London and Gracie froze in the door of the bathroom, both looking at me with surprise, although London’s was a rather sad attempt. She wouldn’t be winning an Oscar any time soon.
“Hudson!” Gracie hissed, planting a hand on her curvy hip. “London could have been naked!”
I cringed at the idea of seeing another woman’s naked body, and London burst into laughter. At least she wasn’t insulted.
“London, can we have a minute—never mind.” I stalked forward and grabbed Gracie around the waist, swinging her up and throwing her over my shoulder in a fireman’s hold.
“But-but—” Gracie sputtered. I waited until we’d left London’s rooms and were ascending the stairs to smack her ripe bottom.
“I don’t know what’s wrong, baby, but I’m tired of waiting for you to tell me. So we’re going to our room to talk.”
“Okay, but I need to use the bathroom first,” she mumbled. “And London has—no, London, don’t!”
Something hit me smack dab in the back of the head as I pushed open the door to our room. When whatever London had thrown at me fell to the floor, I glanced down to see a small drugstore bag with a few different rectangular boxes spilled out.
“Thanks a lot, London,” Gracie sighed.
“You know it should be him and not me in there with you, Grace,” London quipped, her voice fading as she went back down the steps.
I carefully set Gracie on her feet before snatching the fallen items from the carpet. The boxes were pregnancy tests. I picked up two and put them inside the bag, spotting three more.
“Gracie,” I croaked, my throat suddenly dry as a desert. “Are you…?”
“Um...I think...maybe—”
I didn’t wait for her to finish, just scooped her up into my arms again, being a little more careful this time, before I hotfooted it to our bathroom.
After placing her down on the counter, I set the grocery bag beside her and withdrew one of the boxes. My heart beat a mile a minute as excitement swirled around in my stomach. I’d dreamed of the day when I’d finally put my baby in Gracie, and while I’d resigned myself to it being in the future, I’d never been able to completely squash the hope for it to happen sooner.
My eyes scanned the instructions, and I was so intent on them that I almost missed Gracie’s hesitant question. “Are you disappointed?”
My head whipped up, and I stared at her in shock.
“Am I what?”
She squirmed uncomfortably and glanced away for a second.
A thought struck me just then. “Is this what’s been bothering you?”
She nodded. “You agreed we should wait at least four years to get married and have babies.”
“Hold up, baby,” I stopped her suddenly. “I agreed to wait. I didn’t agree that we should wait. For fuck’s sake, Gracie. I’m the one who insisted we go bare our first time.”
Gracie’s ocean pools were glowing with hope, but her hands were wringing together nervously. “I know. But this isn’t the plan. I mean, we haven’t even really started school yet, and we were going to wait. I-I—” Moisture swelled in her eyes, and a few tears leaked from the corners.
I grabbed her cheeks in my palms and brought our faces millimeters apart. “Fuck the plan, Gracie. I don’t give a shit about plans. I’m thrilled as fuck that you’re carrying our baby. I’ve been dying to knock you up since long before I should have.”
She exhaled a little huff of exasperation, but a smile was playing at her lips. “We don’t know that I’m pregnant, Hudson.”
I grinned smugly. “You are,” I stated confidently.
Her eyes narrowed. “I know we haven’t been the most careful”—I couldn’t help a little scoff. Yeah, condoms weren’t exactly a high priority in my mind, and I might have forgotten...on multiple occasions—“but a little extra exhaustion and some morning vomit aren’t conclusive proof.”
“You’ve been getting sick, and you didn’t tell me?” I growled. She opened her mouth to respond, but I shut her up with a quick, hard kiss. “Never mind. I’ll take care of you from now on. I have no doubt my boys did their job, but if you need proof, go pee on one of these thingies.”
Gracie rolled her eyes, but they were bright with amusement. “Go wait in the bedroom.”
“Not happening, baby,” I replied absently as I tore open the first box. I read the directions and handed her the little white stick.
She snatched it from my hand with a glare. “You’re not going to watch me pee.”
With a laugh, I lifted her off the counter and set her on her feet. “Go on.”
“Hudson,” she growled adorably.
“Gracie.” I shot a pointed look at the toilet.
She threw her hands in the air and huffed, “You're such a boy!”
“You’re such a girl,” I volleyed. “Now do it.”
7 Hudson
“Hell yeah!” I shouted a few minutes later as I twirled Gracie around the bathroom.
“Hudson, you’re going to make me sick!”
I immediately stopped spinning but couldn’t shut down the giant grin on my face. “We’re having a baby.”
Gracie’s expression was soft and happy, but I still sensed something was off with her. “What’s wrong, baby?”
She shrugged. “It’s just...really early, you know. My dad taught me to be independent, to make something of myself, and here I am, barefoot and pregnant before I’ve even really started college. We’re not even married.”
“Oh, shit.”
Jonah was going to castrate me if he found out I’d knocked up his daughter before marrying her.
“Right? What are we—”
“It’s not the school thing, baby. I promise, if you want to finish your degree, I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen. But we need to get married.” I put her on the ground and slung an arm over her shoulder before guiding her out of the bathroom.
“Wait, what?” Gracie shrieked
