Don't Let These Boots Fool You

Jordan made sure he had everything worked out. Our dinner would go smoothly all because he thought about everything. I wondered who had told him it was my birthday in the first place. Missy knew that I hadn’t celebrated my birthday since I was fifteen. I got tired of all of my older friends trying to use it as an excuse to drink, I hadn’t even gone out for my 21st birthday. I sat at home with a bottle of wine with Joe and a movie. Maybe he had snooped around HR and found out that my birthday was today.

I kept thinking about all of the possible ways that Jordan had gotten my birthday as he drove around town back to the small Pizzeria that we had gone to the other day. As we walked up to the door and inside we were taken to a private room this time, with only one table. On the table was a small bag with a ribbon tying the handles together and a single yellow daisy. I knew that the little old woman was in charge of the flower, but I wasn’t sure about the gift. “Jord, you didn’t have to get me anything. You honestly didn’t even have to try and celebrate my birthday.”

He smiled as he held my chair out waiting for me to sit down before walking around to his own seat. I waited for him to answer my question but he sat down, placed his napkin in his lap before quietly answering me, “I know you didn’t want me to know, that’s why I didn’t. You should open it.” He was being cryptic it seemed.

The bag was light as I picked it up. When I opened the bag I found a letter. I was worried about what would be in the letter but opened it slowly. The familiar handwriting brought tears to my eyes, Brett and his silly shenanigans had left me a gift.

“Kelly,
By now you must know for whatever reason I am not longer here. I hate to write this, but when Missy and I got married she told me to write a letter for any situation. My last wish for you is that you find love someday. Start a farm maybe, learn how to be the you who used to run around the farm or ride around the farm. Also, I want you to be my child or children’s (which ever it may be at the point of this letter) god mother. If she ever got pregnant I wouldn’t want anyone else to take care of my kid(s) than you because you are me and I am you. My share of the family farm goes to you and Missy. I have a small house being built as we speak. It is large enough for the both of you to stay in while you are home and you would never see each other unless you wanted to. Love my kid(s) and take care of Missy. Let her know that moving on is not the end of the world and that I expect her to find someone to take care of her too.

Love you to the Moon and back,
Brett”

My heart nearly stopped at the words that I had just read. I hadn’t realized that I had been crying until I felt Jordan’s hand wipe away a tear. I wasn’t sad this was something to be completely happy about. Jordan needed to know that I was happy and that I did want to be with him. “My brother was looking out for me, built Missy and me a house back home. I knew he’d always have my back but I didn’t know it meant that much.”

Jordan smiled at me. This was perfect I knew that he was the perfect guy for me. Sidney and Danny were equally great guys, they just didn’t happen to be the guys for me like I had hoped for them to be. I settled into a nice evening with Jordan as we joked over our pasta and salad. We had nearly gotten our dessert when his phone rang.

I couldn’t read who was calling him but he answered the phone quickly. “hello?” his eyes grew wide at the voice on the phone. “Where at? Shit we’re on our way.” He slapped a bill on the table and ran out of the restaurant with me close on his heels. He hadn’t told me what was going on but it was really beginning to worry me. “Missy went into labor, she’s technically full term for twins and the doctors said it was safe for the babies. We’ve got to go so we can get there.”

Jordan was taking off before I even had my seatbelt on. I watched him nearly run three red lights as he tried to get to the hospital in the quickest way possible. He pulled into the parking lot squeezing into a space quickly before jumping out quickly himself. I was three steps behind him as I tried to find Missy quickly. I knew that mother baby was on the fourth floor in this hospital because I had researched in case she was put into any of the hospitals while I was at work. I ran to the door and waited to be buzzed into see Missy.

Waiting for the lady to buzz me in nearly cost me yelling at her. We finally got through the first set of doors and rounded the corner to the room where I figured Missy would be. I nearly stepped through the door when Sidney blocked my way. My eyes scanned up his body to see him in scrubs, my anger nearly burst through with just the glare I was giving him. “She wants you to stay out here Kel, she doesn’t want you to worry like she knows you will.”

I knew in that moment that I couldn’t be selfish. I had to follow her wish otherwise that would be going against her and I couldn’t do that to her. I sighed in defeat before watching Sidney walk right back into the room beside Missy. He held her hand and it made me realize I wasn’t what she needed at this point because she needed calm and Sidney was always calm in these instances.

Jordan escorted me back into the waiting room where I didn’t know what to do with myself. My stomach was in knots and my heart rate was slowly escalating. I knew that I needed to call our parents but I needed to be calm myself before I start calling our moms. I nearly jumped when I felt Jordan’s hand on my thigh. “Calm down Kelly. Everything is fine. Nothing is going to happen. You will be just fine and so will she, but if you keep worrying like this then something will happen. Now breathe and call both of your moms.”

His words eased my anxiety, they also reminded me why I felt at ease with him. He was calm in stressful situations too. I pulled out my phone and called both parents at the same time. “Hi mama, I’ve got some news.”

Both woman gasped assuming that they already knew what I was going to tell them. “Well go on dear, don’t make us wait.” My mama’s voice floated through the phone and made the tears of pure joy roll down my face.

