A Crush on Her Best Friend's Brother: Complete Box Set (19 page)

“
I
love you, Rachel,” he said.

“
I
love you too,” she answered.

They
drove in silence for a bit.

“
What
did you end up telling your sister?” Rachel asked. “She
was going to tell you a secret about me.”

“
I
told her that I would call her today so she could tell me,” he
answered.

A
few minutes later, Rachel's phone buzzed with a text.

Karen:
How are you feeling? Have you told anyone yet.

Rachel
told Brad what it said, and he laughed.

Rachel:
I'm feeling good, thanks. I told the father.

Karen:
Are you serious? What did he say?

Rachel:
I'll tell you in a bit.

Rachel
read the messages to Brad.

“
She's
probably going crazy,” he said with a laugh.

“
That's
her fault. She promised she wasn't going to tell anyone. It only took
a minute before she was trying to tell you. I knew she was going to
do that,” she said.

“
Is
that why you caught the first plane you could?” he asked.

“
Yes,”
she said. “I didn't want her to be the one to tell you, and I
didn't want you to think I was with someone else.”

He
shook his head. Rachel's phone rang. It was her mom's number. She had
called her an hour before.

“
Hey
mom,” Rachel said. “Can you be at Karen's house in an
hour? Just tell them I asked you to meet me there. I have to leave in
the morning. I just wanted to see you guys. I miss you.”

“
Is
everything okay?” her mom asked.

“
Everything's
perfect,” she answered. “I'll see you in an hour.”

Rachel
hung up the phone and looked at Brad.

“
This
is going to be crazy. You know that, right?” she said.

He
laughed.

“
What's
so funny?” she asked.

“
My
mom's going to know you're the one that bit me,” he said.
“You're in more trouble than I am.”

“
Very
funny,” she said.

The
drive went by faster than Rachel thought it would. She let out a huge
breath when they pulled into Brad's parents' driveway. She looked
across the street at the for sale sign. It still seemed strange that
her mom was moving in with a guy. Brad knew his family was home, but
they had no idea he was coming. Rachel's mom would have given away
that she was coming.

Brad
got out and went around to open Rachel's door for her. They walked up
the porch steps and looked at each other.

“
You
ready?” he asked.

She
nodded and took a deep breath.

He
opened the door and Rachel stepped into the house. Karen came running
and threw her arms around Rachel. A moment later, Karen pulled back
and looked up behind Rachel.

“
Brad,”
she said. “What are you doing here?”

“
This
is my house too,” he said with a laugh.

“
I
knew Rachel was coming, but I had no idea...” she stopped in
the middle of her sentence.

Karen's
eyes widened and her hand shot up to cover her mouth. She stood
frozen. Rachel was so nervous. She leaned closer to Karen.

“
Please
don't hate me. I love you, Karen. You're my best friend. Say
something,” Rachel said quietly.

“
Are
you serious?” she said.

Rachel
shook her head. Karen looked at her for a moment.

“
I
really am going to be Aunt Karen,” she whispered.

Rachel
nodded again. A huge smile spread across Karen's face.

“
Are
you mad at me?” Rachel asked.

“
No,”
Karen answered. “I can't believe you're the one he's with. I
don't know what you see in him.”

Karen
laughed as she made a gross face. Rachel slapped her arm. That was
the hardest part for Rachel. She was more worried about her friend
than their parents.

The
three kids walked into the living room. The two moms jumped up from
the couch and hugged Brad and Rachel. When Rachel's mom looked at
her, she knew her mom had figured them out.

“
I
knew Rachel was coming,” Brad's mom said. “I had no idea
you would be here today, son. This is a nice surprise.”

Rachel
made sure to wear a baggy shirt so that the moms wouldn't figure it
out right away, but she knew it wouldn't take long. They needed to
hurry it along.

“
Could
you two sit down? I have something I need to tell you,” Rachel
said.

The
two women looked at each other and took their seats. Brad's dad
turned off the game he was watching and turned toward Rachel. He must
have sensed it was serious for him to interrupt a game.

“
I
wasn't sure how to tell you exactly. I wanted to tell you all
together. You are like parents to me,” she said, as she looked
from Brad's dad to his mom.

Rachel
took a huge breath and her mom nodded to her.

“
I'm
pregnant,” she said. “I'm due at the end of August. I've
decided to take a year off school with the baby.”

Her
mom's eyes were wide. She must not have seen that coming. Rachel
looked back to Brad's parents. His father stood and looked at her.

“
Rachel,”
he said. “I'm going to kick his ass. I can't believe this.”

Rachel
was surprised by his reaction. She thought he would have been the one
to wave it off and move on. He cared about her, but he wasn't one to
show much emotion or get involved.

“
You've
been at school alone,” he began. “Who's the piece of
shit? Didn't he even have to balls to be with you? I'm going to knock
the shit out of him.”

Rachel
looked over at Brad and took another deep breath. Brad's mom looked
at Rachel and then up at Brad.

