Melody of the Heart (28 page)

“I love you,” she murmured.

“I love you, too.” I leaned in to place a tender kiss on her lips. When I pulled away, I smiled at her. I reached for the tie of her robe. Her brows lined with confusion when I pushed it open. Bending down, I bestowed a kiss on her abdomen. “And I love you, too,” I said to her stomach.

Lily sucked in a breath before her fingers tangled in my hair, and she jerked my head up. “I want you to know you’ve made me the happiest woman in the world.”

“Ditto,” I murmured, bringing my lips to hers.

Just as I pushed her back onto the mattress, a loud bang came at our door. “Everything okay in there?” Jake asked.

I groaned. “It was until your nosy ass came knocking!” I shouted.

“I just wanted to make sure Lily was okay.”

“Just when I think Jake is a selfish and unfeeling asshole, he goes and redeems himself yet again,” Lily said, amusement vibrating in her voice.

“She’s fine,” I called back.

“Uh, yeah, I’d rather hear her say that herself. You know, so I know there’s no coercion.”

Lily giggled. “I promise that I’m fine, Jake. Now will you please go away, so Brayden can fuck me?”

As my mouth dropped open in shock at her words, Jake’s laughter bellowed outside the door. “You got it,” he replied.

Amusement shone in Lily’s eyes as she cupped my cheeks in her hands. “I wish you could see your expression right now.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s the last thing I expected out of your mouth.”

“I’d say we’re 0-2 on unexpected things said out of my mouth this morning, huh?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Now come on and make love to your pregnant wife.”

“Yes, Mrs. Vanderburg. I’ll be happy to oblige you,” I said before bringing my lips to hers.

***

The bus roared down the darkened interstate, taking us from Mississippi into Alabama. Lily lounged on the couch with a pint of chocolate chip ice cream on her lap. Occasionally, Rhys would reach over to dunk his spoon in for a bite. Each time he did, Lily used her spoon like a sword to fight him off. Rhys merely grinned at her antics.

Sitting across from them in one of the captain’s chairs, I had a notepad beside me and my guitar on my lap. Jake also had his guitar out.

Lily huffed out a frustrated breath. “You should be ashamed of yourself, Rhys McGowan. Stealing ice cream from a poor, pitiful woman who’s forty months pregnant.”

“Nice try, Lils. You’re only eight-and-a-half months pregnant,” he argued, before grabbing another bite.

Lily groaned. “It feels like I’ve been pregnant forever. I’m so ready for this baby to be born.” Glancing down at her belly, she said, “Did you hear that Michael? You can come out now.”

“Michael?” AJ questioned, from the kitchen area. “Is that what you guys decided to name him?”

I laughed. “No, that’s just the one we’re trying this week. Seeing how we like it since it’s my middle name.”

Cocking her head, Lily said, “Paul Michael Vanderburg sounds very prestigious, don’t you think?”

AJ made a face. “Isn’t there a hair products dude name Paul Michaels?”

Jake and Rhys snickered as Lily shot Jake a look. “Fine then. Michael Paul. Is that better?”

“A little.”

We were on the last leg of a Southern tour that had kicked off in Atlanta and then did a sweep through the Carolinas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and as of last night, Mississippi. After shows in Alabama, we would head home. Because there was no flying involved and she could put her feet up, Lily’s doctor had approved her to come along. I didn’t like the idea of leaving her behind in her third trimester anyway.

“What do you think about this?” Jake asked, as he strummed a catchy beat.

My brows furrowed. “It sounds familiar.”

“How the hell would it sound familiar if it just came out of my head?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It just does.”

“Fine, smart ass. What does it sound like?”

Racking my brain, I then started to strum the melody that was in my mind. Jake snorted. “I so did not just play something that sounded like
Hey Jude
.”

“Yeah, you did.” The Beatles fan in me kept playing the song not only because I liked it, but because I wanted to aggravate Jake.

When Lily sucked in a harsh breath, I stopped playing. “What’s wrong, babe?”

“Nothing is wrong. You wouldn’t believe how strong Michael started kicking then.”

“Ooh, I wanna feel,” AJ said, as he abandoned the arroz con pollo he had been making for us.

She frowned. “He stopped.”

“Bummer,” AJ muttered.

Absently, I started strumming
Hey Jude
again. Lily started laughing. “He must like the song because he just started kicking again.”

My brows shot up. “Seriously?” Wanting to prove the theory, I stopped playing. “Is he still kicking?”

Lily grinned. “No, he stopped again.”

With a groan, Jake said, “Jesus, you’ve already bred another Beatles freak.”

