Ev dropped his hands to his sides, but Ron kept his up, palms out, just in case.
“Married? Since when?”
“About five weeks ago. And Kimbra’s pregnant, too. By Ivan.”
Ev’s eyes widened. “They’re both pregnant?”
“Yeah. A week apart.”
Ev stared at him for a long and uncomfortably silent moment, looking like he wanted to say something but couldn’t figure out what, much less how. His eyebrows went up, his jaw worked, brow furrowed, the quick intake of breath like he was going to say something…but no.
Ron finally nodded. “Dude, try living it from this end.”
“So what’s going to happen now?” Ev finally asked.
“We’re still working all that out. I’m moving Ivan in with me, because he’s…” He’d spilled enough secrets. “He’s broke. He’s a surgeon, and he’s still paying off medical school loans. He’s a nice guy. He and I hit it off.”
Ev stared at him. “Eve and Kimbra got married? And they didn’t tell us? Much less invite us?”
“Yeah. They didn’t tell anyone. Well, I knew, but that’s a long story. Neither one realized they were pregnant. They both found out last Friday, same time. They thought they had food poisoning or the flu or something.”
“Why hasn’t she told us they got married?”
“They were going to, but they’ve both been working and settling in and they wanted to make sure they hadn’t made a mistake. They hadn’t told the other the deets about what happened, just there was a person they’d slept with. So they were shaking things out between them. I’ve simplified a lot and told you way more than I should’ve already. That’s Eve and Kimbra’s story to tell.”
At least Ev didn’t look like he wanted to hit him…anymore.
“They’d just started coasting along,” Ron added, “and were going to tell everyone they were married when they found out they were pregnant, and that kind of messed all of us up.”
Ev scrubbed his face with his hands. “Okay, stupid question—why? I mean…why is everything messed up? Or…was?”
“Because Kimbra’s my best friend and she and I had to hash that out, and she and Eve had to hash that out, because Kimbra rightfully felt pissed off at both of us for not saying anything, even though they’d had an…agreement. It’s been a literal shit-show, dude. They worked it out between them, and then Kimbra told Ivan on Monday night. We all four got together to talk last night, because they wanted to have a plan of attack in place before they talked to everyone else to break the news.”
“Why?”
“Dude. They’re attorneys, duh.”
“Oh. Yeah. True.”
“They wanted to get together with you and your parents tonight to tell you guys. They’re meeting with Kimbra’s family tomorrow night, because her parents have something going on tonight they couldn’t cancel. If it makes you feel any better, Kimbra’s family doesn’t know she’s been dating Eve, either. They thought they were just friends. Walt knew, but he didn’t even know they got married until Kimbra told him.”
“Fuck.”
“Tell me about it. Try going to work the past couple of days and trying not to look your boss in the eyes because you know he’s going to be pissed as fuck that I didn’t tell him any of this. He’s Kimbra’s father, dude.”
“Oh, shit.” Ev slumped against the workbench. “So now what? Please don’t tell my parents she’s pregnant just for her to get rid of it. That will kill them.”
“She’s keeping it. They both are. We’re all going to work together to raise both babies. The four of us. Like Leo and Nate and them do.”
Ev ran a hand through his hair. “So you’re telling me Eve’s been dating Kimbra all these years?”
“Yes.”
“And Kimbra’s pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“And this Ivan guy is the father of Kimbra’s baby?”
My boy… “Yes.”
“Because they got drunk and slept together, too?”
“It’s…complicated. Way more complicated than what happened between me and Eve. And I’d rather not tell more of his story.”
“But you’re the father of Eve’s baby?”
Ron nodded.
Ev snorted. Then he did it again. Then, next thing Ron knew, the man was full-on belly-laughing, bent over the workbench and howling with it.
Ron didn’t interrupt.
Finally, Ev pulled himself together. “Jesusfuck, I don’t know whether to kick your ass or hers. Metaphorically.” He took a deep breath, blew it out, and held his hand out to Ron.
Ron shook with him, then Ev pulled him in for a hug.
“I guess I should say congratulations.” But he didn’t sound …happy.
“I’m sorry, man. I honestly thought it hadn’t happened, that I just dreamed it. I thought we both got drunk and passed out.”
Ev frowned. “So you’re saying it wasn’t consensual?”
“It… Look, I’m not going to argue semantics. I’m not proud of myself, but I’m also not blaming Eve for this. It just happened. She isn’t the first woman I ever slept with, and apparently she was trying to sort some shit out in her head, and the alcohol kind of…took over. I hadn’t been laid in a while, so apparently I wasn’t very hard to convince to…go along with things.”
“Why wouldn’t she tell me she’s queer? She spent over two fucking years begging me to tell our parents. She knows our parents are okay with me being gay.”
“Exactly,” Ron quietly said. “It’s her story to tell, and maybe she’ll be pissed off at me for telling you this much now, but I didn’t want to stand here like an asshole while you’re ranting and then have to face you on the back side of it. I know she told me part of her hesitation is she wanted kids, and Kimbra didn’t, and she was afraid to totally commit to Kimbra at that point. Maybe not a great excuse, but we’re all human.”
