Time for a Sign

Since the ultrasound had gone well, Pat and I were going to tell everyone tonight. So I was currently contemplating whether to wear a baggy shirt that hid my slight stomach or a tight one that showed it off. I was still standing in front of the wardrobe, looking at my choices, when Pat walked in, ready to leave.

"What's wrong?" he asked me. I huffed.

"I don't know what to wear," I whined, flipping through my tops.

Pat walked over to the wardrobe and took a look inside, pulling out a casual dress with an empire waist.

"This will do. Come on, we're already running late," he urged me. I rolled my eyes and pulled the dress on, slipping on my sandals as I walked out the door.

Since I obviously wasn't going to be drinking, I offered to drive so Pat could drink with the rest of our friends, and I knew that once everyone knew they would practically be pouring beer into his mouth.

We pulled up and were greeted by Kennedy with two beers. Pat took one and Kennedy held the other one out for me, giving me a look as I shook my head.

"Come on, even if you're DD you can have one drink. I won't let you in unless you take it," he argued. I rolled my eyes and took the beer as Kennedy let us in the door. Jessy noticed us walk in, eyeing the beer in my hand with a weird look.

"Hey guys, how are you?" she asked, giving us both hugs.

"We're pretty good," Pat answered for us, looking at me with a smile. Jessy knew that we were having an ultrasound today so she knew immediately that it had gone well.

"That's great. Alecia, you're drinking tonight?" she asked, looking pointedly at the beer in my hand. There were a few people standing close by, so we kept up pretences.

I shook my head. "Kenny wouldn't let me in the door unless I took it."

Speaking of the devil, Kennedy came up and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "You drinking that beer?"

I rolled my eyes. "Give me a minute to say hi to everyone first."

"When I come back you'd better have drunk at least half of that," he said, pointing to the beer before walking away. As soon as his back was turned, Pat took the bottle from my hand and took a long drink from it before handing it to Jessy who did the same. It was half gone by the time it was handed back to me and Jessy pulled me away to the kitchen where she was hanging out with Rebekah.

Rebekah greeted me with a hug and gestured for me to take a seat. "How have you been? I haven't seen you since the last little party we had."

"I'm pretty good, I guess. How have you been?"

Rebekah just sighed and Jessy rubbed her back, obviously knowing what was wrong. "John has been real funny lately."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I went around to Halvo's the other day to ask him what John might want for our anniversary, and when I came home he asked me where I had been and ever since I told him I was at Halvo's he's been acting really weird."

Jessy and I looked at each other, remembering the most eventful night we had been through together. The night that John had found out his girlfriend at the time had been cheating on him with his best friend for about a year. A lot of bad stuff happened that night. Looking back on it, it's so weird how everything worked out.

"There's a long, long story behind it, but you need to tell John why you went over there."

"I don't wanna spoil his birthday surprise though," she pouted.

"Rebekah, a fair few years ago something happened between Eric and John's girlfriend at the time and it was really messy," I explained, "John still doesn't completely trust Eric, so you need to reassure him that nothing happened between you two."

"Uh, okay. I still don't understand why."

Jessy gave her a tight smile. "John still doesn't like to talk about it, he'll tell you one day."

Kennedy came into the kitchen and glanced at the bottle in my hand before smirking and opening the fridge, taking out a tray of burger patties.

"We're about to fire up the grill if you guys are hungry," he said and as if on cue, my stomach growled loudly. I rubbed it gently as Kennedy chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes. You should probably watch what you eat Alecia, you're starting to get kinda big," he joked. Jessy whacked his own stomach and he whined.

"Don't ever tell a girl she's fat, Kennedy. No wonder you're still single." At that point Pat, Garrett and John walked into the kitchen as well, Pat putting his arm around my waist.

"What are you guys talking about?" Pat asked.

"Kennedy was being a dick, he told Alecia she was getting fat," Jessy told him. Garrett made a noise and we all turned to look at him.

"Well, I don't wanna sound rude, but you kind of are," he agreed. Jessy sent him a glare and as soon as he caught it he left the kitchen, muttering about getting all the rest of the guys together.

It was silent for a moment until I spoke up. "How about we all go out onto the deck so the guys can start cooking?"

