Egotistically Yours by Hayley Faiman

Chapter Twenty-One

BETHANIE

“I can’t believeit’s real,” Tenny sighs.

She sounds as if she’s swooning and I look over to her, hot and sweaty from packing my entire apartment. Landry told me to take one more week and get the place settled last night when I had Sunday dinner with the family and told him what was going on. He looked so proud, so incredibly proud of Laurent and my heart almost burst at the sight.

“It’s real.” I grin.

Both of the babies are in bouncers next to one another, and Tenny has spent the day helping me. Seriously, my best friend, my only friend. I don’t know what I would do without her. She clears her throat, then sinks down on the floor and waves her hand for me to do the same.

Nodding, I cross my legs and sit next to her. “Okay, the client and his wife are weird, they remind me a lot of Landry and Susan. Are you okay with it all?”

I know what she’s asking, without her actually coming out and asking it out loud. She wants to know if Laurent is going to go the route of Susan. If I’m starting a life with and living with another Susan.

“Laurent told me he will never marry me,” I confess. She gasps but thankfully doesn’t say anything. “He also said that he wouldn’t lie or abandon me either. He’s made it clear that this is a partnership that is exactly like a marriage, that he would ensure that I’m protected. That Tucker and I are protected at all costs.”

“Why won’t he marry you though?”

Shaking my head, I press my lips together, rolling them around. I understand his hesitation, even if I hate it. I can’t change him, so all I can do is have compassion for him, and for his situation and his past—for his feelings.

“He doesn’t want to have what Susan and Landry had. He attributes marriage to that. Then seeing Cody and Melody didn’t help the case at all.”

“But Landry and I aren’t like that, your parents aren’t like that,” she points out.

“I know,” I agree. “But I don’t think that Laurent sees that. All he can think about is his foundation for what a marriage is and what it’s like.”

Tennessee nods her head, then reaches out and wraps her hand around my wrist. Her eyes find mine and she holds my gaze with her own.

“Are you okay with that?” she asks. “No wedding, no vows, not being tied to him that way. I have to say there is an intimacy in being married that I didn’t realize was a thing until after Landry and I were official.”

I think about her words and I want to say that I’m perfectly fine with it. That I don’t need a fancy party or princess dress. I’ve already had a baby, we live together, it would be dumb to have a wedding too, but I can’t deny that I kind of want it.

“He said we could do a legal name change,” I say on a whisper.

Tenny squeezes my wrist again, her eyes searching my own. I try to hide the wetness forming in my eyes, but I can’t. I want to cry because I see the look on her face. That’s what makes me want to cry, that look on her face—pity.

I remember that look when I started telling people I was pregnant and they would ask who the father was. When I told them that he wasn’t in the picture, that look on their face—pity. It crossed their faces each and every time.

At one point, I stopped even answering people when they would ask. I would just smile and say that he was around, but busy. I lied. I lied to anyone and everyone who asked, and I didn’t care. I lied at my own family baby shower.

My mom caught me in the lies, but thankfully she didn’t say anything. I think she was as embarrassed or annoyed, or tired, as I was of answering these people and getting the looks of pure pity aimed her way.

Why do people do this? This is the modern age, right? Is a woman not allowed to have a baby on her own, or to be with her partner and never marry him? Why is it such a gasping, pearl-clutching thing?

“Is that okay with you?” she asks.

I know Tenny. I know her past and I know that she is not judging me right now. She is simply asking because she’s worried about me, about Laurent, about our future. Clearing my throat, I square my shoulders and nod my head once.

“It’s not my ideal,” I admit. “But Laurent is, and I can compromise. This isn’t just about me and my wants, he is part of this relationship too.”

Tenny nods her head. Her eyes search mine, then her lips curve up into a grin. “So you are okay with it?” she asks.

Smiling, I nod my head. “I am. I’m okay with it. He wants to have five more babies,” I admit.

She gasps, her smile falls and a look of horror crosses her face. “Five,” she cries.

We stare at one another in silence, then we both burst out into laughter and that is how Landry and Laurent find us a few moments later. Laurent stands right behind me and I can feel his eyes looking down.

Tilting my head back, I look up at him and grin. He chuckles, then bends his knees and goes down to his haunches behind me. He lifts his hand, wrapping his fingers around the front of my throat and touches his lips to mine.

“You need any more help?” he asks against my mouth.

“No, we’re finished.”

He hums as he releases me, then he looks around. He appears to be confused, and I don’t blame him. I have all of the furniture to one side, then boxes and boxes of things next to it, then on the other side of the room, I have other boxes all lined up against the wall.