Ev crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at the floor for a moment. “But you’re not going to walk away from this?”
“No. I’ve always wanted kids. Well, I honestly thought I’d be an uncle one day. Then Meri had the double mastectomy, and—”
“Wait, what?”
“She survived breast cancer. She’s also got the gene for it. It runs in our family. I finally made her move back here to Florida after she couldn’t find another job and she was broke and had to sell her condo. The cancer treatments wiped out her entire savings and retirement. And Wynn, her fiancé, he’s a schoolteacher and almost fifty. So they’re probably not going to have kids.”
“I didn’t know all that. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, she doesn’t like to talk about it. But I can tell you, there are worse surprises than having a sister tell you she’s married her girlfriend and she’s pregnant after a drunken one-night stand with your gay friend.”
Ron leaned against the workbench and crossed his arms over his chest while staring at his feet. “Try having your sister call you from another state, in tears, admitting her asshole ex-Dom literally just dumped her after bringing her home from the hospital following her double mastectomy, which you didn’t even know she’d had.”
“Dude…I’m sorry.”
Ron shrugged but didn’t look up. “So if you’re wondering if I’m going to flake, no. How it happened doesn’t matter to me as much as taking care of them now that it has. And I know this is asking a lot, but I’d appreciate it if you could not tell Eve I already told you all this and pretend to be surprised by it tonight. Kimbra said they’re going to use the IVF excuse. Let them have their dignity.”
Ev stood next to him and leaned against the workbench, too. “This Ivan guy,” he finally asked. “What about him? Is he going to be there for Kimbra?”
“Yeah. Far as I know. But…” He sighed. “I think he’s my responsibility now, too. At least, I hope he is.”
“You hope he is?”
“Yeah. It’s…”
“Complicated?”
Ron sno
rted. “That’s putting it mildly.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kimbra had laid down the law earlier that day that she’d be doing the driving tonight. Eve felt too nervous, and it wasn’t like either of them could have a drink to calm their nerves.
Those days were over.
At least until after their babies were born.
Eve didn’t speak and Kimbra didn’t try to force her to make useless conversation that would likely devolve into a tense sniping session. When they arrived at her parents’ house, Wylie’s truck was already parked out front, on the street, leaving space for Kimbra to pull into the driveway and park behind Eve’s parents’ vehicles.
“You ready, baby girl?”
Eve nodded. “One thing I want out there, right now.”
“What’s that?”
Eve met her gaze. “No fucking way in hell are we giving them matching names, no matter how much my parents rally for it. You have no idea what a pain in the ass it was for me and Ev growing up, thinking they were calling one of us when they wanted the other. They never admitted it to us, but I know they regretted doing it. I wouldn’t put it past my father to try to talk us into it.”
Otto and Olive Cannon did have a slightly wacky sense of humor Kimbra always thought was endearing. “Why?”
“Misery loves company. I told you the story about the night Ev brought Wylie over to meet them.”
“Oh. The butt plug story.”
“Yeah, the butt plug story.” She sighed. “Please, Ma’am?”
“No arguments from me. Come on, let’s do this.”
They headed up the walk, Kimbra a little surprised when Eve reached for her hand and held it as they approached the front door and rang the bell.
It was actually Ev who answered the door, wearing an…odd smile.
If Kimbra didn’t know any better, it was the smile of a man who already knew something and was greatly amused by it. She’d seen her siblings and parents wear that same damn look countless times while growing up.
Ev hugged Eve first, and she let go of Kimbra’s hand to do it, then stepped inside.
Ev hugged Kimbra and whispered in her ear. “I know, and I’m okay. We’ll talk later. I haven’t told anyone else.” He stepped back with a wink, letting her pass so he could shut the front door.
Well, shit.
It had to be Ron who told him, because she knew damn well Walt wouldn’t have said anything. If he had, it would be her parents he told, not Eve’s brother.
Personally, the only one Kimbra had been slightly worried about was Ev. Not because she thought he would disapprove, but because she was afraid he might try to go after Ron out of big-brother fury.
But if Ev was on board…
Whew.
They were going to be grilling hamburgers out on the lanai tonight. As they all gathered around the table out there to chat, Eve caught Kimbra’s eye and nodded.
Here we go. Kimbra nodded back.
“So, I guess you guys are wondering why I asked if we could get together tonight.”
Kimbra glanced Ev’s way and his gaze met hers, his barely contained smirk almost making her laugh.
“We did think it was kind of unusual, honey,” Eve’s mom said. Olive and Otto either had no clue, or had pretending to be perfectly chill down to a science.
Eve took a deep breath. “I owe all of you an apology. Especially Ev.”
He scowled. “Me? What for?”
“Because I’ve been dating Kimbra for the past couple of years. I’m bi. I was too chickenshit to admit it before. Then, when you came out, I wasn’t sure how to apologize to you and kept…hiding.” She reached out for Kimbra’s hand and held it. “And we got married a few weeks ago.”
Kimbra tensed, waiting to see if there’d be fallout.
Otto let out a heavy sigh. “Congratulations, but it means I’m going to have to listen to your mother gripe about not getting grandchildren.”
“Otto Cannon, that wasn’t very nice,” her mom groused.
