Brothers of Paradise Series

I chuckle and tug at the end of her braid. “Yes. But you know what to do. We tried this last summer, remember?”

She nods. “Yes.”

Jamie and Emma had worked hard on her swimming skills all of last summer, and I’d been there to help as often as I could. They’d still been renting Lily’s cottage then.

It’s been seven months now since they moved into my house. Into our house.

“Mom will be here when you’re done with the class,” I say. “And I’ll stay over here the whole time.”

“You’ll be watching?”

“If you want me to, kiddo.”

She nods and looks up at me. Behind the hesitant expression there’s determination in her eyes. She might be shy with strangers, but she’s got a stubborn streak that’s all Jamie. “Stay.”

“Okay. I’ll be right over there.” I point to the benches along the dock. “Want me to introduce you to Neil?”

She shakes her head. “I can do it.”

“Course you can.” I adjust her backpack and nod toward the group. “You got this, skipper.”

Her smile turns crooked. “I’m not a skipper, Dad.”

“Not yet.”

She snorts, steels her shoulders, and walks down the dock. I watch her say hello and get welcomed into the group, the instructor fitting her with a life vest. I do just what I’d told her, and sit down to watch the lesson. They’ll start with the basics, things she already knows.

I feel Jamie’s fingers in my hair before I see her. She runs them along the nape of my neck, curling inside my shirt, and sits down next to me.

“Hey,” she says.

I kiss her. “Hi, baby. How did it go?”

“It went great. Everything looks normal.”

“And no ultrasound?”

She smiles. “No. That isn’t until later. I just got some vitamins and a second check-up scheduled.”

“I wish I could have been there,” I say, and I mean it.

Her hand reaches for mine and threads our fingers together. “This was the earliest slot my doctor had, and Emma’s been waiting for this class for years. She wanted you here, not anyone else.”

“I know. But I’m not missing another doctor’s appointment. Not for the rest of the pregnancy.”

Jamie leans her head against my shoulder. “Good. I want you there, too.”

“I know it’s still too early to tell, but I wonder…”

“Boy or a girl?”

“Yes.” I smooth my thumb over the back of her hand and breathe in the smell of her hair. Beautiful, and mine, and pregnant. It’s unlocked a completely different side of me. There’s something almost primal in holding her in my arms and knowing she’s carrying our child.

“What are you hoping for?” she asks.

“Either. Both.”

She chuckles. “Both? I’m not hoping for that. Can you imagine twins?”

“It’ll be a lot,” I admit. “Does this mean we can tell Emma soon?”

“Yes. But I want to be a little further along. You know she won’t be able to keep it a secret.” There’s a warm smile on Jamie’s face as she watches Emma and the other kids across the docks. “When we tell her, we tell the rest of the family too.”

I turn my face toward her ear. “I love you so much.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Mmm.” She nestles closer against my side and I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “You tell me that more often since I got pregnant.”

“Well, I have to say it twice as often. I’m saying it to two people now.”

“You’re a charmer.”

“Only for you.” I kiss her temple. “I can’t wait to marry you, James.”

Her breath catches in her throat. It’s brief, and then she’s teasing me, like always. “I’m going to be pregnant in a wedding dress, and it’s all your fault.”

I chuckle. “Yes. But I feel more than a little proud of that. And you’re going to look beautiful, baby. You always do.”

“I’ve already said yes,” she murmurs, smiling.

“I’ll never stop complimenting you.”

She runs a hand up my chest, stopping at the collar of my linen shirt. “I can’t wait to see you in a tux, either. Or call you my husband.”

“Lily’s going to cry the entire wedding. I guarantee it. From start to finish.”

Jamie laughs. “Yes, you’re right, she will. But she’s promised to throw a great bachelorette party.”

“Hayden’s trying to talk my brothers and a few friends into doing something for me, and I have a feeling it’s going to result in beers at the yacht club and sailing,” I say. “And I’m absolutely okay with that.”

She turns her face up. Warm, open, teasing eyes meet mine, ones that haven’t held the shadows of her past for months. One of her hands strokes along my jaw. “When this baby is born and a bit older, you and I are going on a honeymoon. A proper one.”

“We are?”

“Yes. Remember how you’ve always wanted to sail in the Caribbean?”

“Really? You’d stay on a sailing boat with me for an entire week?”

Her smile widens. She’s gotten used to regular trips with me, and she’s learned, but she still doesn’t need the ocean like I do. That’s fine. As long as she needs me the way I need her, I don’t need to get on a boat again for the rest of my life.

“Yes. Something that’s just for you and me.”

“Baby, we do things like that all the time.”

She laughs. “When was the last time?”

I rest my forehead against hers. “The shower. Two days ago.”

“Well, okay, if that counts, yes.”

“It counts. I counted to two, even, for you.”

Jamie rolls her eyes, but heat rises up her cheeks. “Did you add them to your logbook?”

I laugh, and kiss her. Asking her to marry me had felt harder than the conversation we had about children, before we started trying, and she went off birth control.

The child had been her idea. I hadn’t wanted to pressure her in any way, and when she suggested we start trying, I’d damn near gotten on my knees. Yes. But when I’d asked her to marry me, fully expecting a not yet answer, Jamie had surprised me.

She started crying… and she said yes. So we ended up doing both at the same time, not quite following the rulebook, but fully adhering to our own timeline.

The way we always have.

“I wish I found my way back to Paradise sooner,” Jamie says. “We could have been married years ago.”

I tighten my hands on her waist. My soon-to-be-wife, the mother of my kids. Both of them.

“You got here in the end,” I say. “That’s all that matters.”