Reckless Redemption: A Bad Blooded Rebel Novel (Bad Blooded Rebel Series) (22 page)

“Danni?
Hello, it’s nice to see you again,” said Dr. Mitchell. “Beau, how are you?”

“I’m
great. Just ready to see our Jelly Bean on screen,” I answered.

Dr.
Mitchell smiled at me. “Jelly Bean?”

“Well
we had to call it something until we find out what we’re having,” I answered
with a smile.

“I
kind of like Jelly Bean,” Danni said as Dr. Mitchell fired up the ultrasound
machine. “I think we should keep it.”

“Okay
Danni, I’m going to put some jelly on your stomach. This time it will be warm,”
Dr. Mitchell said. “Just give the nurse and me a minute or two to check things
out. I assume you both want to know the sex of the baby?”

“Yes
we do,” we said in unison and Dr. Mitchell and the nurse laughed.

“Okay,
just give us a few moments here,” she said.

I
held Danni’s hand as they looked at our baby. Suddenly we heard a whooshing
sound; I smiled as I heard our baby’s heartbeat. It was one of the most
beautiful sounds in the world and it never failed to take my breath away.

“Heartbeat
is about one forty five, so that’s good. Nice and strong. Everything looks really
good here, Danni.”

Danni
sighed deeply and said, “That’s great.”

“Okay,
now, it looks like your little one is being difficult here so let me just see
if we can get it to move into position so we can tell what it is,” Doctor
Mitchell said.

I
squeezed Danni’s hand and said, “Of course our child would be stubborn. Already
taking after Mommy I see.”

Danni
giggled and replied, “Dear God help us.”

Dr.
Mitchell jiggled the wand on Danni’s belly for a few moments and finally said,
“Well, hello there.”

“Can
you see it? Can you tell what it is?” Danni asked.

“I
sure can. You see the little legs right there?” Dr. Mitchell asked as she
pointed to the screen and we both nodded. It was amazing to see those tiny
little legs and feet on the screen.

“And
can you see right between them there? This little one is bent over in there and
definitely wants you to see what it is now. Congratulations you two, you’re
having a girl!”

Danni
gasped and my heart warmed instantly. “Beau, we’re having a girl!” she
exclaimed and squeezed my hand.

A
little girl…we were having a daughter. I melted in that moment as I looked at
my tiny girl floating and swimming around safe and warm in Danni’s belly and I
suddenly felt complete.

I
leaned down and kissed Danni’s lips, not caring that there was a doctor and a
nurse in the room. When she pulled away from me, she had tears flowing down her
cheeks.

“A
girl…Danni, this is amazing.”

“I
know, I’m so happy! I love you so much,” she said, kissing me again.

After
the nurse wiped the warm goo from Danni’s belly, she rolled her pants back up
and Dr. Mitchell said, “I’ll give you two a moment to get situated. When you
are both ready I’ll have some pictures of your little girl waiting for you at
the desk when you check out.”

“Thank
you so much,” Danni answered and Dr. Mitchell smiled at us as she left the room
with the nurse in tow. As soon as the door closed, Danni sat up and I pulled
her into my arms.

“Beau…we’re
having a little girl.”

“I
know, baby,” I whispered into her hair.

“Are
you happy? I mean, really happy about it?”

“Of
course I am. I bet she’ll be as beautiful as her mother,” I replied, kissing
her forehead.

“You
know Dad will be crushed,” she joked. “He wanted a grandson so bad.”

“I
know, but I really do think he’ll be happy about it.”

She
smiled so brightly and I couldn’t help but kiss her again.

“I
know he will. I can’t wait to tell them.”

“Oh
that reminds me,” I said, breaking from our hug to pull my phone out of my
pocket.

“Sadie
was supposed to let me know when your parents got to the house.”

I
scrolled through my phone and I hadn’t received any messages yet so I assumed
they weren’t in town yet.

“No
messages from Sadie. Guess they aren’t here yet.”

“So,
since we have some time does that mean you’re following through on your promise
and we’re going to go baby shopping while we wait?” she asked.

I
grinned and took her hand. I kissed it and said, “Hell yeah, let’s go buy a
bunch of pink shit!”

She
giggled and we walked hand in hand out of the office. We checked out and
scheduled Danni’s next appointment making sure we had our first pictures of the
baby before we left.

As
soon as we were in my Charger I asked her, “So, are you going to call everyone
and tell them the big news?”

“Well,
I was going to, but I figured since we will all be together tonight at your
house for dinner why don’t we tell everyone then at the same time? It would
avoid a lot of phone calls.”

“Good
idea. Well, let’s go put a huge dent in my bank account spoiling our daughter,”
I said, and Danni giggled as we drove away and found the closest store that
sold baby items.

A
few hours later, I had been true to my word and spent a small fortune on
everything for the new baby. We hadn’t discussed the ‘living together’ issue
while we were shopping. I made sure not to bring it up because I didn’t want to
spoil her good mood. Besides, she told me that she wanted to revisit the issue
after the holiday. I just hoped when I proposed tomorrow she wouldn’t say no,
and I wouldn’t look like an ass in front of my entire family.

As
soon as we got to my house, I quickly took all of the baby items we had bought
and placed them in one of the empty spare bedrooms. The only good thing about
living in a huge mini mansion alone was that there were plenty of places to
hide things in case of a situation like this.

We
had almost bought the entire stock of the three baby stores we visited.
Anything Danni wanted, I bought it. We had absolutely everything we would ever
need or want for the first few months of the baby’s life. We had a stroller,
car seats (one for my Charger, one for Danni’s car, and one for the brand
spanking new SUV I planned on buying for us in a few weeks), the crib, a
changing table, bassinet, a glider…everything. I just hoped that if everything
went my way tomorrow night we would be putting it all together here at my
house.