“Missy is in labor with the twins. She is doing fine and they should be here soon. It’s only nine here so if you guys want to try and catch a red eye you can or you can just fly out tomorrow.” Both women began to frantically talk about plans. I knew that I couldn’t keep listening because it would stress me out. “I’ll let you two figure it out and you can call me tomorrow and let me know what’s going on.”
Jordan sat silently beside me as he rubbed circles on my thigh trying to calm me down. I flipped through the channels on the tv in the waiting room and left it on the pens tv channel to watch the high lights from the event early. It hadn’t even occurred to me how perfect everything was this evening. Even if we had to leave desert on the table everything had been perfect.

I shifted onto Jordan’s lap in hopes of taking a nap until they told me that Missy was able to have visitors. I was nearly asleep when I heard the heavy footsteps. My head snapped up to see Sidney standing in the large scrubs at the end of the hallway with a smile on his face. “She wants to see you Kelly.” He stood off to the side to let me walk beside him. I nearly ran to the room out of excitement. “They’re gorgeous kids.” He mumbled as he stood outside the door letting me walk in and have some alone time.

Nurses were nowhere to be found and surprisingly there were two bassinets off to the side of the bed. I inched closer to the bassinets to find out what if she had identical or fraternal twins. My feet slowed as I saw a pink and blue hat on each of the babies. Tears flooded my eyes as I turned to find Missy staring at me with a smile. “Who’s older?”

Her smile grew wider as she shifted around a little uncomfortably. “Junior was born first, by five minutes. Ironically they were born the same time as you and Brett. They probably got that from you two anyways.” Her smile was wide as she held her arms open for a hug from me. I nearly jumped onto the bed as I wrapped my arms around her. She couldn’t leave me now. I wanted to see these kids grow up and experience that with her. I needed her to stay or at least stay with me for a while. “Go grab the kids and bring them here, they weren’t premature which is why they can stay in here for a little while.”

Her instructions allowed me to easily grab the kids without worrying about hurting them. Just as I sat beside her Sidney and Jordan walked into the room. Sidney sat beside Jordan in the window seat with a small smile on his face. “We’ve got two cribs for the house, we want you to stay with us as long as you want and come visit whenever you want.” In that moment I knew that I wanted to be with him forever. I didn’t want to see him walk away from me now. He just invited someone he had met only a few weeks previously and wanted what was best for her. I looked down at my neice knowing I would get to spend some more time with her.

Jordans gaze stuck on me as he watched me hold my niece. I glanced around the room taking in the sight of Sid helping Missy. While I was still mad at him I couldn’t help but see how Missy had helped him. “Our mama’s will be here sometime tomorrow. So I’ll let you sleep because I know that those two won’t let you out of their sight.”

Missy smiled as Sidney stretched out on the window seat after Jordan stood up. I turned back toward Sidney and gave him the look that he knew meant don’t hurt my sister. She meant more to me than most other things. We climbed down the stairs to the car. The drive back would be long since she had been eating dinner at Sidney’s house.

I rolled my head to the side and looked at Jordan driving with a smile on his face singing along to the music floating through the speakers. “I’m tired Jordan. No movie tonight, can we just go to sleep.”

He stopped singing along and smiled at me. “You realize you’ve got about five minutes until midnight?” he pulled into the drive and parked the car. I watched him walk around the front and open my door. He was still making this night memorable for me. We walked through the front door, I felt his body staying close to mine as he closed and locked the door.

Cold chills moved down my back as his warm breath worked down the side of my neck. “Happy New Year Kelly.” He whispered in my ear before bending toward my lips and kissing me. His hands stayed right on my hips as his lips worked against mine. I could have stood like that for hours but my body wanted sleep. I pulled away to see his eyes heavy.

“Happy New Year Jordan. Let’s go to bed now.” I whispered back as I dragged him back toward my bedroom. I pushed Jordan into the room following close behind him. Even if I was tired I figured I should give him a little something. My fingers gripped the bottom of his shirt tugging it over his head.

After pulling his shirt over his head I trailed my hands down to his pants where my fingers started to fumble with the button of his jeans. “What are you doing baby?” he stuttered out with his chest heaving.

My eyes gazed up at him as I tried to figure out what to tell him. “I guess I figured that I should give you a little something since you made tonight special, even watching you run out of the restaurant to see Missy have her kids was special.” My smile spread as I tried to look away.

Jordan’s hand was quickly under my chin as he pulled my face closer. He kissed me before removing the long sleeve shirt I had worn under the Jersey he gave me. He looked down at the jeans I was wearing and quickly removed those too. “Want a t-shirt or just that?” he had moved toward the closet when I finally registered what he was asking.

“Just this come on I’m tired and lord knows how hard it’s going to be to explain to my mama who you are because I only tell my Nana about my personal life.” I crawled across the bed to the left side and waited for the bed to shift with Jordan’s weight.

The light from the street floated into the room as the bed finally shifted and Jordan’s warm body came up behind me. I was nearly ready to drift off when I felt his lips on my neck. “Good night Kelly. I love you. I know that now. Today was just proof of why I followed you out of the restaurant when you first got here. You’re great with kids too. I’ll wait however long it takes for you to realize that I’ll wait ten years to marry you if I have to. But I’ll be damned if I lose you one more time, because that was hard enough the first time.”

I rolled into his chest where I placed a single kiss and looked up at him. “I love you too Jordan. It took a lot of mistakes and frogs to get here but I’m here now. Plus I’ll take you up on that waiting however long, but I hope it’s not too long.” I smiled up at him before he wrapped his arms tighter around me and falling into a peaceful sleep that I hadn’t had in a while.