“That area is all the things that the donation truck is going to pick up. These are the things that are going to your place,” I say, waving my arm in each direction.

He doesn’t say anything right away, then he clears his throat. I don’t look over to Landry and Tenny to see if they’re watching us, mainly because Laurent holds my attention any time he’s in a room, it’s as if everyone else has completely disappeared.

“You sure you don’t want to put it in storage?” he asks.

My eyes flick up to meet his. I hold them and don’t shift away. “I’m sure, Laurent,” I exhale.

He holds my gaze, then nods his head once. “Okay, baby.”

A few minutes later my apartment is filled with the men who happily pick up all of my donation items, then an hour later, Laurent and Landry put my few boxes of personal items in the back of Landry’s pickup and drop them off at the condo before they give hugs and handshakes before they head home.

Looking around Laurent’s condo, I bite the corner of my lip and correct myself—our condo.

Ours. Us. We. Me and Laurent. Us.

LAURENT

I don’t knowif this is what contentment feels like, but for the first time in my entire life, I feel settled. I haven’t moved, I’m still in the condo that I own, but this is different. This is not just my house now, with the sound of Tucker’s little coos and cries, then mixed in with Bethie moving around the house too, it’s different.

Home.

This is a home, and now I understand the saying that home is where the heart is, because that’s how I feel right now. Home is where my heart is and my heart is with Bethie and Tucker. They are my whole fucking world.

My phone rings and I grab it, sliding my thumb across the screen without even taking my eyes off of Bethie who is feeding Tucker across the room. Her head is tipped back and her eyes are closed, no doubt she’s tired from her day of packing.

“Hello,” I murmur.

“Laurent, hey brother,” Cody calls out.

I can tell that he’s already had a few and I have to suppress the moan from hearing his voice. All I want to do is end the call and tell him to fuck off. It’s been a couple days since I’ve seen him, but a couple isn’t long enough to erase the clusterfuck of an evening we had.

“Melody said she loved having y’all over, wants to know if you can do it again next weekend.”

My eyes widen and I look to Bethie as if she’s going to help me get out of this. She’s still got her head back with her eyes closed and Tucker is suckling, but I think he’s on the verge of falling asleep as well.

Clearing my throat, I shift my feet from side to side. I’ve never been someone who felt uncomfortable. My mother has always made me feel that way, but otherwise, nobody else—ever.

This situation, though, needing someone, but not wanting to have anything to do with them, but then again, needing to kiss their ass a little is not something I’ve ever had to deal with.

“I’m sorry, Bethie’s parents are coming in this weekend, Bethie goes back to work next week, it’s going to be crazy for a little while, rain check?” I ask, hoping that I can put this off for … well ... ever.

“Yeah, I’ll hit you up later for sure. What about lunch next week?” he asks. I want to know how I’ve become his best friend all of a sudden, but I decide not to be an asshole. I just say sure and end the call.

Bethie turns her head to the side. “Cody?” she asks, her voice sleepy and sexy.

“Wanted to do dinner again.”

Her eyes widen and fill with horror. I can’t help but chuckle at the expression on her face. “I put it off, don’t worry. We have a busy next couple of weeks, it was a great excuse.”

She lets out a sigh, and I walk over to her, sitting down beside her and gather a sleeping Tucker in my arms. He’s gotten bigger in the weeks he’s been here, but he’s still so damn tiny. I am still amazed by him every single day.

“Your parents are coming on Wednesday?” I ask.

Bethie hums, then licks her lips. “My mom is extra. She’s going to ask you a bunch of questions and she’ll probably ask about marriage. I told her not to, but she’s a mom.”

Laughing softly, I shake my head. “Doesn’t matter to me. I’m happy to meet her finally. I should have made it a priority earlier.”

Bethie shakes her head. “We were figuring us out, then she got that cold. She’s coming now, that’s all that matters. You’re okay with them staying here? I still don’t know where they’re going to sleep,” she says worriedly.

“We’ll buy a bed of some kind, a pullout or something, put them in Tucker’s room and Tucker can hang with us for a few nights.”

She shakes her head as her eyes widen and she lets out a sigh. “We just got him settled in his crib. I’m going to talk to them. There are so many hotels within walking distance, they really should just stay at one of them.”

“I’ll pay for it, but honestly, I don’t mind that they stay here. We can make it work for a few days, baby.”

She shakes her head, lifting her hand, she cups my cheek, then smiles her soft smile and I swear to fuck, my heart squeezes. She’s beautiful, this woman of mine.

Beautiful and breathtaking all at the same time. She’s absolutely everything I never thought I wanted. Everything that I ran away from and I’ve never been happier.