Defensive

Ebook formatted by
E.M. Tippetts Book Designs

Other Books by JD Rivera

Guarded

Trying to Get Over You

Vanessa

“Hey babe, I’m home,” I heard him say as he walked into our small apartment and dropped his keys onto the table by the door.

I felt almost giddy. I was so nervous yet so excited to tell him our news. I knew it would be a shock, but he’d be happy. It was an unexpected but good surprise.

I walked out of our bedroom and down the small hallway to the kitchen; he was rifling around in the cabinet, looking for a snack. This was his same routine every day. I watched him for a minute, and I drank in his shaggy brown hair and muscles, flexing under his worn out T-shirt.

I strolled over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, all while holding onto a small item. He immediately turned around and pulled me into a kiss. As Shane stepped back, he grabbed my hand without looking down. “What’s this?” I could tell that he already knew what it was from the twinkle in his eyes. He must’ve seen it before he’d turned around.

“Just something. Maybe you should take a look,” I told him as I lifted my hand.

He quickly grabbed it. A grin crept across his face. “Is this real? Are we really having a baby?” he asked.

“As long as the test isn’t wrong, we are,” I said right before he crashed his lips into mine.

“This is crazy. We’ve only been married three months, but I am so damn happy.”

“Me, too,” I told him. “We should probably wait to tell everyone, though. I mean, things could happen.”

“Yeah, you’re right. But still, I get to be the father of your baby,” he said, rubbing his hand across my belly. I’d thought I was happy when I’d married Shane but seeing how excited he was about us having a baby together made this the happiest day of my life. “I think we should celebrate,” he whispered before he pulled me in for another kiss. He grabbed the back of my thighs and pulled me up, making me wrap my legs around him. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he kissed me tenderly while carrying me to our bedroom.

He laid me down on the bed and gazed down at me. “You are so beautiful, Vanessa. I can’t believe this. I get to not only call you my wife but share a child with you,”

As he lowered his body onto mine and kissed me softly, I felt like the most cherished girl in the world.

I was twelve weeks pregnant and we’d decided to tell our parents at the same time. We had grown up just a couple of houses down from each other and our parents were friends. It made sense to tell them together.

“Nervous?” Shane asked me as we walked hand-in-hand up my parents’ sidewalk.

I glanced up at him. “A little. Are you?”

“Yeah. I know they’ll be excited, but I really don’t want to hear the ‘but you just got married and what about college’ crap. I just want them to be excited, without all of that.”

“That would be nice,” I said.

He pulled on my arm causing me to stop and face him. “Look, it doesn’t matter. You, me, and our baby? We’re a family now. The three of us. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says.”

I rubbed my hand over his cheek. “Yep. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says. We have our own family now.” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. “But we still have to go in there and tell them.”

“Can’t we just go home and text them or send them an email? Come on, you know going home and watching TV would be a lot better. I might even throw in some sex.”

I giggled. “Babe, you always throw in some sex. But we have to tell them in person.”

“Fine,” he grumbled and he started walking toward the door. I shook my head and followed behind him.

My dad answered the door almost as soon as Shane rang the doorbell. “Hey, kids. Come on in.”

“Hey, Walter.” Shane offered as he shook my dad’s hand and strode into the foyer.

“There’s my baby girl,” my father said as he gave me a hug. He always hugged me like he hadn’t seen me in years, regardless if it had been years, weeks, or days.

“Hi, Dad.” After he let go of me, I walked into the house and greeted Shane’s parents and my mom.

Once we were seated around the dining room table eating cheesecake, I felt Shane grab my thigh and clear his throat. “So, we have something to tell y’all.” I was pretty positive everyone stopped everything they were doing at once and lifted their eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. He looked over at me and beamed. “Vanessa and I are going to be parents.”

I just stared into his eyes as I let the sighs and the clanking of silverware hit my ears. I didn’t want to look at anyone else in that moment. I didn’t want to hear the lectures, either.

“Oh, honey, we’re so happy for the two of you!” my mom exclaimed as she ran around the table to hug me. I took a peek at my dad and, to my surprise, he was smiling, too. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thanks, Mom. It was obviously a surprise but we’re really happy.”

“More than happy,” I heard Shane say as he squeezed my thigh again.

“I was worried you and Dad would be upset. You know because of Landon’s situation,” I said.

She pulled me into another hug, “Totally different situation. You and Shane are happily married.”

As my mom sat back down and picked up another fork full of cheesecake, Jeannie, Shane’s mom came over and gave me a hug. “I’m so happy for the two of you,” she whispered as she held my face. “We all are,” she said as she wiped a tear from her eyes.

I tried not to cry but seeing Shane’s mom cry made tears fill my eyes. I felt so happy and excited along with relieved. I couldn’t describe the amount of relief that I felt that everyone was happy instead of lecturing us.

We finished our dessert and everyone asked questions about how I was feeling and took bets on whether the baby would be a boy or girl. After hugging everyone goodbye, Shane and I got in our car to drive home.

“I need to call Amanda now that our parents know,” I said.

“Okay, put her on speaker,” he said, smiling. I could tell he was really happy and that made me even happier.

I dialed her number and placed the call on speaker. “Sup, chica?” she answered.

“Not a whole lot. Shane and I have to tell you something.”

“Hey, Amanda,” Shane hollered into the phone to let her know she was on speaker.

“Okay, it better be good.”

“Oh, it’s good,” Shane called out.

“We’re having a baby!” I practically yelled.

“WHAT? I better be the first to know!”

I giggled. “Besides our parents, yes, you are the first to know. We only told them an hour ago.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to be an aunt!” she squealed.

Shane and I both looked at each other while shaking our heads, “Yep. Hey, we’re almost home but I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, little mama.”

I ended the call as Shane pulled into a parking space outside of our apartment. “You know, telling our parents has made this so much more real. I can’t believe I’m going to be a dad.”

I leaned over and kissed him. “I know and I’m going to be someone’s mom. This is so crazy.”

He pulled me in for a deeper kiss. After devouring my mouth, he whispered. “Good crazy.”

That night I was woken up from deep sleep with the most awful cramps. I must have yelled out while I was asleep because Shane was instantly by my side, asking. “Are you okay?”

“No. Something’s wrong. I’m in a lot of pain,” I told him as I rubbed my stomach.

“Do you want to go to the hospital?” he asked while getting up and searching for his clothes.