Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set (68 page)

“Good morning, Husband.” Pepper smiled and leaned over to kiss me. “I hope you don’t mind that I don’t have breakfast ready but I couldn’t resist just lying here and looking at you.”

“What, with my bed-head and morning breath, you mean? Lucky you.”

“Yep, it’ll probably be all downhill from last night,” she agreed. “You do remember last night?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said as she slipped into my arms, “But then again, it might have been a dream. How long till we catch the Honeymoon Express?”

“We have to leave for the airport in a couple of hours. We need to shower, pack up some last minute stuff, eat… what else?”

I wrapped my arms around her and asked, “Why don’t we shower together, wifey?”

“Because we’ll never get out of here!” She got up and hurried to the bathroom, turning on the shower. When I thought I’d heard her get in, I snuck in there, hoping to get a glimpse of my bride, but she was too fast—she was already shutting off the water and ready to get out.

“Damn!” I said.

“No, not damn! Now get cleaned up! We have a plane to catch!”

“Aww, man!

Our bags were already packed, so we still made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

As we checked in for the short hop to Miami, we were intercepted by Mills and Fallon, who were waiting for their own flight to Los Angeles and on to Hawaii. I was surprised to see them, but Pepper seemed aware that we’d all be meeting there. Perhaps she’d mentioned it, but I didn’t remember if she had.

Over coffee, I couldn’t help saying, “I almost wish we were headed for Hawaii with you. That’s what? A six-hour flight from LA? With five hours over there, layovers and baggage, you’re looking at what? , Maybe fifteen to twenty hours?”

“Wow,” Fallon said. “That’s a hell of a long time!”

Mills smiled at him. “Haven’t you heard that old slogan,
‘Getting there is half the fun?’
You’ll be a member of the Mile-High Club by the time you get there!”

We all laughed, and then Pepper asked mischievously, “So how was your wedding night, sis? I want to hear all about it!”

“We’ll have to compare notes someday,” Mills vowed. Fallon’s face flushed as he stared at Mills in disbelief. “What?” she asked. “Don’t guys do that?”

“Some guys who might share details pertaining to a… casual encounter,” I said, “but a blow-by-blow account of one’s wedding night is a different story.”

Mills laughed at Fallon’s and my discomfort. “Maybe it’s different because we’re sisters,” she offered. “Anyway, if it makes you guys feel less
violated
, then we won’t discuss it. Promise.” She maintained an expression of sincerity for a few seconds before bursting into conspiratorial cackles with Pepper.

Finally, Pepper composed herself and asked, “Aren’t you going to miss little Douglas?”

“Oh, yeah,” Mills sighed. “But I know he’ll be in good hands. You know how you said it was like having two moms with Mom and Charlotte planning the wedding? Well, it’s also like having two doting grandmothers fussing over him. They’re going to work in shifts, sort of. Dad and Charlotte don’t really want Mom moving in, of course, but she’ll come over on some days. I told her she couldn’t take the baby to her place. I wasn’t comfortable with moving the baby around, and with Mom being a little psycho sometimes….”

“Ugh,” Pepper concurred.

The airport intercom announced their flight was about to start boarding so we exchanged handshakes and hugs as Fallon and Mills grabbed their carry-ons.

“Well, you guys have fun,” Mills said. “We will for sure and I had to laugh when you first saw us out here, Gabe. I’ll bet you thought we were coming with you, didn’t you? Well, you can relax now knowing Pepper and I aren’t really joined at the hip.”

“If you were, that would’ve made for an interesting wedding night,” I quipped. Mills laughed bawdily at that, though Fallon frowned as if he were even more anxious to get to their gate.

“I can’t believe you said that,” Pepper mock-scolded. “How inappropriate.”

“It was the least I could do after what the two of you just put us through. I thought Fallon was going to start crying.”

Before long, they announced that our own flight was boarding and as we walked to the gate, I understood the significance of the honeymoon tradition in our culture. Yes, it signified an adventure that we’d undertake—sort of a metaphor for beginning a life together—but part of it was also saying goodbye to all of the relatives and friends who’d come to help and share the event. As much as I liked, and even loved some members of my new extended family, I was also looking forward to leaving them behind. Now, I could focus exclusively on the woman I loved.

It was good to see everybody when we returned from the Maldives and at dinner with Doug and Charlotte, we swapped stories with Mills and Fallon regarding our respective trips. I didn’t think the hotel in Waikiki could compare with our own experience as the high concentration of tourists there wouldn’t have appealed to me, but we were careful not to sound like we were trying to upstage them.

I told the story of how Pepper had felt so guilty about ordering a squid dinner at one of the underwater restaurants, but I’d agreed with her choice, pointing out that it certainly wasn’t an endangered species. Mills shared a particularly graphic tale of food poisoning that took her two days to recover and Doug and Charlotte were able to join in the conversation with anecdotes from their own recent honeymoon in Hawaii so it was a fun night and I was glad to be back.

Work, on the other hand, was a slightly different story. Being away for just a couple of weeks had given me enough distance from the daily grind to feel estranged from my duties. Sea Lab had hummed along very efficiently without me, the visitor numbers had stayed steady since the new wing had opened, and with the whales settled in, there really wasn’t anything exciting happening on the horizon—just routine, administrative matters.

I felt separated from the environment I’d helped to create. I rationalized that this was a typical reaction after all the excitement of late, but as each day dragged by, I wondered if I’d ever feel as connected to Sea Lab again as I was a few short weeks earlier.

