“I’m not sure,” Mary answered softly, smiling at him tenderly before taking his hand and laying it on her stomach. “I wanted it to be a surprise for us, so the doctor has been very careful not to let it slip… but sometimes I feel like I know. Would you mind if we had a girl first, or did you want a son?”
“You should know by now that I’m easy to please,” he murmured, leaning forward to kiss her tummy. “I just want you both healthy, and I don’t care either way, so long as everything is fine.”
He felt the baby give a hard kick under his hand as his eyes shot up to meet Mary’s glistening ones.
“She knows you are here.”
“She knows how much I love her beautiful mama…” Jax breathed, laying his cheek on her belly, hugging her – only to hear her stomach growl. He laughed and quickly sat up, getting to his feet. “Sorry. Food first, then more cuddling.”
“Mmm…” Mary said audibly, rubbing her stomach and talking to the baby while looking at him. “You hear that, Tribble? Daddy is getting you some yummy-nummy stew, and then we get to cuddle some more with him.”
“Lots of cuddling over the next few days – I promise.”
“And then for forever when you finally come home…?” Mary whispered, smiling at him encouragingly.
“For as long as you can handle me,” Jax vowed, “I’ll be at your side, loving you for eternity.”
CHAPTER26
GHOST
The next eveningwas completely wonderful and full of laughter. His friends had set up a bonfire at Flyboys, just like the first night he met Mary, and were grilling brats, with a table set up laden with all sorts of finger foods so anyone could snack until dinner was cooked.
Mary was sipping on apple juice, sitting with several women, while Jax was having a Coke, smiling and talking with Houdini, Armadillo, and Maestro, who had come to visit his son. Maestro was sleeping in the bunkroom, and had arrived that morning. He was supposed to get to see his boy tomorrow, and looked absolutely thrilled at the prospect.
Jax couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be separated from his child or the woman he loved… but then again, Maestro never claimed to be in love with her – he just talked about his son.
“Ghost?” Harley interrupted. “Could we see you for a minute?”
He looked up, surprised, and quickly nodded, climbing the steps up to the building, where he saw Thumper waiting. As he walked in behind Harley… he hesitated.
It wasn’t just Thumper and Harley – Alpo, Glory, Romeo, Valkyrie, and Armadillo were standing there too.
“We’ve talked about this at length, but really need to run it past you before we go any further with it,” Thumper began, and hesitated. “We know you are coming home, and that changes things, changes a man’s priority in his life, and…”
“Good gravy…” Alpo said interrupting him. “Don’t make it an epically beautiful speech, buddy. Just spit it out and let Ghost process things.”
“I thought how he was doing it was nice, efficient, and an appropriate segue into the discussion,” Valkyrie shrugged, crossing his arms and looking at them. “But what do I know – I’m a ‘rip the Band-Aid off’kinda guy.”
“You are a ‘stab’em with an ink pen’kinda guy…” Armadillo laughed.
“What’s going on?”
“You boys are dawdling,” Harley sighed and opened her mouth – only to have Glory interrupt bluntly.
“Are you going to come work for us or not?”
“What?” Jax whispered in disbelief, stunned.
That would be the ideal situation, but he never wanted to impose – which is why he never asked or mentioned it to anyone… not even Mary.
No, he was trying to figure out what to do, how to go about getting everything lined up from Afghanistan, and honestly was struggling. He didn’t want to leave the aviation field unless absolutely necessary.
Jax would do anything for his wife and their growing family – including sacrificing his love of flying. Mary would never ask it of him, but he would fall on the proverbial sword in a heartbeat.
“You want me to… work here?” he repeated emotionally, looking at their smiling faces.
“Sheesh babe… I might have sugar-coated that a teensy bit,” Alpo teased, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. “Good job. He’s actually at a loss for words.”