AJ motioned to my guitar. “Start it up again, so I can feel him.”

Once again, I began playing the opening to
Hey Jude
. This time, I started singing along to. Taking AJ’s hand, Lily placed it on her stomach. “Feel him?”

AJ’s eyes widened. “That’s so fucking cool!” He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Forget a future musician like his pops. I think we have a soccer star on our hands.”

“Oh, he knows how to kick. I’ll give him that,” Lily replied.

Although he tried looking disinterested by it all, Jake asked, “Is he still doing it?”

Lily nodded. “You want to feel?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Jake said, “I guess so.” He sat his guitar down and stood up. Leaning over, he put his hand where AJ’s had been. A small smile twitched on his lips. “He is strong.”

When I stopped playing so I could feel my son kick, Lily dissolved into giggles. “He’s stopped again.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Jake smirked at me. “Guess you’ve got the answer to what to name the kid.”

“Jude,” Lily and I said in unison.

“Yep, Jude Paul Vanderburg,” Jake replied.

And for the remaining two weeks of her pregnancy, whenever we would play
Hey Jude
, our own little Jude would give us a kick or two to let us know he was happy with his name.

LILY

                                                                
 
THE PRESENT

“You were on the road right up until you delivered?” Giovanni asked.

I laughed. “Well, not exactly. We were almost home then. So I had about three weeks before Jude was born.”

Giovanni glanced between me and Brayden. “Were you alone for the delivery or was Brayden there?”

With a smile, Brayden said, “Thankfully, we were between tours at the time. Plus, it was right after Christmas, so that’s usually a slow season for us.”

“And what was it like having your first baby?” Giovanni asked me.

I couldn’t fight the smile that lit up my face at the memory of having Jude. “It must be something about his sweet temperament because he was the easiest delivery of the three.”

“I think it has something to do with women being difficult,” Brayden countered.

“Ha, ha,” I replied.

“What do you remember exactly?” Giovanni questioned.

Easing back on the couch, I happy sigh escaped my lips. “I remember everything really. How I woke up that morning to find my water had broken.”

“I thought she had just peed the bed,” Brayden mused.

I smacked his arm. “Anyway, we bundled up and went to Northside Hospital, which coincidentally was the same hospital where Brayden was born. I don’t think we were there more than an hour when it was time to push.”

Brayden laughed. “Jude was ready to make his appearance that’s for sure. With the girls, I think we were there ten or twelve hours before they decided it was time to come out.”

“That’s true. The girls were a bit more finicky about being born.”

“Who all was in the delivery room with you?”

“My mom wanted to be there, so we let her stay in. She was good to stay in the back and let it be about me and Brayden.”

“There was probably more than one time that she had to hold my hand to keep me from freaking out,” Brayden admitted.

I laughed. “That’s true. I’ll never forget how pale he was.”

Brayden shuddered. “It was seriously scary that first time around. We were both just kids at twenty three. We didn’t have a clue really.”

“But we made it somehow,” I argued.

“Yeah, we did.” Brayden shook his head. “I’ll never forget how one moment it was just his little blond head there, and then the next he was out and wailing. Seeing him take his first breath, well seeing all my kids take their first breaths, is the most amazing thing to ever happen to me, besides marrying Lily.”

Overcome by his words, I couldn’t resist bringing my lips to his. Whenever I heard Brayden talk about his children, it made me love him all the more. When I pulled away, I smiled at him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, babe.”

When we glanced over at Giovanni, he was smiling at us. “Quite a moment there, eh?”

Swiping the tears from my eyes, I replied, “Talking about our children always does that to me.”

“So what was it like when the guys met Jude?” Giovanni asked.

I laughed. “That is a very interesting story.”

LILY

                                                                          
 
THE PAST

After the multitude of mine and Brayden’s families left the room, I sighed and let my head fall back on the pillow. Exhaustion, like I had never known before in my life, took over my body. It felt like someone had stuck me with a needle and depleted all the energy I had. With a yawn, I glanced over at Brayden. I couldn’t help smiling at him as he stood stock-still, watching over a sleeping Jude. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere,” I said, my voice a little hoarse from my previous exertions.

Brayden’s hands gently gripped the bassinet. “I know. I just can’t stop looking at him.” He glanced up at me with tears shining in his eyes. “He’s the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen. To think that I had even a small part in creating him—” a sob choked off in his throat. He shook his head as he swiped the tears from his cheeks. “I’m such a pansy,” he muttered.

“No, you’re a proud father. And I don’t think I’ve ever loved you more than right at this moment—the one where you wept over your son.”