His Distraction (Assured Distraction Book 2) (34 page)

“No, I’ve only slept with Ryan and you in the past year. None of those guys I dated, in the beginning, had sex with me. I’m not a total slut, Hayden.”

“No, you’re a lying bitch who’s brought a baby into this world under the worst circumstances, ever.” Hayden turned back and picked up his baby from Peri. He held him close and walked out the door with him.

The doctor followed him out of the room, leaving Peri and Ryan alone with her. Not knowing what to say, Peri sat down and watched at Ryan. What were they going to do now? Hayden was eighteen-years-old and on his own. How was he going to raise a baby? He’s a musician; his career was just taking off. They walked into the building this morning thinking there was only one question they needed an answer to. Now that they had it, a virtual Pandora’s Box was opened leaving so many unanswered questions left in its wake.

“Why don’t y’all leave, please? I don’t want to talk anymore. I want to be alone,” Krissy whispered.

“Well, that’s too fucking bad, Krissy. What are you going to do now? I doubt Hayden’s going to let you within a mile of that baby after this stunt you’ve pulled.” Ryan wasn’t cutting her any slack.

Her fiery attitude was back instantly. “No, I don’t suppose he will, and that is fine by me. I don’t want that baby. It’s not yours, and I don’t want him.” She slid down in the bed and turned her back to them.

Ryan grasped Peri’s hand and led her from the room. They needed to find Hayden and talk to him. He was a great kid, but that was just it, he was still a kid himself. How was this going to work out?

They found him back in the small sitting room again, rocking his son in the chair and singing to him. The baby gazed around the room and at his daddy who had tears rolling down his cheeks while he softly and slowly sang a Brooks and Dunn song:

You can count on the sun to rise

And the stars to come out at night

As long as there’s air to breathe

You’ll always be loved by me.

Peri’s heart broke to watch the scene in front of her. “Hayden,” she whispered his name and knelt down beside him. “Listen to me.
We can do this.
You can move in with us, and we will raise our babies together. We’ll all be a family together.”

“That’s the last thing y’all need is my son and me living with you. We’ll just interfere with your lives, and I owe you both too much already to do that.” He wiped his tears with the back of his hand kissed the baby’s head softly.

This time, Ryan spoke up. “No, that is
exactly
what we want. Our boys will grow up together. Hell, they’re cousins anyway. What can be better than a cousin who’s your best friend? Besides, you’re good with babies, and we know nothing about them. We can help each other. We’ll hire a nanny to help Peri when we both have to be gone, and it’ll all work out. I’ve been thinking about buying a bigger house anyway. We’ll get one with split master bedrooms, so you and the baby will have your own space. We can make this work.”

“Yes, Hayden, we want to make this work,
please
? Ryan, please assure him this is the best thing to do?” Ryan did the whole head tip thing, an ingrained guy form of communication. Peri’s voice was soothing and convincing, and Ryan obviously approved of the idea, so when Hayden finally smiled at the two, they all three let out sighs of relief knowing they made the right decision.

Hayden looked at the baby and said, “So, what about this, Son? You want to move in with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Peri? You’ll have a built-in playmate. We’ll do this together, right, just you and me?” He nuzzled the baby’s soft head against his face as the two who watched him in awe.

“No, not just you and him: you and him and us and the band. He’ll have aunts and uncles and a little cousin his age. It’s a full-sized family unit.” Ryan rubbed his finger over the infant’s little hand now flailing from the blanket.

“Little guy, how can we turn down such a great offer, friends, family, and a real home for both of us? If you two want this package deal, my son and I would be proud to be part of your family.”

Peri pulled her pregnant body up and wrapped her arms around Hayden and the baby. “It’s all settled then. Hayden, you’ll get to name him now on your own!” Peri was excited.

“I better get started on that if we are going home tomorrow. What do you think, Son? We gotta find you a perfect musician name you can live up to.” He kissed the baby’s hand while Peri and Ryan quietly left the room.

“Did you see that kid’s wild black hair, Dude?” Carter and Gunner were leaning over the bed while Peri watched them stare at her precious new baby boy as if he was a little alien. Tucker Ryan Powell was born exactly two months after his cousin, Crew Joseph Devillier. Hayden chose his grandfather’s name for the baby’s middle name since he was responsible for getting him started in the music.

Carter leaned in close to the side of the bassinet and whispered, “Little Dude, you need to open your eyes. There are some hot nurses running around here. You could cry and attract their attention to me. I keep losing my wingman to crazy women.”

The baby started wiggling to get loose from the swaddling at the sound of Carter’s voice falling softly around him.