We all moved out near the grill, Pat not leaving my side as John and Kennedy started grilling.

"You think we should tell them now?" Pat whispered into my ear. I nodded.

"I don't know how much longer I can hold onto this beer." Pat chuckled and straightened up.

"Uh, actually, guys?" I got everyone's attention, "Yes I will admit, I'm getting fat," I started, hearing Garrett and Kennedy chuckle before Jessy hissing for them to shut up. "But, that's only because I'm 14 weeks pregnant," I said with a wide smile, Pat looking at me happily.

I heard someone's beer bottle drop to the patio floor and John mutter a "holy shit", before all the guys started whistling and clapping. I looked up to Pat and leaned in to press a kiss to his lips.

Jessy ran up to me to give me a hug while all the guys kept slapping Pat on the back and congratulating us. However, Kennedy came up to me, looking white as a sheet.

"Alecia, I'm so sorry I pressured you into drinking that beer, I didn't know," he started, but I held a hand up to stop him.

"Kennedy it's fine, I didn't drink it anyway because I'm not stupid. Pat and Jessy drank it for me, and here, you can drink the rest of it," I said, handing him the half bottle of beer. He smiled and took the bottle before pulling me into a hug.

"Congratulations, Alecia. I know how long you guys have been trying, I'm so happy for you. When did you find out?"

"While you guys were overseas. I had to get Jessy to take me to the doctor's office, I was so nervous," I admitted.

"Wait, Jessy knew?" Kennedy asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, she's known since the start. She probably knew before I did."

Jessy pushed Kennedy aside and placed her hands on my small bump. "Now that the secret's out, let me feel how big my godchild is getting."

Kennedy rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna go help cook or else we'll never eat at this rate."

The rest of the night was full of congratulations from the boys, except for one person. Things had been tense between Eric and I since I started dating Pat. It had gotten better over the years, but he still didn't like the fact that his cousin was married to one of his best friends.

I didn't see him at all while we were eating so as soon as I had finished I excused myself to go look for him. I found him in John's office area, looking at the photo frames on his desk. I knocked on the door to get his attention and stepped inside as he looked up.

"What do you want?" he asked me, not coldly but not as warm as he used to be.

"I wanna know what's up with you," I said, folding my arms.

"I don't know what you mean," he said, looking away.

I sighed. "Come on, Eric. It's obvious that something is getting to you. Is it about me and Pat?" He didn't answer. "Eric, Pat and I have been together for years. You need to get over whatever it is you have against us."

"One of my best friends married my cousin and got her knocked up. I think I'm allowed to be a little bitter."

I scoffed. "Eric, you should be happy for us. We both found someone we love and this baby is a fucking miracle. You know we've been trying for this since we got married, right? He didn't just accidentally 'knock me up' as you put it."

"I just hate seeing him walk around with you on his arm, like he's flaunting you. He treats you like you're a trophy wife."

I felt like he had slapped me across the face. "You know, if you had even bothered to be there for either of us since we started dating, you would know that he hasn't once treated me like that. Eric, you know me better than anyone. We were so close, almost like brother and sister. What happened?"

Eric shrugged emotionlessly. "Pat started fucking my cousin, I guess."

My jaw dropped and I shook my head. "Unbelievable. To think I was going to ask you to be the godfather. I was so stupid to think that you would ever support me and my family. I had thought you would still be part of that family, but it looks like you don't want to." I stormed out of the room, running into John.

He held me by the top of my arms. "What's going on in there?"

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply before opening them again. "Nothing. It's fine, John."

"Are you sure?" I nodded my head, pulling out of his grasp to go and find Pat.

Pat was nursing yet another beer, I had lost count of how many he'd had.

"Pat, are you ready to go home?" I asked him. He drank the last of his beer and tossed it in the trash, swaying slightly.

"Yeah, I'm g-good. L-let's go h-home." I smiled slightly at his stutter which now only came out when he had been drinking.

I said goodbye to the guys and went to find Jessy and Rebekah, who were in the kitchen refilling their drinks.

"We're gonna head home," I told them, trying to fake a smile. Rebekah didn't notice anything different, but Jessy frowned at me. Pat joined me before she could say anything though and put on a smile as well.

