Curves in the Road (The Southern Devotion Series Book 2) (10 page)

"Why didn't you tell me once she was better?"

"Cameron begged me to tell you, but it didn’t seem right. I broke up with you because I was afraid you’d try to talk me out of it. Also, I thought it would be too confusing for Katelyn at the time. She’s a smart girl but that’s a lot to take in for anyone.” 

“You’re right Katelyn wouldn’t have understood. I wish you’d told me though, MJ. I
heard you on the phone with Gracie the night before my…” My words trailed off. I was vulnerable and suddenly it hit me, my dad is dead. My voice choked, my palm covered my mouth as I said, “My dad’s dead.” 

Mary Jane pulled me into her arms as my body shook with all the emotions I’d bottled up inside ever since they told me he was gone. I’d not let it out once, or accepted it as truth until now. Sitting here in the arms of the woman I love I wept until I felt like I had nothing left. At some point she’d knelt in front of me to hold me. When I become conscious that she was on the ground, I pulled away and helped her back up to a seat.

“Thank you,” she said as she leaned back again. She held her arms out to me and I lay my head against her chest as she stroked my hair. We didn’t say anything else to each other for the next few minutes. I felt something brush against my cheek. I sat up, my eyes rolled up to meet hers and they were closed. I rested my hand on her belly and felt the movement again; the baby kicking. She began to snore lightly and I laughed, it felt good to laugh.

"Hey there little one. You have a pretty strong kick there."

The screen door opens and Tristan steps out onto the porch. He chuckles softly, “She fell asleep? She’s so rude, isn’t she?” He winks letting me know he’s teasing.

I stroke her face and say, “She’s beautiful.” I
surprise Tristan when I walk over and embrace him. He stiffens for a moment then returns the hug, patting my back. “Thank you for convincing me to listen. And thank you for taking care of her.” 

Tristan patted my back one more time and says, “It’s my pleasure, man. Lik
e I said, she’s my best friend. I came out here because Gracie's looking for you. I think Ashton wants you to go somewhere with him."

Bending over, I press
my lips gently against her forehead. "I hate to leave her when I just got her back. At least I think I did. I'm not really sure where we stand. I had a bit of a breakdown moment in the middle of our talk."

Tristan took my place beside her. "
It's understandable man. She'll ask about you as soon as she wakes up, I know it.  So, I'll keep her company till you come back."

Tipping my chin to him, I go back inside the house to track down Ashton.

Chapter Twelve

**Mary Jane**

My back hurts as I wake in the odd sleeping position on the swing outside. Tristan is sitting beside me, playing on his cell phone. He glances over as I adjust my body into a more comfortable position. "Where's Derrick?"

"He had to run an errand with Ashton. You feel better after your nap?"

I cover my mouth in embarrassment. "I'm such an asshole. I fell asleep while he was literally crying on my shoulder."

Tristan smirked, "He didn’t seem to mind. He was curled up against your belly talking to the baby when I found him. Then he couldn't stop talking about how beautiful you are, so I'm pretty sure he
wasn't bothered in the least."

My cheeks fill with heat. "Really?"  We were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Since I knew Ashton and Gracie best, I answered it. A woman
with auburn hair stood there holding a casserole dish.

"Oh, hello. I'm Lanie. I was
dropping this off for the Collins' family. Are you Gracie?"

Lanie, I recognized her name as the woman who answered Derrick's phone the o
ther day. She was quite pretty, her hair was pulled up into a loose bun, and her smile met her eyes with friendly warmth emanating from both. "No, I'm Mary Jane, a friend of theirs. Come on in. They'll be back soon if you'd like to wait or I can tell them you dropped it off whichever you feel comfortable with."

"I don’t mind
leaving it. So, Mary Jane? You're a friend of Derrick's too…right? We spoke on the phone?" She glanced down at my belly then back up. "When are you due?"

Wow, so many questions from this woman already. "Yes, I'm a friend of Derrick's. I'm due in
a few weeks."

"You must be so excited to be a mom soon."

"I'm not keeping the baby; I'm only a surrogate for a friend."

"Oh, ok, well that's strange." She said, rolling her eyes and looking away.

"How is that strange?" I asked, getting defensive now with this woman who seems to be making assumptions about me after we meet for the first time ever.

"You're so young. You're ruining your body for a friend and risking stretch marks, and weight gain."

I held my hand out again for the casserole, "I'll take that and let Ashton, Derrick, and Gracie know you brought it by. Have a nice day."  My arms stuck straight out in front of me, waiting for the casserole to be placed on them. If she thinks I'm going to stand here while she insults me, she has another think coming. Derrick chose a real winner in this one.

