Jaded Hearts
Chapter 49

Matt

Three months later …

It took a lot of convincing, but I was finally able to convince Taylor to not call off the baby shower that our moms had worked so hard to plan.

Shortly after Drew disappeared, we told her parents what was happening so that they would take precautions. That meant that we also had to tell them that their daughter was now a wolf.

When they found out, Robert and Nancy refused to take our calls for weeks, but I think they were more so hurt that they were kept in the dark than anything else. Eventually, they came around, and now here we are, about to celebrate the fact that our daughter would be born in less than four weeks.

I admit that it was hard to celebrate, but Taylor needed the distraction. We all did. There hadn’t been one sighting of Drew since he escaped, and we had no clue where to replace him. We had some of the best trackers in the world but still came up with nothing. But today, I wanted to see Taylor’s beautiful smile and hear her laugh. I wanted her to forget everything else and focus on our miracle.

It had been a tough pregnancy, and Taylor tried her best to remain positive through it all, but she was tired, sore, and just miserable at this point.

“Bean, I need you to do me a favor.”

“She said no, Matt. She wants to experience her pregnancy naturally. Leave her alone.”

“I can’t leave her alone! How can she enjoy the day if she can’t even walk across the room without her feet screaming at her? Just give her a small boost, nothing major. Please!”

“I’ll do it, but only if she agrees first.”

“Thank you! I’ll be right back.” I rushed through the house to my room, right as Taylor was coming out of the shower. She was always beautiful, but to see her so heavily pregnant with my child made her a masterpiece in my eyes.

“Good morning, tesoro. How are my two favorite ladies feeling?”

“The little lady is very active. It’s like she knows there’s a party for her today, and she’s excited about it. I’m … okay.”

She slowly walked to the bed, and I helped lower her down. When she was comfortable, I took some lotion from the nightstand and proceeded to massage it into her feet, legs, and back. This had been our ritual for the past month or so after she’d lost the ability to fully bend over.

“Angel, would you do something for me?”

“If I can. What do you need?”

“I need you to enjoy being spoiled today. Can you do that?”

“Well yeah, I can definitely do that.”

“Good. So please let bean help you with a small boost. Just this once so that you can have a good time today.”

Taylor looked at me while kneading her small fists into her h**s. Everything hurt, so I was really hopeful that she would accept the help.

“It won’t hurt the baby?”

“Not at all. The little princess won’t even notice the difference. I promise.”

“Alright. At this point, I need all the help I can get, so I’ll do it.”

“Thank you. You won’t regret it, I promise.”

I sent a mindlink to Alaia, asking her to come to the room when she was done with the babies. A few minutes later, she was at the door. “Hey, Taylor. You agreed to this, right? Sometimes Matty gets a little too excited when it comes to you.”

Taylor laughed and stretched her back. “He does, but I agreed. I want to enjoy the party with the rest of you.”

“Cool. Then I’ll make it quick.” When Alaia hummed her tune, she rubbed her hands over Taylor’s back, belly, and h**s, and down her legs to her feet. She was putting my morning massages to shame; there was no doubt about that. Once it was done, Alaia took Taylor’s hands and helped her to her feet.

“Now listen, beautiful. You may feel better, but your balance will still be absolute s**t, and you still won’t be able to see your feet. So, remember that when you’re out mingling, okay?”

Taylor shifted her weight on her feet, then looked up at me with the biggest smile. This was all I had wanted for the day. “Alaia, you could make some serious money with that gift of yours. It’s incredible.”

“It is, but it’s only for those who need it. And you really did. I’ll let you guys dressed now, and I’ll see you later.”

Alaia left the room, and I just watched as Taylor twisted and stretched her back and rotated her h**s with the giddiest look on her face.

“This is going to be a good day. I can’t remember the last time absolutely nothing hurt. Oh my god, I’m going to nap so hard today. And I’m going to get a little exercise in too.”

“No, no exercise, Taylor. The doctor said your weight gain is right on target. You are perfect.”

“Perfectly horny. I don’t know how long this lasts, but I’m going to take full advantage of it and of you.”

“Oh, then that’s fine. That exercise has been approved.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it has. Let’s get dressed so we can get down to breakfast and get out of here.”

