Today's Promises (Promises #2)(57)

Jaynie



Flynn meets me back at our apartment, but this is not where I want to give him my good news.

I grab his hand and say, “Come on. Let’s take a ride.”

“Where to?” he asks.

“That’s a surprise, along with my news.” I tug on his arm. “Hurry, Flynn, hurry.”

“You’re killing me, Jaynie,” he jokes.

But he follows me, just as I always follow him. That hasn’t changed.

When we hit the interstate, I head south out of Morgantown. Flynn tries again to elicit some info from me, but to no avail.

“Can you at least give me a clue as to where we’re going?” he asks.

“Nope,” I maintain. “I told you it’s a surprise, just like my news.”

God, Flynn is going to be shocked by what I have to tell him.

He gives up, mumbling a defeated, “Okay, okay.”

When we finally come to a stop, we’re in Lawrence, down by the river, not far from the sandwich shop.

“Are we going to the park?” Flynn correctly guesses.

“Yes, we are.”

It’s a drizzly spring afternoon, not unlike the day I first met Flynn. And like the day I met him, he still takes my breath away. At twenty-four, he is all man now, and more stunning than ever.

Hand in hand, we stroll down to the river’s edge. When we stop on the muddy banks, I turn to him and say, “This is the exact spot where I dragged my ass out of the water all those years ago. You know,” I add softly, “the night I jumped from the cliff.”

Flynn moves to stand behind me so we’re both facing the water with the same vantage point. With his chin resting on my shoulder, he says, “Right here exactly, huh?”

I nod once. “Yes. And I’ve viewed this riverbank, since that day, as the place of my rebirth. That’s why I wanted to be here when I give you my news.”

“Jaynie…”

An edge of worry has crept into Flynn’s voice, but there’s no need for concern.

I hasten to get that across to him when I say, “What I’m about to tell you is something good. It’s the happy kind of news—the very happy kind.”

“Jaynie, please, just tell me,” he begs.

I lower his hands to my abdomen. I can’t keep him in suspense a minute more.

“Flynn,” I begin, “this is where I was given a chance at a new life. And this is where you should learn about another new life, a life you helped create.”

He sucks in a breath. “What are you saying, Jaynie?” His voice is uneven, but filled with so much hope.

“What do you think I’m saying?” I whisper.

He turns me so I’m facing him and places his hands on my tummy from this new angle. He then asks, “Are you… Are you…?” He lowers his eyes. “I’m afraid to say the words. I’m afraid this might all be a dream. I’m afraid I’ll wake up and none of this will be real.”

“It’s all real,” I whisper.

He looks up at me, and God, the hope and yearning in his soft gray eyes tugs at my heart. “It’s really what I’m thinking?”

“Yes.” I nod like crazy.

Flynn deserves this so much. And I’m elated that I can give him what I never thought possible. I was told long ago that I may never have kids. I thought at the time it was true, so much so that Flynn and I gave up birth control years ago. For a while, not all that long ago, we even tried.

But nothing ever happened.

Until now.

Beaming, I say the words I never thought would pass my lips. “I’m pregnant, Flynn. I’m really pregnant. I didn’t want to say anything for a few weeks. You know…just in case. But I’m twelve weeks along now, and I had another doctor’s appointment just the other da—”

“I’m going with you to all of those from now on,” he interjects.

“Yes, yes, of course. I was just afraid, at first. I didn’t want to get your hopes up. But after what they told me last visit, I want you there with me every step of the way from here on out.”

“What’d they say at your last visit?” Flynn wants to know, looking suddenly worried.

“Nothing bad,” I assure him. “Everything looks good, in fact. Our baby is developing on schedule and appears to be perfectly healthy.”

“Jaynie…” Flynn swipes away a tear, and then another. “Don’t worry, these are happy tears,” he assures me.

“I already knew that,” I tell him.

These moments I’ve experienced by the river bank, they define my life. When my rebirth occurred, half a dozen years ago, I was given a fresh start, a new life. And now today, as we speak of an anxiously awaited birth, I get the sense this is going down in the annals of history as the happiest day of that new life.

I turn out to be wrong, though.

The happiest day of my life is the day I give birth to a seven-pound, four-ounce little boy, whom Flynn and I name Galen, in honor of the little brother Flynn lost.

That day is the best, by far, for the both of us.

It’s also the day we learn that sometimes even the saddest of stories have the happiest of endings.





S.R. Grey is an Amazon Top 100 and a #1 Barnes & Noble Best Selling Author. She is the author of the highly popular Judge Me Not series, the new Promises series, the Inevitability duology, A Harbour Falls Mystery trilogy, and the Laid Bare series of novellas. Ms. Grey’s works have appeared on several Amazon Bestseller lists, including the Top 100 multiple times, as well as #1 on Barnes & Noble Bestselling Nook Books.