Sam’s restaurant opened just over a month ago, and it has been busy every day, all day. He hired a manager to run it, but he spends a lot of time here. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“How are you feeling?” Paul asks me. He lays a hand on my belly and the baby does a roll. Paul laughs. “I’m surprised you haven’t popped yet.”
I was due three days ago. Sam refused to leave me alone tonight, just in case.
Sam’s contract was up for renewal at the end of the season, and he decided not to renew. He gave up the chance of big bucks playing a game he loves in order to pursue his dream of his own restaurant. We didn’t like being apart when I’m on tour, and we were just spending too much time without one another. At least now he can let his manager run Reeds’ and he can travel with me.
Sam looks up and sees Paul’s hand on my belly. “Everything okay?” he asks. His brow furrows.
I wave a hand in the air. “I’m fine. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
On busy nights, all the Reed boys pitch in to help serve. They like doing it, and they get to see people in the community and bullshit with everyone. They love it, and Sam is grateful they’re here.
Logan walks into the room and Sam yells his name. He looks over and says, “What?”
I can’t get used to the fact that Logan can hear. It’s still strange to call his name and have him look at us.
“Take my wife and find her a seat somewhere, will you?” He doesn’t look up from the plate he’s preparing.
“Your wife is fine,” I say.
Logan grabs a chair and hits me in the backs of the legs with it, so I sit. He grins and kisses my forehead.
Josh rolls into the kitchen and stops. “Um, Sam…”
Sam looks up.
“We have a little problem out here.”
“What is it?”
“Um…one of Peck’s sisters is dancing on the piano.”
I rush out into the dining area and find, of all people, Star standing on top of the piano. She’s dancing to music only she can hear. She’s not bad, actually. Now she just needs a pole.
Three of my sisters are trying to help her get down, but she won’t.
“What’s wrong with her?” I ask as I walk up to my sisters.
Fin looks at me and says, “We don’t know. She showed up like this.”
“Where’s Wren?” I ask.
Fin shrugs. “No one has been able to find her.”
Crap. I’m actually a lot more worried about Star than I am about Wren. One thing you have to understand about Star is that she always looks perfect on the outside. We know she’s not perfect on the inside. None of us are, but on the outside, she always keeps up the façade. Always. Something terrible must have happened.
Sam walks up beside me. “What the fuck…?”
“Get her down, Sam,” I beg him, tugging on his sleeve.
He motions her forward. “Hey Star,” he says gently. “I have something I need to show you.”
“If it’s your dick,” she replies, “the answer is no, thank you.”
Her speech is slurred and she can barely stand up.
Suddenly, Sam grabs her leg and she almost falls, but he adjusts her body so that she falls across his shoulder.
He hitches her ass higher and walks to the door. Josh grabs her purse and her coat from her table, and he rolls outside with us.
Suddenly, a pain shoots across my middle and warm water gushes at my feet. “Um, Sam…”
He puts Star in a cab and pays the driver. “Do you want to go with her?” he asks.
Well, that was my plan until right this minute. I look down at my feet. “I don’t think I can.”
“Oh, shit. It’s time?” he cries.
“Go get one of my sisters to go with her.” I motion him forward. “And hurry.”
Sam disappears inside.
We need to call Emilio, too, so he can find Wren.
Star gets out of the cab and the driver must see the futility of this mission, because he takes off.
“Well, shit,” Josh says.
Josh just got out of jail. He certainly doesn’t need any trouble, not even when it’s one of my sisters.
“I got her,” I say. I grab her elbow, but a pain suddenly hits me.
“Oh, fuck!” Star cries. “You’re having a fucking baby!” She cups her hands around her mouth. “I’m going to be the best aunt ever!” she yells.
She starts to jump up and down, and her ankle gives out. She really shouldn’t be on those stilts when she’s drunk. She hops a little. She’s going to feel that ankle tomorrow. “I think I just hurt myself,” she says, and her eyes well up with tears. “I think I need to sit down.” Then she plops her ass right down in Josh’s lap.
“You’re a lump, aren’t you?” he says to her as he adjusts her body for comfort.
“Are you calling me fat?” She looks at him over her shoulder.
He grins and shakes his head. “Only in the best possible way.”
Sam runs out of the restaurant and he is dangling keys in his hand. “You ready?” he asks. He looks at Star, who is in Josh’s lap. “What’s up with that?” he asks. “Get her in the car,” he says to Paul.
“You guys should go ahead,” Josh says. “I’ll get some coffee into Star.”
“We should take her with us,” I say, but Sam cuts me off.
“Josh will sober her up and bring her to the hospital later, right, Josh?”
“Yep.” Josh looks warily down her top, which has somehow lost a button. He fixes her up and buttons her up to her throat.
Star wiggles her bottom in his lap. “Are you getting a boner?” she asks with a giggle.
He grunts, picks her ass up and slides her over. “Be still,” he warns.
“You are, aren’t you? I was worried all your parts didn’t work, but apparently…” She waggles her brows at him.
Another pain slices through my middle. “We should go. Now.”
“Oh!” Sam cries.
“Josh, are you sure you can take care of Star?”
He looks up at me and smiles. “You can trust me. I’ll take care of her.”
I believe him. And so does Sam.
Paul leans into the car after we’re inside. “We’ll stay here and close up, and meet you there.”
Sam nods. He lays a hand on my belly. “You ready for this, cupcake?” he asks as Paul slams the door.
I cover his hand with mine and the baby kicks. My whole belly rocks. “Yeah. I’m ready.”
***
They settle us into a room, and Emilio and Marta show up. Emilio looks scared and Marta is glowing. She adjusts my covers. “Not much longer now.”
“Did you find Wren?” I ask.