Ryan jumped in. “Hey, dumbass, quit putting thoughts like that in my son’s head. He’s just a baby. Let him have a year or two before we start corrupting him. Besides we’ll have plenty of time when we start the next tour cause Tuck and his momma will be with us this time around.” He turned and saw Peri giving him the evil eye that most mothers were capable of from the beginning. Carter bent over in laughter.

Ryan picked up his son like a pro. They had plenty of practice with baby Crew, who came home directly to his room at Peri and Ryan’s house. The three of them were learning together how to care for their newborns. The official paternity test results confirming Hayden as the father came in three days after he brought the baby home and a few days before Krissy moved out of the apartment without telling her son goodbye.

Cash stepped in with the legal work from the lawyers, and Krissy gladly signed away all rights to the baby. She left Austin without a forwarding address. The lawyers tried to explain that Krissy could be made to pay child support if he was willing to share custody with her, but Hayden wanted nothing from her. He never wanted her to see his son at any time during his life, messing with Crew’s head when he got old enough to start asking questions about his mother. Hayden knew it would come up later, but he had a lot of years to decide what to tell his son.

“Dude, I can’t believe you’re
a dad
,” Gunner told Ryan.

“Yeah, it’s pretty awesome - just look at him - he’s got long fingers, perfect for playing the guitar, which I’ll be overseeing as soon as he’s big enough to hold one.”

“Hey now, wait a minute. He might want to be a drummer. I can see him now: long black hair flying over his head as he beats out a solo.” Gunner mimicked the action with his long hair flying over the top of his head now that he had shaved off the sides.

“Dumbass, he isn't playing the drums. He’s too handsome to play drums.” There were chortles and snickers throughout the room, as Ryan continued. “Besides, he’ll be too smart to be a drummer.”

“Hell yeah, he needs to be up-front so the girls can scream his name,” KeeMac told him as he nodded his approval of the plan.

“Yeah, we’ll see about that. He might not even like music.” Ryan informed them all. “I’m not going to push him into feeling like he has to do something because it’s
our thing
.”

Peri shook her head and said to Chandler, “Can you believe these guys are already making plans to hook him up with girls and make him a musician?”

“Personally, I think you should let me teach him the piano first, maybe a little keyboard to start. I’m sure Keeton and I can find the perfect mini one for him on the way home today.” Chandler winked at Peri. All Peri could think about was the noise a baby could make with a keyboard.

Hayden walked in with Crew safely tucked in his carrier, along with a bunch of blue Mylar balloons and a package he handed to Ryan. “You didn’t need to do that, Hayden.”

“I know I didn’t, but Crew and I wanted to bring a gift. The balloons are for Peri and Tucker. Those kept my son entertained all the way here. I don’t know if he sees them, but he kept staring at the shiny things.”

Ryan opened the wrapped package, but the aroma was a dead giveaway as to what was inside. “Hayden, a whole box of cigars with blue labels. Dude, I love a cigar!” He passed the box around to each of the guys.

Peri’s doctor walked into the hospital room moments later, the scent of tobacco heavy in the air. She looked Peri straight in the eyes. “I assume you will make sure those carcinogens never get close to your baby, Miss O’Conner?”

“You have nothing to worry about there, Doctor. I seriously think his daddy will never know what happened to them, either.” The men all turned and gawked at Peri, Chandler, and the doctor. Peri blew Ryan a kiss.

After oohing and ahhing over the two perfect baby boys, they all decided to let Peri rest. Ryan climbed into the bed beside Peri with Tucker safely between them.

“I can’t believe our little guy is finally here, Peri. It didn’t seem real until the moment I saw him for the first time.” He kissed him on the head.

“That’s because you didn’t carry him around for nine months but I have to say, he was well worth the wait.”

“Yes, he was worth the wait to me. I love him already.”

“Yeah, I think we’ll be keeping him for sure.” Peri gently kissed his little head.

A little sound came from the baby as he yawned. “I think all of this company wore him out. Let me put him in his crib.” Ryan slid easily off the bed and carefully picked up Tucker and placed him gently in the rolling bed beside Peri. When he was sure the baby was still on his way to sleep, he moved back to the bed with her.

“As much as I enjoy having him right beside me, I don’t think I’ll ever get any sleep with him in our bed.” Peri softly said to Ryan. “I would be so afraid I might hurt him.”

“Yeah, we probably don’t want to get that started. I kinda like you all to myself, Sunshine. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so glad we are a family now. The three of us are going to have a wonderful life together, at least until there are more of us.”

Peri glared at him. “That’s not something I want to hear about yet. Those memories of labor are still too fresh in my mind.”