She smiles a fake, I'm the popular girl and I'm going to ruin your life, kind of smile as she said, "Tell Derrick I had a great time on our date and that I hope to see him again very soon." She placed the casserole on my arms finally.

"That's a real appropriate message to leave for a man who just lost his father."

Lanie realized her faux pas and began to retract her message when I slammed the door in her face. Sure it wasn't mature, but I'm pregnant and my hormones control me at the moment.
When I slammed the casserole down on the kitchen table, I realized I wasn’t alone in the house. There was a noise coming from the downstairs rec room. Nervously, I crept to the door to listen to what was happening downstairs. The loud crash below scared me causing me to stumble backwards a step. I squeaked out a scream of fright at the noise and it was answered by a male voice, "Hello? Who's up there?"

Footsteps grew louder as someone bounded up the stairs. I turned to run to the front door when I heard a familiar voice, "Mary Jane?" 

Turning around I grab at my chest and breathe a sigh of relief. "Gavin, you scared me half to death. I thought Tristan and I were the only ones here and he's outside."

"I'm so sorry
MJ; I thought I was alone here too." Gavin stepped forward to embrace me. He bends down to kiss my belly and say, "I hope I didn’t rattle my sweet girl too much."

"She's fine. I think she's as relieved to hear her daddy's voice as I am." His face was streaked with tears and I lifted his hand noticing
several new scratches across his knuckles. "What happened?"

Gavin's face screwed up as the emotional turmoil brewed inside him. "I've been trying to be strong, for Ashton and Derrick, but it's so hard. I know he wasn’t my biological dad, but he was better to me than my parents ever were."

"Sweetie." It occurred to me what was happening. Gavin came out to his family in high school and they kicked him out. The Collins' family took him into their home and accepted them as part of the family. He lost his father as much as Derrick and Ashton and I had let that fact slip my mind. "Would you like to talk about it?"

We sat on the
couch; he lifted my feet up into his lap and dropped my shoes to the floor. "You look exhausted Mary Jane so let me do this for you as I talk."

"No arguments from me. Talk to me
, Gav."

"When I told my parents that I was gay, they spouted every bible verse they could think of in my face. They told me I was an abomination, damned to hell, an embarrassment to them, you
name the insult they used it. They told me I might as well screw animals, that living my life this way was no better than being a pedophile or a rapist."

My heart ached for him, for Cameron, for anyone who'd suffered through the pain of
simply being themselves. He continued, "He even started to hit me, tried to kill me by saying he needed to rid the world of 'my kind.' Ashton pushed him off of me and got in his face defending me. It was amazing of him. I'd known he was good for Addison, my sister, but I didn’t know what a truly amazing person he was until that day."  Addison was Gavin's sister; she was also Ashton's first love who was killed in a convenience store robbery several years ago.

"Ashton told me I could stay with him but I told him that I had to tell them the truth so they knew the kind of person I am. Ashton tried to argue of course telling me there was nothing wrong with me, but I was set on what I wanted. I was ready for his
family to berate me as well. Instead, he explains to his parents that I came out to mine and that they kicked me out. You know what his father said?"

I shook my head
no and he continued, "He said, Welcome to the family, son. Let's take you upstairs and show you your room. Never once did he say anything negative to me. Every holiday, every birthday I had from that moment on, I received the exact same treatment as Derrick and Ashton. We were brothers, blood be damned. You know I went to him to ask his opinion on proposing to Cameron. His eyes filled with tears as he told me how proud he was that I wanted to take such a huge step in my life. He said he thought Cameron and I made an amazing couple and that we'd be lifers. Then, when we told him we were pregnant, he was astounded. He said, 'two grandbabies in one year, what a blessing.' He
was
my dad. I miss him…" his voice trailed off.

Pulling him close, he rested his head on my shoulder sniffing back the tears every few moments. "What happened to your hand, Gavin?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

"One of the walls downstairs is brick, I thought I'd have a fist fight with it to relieve some of my anger without damaging the house."

"That's not like you," I said. Gavin has always been the calm one of the group. He isn’t flamboyant like Cameron or temperamental like Gracie, even Ashton had his moments of anger in the past, but never Gavin.

"This is the first time I've lost someone close to me since Addison. I'm tired of losing the important people in my life."

He started to sit up and I grabbed his hand, "Feel."  I placed his hand against my belly as the baby began to kick. "Did you feel that?"