Marta nods but she doesn’t look me in the eye. “She’s fine.”
Marta was right. Only a few short hours later and they tell me to push.
Sam holds my hand as pain streaks through my body. “This had better be the last one,” I gasp.
And suddenly, there’s a head.
Sam is the only visitor in the delivery room, and he looks down and his face goes ashen.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“That’s disgusting and beautiful all at the same time.” His eyes are shining with tears. “We have a son, Peck. A son!”
“Dad, do you want to cut the cord?” the doctor asks.
Sam takes the scissors and cuts the cord, and they get me all cleaned up while they check the baby over.
“He’s doing great,” a nurse tells me as she puts him in my arms.
Suddenly, the room floods with Reeds and Zeroes. There’s barely any air left for me to breathe, there are so many of them. But this is my life. It’s the life I chose, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Melio takes the baby and holds him. “I won’t know what to do with a boy,” he says. He wipes a tear from his eye.
“You’ll figure it out,” Marta says, patting him on the back. “We’re grandparents.” She lets out a shaky breath and
comes to kiss my forehead. “I’m so proud,” she whispers.
Soon, the room clears out, after everyone has passed the baby around the room at least once. Only my sisters are left.
“Where are Star and Wren?” I ask Fin.
“Star is in the waiting room.”
“Why didn’t she come in?”
Fin avoids my eyes. “She’s waiting.”
“What’s wrong?”
She leans down and whispers in my ear. “Something happened with their brother, but they won’t tell us what.” She brushes my baby’s hair from his forehead. “This has got to be the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen,” she says.
“Is Josh still with Star?” I ask. And where the heck is Wren?
She nods. “But I think he’s staying under duress. No one else can do anything with Star.” She gives me a reassuring look and nods. “Don’t worry. They’re fine. You concentrate on this beautiful little thing.” She kisses Samuel Emilio on the head.
Sam scoots into the bed with me and puts his arm around me. “You’re not a Zero anymore,” he whispers. “You’re a Zero-plus-two.”
I kiss him, because emotion is clogging my throat so much that I can’t speak.
I like being a Zero, because as a Zero, I knew I would never be alone. But now I have more than I ever dreamed possible. I have Sam. I have it all.
Once everyone has gone home, the door opens and Star comes in. She doesn’t say a word. She just climbs into bed with me and I take her hand. She lies on one side and Sam is on the other with the baby in his arms. He doesn’t get up. He looks at me and arches a brow, asking if I want him to leave. I don’t. I never want him to leave.
Star lies there quietly, not saying a word, and I can feel the tension seeping out of her body. Finally, she goes to sleep, and I just lie there and hold her hand. I have no idea what happened today, but it had to be big.
The door opens and Wren’s colorful head pops into the room. “Am I too late?” she asks. Her eyes roam from Star to me and back. “I was out looking for her,” she says. “Glad I finally found her. Only Star would end up at the place where I should have been all along.” She snorts, but it’s a humorless sound.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Not really. But it will be.”
“It always is,” I remind her.
She wipes a thumb beneath her nose. “Why does it have to take so damn long to get there sometimes, though?” she asks.
I look into Sam’s blue eyes. “It’s worth all the trouble.”
He smiles at me and puts our baby into my arms.
Totally worth it.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Dear readers,
When I started writing the Reed Brothers series, I tried to pitch it to a few major publishers, and the response I got was, “Are you going to fix his hearing by the end of the book?” My answer was a definite no. That’s one of the many reasons I ended up going indie with this book. I felt very strongly that there was nothing wrong with Logan and he didn’t need to be “fixed.” He just needed the right girl, just like every other man-whore needs, right? That’s what he was to me. He was a man who slept with a lot of women and he needed to find the right one that might make him want to settle down. His deafness was no more important to me than his eye color or his hair color. Just like Emily’s dyslexia didn’t define her. It was a characteristic, but not a definition.
I felt this way all the way up to when I was writing Beautiful Bride. Logan made a comment in BB that made me think. His character had changed, and he had different goals from the goals he had when I first created him.
He mentioned to Emily that he wanted to be able to hear his daughter laugh. That he wanted to share in her first words. His goals and dreams had changed. He wanted to be different.
Different. Not better. In no way am I implying that he needed to be fixed. He made the courageous decision to get a cochlear implant, which is often frowned upon in deaf culture.
For my character, this was the right choice. It’s not the right choice for everyone, and I wouldn’t even suggest it to most of the deaf people I know.
I felt like I clearly needed to explain my position on deafness and implants, so that readers understand how Logan ended up going in that direction. He didn’t get it because I as the author felt like there was anything wrong with him.
Now that my explanation is out of the way, I want to answer a few reader questions:
Will Seth get a book?
Yes! But he needs to get a little older first.
How many more books are in this series?
I have Lark, Fin, Star, Wren, and Seth left. Not to mention Edward and Gonzo. I don’t know how their lives will turn out, but I think they deserve a happily-ever-after too, don’t you? Oh, and there’s still Jack and Malone from Only One.
Thank you all for hanging in there with me! I’ve had so much fun writing this series, and I love interacting with you all on Facebook and Twitter. You can find me here:
Facebook
Twitter
And if you’d like to sign up for the mailing list, you can find it here.
Best regards,
Tammy Falkner
The Reed Brothers Series
Tall, Tatted, and Tempting
Smart, Sexy, and Secretive
Calmly, Carefully, Completely
Just Jellybeans and Jealousy
Finally Finding Faith
Reagan’s Revenge and Ending Emily’s Engagement
Maybe Matt’s Miracle
Proving Paul’s Promise
Only One
Beautiful Bride
Zip, Zero, Zilch
Good Girl Gone (Spring 2015)
Tammy Falkner, Zip, Zero, Zilch
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