For the middle of September, it was already getting cool, so I made sure that Taylor wore something with long sleeves so she wouldn’t get too cold. Downstairs, everyone was assembled at the table as usual, with everyone talking over each other. I helped Taylor down, and as soon as she was settled, her little shadows Alex and Xayden tried to crawl over to her.

“Nope, not today, guys. Aunt Taylor needs to eat. It’s going to be a long day for her. You can play with her later, alright?”

They looked up at Alaia like she was crazy, but when she gave them her perfected mom glare, they went back to their blanket on the floor. We all finished our breakfast, then piled into the cars, heading for my parents’ house.

“Tell me why we have to be there so early again,” Taylor said while looking out the window.

“Our moms figured that early would be best since you don’t have the most energy these days. This way, you’ll be done around two or three and have the rest of the day to relax.”

“Those two really did think of everything, huh?”

“Seems like it.”

When we arrived, there was still a flurry of activity going on, and I found my mom in the middle of the lawn yelling into her phone in Italian.

“I haven’t learned enough to understand a third of what she’s saying. What’s going on?” Taylor asked.

“Uhm, there seems to be a problem with the cake.”

“Cake. I’m on it,” Morgan said before she walked up to my mom and took her hand, pulling her towards the house.

“Morgan doesn’t even know what the problem is or where the kitchen is, but that won’t stop her. Damn, I love that woman,” Kade said when he walked up to me.

“Yeah, yeah, go replace something to do.” I left Kade laughing behind me and led Taylor to the house.

“I think everything is set up out back, but we can replace your parents first if you want.”

“Nope, I want to see what they put together. Besides, I’m sure they will replace us eventually.”

I stopped in my tracks when I got to the back yard. I had never seen anything like this before. There was soft pink, white, and silver everywhere. Balloons, flowers, table cloths, and basically anything that could be wrapped or draped in color was. There was a table off to the right that was overflowing with gifts for the “Little Princess,” and right next to it was a huge and very plush throne.

“I’m guessing that seat is for the queen,” I said, turning Taylor’s attention to it.

“Yes!! I love it!” She walked over as quickly as she could and sat down.

“I don’t know if this cushion is memory foam or gel, but my a*s is in love right now.”

“I’ll make sure to sneak it out with the truckload of gifts.”

Nancy walked past, barking orders at a caterer who wasn’t moving fast enough with some huge dispenser full of a sparkly pink drink.

“Hi, Mom!”

“Oh, hey, Tay-Tay. When did you get here?”

She came over and wrapped her arms around my waist in a side hug.

“We’ve only been here about five minutes. What about you?”

“Giana and I have been at it since last night. I spent the night here.”

“Nancy, you didn’t have to do that. You two are going to wear yourselves out,” I said.

“We only get one first grandbaby. We’ll sleep when she gets here.” Nancy looked around the yard, then threw her hands up and stormed off. “Where the hell is the other throne? Do you people think my little girl made this baby by herself?!”

I wanted to tell her that a normal chair was fine, but she was already heading right for a terrified looking man standing beside a box truck. Five minutes later, an insanely huge throne was carted over and sat next to Taylor’s. It looked like it weighed five hundred pounds, at least.

“Wow.”

“Matthew, you sit. We’re almost ready,” Nancy demanded.

Taylor looked at my face, then darted her eyes to the throne, letting me know to just do what I was being told.

“Thank you, Nancy. I really appreciate it.”

“You two look so beautiful. I need pictures, where’s the photographer?” She turned around and was gone again, and I was thankful I wasn’t the guy with the camera. After every last detail was in place, the shower started with my mom pinning a tiny crown to Taylor’s dress, right at the top of her belly.

We played endless games, ate way too much food, and opened more gifts in an hour than I had opened in my entire life. Looking at everything, I was almost disgusted that such a tiny person would need so much stuff.

“I don’t think there’s anything left for us to buy. She has enough to keep her busy until she goes off to college.”

“We’re having a girl, Matt. There will always be more stuff for us to buy,” Taylor said with a laugh.

“Are you having fun, baby?”

“I am! This has been the best day. Thank you for not letting me sit at home and mope around.”

