Between the Sheets (21 page)

While the principal drones on about
test scores, I take the time to study my colleagues. “Check out,
Margo. She chopped off her hair.”

Shel nods.

I scan the crowd more. “Oh my god,
Mary has a giant tattoo peeking out of the top of her shirt.” I
wanna see it up close. It looks awesome. What an oxymoron though. I
think she had wings inked on her back.

“
Son of a big mouth, can
you just listen already? I think he’s done with the bullshit and
getting to the good stuff.”

Damn, what crawled up her ass and
died? Like she’s even paying attention to this crap. I’m finally
finding something to distract me from my thoughts of Ty and she’s
ruining my fun.

“
Next, I’d like to
introduce the new additions to our staff.”

“
We should have told him
about the babies,” Shel says. “This would’ve been a perfect time to
make the announcement.”

Matt arches a brow at her. “I told you
guys that a million times,” he whispers.

The principal introduces five new
teachers and two instructional assistants. All seven stand as he
calls their names and gives their educational
background.

“
And last, I’d like to
invite back one of our own.” Quickly, my mind starts thinking back
to any past staff member who left and would come back. “This young
man has deep roots in our community. He graduated from here not too
long ago, and he even has a sibling who teaches here as well.” I
look around trying to figure out who’d get their brother a job. The
majority of the teachers at this school are alums so it could be
anyone. “For the past ten years, he’s been a major influence in the
art community in the Bay Area, working with their talented youth.”
I glance at Shel, and a tear slides down her cheek. “We’re very
lucky that his heart led him back home.” From the back row, all I
can see are the backs of every ones’ heads. I can’t take it. I
stand to get a better look. “And we’re even happier that he’s
willing to share this very special moment in his life with us. Let
me introduce to you our new art teacher, Tyler Gelson.”

And there he is. All six feet of him,
getting to his feet, and towering over our principal. In his dark
jeans and Tiger t-shirt, he looks adorable. Our eyes fix on each
other, and a smile spreads across his face.

“
Thank you for the nice
intro. As you can tell by my last name, I’m Shelly Fuller’s
brother. It was mentioned that my heart led me back here. And
that’s true. Melissa, can you please come up here with
me?”

It’s as if my feet are bolted to the
floor.

“
Go,” Shel says, taking my
tea from my hand. I look down at her, as tears roll down my cheeks.
Damn hormones. “Just go, Mel.” She stands next to me. “Sorry,
brother. I think she’s in shock. For the first time in her life,
she’s speechless.” The staff laughs at this and so do I.

“
Good one,” I tell her. “Is
that really Ty? Or am I having a prego moment and seeing things?” I
whisper in her ear.

“
That’s him. He’s here. He
came back home for you. Now, go get him.” She throws her arms
around me and squeezes me tight.

“
Stop making the poor guy
wait,” someone shouts.

With my jacket closed loosely in front
of me, I make my way to Tyler.

When I reach him, he takes my left
hand in his. “Last year, I was able to witness that spectacular
proposal Matt planned for my sister. I’m not quite sure I can top
it, but I thought I’d try and surprise you. And by the looks of it,
I think my plan worked.” He presses a kiss to my temple. “Melly
Belly, you’re the first girl I ever loved. And the last one. We
kind of screwed things up with our lack of communication. My plan
all along has been to move back home to be with you. I should have
told you the first time you came up to visit, but I wanted to
surprise you.”

“
You did?”

“
Yes. When you came to
visit the second time, I had already resigned from my job and put
in an offer on a house a few blocks from my sister. I already moved
in.”

“
You did?”

“
Yes. I did. I want to be
here with you. You’re my life. You’re my heart. You’re my home,” he
says before going down on one knee. Holy shit. “Tell me you’ll
marry me.” His eyes are wet, and he’s holding a little blue box in
his palm. A single heart-shaped diamond pokes out of the top. It’s
gorgeous. “Mel?”

I wipe my eyes with my free hand, and
murmur, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

The worried expression on his face
breaks my heart. “Whatever it is, it’ll be okay. I love
you.”

Slowly, I undo the two buttons on the
front of my jacket and open it. “Are you sure I’m the only girl
you’ll ever love?”

He glances down at my bump and his
eyes widen more than I’ve ever seen before. “Holy shit, Mel. She’s
a girl? Oh my god, I love you.” He places a hand on my belly and
leans in to sprinkle it with kisses. “And I love her.” He points to
my bump. “My baby girl is in there,” he calls out to our
colleagues. “Can I put this ring on your finger yet so I can stand
up and kiss you silly?”

“
Yes, Tyler. Yes. Kiss me
silly.”

As he slides the ring on my finger,
the staff erupts with cheers and whistles.

“
I love you, baby. I want
to spend the rest of my life kissing you silly and painting
pictures of our family.”

More catcalls from the
staff.

“
It’s great to be home,” he
shouts, turning to the crowd. “We’re getting married and having a
baby girl.” His gaze falls to me with a silly grin. “Who wants to
go to Vegas?”

Melissa

I kiss my husband on the lips and my
princess on the top of her cute little head before I rush in to see
my best friend.

Before I go, I take a second look at
my beautiful family and know that this will never get old. After Ty
proposed, we jumped in the car and headed for Vegas for our shotgun
wedding. My parents, his parents, and Shel and Matt joined us along
with a few friends from work. And Mer and Der made the trip too. We
got there Friday night, got hitched on Saturday, came home on
Sunday and school started on Monday. It was a wild ride but I
wouldn’t change a thing.

I glance at Ty who smiles endlessly at
Mia, and my heart does a little dance. I reach out and brush my
fingertips through her baby fine hair.

“
Damn my dominant genes,” I
say as I admire my baby girl. “I so wanted her to have your blond
hair and light eyes.”

