One Night with her Bachelor(30)

“Wow.” Molly fell back against her seat. “I had no idea.”

“See? We’re not completely messed up.” Telling her about his family felt strange. He couldn’t remember ever telling the story before. People either already knew it or didn’t need to know it. But talking to Molly…well, she made it easy. “Your turn. Tell me about you and Lily.”

She stared at him suspiciously. “What do you want to know?”

“How’d you two meet? I remember Scott mentioning her—”

“I’m not surprised. The first time he met her, I had to tell him to put his tongue back into his mouth and wipe the drool off his chin.”

He laughed. Damn but it felt weirdly nice to hear someone talk about Scott, someone who knew him and loved him the way Gabriel had—as a brother. “Yeah, he wasn’t too subtle. So, what’s the story?”

“We met in Billings. Greg and I were going to college there, but, since we were married, we lived off campus in a studio apartment in a cruddy part of town. I was nine months pregnant and had a Kit-Kat craving. It was, like, intense. I mean, I would’ve killed anyone who got between me and a Kit-Kat. But I’d decimated my secret stash, so I had to go out and buy one. Only thing was, it was early March and there was a blizzard.” She shook her head. “Those pregnancy hormones are beasts because it was so stupid for me to go out in that weather. But I had to have a Kit-Kat—”

“Or you’d kill someone.”

“Exactly! I’m so glad you understand.”

“Sister, don’t even get me started on PMS cravings.”

She pressed her fingertips to her lips as she laughed, as if she were shocked to hear herself unwind a little. His chest filled with pride that he’d given her that.

“Anyway, I’d been having false contractions for weeks, so I’d gotten used to ignoring them. But by the time I got to the convenience store, they got stronger and stronger. When I tried to get out of the car, a contraction came on really suddenly and it took my breath away. I fell to my knees in the snow and clung to the car door, just trying to keep from passing out. I have no idea how long it went on for, but suddenly my guardian angel appeared.”

“Lily.”

“Yeah. She was in this big, thick coat with bare legs and—” Her eyes darted his way.

“So she was at work?”

“You know about her work?”

“You mean that she was a stripper? Yeah. Why?”

Molly smoothed her palms over her knees. “It’s something a lot of people judge her for. I make it a rule never to tell people what she did in Billings, but it seems like everyone knows anyway.”

“I don’t want to shatter any of your illusions about me, Molly, but I’ve been to a strip club or two. Possibly three. I’d be the last person to judge the women who work in them.”

“Good. About not judging them, I mean. Shame on you for the other thing.”

Her knowing wink told him she was teasing. “Anyway, finish your story. Lily found you in the parking lot.”

“Oh yeah. So, she put her arm around me and helped me hobble inside.”

“The strip club?”

“Yeah. And I vaguely remember all these men jumping out of the way, as if I were contagious.”

He grinned. “We’re simple creatures. Probably the only thing more terrifying than a heavily pregnant woman in a strip club would be if all the patrons’ wives walked in.”

“That’s such a depressing thought.”

“Sorry. We’re not doing depressing thoughts tonight. We’re doing happy thoughts. So tell me more.”

“So Lily took me into the back room, but I had to walk across the stage to get there, and I had a contraction halfway there. Picture me with my belly out to here, clinging to a stripper pole and shouting for Jesus.”

He laughed. “Okay, forget what I just said. That image is way scarier than wives showing up.”

“Hopefully those men went home to their wives and apologized profusely. When the contraction faded, Lily took me to the dressing room—or undressing room, I guess—and helped me lie down on a couch that had all these costumes thrown onto it. She called 911 while I tried not to be smothered by feathers and push-up bras. But the paramedics were so busy with the blizzard that they didn’t make it in time.”

His fingers gripped the wheel as he figured out what she was saying. “You mean… you gave birth to Josh in a strip club?”

“Yep. With Lily as my amateur obstetrician. The heat was cranked way up in that place, and Lily was so nervous she was sweating up a storm, so at some point she shrugged off her jacket. I just remember looking down between my legs and seeing a terrified woman wearing nothing but nipple tassels and a G-string yell, ‘I can see the head!’”

“Holy f*cking shit.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

“I think I said something similar at the time, so don’t worry.”

“That’s… that’s… I’ve never heard anything like it.”

“I’d never experienced anything like it, up till then. That’s why I would do absolutely anything for her. It’s why she’s Josh’s godmother, and it’s one of the reasons she chose Marietta when she felt like she needed a do-over.”