Kimbra hoped that was a…good response?
“Well, there’s a part three to this,” Eve said before her parents could continue. She squeezed Kimbra’s hand. “We’re pregnant.”
“Is that a royal we, honey?” Otto asked.
Eve’s cheeks reddened. “No, Dad. It’s a literal we. Kimbra and I are both pregnant. She’s due a week before I am.”
Olive let out a squeal that startled Kimbra. Before Kimbra could even react, Olive jumped up, nearly turning the table over in her excitement to get to Eve and Kimbra and throw her arms around them in a hug while simultaneously jumping up and down in excitement.
“I’m getting two grandbabies?” Olive screamed.
Kimbra winced at her nearly pierced eardrum, but Eve laughed. “Yeah, Mom. You’re getting two grandbabies.”
“OH MY GOD I’M GETTING TWO GRANDBABIES!”
Well, if the greater Sarasota area didn’t know it already, they would now.
Much to Kimbra’s relief, Olive seemed to think the fact that she was getting two grandbabies was a far bigger deal than the fact that they’d gotten married in secret or knowing anything about the fathers.
When Kimbra ducked inside to use the bathroom, she found Ev in the kitchen upon her return.
“So how’d you find out?” she asked.
He smirked. “Don’t blame Ron, because it’s Lara’s fault.”
“Lara?”
“She called me this morning wanting to know why Eve needed the number for her obstetrician.”
Kimbra winced. “Son of a bitch.”
“Yeah. When Ron came by this afternoon to pick up his sword, I was ranting about wanting to kill the fucker sneaking around with my baby sister, and he thought it best he come clean then rather than look like an asshole later.”
“Ah.” She leaned against the kitchen counter. “We okay?”
“Of course we are. You’re my friend, and my sister-in-law.”
“I couldn’t rush her. I didn’t want to keep it secret this long, but I wasn’t going to out her.”
“No, I get it.” He smiled as he stared out through the sliding glass doors. “You realize you just lost any privacy you once had, right? Mom’s going to be all over both of you, all the time, until you put babies in her arms. And then she’s going to be underfoot every damn day.” He hugged her.
“Hope she and Momma don’t get into a tug-of-war over them.”
“Well, you’ll have two. They won’t have to take turns except to swap back and forth. And I’m sure Dad will be happy, too.”
“To have grandbabies?”
He snickered. “No, to give Mom something to do and get her off his ass every day. So am I going to like this Ivan guy Ron mentioned?”
“I think so. He’s a doctor. A surgeon.”
“Really? No shit?”
“Sweet guy. He’s going to need our village around him. He doesn’t have any family, and I get the feeling he’s been through a lot of heartache before we ever met him.”
“Well, then I’m sure Wylie and him will get along great.”
* * * *
Eve managed to peel their mom off her for a few minutes and headed inside. Ev followed.
“Hey,” he said. “Come here.” He pulled her in for a long hug. “I’m not mad, but I wish you would have said something sooner.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how after keeping it hidden so long.”
“Yeah, and you learned nothing from me and what I went through with Lara, huh?” he teased.
“I guess not.”
“I promised Ron earlier today I wouldn’t say anything about the truth.”
Stunned, she pulled back to look up at him. “What? You knew?”
He wore that annoying big-brother smirk of his. “You should know better than to ask Lara for the number for an OB doc and not tell me the story then. She was grilling me, asking what the hell did I know that I wasn’t telling her. Ron stopped by to pick up his sword, I was ranting, an
d he came clean.”
She dropped her head against his chest. “I’m a dummy,” she muttered.
“I’m just glad I don’t have to kick his ass.”
“No, please don’t kick his ass. I guess mead really is forever.”
“At least for nine months, it is, yeah.”
She snorted. “Well, if he and Ivan hit it off, it’ll be perfect.” She finally stepped back.
“What happens next?”
“We tell Kimbra’s family and see about maybe moving Ivan in with us.”
“But he’s a doctor, right?”
“He’s a broke doctor paying off a ton of student loans.”
“Ah.”
“Exactly. He’s a sweetheart, though. We just need to…ease him into this. I think he’s overwhelmed.”
“So will I need to kick his ass?”
“Ev, seriously. He makes Wylie look butch.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No.” She explained what she knew.
“Well, since you haven’t had a detailed discussion with Mom and Dad about the circumstances, can I suggest just resorting to literally saying don’t ask, don’t tell to them? Because if you say that, they’ll stop asking. If you lie or give fake details, they’ll keep asking and then if you trip up later, they’ll nail you and get curious.”
“I think you’re right.”
“You know I’m right, just like you were right I should have come out to them way sooner than I did. Again, let me be the bad example of what not to do.”
“True.”
By the time they finally got out of there around nine that night, Eve was worn out and her mother was already planning their joint baby shower.
But Eve had said exactly what Ev had suggested when her mother came up for air long enough to wonder about the…logistics of how they’d gotten pregnant.
Their mom had reacted exactly like Ev predicted, especially when Eve followed her comment with the fact that the fathers were both fantastic guys, gainfully employed, friends of theirs, and would be helping them raise the babies as active fathers.