Our families and friends were mixed together, talking and laughing, and the look on Taylor’s face watching it all was worth every bit of headache that went into planning the day. After what seemed like hours, the party was finally winding down. The crowd of over one hundred people was thinning out, and Taylor was losing steam. My mom had someone organize getting all the gifts safely loaded into my truck, so I sat back and watched while my dad and Robert posed for pictures with Taylor.

This woman had turned my dad into a pile of mush. I don’t think I’d ever seen him smile as much as he does when she’s around. But she does that to everyone she meets. I walked over to where they were and politely cut in.

“Would you gentlemen mind if I took my fiancé back for a while? I’ve been nice and shared her all day.”

“Come on, Robert. I’ve got some seventeen-year-old Scotch in my office that you need to try.”

They both walked off, and I just hoped that my dad was offering human Scotch and not the were variety.

“That’s going to be interesting,” Taylor mumbled, watching them walk away.

“Hey, I’ve got one more surprise for you. Have you been drinking a lot of water like I asked?”

“Yes, I feel like if I drink anymore, I’ll pop.”

“Good, come with me.”

I took her hand and led her into the house to a quiet “tranquility room” my mom had for reading, yoga, of whatever else kept her calm. When we got there, there was a large table set up with a few pieces of equipment next to it.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re going to have a 4D ultrasound, and our family and friends will be right out in the living room and get the meet our little girl on the big screen there.”

Taylor had wanted this scan forever, but she also wanted to share it with everyone, and she didn’t feel that a DVD was good enough. She squealed and bounced on her toes, letting me know that she liked the surprise. A lot.

“Mrs. Stone? Climb on up and get comfortable, please, and we can get started,” the ultrasound tech told her.

It was the first time I’d heard someone call her Mrs. Stone, and I loved it. We just needed to make it official. I helped her on the table and pulled a sheet over her lower half so we could pull up her dress and expose her belly. The little one was clearly awake in there, rolling and kicking all over.

“It feels like she’s trying to break out,” Taylor said with a g***n.

I leaned down and kissed her stomach, right where it looked like a tiny fist was pushing through. “Settle down in there so mommy and daddy can see you, princess. Can you do that for me?” I kissed the little knot one more time and watched it slowly disappear.

The ultrasound tech looked at us and laughed. “You’ve got a daddy’s girl on your hands, I see.”

“She’s obsessed with him. His voice either calms her down like it just did or wakes her up when she’s sleeping.”

“It’s sweet. Do you guys have a name yet?”

“We haven’t decided on anything yet. The Mrs. doesn’t like any of my suggestions,” I replied.

“Well, you’ve got a few more weeks, but they will fly by. A lot of parents don’t pick a name until they actually meet their baby for the first time. Maybe that’s what will happen here. Anyway, let’s see if we can’t get you a clear picture.”

She flipped on the machine then poked her head out the door to make sure the TV was picking up the images.

“You’ve got a lot of excited people out there. Let’s not keep them waiting.”

After squirting the gel on Taylor’s belly, she began to move the wand around, looking for the baby. “Here is a foot and five perfect little toes. One hand here, and there she is. That’s your little girl’s face.”

I heard cheers from the living room as the small screen we were watching filled with the most angelic face I’d ever seen. She had Taylor’s pouty lips, and full, kissable cheeks. Her nose looked like mine, and she had huge round eyes. I couldn’t wait to see what color they’d be. We watched in awe as she pulled one of her feet up to her face and stuck her toe in her nose, then swatted it away.

“She’s still exploring in there; she doesn’t know what anything is yet. But she’s beautiful, and I don’t see any abnormalities or defects.”

The tech continued on for another ten minutes, showing us both hands and feet, the baby’s back and butt, and we even reconfirmed that it was, in fact, a princess and not a prince we were having.

“She’s incredible, tesoro. So perfect and beautiful. And I think I have a name for her.”

Taylor sat up, wiping her stomach, then pulled her dress down. “It’s not something old-timey, is it?”

“No, it’s timeless, in my opinion.”

“Okay, let me have it.”

“Okay, so she’s our first child and the first grandchild for both our parents. And her birth marks the beginning of our family together. She’s the beginning, so her name should be Genesis.”