Ryan gave her a quiet laugh. “We have plenty of time to talk about that later. There are some other things I want to talk about right now, though.”

“Like what.”

“Like, for example, when we are getting married.” Ryan stared directly at her to judge her reaction to this idea. They hadn’t discussed marriage before, but he was ready to put a ring on her finger.

“Oh, Ryan, we have our whole lives to do something like that. I’m not worried about it.”

Peri never looked him in the eye when she spoke, and he wondered what was going on in that head of hers. He didn’t want to wait their whole lives to get married. He loved her and little Tucker and wanted them attached to him in every way.

When Peri started yawning too, he knew it might be his time to let her rest. “Okay, I’m going to go for a little while and let the two of you get some rest. You sleep while he’s sleeping and I’ll be back in a bit.” He leaned over resting his hand on her cheek and kissed her softly. “I love you, Babe.”

She smiled and stole another quick kiss from him. “I love you, too.”

Ryan left the hospital with a big smile on his face. He didn’t know how life could get any better.

A month after bringing Tucker home, Ryan arranged for Chandler and KeeMac to come over to stay with him so he could get Peri out of the house, just the two of them. He wanted to show Peri something that he hoped would make her happy.

“Where are we going, Ryan?”

“I want it to be a surprise. I think you’re going to love it.” He drove them to an area southwest of the city. When he exited the highway, he pulled over to the side of the road and opened the glove compartment to retrieve a blindfold. “Here, put this on.”

“What? Why are you blindfolding me?”

“I want this to be a surprise. You’ll know as soon as we stop, so you have to wear it for now. It’ll only be a short ride, I promise.” He handed her the blinder.

“You went all out planning, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did. Now close your eyes and enjoy the ride.” He pulled back onto the road and after a few turns and stops at red lights, the car came to a halt.

“Can I take it off now? I’m so excited. What have you done?”

“No, just wait.” He came around and opened her door helping her out. She took several steps guided by him holding her shoulders.

“Now take it off.” When she did, they were standing in front of a beautiful home set in the hills outside of Austin. The Austin Stone was set off by river rocks with a huge front porch that stretched across most of the front of craftsman style home.

“Ryan, what, how, when? It’s gorgeous. I love it.” She jumped up and down and turned to hug him. “I know we talked about it, but we never made any more plans. I thought we were going to wait.”

“We’ve waited long enough, and we need a house for five. Wait until you see the floor plan for us all to live together but not on top of each other. It’s perfect.” As he led her through the home, he knew she was astonished at the beauty. The look on her face told him everything. “I knew you would love the open rafters in the great room. The large kitchen opening off of it, where everyone seems to hang out in the townhouse, has to be your idea of perfection. So, you think this is big enough for everyone to fit?” He was beaming at her.

“Oh, it the perfect place for us, and Hayden and Crew, and the rest of the band. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She pushed up on her toes, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him soundly.

“Let’s not get carried away, Sunshine. We have two more weeks and then it’s on.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Counting the minutes?” she grinned at him.

“You better believe it. Now come on I have one more thing to show you out back.” He opened the tall glassed doors leading to an outdoor kitchen on a huge covered patio overlooking turquoise waters of a negative edge pool that appeared to flow into the beautiful hills behind it.

“Ryan, it’s wonderful and so peaceful back here. I love it already.” He led her to a huge swinging oversized twin bed attached to the ceiling under the overhang. “See you can lounge out here enjoying the view or watching our children play or swim. Or we can take naps wrapped around each other. Better yet, we can enjoy each other here for some outdoor mountain sex. That’s the beauty of no close neighbors: skinny dipping and outdoor sex in nature.”

“You’ve obviously given this a lot of thought.” She pushed back on his chest lightly.

“Yes, as a matter of fact. I’ve given this a lot of thought. There’s only one thing that could make this all perfect, Peri.” He got down on one knee and gazed up at her.

“Oh, My God, Ryan.” She stood staring down at him.

“Peri, you came along to see me at my worst. You stuck by me when I asked too much of you, more than any girlfriend should have to go through. I promise you here and now, that it’s all looking up from here. The days will be all about our wishes and dreams. I will love you until our last days. I will cherish you and all our children God blesses us with. You will be my home, my lover, and my life. Will do me the honor of marrying me, Peri O’Connor?” He brought a ring out of his pocket and held it out for her to see. As she shook her head yes, too overwhelmed to say anything, he slid the perfect vintage, Asscher cut diamond on her ring finger and kissed her hand above the ring.

Finally finding her voice, between the happy tears she said, “Yes, yes, yes, I would love to marry you and be you wife and lover and your home.”