“
Shit,”
she said.

“
Mom,”
Karen yelped. “Watch your language.”

Brad
nodded to his mom and looked at his dad. He took Rachel's hand in
his.

“
I'm
the piece of shit, dad,” he said. “Thank you for caring
about her enough to stand up and defend her.”

“
You,”
his dad said. “What?”

Brad
turned to face Rachel and dropped to one knee. Four gasps came at the
same time. Rachel looked down at him with a confused look on her
face. Brad reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.

“
I
can't tell you how long I've known that this day would come. I went
to college hoping to get you out of my head, but it didn't happen. I
couldn't do it. You're it for me, baby. I love you with every bit of
my heart. You and our baby are my everything. I want to be there with
you the rest of my life. Will you marry me, Rachel?” he asked,
as he held out the open box.

She
looked down at him.

“
When?
I just told you yesterday. You've been with me every moment,”
she said.

“
Right
after I saw you at Thanksgiving. I knew I would never let you go
again,” he said.

She
went down in front of him on her knees and hugged him.

“
Well?”
he asked. “You're killing me here.”

“
Yes,”
she said. “Of course. I've been in love with you since I was
thirteen, Brad.”

He
slipped the ring on her finger, and they looked up at four mouths
open wide. Karen grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. Their
parents hugged them both and congratulated them.

“
Rachel's
moving into my apartment as soon as school is out. I'm going to fly
to see her next week for her ultrasound appointment. She's going to
live with me next year. I'm going to finish my senior year,” he
said, as he noticed his father looking at him. “I'm going to
play ball next year. Maybe one of you can keep them company when I
have to be gone. We'll both work if we need to. We'll figure it out.

“
We'll
help you,” his father snapped. “You're going to have
games and classes. She's going to have a brand new baby to care for.
There's going to be enough going on. I don't want her to have to
leave the baby to work. I don't want you to have to be gone the only
time you have with them. The baby will grow up so fast. You need to
be there with them.”

Brad
looked at his father in shock. His dad cared about them, but he
worked a lot. Brad was surprised that he felt strongly about them
being home together.

“
We
aren't sure what we want to do once I'm done with school. We'll have
to wait and see where I get job offers.”

His
dad looked over at him with a smile.

“
I'm
proud of you, son.”

“
Thanks,”
Brad said. “I know that I love her very much. I'm so happy
about the baby.”

His
mom hugged him again. She looked over at Rachel.

“
Young
lady,” she said. “I understand now why you thought it was
so funny when I yelled at Brad for letting a woman bite his neck. Are
you the woman?”

Rachel
nodded as she bit her lower lip. His mom laughed and shook her head.

“
I'm
going to love this baby so much. We're going to spoil the little one
and then send them home.”

Rachel's
mom laughed.

“
I
can't believe we're going to be grandmas,” she said.

The
two ladies went into the kitchen to make dinner. Their dad went back
to watching the game. Brad sat down with him so they could watch it
together. Karen and Rachel sat on the couch together.

“
I
can't believe you're going to marry my brother. We're going to be
sisters. I can't believe you didn't tell me it was Brad. It makes
sense why he flew me out to check on you when you didn't come home,”
Karen said.

“
I
can't believe you said you weren't going to tell anyone. The first
thing you did was text your brother to tell him. I was standing there
when you sent the message. I knew you were going to do it. As soon as
you left, I got on the first plane I could to see him.”

Karen
laughed.

“
You
got me there. I don't keep anything from him. I guess he keeps things
from me though,” Karen said.

“
Don't
be mad at him. He couldn't help but fall in love with me,”
Rachel said with a laugh.

Brad
shook his head from the chair he was sitting in.

“
It
only took me five years to catch him,” Rachel said, as she
walked up behind him and put her arms around his neck.

Dinner
was very good. They all sat around talking like any other day. Rachel
yawned and looked at Brad.

“
We're
going to get ready to go,” he said. “We have a long drive
ahead of us.”

They
got ready, said goodbye, and left. Once they pulled down the road,
Rachel looked at him.

“
A
long drive ahead of us,” she said.

“
Did
you want to tell them that we are going to a hotel? They seem okay
with the baby and everything, but they never would have let us leave
thinking we were going to a hotel.”

“
I
guess you're right,” she said.

He
pulled up to the same hotel they stayed at on New Year's Eve. She
laughed when they walked into their room. It looked exactly like the
last one. There was a huge tub in the corner and a balcony. Brad put
their bags down, walked to Rachel, and wrapped her in his arms.

“
I'm
getting every moment with you I can before you leave. I'll see you
again next week, but then I won't see you for almost two months. You
have no idea how happy I am to know that you'll be with me every
single day after that. I'm going to miss so much of your pregnancy,
and I feel horrible about that. I want you to call me after every
appointment. I want belly pictures every week. At least I'll be there
for the last couple of months. If you need anything, I'll be on the
next flight out. You need to talk to me though. I mean it. Do you
hear me?”