Pepper was ready to begin her second semester at school, and many of her evenings were spent studying. The one thing that seemed to engage me completely was when Pepper and I researched homes for sale. On weekends, we attended a couple of open houses, just browsing to get a feel for what each of us wanted in a home. Doug, of course, gave us lots of great advice and even a couple of interesting leads.

But I’d found myself at a crossroads, not sure where we should settle because I wasn’t sure I wanted to remain at Sea Lab—and if I didn’t want to continue to work there, then we weren’t limited in searching for a house closer to work. We could go anywhere and, frankly, I enjoyed thinking about the many options that would open up if we were to leave Destiny Beach.

One day, I received word that my cabin cruiser, Dolphin Girl, was out of the shop and ready to go to sea again though I didn’t know how Pepper would feel about that news. After what had happened the last time we took her out, I wouldn’t have blamed her if she never wanted to go out on the ocean ever again, but I was wrong.

“That’s great,” she said. “We should try to make Sand Island again! I don’t know, I’ve always felt like we had unfinished business. We have to do it!”

So we did—only this time, I made damn sure the forecast was favorable, and we left early so we’d have plenty of time to explore during the day, though when I suggested camping there, Pepper was initially hesitant.

“I’m a city girl, Gabe. No mosquitoes, no flies, and I don’t want sand getting into my coochie.”

“I’ll personally see to it that your coochie is free of sand, sand crabs or any other foreign objects—except for my dick, of course—and if we decide against it, that’s fine, too, but I’ll bring along the tent and sleeping bags, just in case.”

“
Bags
?” she repeated. “Just how many do you think we’ll need?” she giggled.

It was a fun day, and we did camp out that night… and Pepper loved it. We had sleeping bag sex that evening and, afterwards, I lay looking up at the tent and thought to myself,
This is the life. Our life is good and I want this to last forever.

“Baby?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you think about little Dougie?”

“I think he’s a cute little fucker. Why?”

“Well…uhm… get ready for your own cute little fucker! I’m pregnant!”

We held off confirming the baby’s sex until the sixth month. At first, we wanted to wait—but then I got too excited about decorating the nursery so we caved and found out we were having a girl! We wanted to celebrate and surround her with pink, girly things appropriate for a little princess—a princess we decided to name Emily.

Well, little Emily was obviously a gymnast at heart and I had to learn to sleep on my side since it seemed like she became more active at night—kicking and moving and doing her exercises while all I craved was rest—though I did have some odd food cravings at times.

My guilty pleasure was drenching whatever I was eating in ranch dressing—sometimes maple syrup—and there were a few times I thought Gabe would hurl when he watched me indulge in a bedtime snack. Having sex had become more challenging too and I was limited to a handful of positions. Even those were uncomfortable at times, but I had to admit, our sessions—especially once I’d become quite
huge
—were some of the best sex I’d ever had. My cravings for Gabe’s cock had never waned, and though our lovemaking ranged from gentle and delicate caresses to animalistic power-fucking, it was
all good
!

As the blessed event grew nearer, there were a number of false alarms and times when I thought that finally, the moment had arrived. Once I was cramping so bad, it was almost crippling and we rushed to the hospital only to find it was Braxton hicks—a.k.a. false alarm. But, there was no mistaking when the moment
did
actually arrive. Gabe was next door visiting with his parents, and I was in the kitchen, whipping up a bowl of sliced bananas doused in maple syrup, when my body erupted and water splashed on the kitchen floor.
My water!

Gabe had left his phone on the counter, so I toweled off, grabbed both of our phones, got the car keys and shoved the suitcase that I’d already packed up the month before onto the backseat of the Escalade. Then I shuffled over to his parents’ back door and entered to find Gabe and his parents all seated in the living room, watching TV.

“Excuse me,” I said, after clearing my throat. “If you want to watch the rest of that show, you’d better set the DVR. My water just broke!”

They all froze, staring at me as if I were a ghost, or some zombie who’d just tracked mud and body parts across the floor. Coming to their senses, they all jumped up and ran toward me, asking questions and looking concerned, and in response, I simply held up the car keys.

“The suitcase is in the car. I just need a driver.
Now.
”

Gabe was apologetic as we drove off. ”Sorry, babe, I didn’t mean to take so long. Are you okay? Can I do anything?”

“Just drive, Gabe. I’m wetting the seat.”

“On it, lover! Can I—? Do you—? Oh fuck, Pep, we’re having a baby.” I saw the sweat beading up on his lip and it made me smile, but then Emily got my attention with a hard kick to my insides and I handed Gabe my phone.

“I’ve got all the numbers programmed for who you need to call. Just bring up my contacts and start with the first one, Dr. Robert. Or maybe the hospital will call him? Call him anyway, he should be expecting us. He called this one on the dot! Then call Mills, my dad, Evangeline… that should do it.”

“My folks will be on their way,” Gabe said. “Now don’t worry about all the things
I
need to be doing. You just focus on you and the baby. Everything else will follow.”

When we got inside the hospital, the nurse examined me, confirmed what I already knew, and told an assistant to prep me for the delivery room. “I’ll contact Dr. Robert,” she said.

Dr. Robert entered the room with Gabe trailing behind him. I’d expected the delivery room to be a bright, fluorescent-lit facility, sort of like a supermarket, but that wasn’t the way things were done at Cedar. The outer fringes of the room were dark, with dim lights nearer the bed and high beam lamps were wheeled into place at strategic points to give Dr. Robert the right level of lighting where he needed it. Soothing piano music played over the speakers and it was all very calming.