Lauren opened her eyes, and I could swear that we were looking into each other’s souls. The strangest feeling moved over me, and I couldn’t pull my eyes away from hers.
As she slowly closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep, I thanked God for the blessings in my life. I had been feeling so sorry for myself the last few weeks—wishing my mother could have been here to see the birth of my child or to watch me marry the love of my life. I knew though that she was with me. In some strange way, it almost felt like she was letting me know she was here.
I slowly moved to get up when I heard the door open. I looked and saw Melody walking in.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey! What are you doing here? I thought you had a lunch you had to go to today?” I asked as I tried to stand up. I was so sore that all I really wanted to do was soak in a hot bath.
She walked up to me, took Lauren from my arms, and took her over to the bassinet.
Oh, thank God. I don’t have to get up and move now.
“Are you still going home today?” she asked in a whispered voice.
I nodded my head and grinned like a fool. Scott and I had put Lauren’s bassinet in the sitting room off of our master bedroom, and I couldn’t wait to get home and start working on her room. We’d held off until we knew if it was a boy or a girl, and I had so many ideas.
Melody walked up to me and held out her hand. “Come on, you need to walk around. Trust me, it will help with the pain.”
I rolled my eyes, and she put her hands on her hips.
“Did you just roll your eyes at me, young lady?”
“Uh…”
“You’re in deep shit now,” Scott said from behind me.
I turned to see him looking at us with that panty-melting smile of his.
Oh Lord…
I instantly wanted him, but after I was split open from giving birth to his child, I had made a vow never to have sex with him again. I slowly licked my lips, and his smile faded for one brief second. Then, it was quickly there again, but this time, he raised an eyebrow. He always could tell when I was turned-on, which turned me on even more.
“Come on, up you go. I see you are dressed and ready to go, so I think a walk around will do you a bit of good,” Melody said.
I slowly stood and felt every single pain.
As we made our way down the hallway, arm in arm, we chose to remain silent.
“Let’s get a bit of fresh air, shall we go outside?” Melody asked with a smile as big as the Texas sky.
I couldn’t help but smile back.
As we walked over to a bench and sat down, I took a deep breath of air in and slowly let it out.
“Jessie, I wanted to apologize to you.”
I snapped my head over and looked at her. “For what?”
She shook her head, and then she looked up toward the sky. “For the way I treated you when you first started dating Scott. I know I was nothing but a bitch to you.”
I pulled my head back and widened my eyes. Where is this coming from? “Melody, you don’t—”
She held up her hand. “No, please let me get this all out. I sat down today at brunch, and I looked around at all these women who were sitting there. They are the best of the best, I guess you could say. Then, I saw Chelsea take a seat, and my stomach turned. Just thinking about what she did, using brother against brother just to hurt you, and how I-I…” She quickly shook her head as if she were clearing a memory or thought from her mind. “I just let her do it. I knew she didn’t want Scott. I knew that. I knew they were never meant to be together, and when I heard her say she was going to win him back, I chose to do nothing. Now, Scott and Bryce barely talk to each other. What if…what if you had never come back? Scott’s heart would have been devastated.”
I felt tears stinging my eyes, but I tried desperately not to cry. “I did come back though because what Scott and I have is real, Melody. I love him with all my heart, and I have loved him for so long. What happened is in the past and doesn’t matter anymore. It really does no good to keep thinking about it. We have an amazing future ahead of us, and I want to focus all my energy on loving and taking care of Scott and Lauren. And I might add that we have a wedding to plan.”
She nodded her head and looked at an older couple walking by as they held hands and laughed. When she looked back at me, our eyes met, and I saw the sadness.