his hand on my belly and rubs it. She kicks his hand and I sigh.
"Now that you're awake, you're welcome to make your departure."
"You want to birth a baby right now? It's late and you've been out all night."
"I'm so uncomfortable and restless at night, I might as well give birth. Maybe then I'll catch some decent sleep."
"You'll have a crying baby, though."
"No, we'll have a crying baby." I chuckle.
"Then I'll need more sleep before she departs."
Blake lifts my shirt and kisses my belly.
"You can come when you're ready, your mother just needs to be patient."
I smack his shoulder and grumble.
Blake kisses my cheek and chuckles.
"Soon baby, soon."
"Not soon enough!"
He lies on the bed and kisses my shoulder. I snuggle under the covers and sigh, there's no point in trying to get comfortable because it'll never happen.
Merry Christmas xo