Embracing Us (Embracing Series) (11 page)

“Uh
…umm…Alabama? Is this something you really want Brody?” I ask praying he would tell me the truth. I can always get a job there also.

“Ni
kki, it is, and I have the perfect place for us to build a house, only if you want to.”

“Well then
, Brody, I guess we are moving to Alabama. Is it Birmingham?”

“Yes
, well about twenty miles from there. You will love it, you will be close to Tatum and Audrey, also. They will be happy to have you around.”

“Sounds good, will it be before the wedding or after?”

“As soon as you’re ready we can go. I know you said you had a couple doctor appointments you needed to attend, so how about we go in three months?”

“That sounds wonderful, I will let you get back to work. I love you Brody Lewis.”

“I love you more, baby.”

So we’
re moving to Birmingham, wait till I tell Lila about this. I need to get the doctor’s appointments taken care of first and to see if they have specialist there. Just in case it is cancer.

“Everything okay with Brody?” Lila
asks as she walks over to where I’m sitting.

“Yes, just fine. We are moving to Birmingham.”

“What? Why? When?”

“He just accepted a job with a new law firm there.”

“Oh well, that sounds like a bunch of country fun. Is it something you want to do, and do you even know anyone there?”

“Yes, I’m okay with it. Yes
, there are several people there that we know.” I say not really wanting to elaborate on whom it is.

“Oh that’s right
, the Martin’s live there. They are sweet people, you will love them.” She says and then she looks like she was going to faint.

“Are you okay Li?
Jesus, sit down woman.”

“Ev…
Evan and his girlfriend? Isn’t it?”

I sigh and put my arm around Lila
, pulling her closer to me and hugging her.

“Ye
s, it’s them. He, Zander, and Brody are going into a practice together.”

“Oh
.” Is all she says. Then she as she asks if I was ready for the massages? I feel so bad, this is like a smack in the face to her. She is trying to get away from Evan and I’m moving to the same town as him and his future wife.

I was afraid that Nikki
wouldn’t be okay with moving. It’s something that I really want to do and it will give us a chance for a new chapter of our lives. I only moved to Ohio, for her and I hate being in the same state as that bastard Cam, I hate running into him anywhere. He still wants my Nikki, I can tell by the way he looks at her. And with us moving, we can get as far as away from him as possible. I have loved Nikki since that night I met her at The Pizza Joint. I looked into her eyes and saw the sparkle and new she was the one.

We’ve had a rough start that’s for damn sure, she has made some poor choices
, and so have I. Hell, when she left me, I was sticking my dick in every woman at NYU. None of them meant anything, I knew I would marry Nicole Lassiter someday. I just needed to give her time to make sure I was what she wanted. The night she brought that fucker to dinner, I knew she was fucking him, and sure enough she left a month after that night.

I gave her the time I thought she needed and I made my move. I couldn’t stand the thought of him or hell
, any fucking man touching her, she is mine and only mine.

There is something going on with her now, she hasn’t told me everything
, but she has been going to the doctors a lot lately. We are trying to start a family and we’ve both been tested. She said everything came back normal. But I know her better than I know myself. She is spending the weekend with Lila, when she returns home I will find out exactly what’s going on.

Our wedding is in a little over four months. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. Seeing her in a beautiful dress, knowing that she is only mine
, and having her carry my last name. I’ve been working on a pretty big murder case, and I haven’t spent much time with her lately. But once we move and I start working with my buddies that will change.

Well speaking of buddies, it looks like Evan is calling now.

“Hey man, how’s things going with you and Tatum?”

“Things
can’t be better. We are going to have a baby in about six months or so. So did you talk to Nikki yet?”

“That’s great Evan, you will make a wonderful father.
I did talk to Nik, and looks like we will be moving there in about three months.”

“Perfect timing
. Do you still want to look at that land with me? I will only need about five or six acres of it. So the rest would be yours if you wanted. Zander may want some of it, not sure. But it’s only about ten miles or so from where the practice will be.”

“Yes, I haven’t ran everything by Nikki yet. She is actually in California looking at wedding dresses, her and Li-.
..um she will be home in a few days.”

“Brody, you can say Lila’s name.
Nikki called me looking for her earlier this week. How is she doing? I’m really glad she recovered well. She deserves to have a happy life with her family. I’ve moved on, and you know how long I’ve loved Tatum, don’t get me wrong, I was in love with Lila and I’ll always love her. She broke me dude. I thought I needed her to heal, after I realized I couldn’t have her. But then she just used me, borrowed my heart, and my fucking time. I loved being with her, but Ta is my forever and I realize now, that’s why all that shit happened.”

“It’s just awkward man, I know you love Ta, and have for as long as I can
remember. Hell you would have been with her sooner if that bastard was never in the picture. Yes, they are doing well, this is the first time Nikki has been there in months, so not sure what was going on.”

“I would have, sometimes I just sit and think of all the times, I
saw Ta and all the times we talked. It makes me want to kill that mother fucker, she has told me so many stories. I can’t believe that I didn’t put a stop to it when I went to Rochester that night. Sometimes I feel it’s my fault for allowing her to go back to him.”

“You can’t blame that shit on yourself man, he had her scared to death. I’m glad that she got out when she did and I’m even happier the two of you are together. Nikki really likes her. She said the other night that she wanted to se
e if Tatum wanted to help them plan the girly party they are having.”