He snuggles his face close to hers and
kisses her tiny nose. “No way, I love seeing you when I look at
her. It’s going to be no fun when she’s sixteen and looks at me
with these big brown eyes.”

“
She’s gonna have you
wrapped around her little finger.”

He winks at me with that sexy as hell
grin. “Just like her mama.”

I stand on my tippy toes to kiss his
cheek. “I can think of a few things I’d like to wrap around
you.”

“
So can I. Two weeks more,
babe. I can’t wait.” We both laugh. “Now, go. Before my sister
kills both of us.”

“
Oh, yeah. Stop distracting
me.”

He bends down and kisses me again
before I rush off. But this time I really do leave his side … when
I see my mother-n-law coming down the hall.

“
What took you so long?”
she scolds me as soon as I run into the room.

“
Your dumb ass brother had
to stop and pick up food.” I don’t dare say I was smooching him
outside while she’s in labor. “He said that after waiting eighteen
hours for Mia to come, he knew better than to come to the hospital
empty-handed.”

“
Bastard,” she groans. “I’m
starving.”

“
Want some ice chips?” I
ask, knowing that I was ready to beat Ty in the head with a block
of ice when he suggested them to me. As if sucking on ice is going
to make a pregnant woman less hungry.

“
No, if I suck on one more,
poor baby Noah is going to come out freezing his little nuts
off.”

“
Nice, Shel.”

She juts out her index finger at me.
“Hey. Don’t get all proper on me. Just because we’re moms doesn’t
mean we have to be all snooty and boring.”

“
You got that right.” I
hold up my hand to give her a high five. “We’re going to be the
most hilarious moms ever.”

She raises her hand and then stops
suddenly. “Oh fuck. Here comes another one.”

I glance at the monitors and sure
enough, the contraction number is climbing. “What do you want me to
do?”

“
Kick my husband in the
balls. He should have to feel some of this too, right?”

I have to laugh at that one. I lean up
against the rails of her bed and reach for her hand. “Hell yes. But
until he gets back from giving your mom and dad an update, squeeze
my hand.”

She squeezes. Hard. “My mom’s here?”
Her face twists up. I know how she feels.

I’m just the daughter-n-law and I was
ready to ban her from the hospital. She means well, but I just wish
she’d mean well silently. If she would have tried to cover me with
one more cold towel thinking it was calming me, I would have gone
certifiably insane. Then I would have had to have my baby in jail
because I would’ve been arrested for murder. Ty finally got the
hint and got her the hell away from me. His dad though could have
stayed all day. He’s like a big cuddly bear.

When the contraction is over, I
finally answer her. “Yeah, but she’s staying in the waiting room
until after the baby is born. We kind of fibbed and told her your
doctor is a real hard ass and doesn’t let anyone in but the
father.”

“
Where does she think you
are?”

“
I don’t know. I told Ty to
make something up. I’m sure she’s bonding with Mia by now, trying
to fix her so she is dressed appropriately and her hair is
perfection.”

Shel relaxes, resting her head back on
her pillows. “Better you than me.”

I notice her face twisting up again.
She nods and I grab her hand. “Just try to breathe in and out.
Steady, Shelly. Steady. In. Out. In. Out.”

She looks me in the eye and my heart
breaks for the pain she has to endure. Childbirth is no freaking
picnic. She works the breathing technique like a champ until the
hurt fades away.

“
My mom says I’ll forget
the pain as soon as I see Noah’s face.”

I laugh so hard I snort. “Well, you’re
mom lied. I can still remember the pain and Mia is almost five
weeks old. I’ll never forget that. In fact, every time I look at
that monitor over there my uterus cries out in protest.”

“
You should have lied to me
too.”

“
Hey. You’ll get through
it. And just think. When it’s over, we’ll both be
mommies.”

Four hours and an epidural later,
Shel’s ready for delivery. It was crazy for a minute there. I
thought I was going to lose a finger but she finally dilated enough
to get the good drugs. At first, she was afraid her labor would
slow down but then I reminded her that she wasn’t going to get a
Brownie patch for giving birth drug free so she called for a nurse
and took her up on the offer.

The doctor has been called to make the
catch so we have to wait for him to arrive. In the meantime, the
nurses are in the midst of transforming the room from what looked
like a bedroom moments ago to what is now a surgical suite. A giant
flood light comes down from the ceiling and I take that as my cue
to move from my position at the foot of Shel’s bed.

“
No, stay.” Shel stops
me.

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes.”

“
Okay, but I’ve managed my
whole life to not see your twat, so don’t break my streak. That’s
all Matt.”

He shakes his head at me and my friend
lets out a laugh. “Just come up here, sicko.”

I glance over at her husband who has
just taken a peek on the other side of the curtain. “On second
thought, he may never go there again.”

He wipes his brow and tries making a
joke. “It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.”

Tough, my ass. I may never forget the
pain of childbirth but for some reason, like maybe blue balls, men
forget all about seeing their wife’s hoohas stretched out in a
bloody mess when that egg timer goes off six weeks later and the
doctor gives the “all clear” signal. It’s like their dicks get hard
on cue. So I doubt Matt will think it’s a tough job when it comes
time to get back to action again. I know for a fact my husband is
counting down the days.

The doctor has arrived and it’s time
to push. He calls out directions. Matt holds one of Shel’s hands
while I hold the other.

It’s beautiful watching him comfort
her. “Okay, baby. You can do this.” He brushes the hair from her
face and kisses her forehead. “We’re going to push again. Look at
me, and on the count of three. One. Two. Three.” My friend clinches
her teeth and grunts, pushing with all her might till she can’t
anymore. Matt tells her he loves her, kisses her forehead, and when
it’s time, they start again.