Forever Altered (31 page)

“Oh
hell no!  I’m having satellite installed before I even move in.  I’ll
be damned if I’m watching those losers all the time.”  He hands me my
glass last and kisses me on the head. 

Rocco
comes to stand behind me and takes the glass from me.  “I’ll drink that
for you,” he whispers, but his action doesn’t go unnoticed. 

“What
the fuck, man?  She becomes your wife and she’s not allowed to
drink?”  Shane never misses anything.  My guess is Rocco was counting
on that.  I can literally feel his excitement radiating off of him.

“No,”
he gloats.  He slides his free hand around the front of me and rests it on
my lower abdomen.  “She’s not allowed to drink since she became my
pregnant
wife.”  Everyone is almost as thrilled as we are over the news. 

“You
work fast, Matthews,” Logan tells him shaking his hand.

“The
best things in my life just find a way of springing themselves on me,” Rocco
tells him as he leans over to kiss me.  “I don’t plan any of it.”

“Well,
damn, that totally trumps my news,” Shane sulks.  Jessica consoles him
while we all laugh at his expense. 

For
the rest of the evening, we have a great time like we always do.  We tell
them about the things we did after they left.  They fill us in on what’s
been going on around here.  I notice how from just a year ago, we are all
very different.  Everyone is growing up and moving on to the next chapter
in their lives.  Things won’t be exactly the same.  We won’t all be
living together.  We won’t be able to hang out all the time like we are
used to.  We will always be friends who are more like family, no matter
the distance between us.  We will always be there for each other. 

After
everyone leaves, Rocco and I curl up on the couch to relax before heading
upstairs.  “I’m sorry I told everyone about the baby, even though you
asked me not to.” 

I
couldn’t help but giggle at him.  “Rocco, you’ve been glowing since you
opened your gift this morning.  Someone would have pried it out of you
eventually.”  He reached in his pocket and pulled out the dog tag I had
engraved for him.

“To
the best husband, who will soon be the best dad,” he read it again.  “I
still cannot believe it,” he says shaking his head. 

“Believe
it or not, Matthews.  Come September it won’t be just the two of us
anymore,” I tell him.  As the words come out of my mouth, a thought
crosses my mind that throws me for a moment.

“What’s
wrong?” Rocco is instantly concerned. 

“It
just occurred to me that I’m going to get fat,” I sigh.

He
starts chuckling.  “I can’t wait until you have a belly.  It’ll be
adorable.”

“Liar. 
I’ll be huge and you’ll want someone else.  You’ll stop loving me,” I
pout. 

Rocco
puts his hand on the side of my face turning me to look into his eyes. 
“Sunshine, when are you going to get it?  No matter what, you will always
be my girl.”

THE END

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I need to thank my
husband, Jason, for all of your support while I took time out of our crazy life
to write this book.  Yes, you drove me crazy every chance you could. 
Yes, you have always teased me over my love for reading (or anything for that
matter!).  However, your love and encouragement mean more to me than I
could ever express.  Let’s face it, if we learned anything during this
experience, it’s definitely that you are a much better housekeeper than I ever
will be!  Thank you for everything!  OXOX

To my two precious
kiddies.  Thank you so much for being the reason I get out of bed every
morning!  You may not realize it, but you both mean the world to me! 
A huge thank you for still thinking I’m the greatest Mommy in the whole wide
world, even though I was completely nutty in the few months it took to complete
this book.  I hope you remember to always work hard for the things you
want in life and to never give up on your hopes and dreams.  Don’t let
ANYONE hold you back or tell you these things are not possible.  I love
you!

To one of the greatest
friends a girl could ask for, Terri.  I could take pages and pages to tell
you how lucky I am to have you as a friend, but you already know.  I tell
you all the time!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking this
journey with me and for all of your help!  I’m not sure I would have ever
done this if it wasn’t for you.  Also, thank you for not letting me give
up when I thought I wanted to and enjoying this story as much as I
have!    **Smooches**

To another one of the
greatest friends a girl could ask for and the BEST college roommate ever,
Cara.  Thank you so much for helping me along the way during this
process!  Your ideas and recommendations were genius and essential to the
story.  ‘Leah’ is an awesome roommate, but she’s got nothing on
you!! 

To the best sister-in-law,
Michelle.  I am so glad you offered to read this for me.  Thank you
for taking the time to help me out.  Most importantly, thank you for being
so damn good at finding my mistakes and for making the suggestions you
did!  They made the story so much better!  (P.S. If you find any
mistakes on this page, I’m sorry!)

Thank you Briana and
Colleen, two more friends I couldn’t live without!  Thank you for your
input when I asked for it, for loving my story, and asking for more!

To the best cover designer,
Samantha.  One of the greatest things that happened to me in all of this
was finding you!  Thank you so much! 
Forever Altered
would
have never been complete without its beautiful cover!   

To everyone and anyone who
reads this book, THANK YOU!  I hope you enjoy reading my story as much as
I enjoyed writing it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D. J. Pierson graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson
University in 2002 with a degree in Radiologic Technology.  While she is
more of an obsessed reader than writer, she decided to share a story of her
own.  She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband, their two children,
and two crazy dogs.

To find out what’s new, you can check out her Facebook
page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/D-J-Pierson/547669458607713

Or you can email her
at:

[email protected]