Once
everything was hidden away, Danni came inside and got right to work on dinner.
Everyone started trickling in after that and dinner was just about ready when
Dan called Danni to let him know they would be there shortly. I had expected
them a few hours ago, but when Danni got off the phone with her mom she told me
that apparently they had decided to stop and have car sex on the side of the
highway. Danni rolled her eyes as she said this, but I just laughed and
actually I was a little jealous. Danni and I hadn’t even done that yet.

Now
we were gathered together in my home…the whole family. Everyone seemed to
enjoying dinner and having a good time getting to know Dan and Brenda. I had
just taken another bite of my food when Sadie cleared her throat and said,
“Okay, I can’t take it anymore. Are you two going to tell me if I’m having a
niece or a nephew, or do I have to smack it out of you, big brother?”

Danni
laughed as Brenda agreed with Sadie.

“I’m
with Blondie over here. You’ve both kept us waiting long enough. We’ve eaten,
we’ve talked, and I’ve pictured every one of your guy friends naked a few times
now. All that’s left is your big announcement.”

“God,
Mom!” Danni shrieked and everyone laughed.

“Your
mom’s fucking awesome, Danni,” Jude exclaimed while taking a bite of his dinner.

“Thanks
Jude,” she answered and turned to me. “Beau, do you want to do the honors?”

I
took her hand in mine and said, “No, this is your show, baby. Why don’t you
tell them?”

As
she looked back at me I felt my stomach flip. This time tomorrow she could be
my fiancé…or nothing more than the mother of my child. I hoped things would go
well for me because I didn’t know if I could handle waking up one more day
living away from her.

Danni

“Okay,
well, here goes. Everyone,” I paused, looking at Beau and squeezing his hand,
“we’re having a girl!”

As
the cheers and laughs erupted from around the dinner table, I looked at Beau’s
face and something in his expression caused me to feel alarmed. He looked
happy, sure, but there was something in his eyes that worried me. It looked
like a mix of doubt and fear. My overactive imagination started to play tricks
on me and I started to wonder if he was as ready to be a father as he kept
saying he was.

“Danni,
that’s so exciting!” Everleigh gushed. “You’re having a boy and I’m having a
girl…you know what this means, don’t you?”

I
smiled at her and we both screamed in unison, “Future wedding!” and we laughed.

Beau
snorted and Ryder said, “Oh Jesus. Our kids aren’t even born yet and they’re already
marrying them off.”

“Danni,
you and Beau aren’t even married yet, so maybe you should hold off planning a
wedding that may or may not happen twenty years from now,” Sadie laughed,
taking a drink of her beer.

I
laughed at Sadie but she voiced something that had been concerning me the
farther along I got in my pregnancy. I knew it sounded crazy, but I actually
wanted to be married to Beau and wished every day that he would ask me. He
wanted us to live together and I wanted to live with him so badly, but I wanted
us to be married or at least engaged first. It may have been an old-fashioned idea,
especially in the fast-paced and hard-rock life I was now living, but with my
belly getting bigger and bigger every day reminding me of impending motherhood,
I couldn’t help wanting to be married to the father of my child before she was
born.

The
way he had been looking at me all day was making me more and more nervous. I
felt like he was going bolt at any time; that he was just waiting for the right
moment to decide that a girlfriend and a kid would be too much for him to
handle.

I
looked at Dad and he had the biggest smile on his face. Shaking his head, he
said, “You couldn’t just let me have my grandson, could you? You had to be
stubborn like always.”

“Hey
now, blame Beau. It was his ‘boys’ that determined the sex of the baby, not
me,” I laughed.

“I’m
just joking, princess. I am so happy for you and Beau and you both will make
wonderful parents.”

He
raised his beer and toasted us. “To my daughter and her wonderful boyfriend,
congratulations on your baby girl. May you both go as gray worrying about your
little girl as I have worrying about mine.”

Everyone
laughed and we all toasted to the new baby and the promise of good things to
come for all of us.

After
dinner, the guys decided to take Dad out and show him around Cincinnati. Since
Beau wasn’t a drinker anymore, and Dad was in his fifties, that pretty much
meant they were going to show him the recording studio then go catch a movie
before coming back here. That gave me plenty of time to get in some girl talk
with Everleigh, Sadie, Jessie, and my mom.

“So,
have you bought anything for the baby yet?” Mom asked as we finished cleaning
up the kitchen.

I
placed a container of leftover fried chicken in the refrigerator and said, “Actually
after we found out what we were having today, Beau took me on a shopping spree
and I think we have absolutely everything we need for her.”

“So
no baby shower?” Everleigh asked, sticking her lip out in disappointment.

“Yes,
I’d still love to have a baby shower! But instead of gifts maybe we can think
of doing something else,” I suggested.

“Like
what?” Sadie asked. “We can’t exactly go clubbing.”

Jessie
laughed and said, “No, we can’t. We could just have a girl’s day at a spa or
something. I bet a pedicure would feel great when your feet start to swell.”

“Something
to look forward to,” Mom said as she patted Everleigh’s belly. Her stomach was
much bigger than mine and not just because she was due a month before me. At
her last appointment Dr. Mitchell told her that little Max was actually big for
this point in the pregnancy and that he was on the fast track to being close to
ten pounds by the time he was born.

“Shit,
have you seen my feet, Brenda? They look like hams if I wear any sandals with
tight straps and I’m not even due until November,” Everleigh pouted.

“Oh
they do not, sweetie. You look absolutely gorgeous,” Mom said, hugging her. “I
can’t believe both of my girls are having babies at the same time. You two
always did like to do everything together.”