“How doyoufeel?” he whispered, feeling tears sting his eyes as he realized that he thought he loved Mary with every fiber of his being… only to have her open another door that he didn’t know existed, revealing even more of his soul, just lying there waiting to be unlocked.
“I’m so excited and happy,” she said softly. “Are you happy?”
“I’m thrilled,” he choked out hoarsely. “We’re gonna have a baby. You and me. A little angel made from both of us?”
“Our little Tribble,” she teased tearfully.
“Oh gosh,” he said, feeling himself crumbling at the idea that was suddenly a reality. “I can’t wait to hold our little Tribble. I want to… oh…”
He suddenly sobered instantly, realizing where his mind was going, and what needed to change. Yeah, he’d thought about this several times – but nothing hammered it home quite so much as the idea that he was going to miss out on his child’s birth, rolling over, potty training, first steps, etc.…
“Jax?” Mary questioned at the silence. “Are you okay?”
“Mary, I’m not re-upping my enlistment,” he blurted out, not asking her permission, but needing to do this for himself. “I don’t want to miss a moment of our lives together, nor our baby. I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet...”
“Just come home,” she whispered supportively. “We can figure it out together.”
“I can’t wait to see you,” he uttered, wiping his face with the back of his hand, and saw someone walk into the room – before walking back out without a word. “I’m so excited we are going to have a baby, honey.”
“That’s why I needed to tell you now, because there would be no hiding it when you came home in a few months,” she told him. “I should be starting to show when you come for a visit. I didn’t want to shock you when you got off the plane – and I couldn’t hold the secret in any longer.”
“We’ve gotta get a bigger place than your tiny studio apartment,” he laughed tearfully. “Maybe we can look when I come…”
“I already put an offer on a home for us,” she said softly. “Now, that particular little nugget I was going to tell you when you came back.”
Jax laughed easily.
“Just make sure and have my sheets ready…”
“Oh they’ll be ready,” Mary said confidently, laughing throatily. “Don’t you worry about that, handsome. We are going to break them in right.”
“Darn straight,” Jax chuckled, feeling his cheeks ache by how much he was smiling, as his heart clenched in his chest with so much open love and affection racing through him. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you – but I swear I will make sure you never regret marrying me.”
“Never have - and never will, husband.”
“I seriously love you… little Mommy. That was some first date we had, wasn’t it?” he said tenderly, unable to resist.
“Stop,” she sobbed, and choked out a laugh at the same time. “You can’t keep calling every date our first one, or you’re going to make me cry again.”
“Only in happiness, I promise,” he breathed. “My timer is counting down. I love you, Mary… and see if you can email me updates about the baby. I’m guessing you already went to the doctor?”
“I go next week, but I’ve taken three pregnancy tests, and they were all positive.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Jax laughed tearfully. “And if for some reason you aren’t? I’ll fix that when I come home – I promise.”
Mary laughed easily.
“I love you, goofball.”
“I seriously love you, Mrs. Goofball.”
Jax hung up the phone and turned around to leave – only to see a throng of grinning faces looking over each other’s shoulders in the doorway.
Reaper, Sparky, Ricochet, Maestro, Inferno were there - and even some of the newbies that arrived three days ago to replace members that had left or transferred out. Hot Cakes, Handsy, Caboose, and X-Ray were gone, but Riptide, Sidewinder, Paradox, Scarecrow, and Copperhead fit right in with the team… sort of.
Houdini just disappeared literally. He returned from Yonder, was here briefly, and then was gone again, without a word to anyone. Mary had told him over the phone that he was working at Flyboys as an instructor and what had happened.
Jax felt so badly for his friend – but refused to breathe a word until Houdini told the team. He wasn’t one to gossip, and would never betray Mary’s trust in sharing Houdini’s personal information with him.