The light in his eyes returns, his smile illuminated his face as he bends to my tummy, "Hey baby girl, daddy's here."  There was a lot of discomfort, pain, inconveniences, and bodily functions that came with this pregnancy which caused me days of regret and worry that I made a mistake. Then moments with Cameron or Gavin, seeing how excited they are to meet their daughter, made it all worth it. This small little person who he'd never laid eyes on was able to help ease a pain for him that I couldn’t.

Gavin moved to kneel in front of me. With a hand on each side of my stomach he began to sing to the baby. He didn’t notice the door open behind him; Cameron, Gracie, Ashton
, and Derrick stepped inside and quietly listened to the expectant father serenading his child. Cameron's eyes grew misty with tears of joy. He knelt next to Gavin who smiled when he noticed him. They kissed briefly then each placed a hand on my stomach to feel the flutters of their daughter.

###

Everyone but Derrick and I went downstairs to the rec room. We told them we'd join them in a few minutes. "Are you hungry?" Derrick asked.

"Starving actually."
Rubbing my stomach, I add, "This one is hungry pretty much all the time. Luckily I haven't any horribly strange cravings."

Derrick
spotted the casserole on the counter as soon as we stepped into the kitchen. He inspected it and said, "This looks interesting. It's always weird to me that people bring food to funerals. Wonder who brought this by?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "Oh yeah, Lanie stopped by and left that for you."

Derrick stiffened and without looking at me said, "We only went out once, Mary Jane. It meant nothing to me. We didn’t even kiss. In fact the date isn't even much to speak of."

"You have nothing to explain to me, Derrick.
I called you that night when you were out with her. She answered your phone and I assumed it was a date by what she said. I wasn’t sure until now though."

"You called me?" Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket he went through his phone log. "Why didn't she tell me you called? Did you tell her not to?"

"No. In fact I told her to tell you I called. It doesn't matter right now. Let's eat something," I said as my stomach rumbled.

"Would you like some of this?" he asked, holding up the pan.

"No, not that for sure." I said, sounding more disgusted than I meant to.

"What's wrong?
Is it because of Lanie? What did she say to you, MJ?"

"Forget it, it's nothing." I said, waving it off.

Derrick moved in front of me, trapping me between the counter and himself, "Tell me," he said as his hand moved up to stroke my cheek.

I couldn’t breathe, or move, or think with him so close to me. Instead of answering, I leaned forward and captured his lips with mine. It had been a year since I kissed this man and I missed it more than I realized. He responded to my kiss by pressing me against the counter, gripping my hair with his hand, intensifying the kiss.
Fireworks exploded, beautiful music played, the camera moved around us in slow motion. Ok, so there was no camera but it felt like a movie moment kiss for sure. Opening my mouth to catch a breath, Derrick took the opportunity to explore my mouth with his tongue. I moaned against his mouth, making him press into me harder. We were broken apart by the baby kicking.

Derrick chuckled and patted my belly, "Sorry about that, kid."

“I shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry.” I said, backing away out of reach.

He grasped my wrist
gently pulling me back to him and said, “Yeah, because I hated that so much.”

Before he could kiss me again, I said, “Tell me about Lanie. How did you meet her? What was the relationship like?”

“No relationship, MJ. Like I said, we went out once. She’s Katelyn’s teacher and she flirted with me during a vulnerable time and I asked her out. We had a nice dinner and I dropped her off, that’s it.” He spouted it off quickly then moved toward my mouth again.

“Well she seemed as though she really wanted to prove you were more when she dropped off that casserole.”

Derrick relented, backing away and sighing in defeat. “What did she say? Please, tell me.”

“How she treats me shouldn’t affect how you feel about her. Don’t worry about it.”

Derrick sighed once more, closing his eyes. “How she treats my friends is definitely important to me.”

“Is that what we are? Friends?” I ask hoping to elicit a discussion about us.
It was selfish, I know. The time isn’t right to get into a full discussion about us, though I couldn’t help but be curious after that amazing kiss.

“
You tell me where we stand, because I don't know anymore. I want you in my life, MJ. I’ve wanted nothing but you for the last two years, then you pushed me away and you show up on my doorstep pregnant with my brother’s child. It’s a lot to take in.”

“Don’t say it that way. You know I’m a surrogate only.”

“It’s still a lot for a guy to process.” Derrick stated matter-of-factly.

“Is it because of the toll it will take on my body?
  You’re worried you won’t find me attractive?”

His look of confusion turned to one of disgust, “Is that what she said? Did Lanie suggest I wouldn’t find you attractive now?”