"Drive safely, I'll call you tomorrow," she said as I hugged her goodbye.

"Thanks for coming, and congratulations guys, we're all so happy for you," Rebekah said as we hugged each other goodbye.

We walked out to the car, Pat's arm around me as he stumbled slightly. I giggled every time he nearly fell and he miraculously made it to the car in one piece.

Once we were home, my bad mood from my conversation with Eric had disappeared. I got a glass of water and a packet of painkillers to put on Pat's bedside table while he was getting ready for bed so that he wouldn't wake me up with a hangover in the morning.

Once he had left the bathroom I got ready for bed as well, turning off the light as I got into bed. It only took a few moments for Pat to curl himself up into my side like he would usually do when he had been drinking.

"Hey, Alecia?" he said softly into the dark. I hummed in response, too tired to muster a full response. "I love you. So much."

All thought of Pat having me as a trophy wife like Eric had suggested flew out the window as my heart swelled. "I love you too. Come on, time to sleep Drunky."

Pat snorted at my apparently-funny new nickname for him and moved closer into me, tracing patterns onto my belly with his fingers. The actions quickly put me to sleep, feeling content with Pat tucked under my arm.

* * * * *

When I woke up, Pat was fast asleep, the water and painkillers that I had set out last night gone. My phone was buzzing from beside my bed and I picked it up to see Jessy calling me. I thought back to her farewell last night and began to dread the conversation about what was making me upset.

"Hello?" I said groggily, still partially asleep. I walked downstairs with my phone as not to wake Pat up and have him hear our conversation.

"How long do you wanna sleep for?" Jessy scoffed.

"Firstly, yesterday was a pretty big day, and secondly, I need all the sleep I can get in the next few months. Surely you of all people can understand that."

"Considering Connor woke us up at 6:30 this morning, I guess I can accept that. Okay, now it's time to spill. What happened last night?"

I sighed as I opened the back door to the deck. "Eric is still bitter about Pat and I. He hasn't been supportive of me since I started dating Pat years ago. He's my cousin, he's basically my brother. It just kind of upsets me that he's acting like this."

"He'll come around sweetheart. As soon as he sees that baby he'll forget about everything."

"I told him that I was going to ask him to be the godfather."

"I bet he'll tell you how sorry he is as soon as he realises what that means. John was the same, he was still kind of upset about Garrett and I, but as soon as I asked him if he would be Connor's godfather he was ecstatic and he got over it. Eric will come around, it might just take a little bit of time."

"He told me that Pat was using me as a trophy wife."

Jessy gasped. "Are you flipping kidding me?"

I snorted as I laughed. "Flipping?"

Jessy sighed with impatience. "Connor is about two feet away and he's picking up on everything we're saying lately. Garrett accidentally dropped the s-bomb the other day and Connor won't stop repeating it. But as I was saying, are you kidding me? Of all the boys, Pat is the last person who would ever treat his wife like that."

"I know right? It annoys me that he's never even tried to be happy for us. If he's going to be like this then I don't want him as godfather."

"Just try and involve him in your life and have a good talk to him, I know he'll stop being petty when he knows how much you want him in yours, Pat's and the baby's life."

"I guess I could ask him to go for lunch or something?" I suggested. At that moment, Pat stumbled outside, shirtless and rubbing his eyes. "I'll talk to you later."

Jessy said goodbye and I hung up as I turned to say good morning to Pat. I pressed my lips to his and wrapped my arms around his neck as he kissed me back and moved his hands down to my hips, gently caressing my small stomach.

"Good morning, how's your hangover?" I asked him.

Pat winced slightly. "The sun is a little too bright out here, but other than that it's okay. Who were you talking to?"

"Just Jessy. Hey, do you think I should talk to Eric this week? You know, about the whole godfather thing?"

Pat shrugged. "If it's what you want, then that's fine with me."

I nodded. "I know he wasn't in the best mood after we announced it last night and I want to make sure that things are better between us before the baby comes, and knowing my cousin that could a long time."

Pat nodded. "Halvo does seem to be one to hold onto things for a while. But like I said, I'm fine with whatever you want to do. As long as you're happy because that's all I want."

I melted a little on the inside and I stood on my toes to kiss him again. How did I end up with such a sweet and caring guy?