“I know, it’s just in the back of my mind that I should have done something about it. That’s
great, Ta would love that. She likes Nikki, too. She was very excited when I told her y’all may be moving to Alabama with us. We are going to stay in the old house at the farm until ours is finished. Ta doesn’t know, but it will be done before the baby gets here.”

“That’s fantastic, let me know if you need me to help with anything, or if you need me to fly out
and look at the property with you. I better go, I have this case I need to finish up before the move. Give Ta Nikki’s number, and have her call her about that party.”

“Will do thanks b
rother. I’ll talk to you soon.”

My girl is
coming home
today, I’ve missed her so damn much. She called me this morning and her voice made my dick twitch. I have plans to take her to The Spaghetti Warehouse, she loves that place, and they have a train caboose booth that she always has to sit in. I have to say it’s one of my favorites as well. She has been bugging me to see the new Channing movie with her. I guess I can take her. I’m not a fan of romantic movies, but whatever makes my lady happy. On my way to the airport, I stop and pick up flowers and Anthony Thomas Chocolates. Those are also her favorites. Hell, I can eat half the damn box myself.

Standing in the middle of the Port Columbus
international Airport waiting for Nikki, brings back so many memories of the first time I came to Columbus. I left here one pissed off man, but not today. Today I’m going home with the most beautiful and sweetest woman I know.

“Hey
, sweets, I missed you so much.” She says as she kisses me. Damn I missed her lips, her touch her scent.

“Uh-huh, sure you missed me. You were maxing out the credit cards
, how could you miss me?” I say as I wrap my arms around her.

“Yeah, your right
, I did. But I missed you. We got all the dresses. Oh, Tatum called me this morning.”

“That’s great, did you leave them there? Yeah
, Evan gave her your number hope that’s okay?”

“They will ship them to Lila’s
, I figured instead of shipping them here then us taking them back that would be better. I’m glad she called, I’ve been thinking. I would really like to ask her to be in the wedding, you can always ask Milo to be in it also.”

“I’m glad you like her. You could ask her, but she is pregnant.” She turns and looks at me with a surprised look. I hope she
wasn’t upset because we’ve been trying, but I’m happy for my friends. “You okay Nik?”

“Umm, yeah fine. Well
, Lila is pregnant, also. It just took me by surprise. Must be something in the water.” She says with a shy smile.

“Babe, we will be next. I know you are ready and so am I. Maybe once we get moved we will focus more on getting pregnant. We can start tonight, I’m so ready to be in bed with you and have you wrapped around my-.
..”

“Okay
Mister, I haven’t had you inside of me… for over a week and I think I just came. So get me home, so I can make sweet love to you all night.”

“Sounds good, but we have dinner plans first. Then you can
do as you please with me…afterwards.

We
go to dinner as planned, I can tell something was bothering Nikki, she just isn’t saying what it was. So the only way I’m going to find out, I’m t just bluntly asking her.

“Nik, please be honest with me baby. What’s the deal with all of the doctor appointments, I know it isn’t about getting pregnant now. What is it?” I
ask, as I place my hand across the table on hers. She gets tears in her beautiful eyes.

“Brody, I
may have Ovarian Cancer. I’ve been trying to deal with it on my own, but I can’t anymore. I was afraid to say it out loud, the doctor thinks that radiation will help, or they said a full hysterectomy may help.”

“Jesus, Nicole. You wasn’t going to tell me about this? When did you find out and why am
I just finding out? How could you keep this from me?”

“I found out a couple
months ago. I’m scheduled for more tests to possibly see if a hysterectomy would be the best option. Brody, I was going to tell you, I just didn’t want to worry you.”

“If they do a hysterectomy
, will that cure the cancer? I’m not sure I fully understand this. Do you have cancer?”

“Yes, if they do the surgery it will remove the
cancer. So far they aren’t sure if I even have it. But if I do and have this done, I will never be able to carry a child.”

“Have the surgery. I would rather have a life time with you, than children without you.
We can adopt.”

“Brody, adoption isn’t always a good thing, what if you want a biological child of your own? I can’t give that to you. Do you understand that, I’m taking this away from you?”

“I don’t care about children, Nicole! All I care about is you, us. You are my life. I cannot live without you, goddamn it.”

I’m
ready to go home with my wife, she may have cancer and she couldn’t tell me. I want to slump down in my seat and cry like a two year old. She is my world, and to think this may kill her, is killing me on the inside. I feel like someone has just knocked all of the air out of my body.

“Okay, I’ll have it done
if I need to. I have an appointment tomorrow, can you go with me? They are giving me my test results then.”

“Of course I’ll go with you. I can’t believe you have been doing all this alone. So no one knows?”

“No, just you now.”

The drive home
is very
quiet. I’m sure what to say or do. I love this woman so much. And she tells me she may have cancer. I want to cure it for her. I just want to wrap my arms around her and make it all go away. Take the pain from her, make her feel better. I’m nothing without her, she is my reason for waking up every day. My life is all is her.

“Brody, please don’t make this weird. I’ll be okay, I promise. We are getting married in three months. I will walk down that aisle and become Mrs. Brody
Dean Lewis. We will live the rest of our lives as one, and maybe on a farm. We are moving to a farm, aren’t we?”