“Aaw. You’re so sweet.” Caitlin kissed Adam on the lips and Owen quickly slipped out of their huddle.
“You two gross me out.”
Adam grinned against Caitlin’s lips and said, “You’ve seen nothing yet. Those pregnancy hormones… let me tell you—”
Caitlin put her hand over Adam’s lips since he always said everything that came to mind. “He will do no such thing.”
“I’ll leave you two to it. Peace,” Owen said with a smile on his face.
It was the first time in months that he could listen to Adam and Caitlin talk about the pregnancy without the feeling he needed to ram his fist through a window. Now that he finally understood that Tara had actually ran away from her father and not from him, he had already been able to let go of a lot of the hurt he’d carried with him all these years.
She still had to make up for the fact that she didn’t contact him after she found out she was pregnant, though. He still believed that he had every right to know he was going to be a father.
They had talked for hours last night in bed after he’d made love to her over and over again. She had brought the pizza into their bed and answered all his questions about the pregnancy and delivery.
It pained him when she told him there had been nobody by her side. He figured Tara had gone through hell and must have felt all alone in the world in a time that she had been most vulnerable.
Owen watched Adam’s hand caress Caitlin’s belly and waited for the jealousy to grip him by his throat because he never had that with Tara and Frankie. The feeling never came.
In fact, having his girls safe and sound in Winter Peaks, seeing them every day topped everything else that he may have missed out on. He would make sure to never take a day with Tara and Frankie for granted.
Owen suddenly realized what he needed to do. Instead of being angry at what could have been in the past, he focused on what could be his future.
He already thought of Tara as his wife but he would ask her to marry him later this week. She needed to talk to his family first and then they would support their marriage. He wondered what Frankie had to say about his plan?
“Yo, Owen. What was your idea?” Adam shouted from his front door, his arms slung over Caitlin’s shoulder. Owen already knew that Caitlin must have prodded him to ask.
Owen turned around and said, “I have an idea for the nursery.”
Adam waved him back. “Come in and tell us over a beer.”
Owen stepped inside the apartment he’d renovated not that long ago. Adam and Caitlin had lived next doors from each other and after they got together, Owen had broken down the wall between their apartments, making it one big apartment so they had more room.
It had been a while since he’d come over and had a beer with his brother. Maybe he had been unconsciously avoiding them.
Owen sat down at the dinner table and watched Adam grab a couple of cold beers from the fridge and a bottle of water for Caitlin.
“I’m happy that you’ve got some idea’s, Owen. I haven’t been able to think straight after we found out about the baby and well, you know Adam… he’s been excited but not very practical…”
Owen accepted a beer from Adam and put it up in the air as in a toast. “Cheers, guys. If there’s anything else we can do to help out, just ask us.”
Adam held his beer bottle still against his lips. “We?”
“Yes. Frankie, Tara and I.”
“Oh, so you are a we already?” Adam asked.
Owen shot up in his chair as something hard contacted against his shin. “Ouch!”
Caitlin brought a hand towards her chest. “Oh, my God, sorry! I was supposed to kick Adam.”
“Why would you kick me?” Adam asked in a tone full of hurt.
“Because you’re running your mouth again. And I promised you on our wedding day that I would help you stay out of trouble,” Caitlin said before she folded her arms.
“I’m just speaking my mind. She’s been back in town for what? Forty-eight hours? They’ve been around each other four days, now?”
“I know how you promised yourself after your mental breakdown to not bottle anything up inside, but this shit is annoying, bro,” Owen said.