Undeniably Married (Boston’s Irresistible Billionaires Book 4)

The presents practically line an entire wall and are three tiers deep. This is what I was afraid of. Most of the women here are already on their second or third bubble baby bump, as they’re calling the drink, which is champagne mixed with peach and blueberry puree. They have lemonade for me and the other non-alcohol drinkers, but it’s giving me heartburn the way everything else right now does.

I don’t mean to sound bitchy. I’m grateful. I’m just freaking exhausted, and with how sore my back is, I can’t get into a comfortable position, no matter how many pillows I prop myself up with. I’m huge. I haven’t seen my feet in I don’t remember how long, and I needed Mason to put on my boots this morning for me.

I hit thirty-seven weeks yesterday, and in addition to reaching that milestone, I’m also officially on maternity leave for the next four months. That’s also about the time Mason will start training camp, so we’ll have plenty of time together when the baby is born. I’m excited. He’s more than excited.

But the problem is the wall of presents and how I was told specifically not to set up the nursery until after I received all these presents. This means now that I’m exhausted, huge, and uncomfortable, I have to do all that too.

“You’re cranky,” Serena notes as she polishes off her bubble baby bump.

“I’m not. I’m happy.” I smile. It’s not a full smile because she’s right, I’m cranky. I have a plate of finger foods balancing on my giant belly and my feet up on an ottoman because they’re swollen and aching.

“I’m sorry,” she says, refilling her flute from the drink dispenser. “It’s my fault. I couldn’t get away before now, and I wanted to be here for your shower. Deadline for spring fashion week is no joke.”

I’m being cranky at my own baby shower, and now I feel guilty for it.

“You’re fine. I’m glad you’re here, and I wouldn’t have been able to have this shower without you.” I sigh and scrunch my nose at the presents. “You’re going to help with those, right?”

“Yes, and I believe Dad and a crew of men are coming to transport everything to your place after. Mason and I already talked about the nursery, and we’re taking care of everything. With his brawn and my design sense, it’ll be perfection.”

“Excellent.” I toss a piece of cheese in my mouth. “Because it’s going to take a forklift to get me out of this chair, and with my lack of design sense and brawn, I’m more or less useless.”

Keegan snickers as she refills her drink. “Just be thankful it’s not twins.”

My mother snickers. “You’re telling me. I had two sets.”

“Yes, but at least you didn’t have to birth me,” Stella reminds her. “My poor mother’s vagina. I was a big baby.”

I wince. We’re having a boy, and though I hate to say this, Brody is not a small man. This baby is weighing in at around eight pounds already, and I have another few weeks to go. To say my vagina is terrified is an understatement. No one knows yet that it’s a boy. Mason and I have kept it a secret because he thought it would be fun for me to reveal it today to everyone in the color of the cake.

But speaking of Brody, last I heard, he married Eloise back in the fall and is already divorced. I haven’t seen or spoken to either of them since that night last year, but Mason heard the gossip and spilled the tea for me. Rumor has it he cheated on her. Irony at its best.

Honestly, at this point, I don’t care. They’re both sad people, and I hope they find happiness and a less selfish and self-absorbed way of living. Conversely, being married to Mason these months—for real married—has been the best. During his bye week, he surprised me with a trip to Stone and Tinsley’s private island for a few days. We ate, had sex, slept, swam, and lay on the beach. It was heaven.

The best part, it was just us and no one else around for miles and miles. He had gotten permission from my OB and everything, which is good because I was worried, but he assured me that if I needed it, we could be back in Miami by helicopter in under an hour. Thankfully, we didn’t need it.

“Presents and dessert time, everyone!” my grandmother calls out, glee all over her face as tray after tray of desserts is set out on the long tables on the other side of the wall of gifts.

“Lord, Stella,” Wren exclaims. “How much food did you make?”

“In case you missed it, we’re sixty-plus women along with…” She trails off and pans her hand toward the door when there’s a barrage of loud pops that sound like gunfire. I start, practically shooting out of my chair with a cry, when the confetti flies through the air and every freaking man from the Fritz and Central Square crews along with Jack and his friends and cousins, along with Mason is here.

“Surprise!” they all shout.

“Sorry,” Katy whispers to me. “Mason wanted to be here so badly for the gender reveal that we didn’t have the heart to tell him no, and we figured if he was going to be part of this, well…”

“Might as well include everyone,” Tinsley finishes for her.

“Right. Wow.” I glance down between my legs, my hand still covering my pounding heart. “Except, I just peed. Everywhere. In front of my entire family and my husband.”

“Uh, that’s not pee,” Keegan tells me, staring down at the puddle on the floor.

My eyes round just as Mason comes over and surveys the leaking mess between my thighs. “Did you spill your water when we came in?” He chuckles. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that. I just wanted it to be a surprise because isn’t that what today is all about?”

“Surprise, her water broke,” Keegan deadpans.

“What?” half the room cries at once. “Her water broke.” Those words murmur through the air, half-panicked, half-amused, half-excited, which I realize is too many halves, but whatever. My water just broke in front of every single human I know. My face flames, but at least I didn’t pee. That’s somewhat of a relief, except now I’m in labor and not only is nothing ready, but I didn’t get a slice of cake.

“I broke your water?!” Mason shouts. “No. It’s too soon.” He grabs my hand in a panic and squeezes way too hard. “The room isn’t set up, and I know we’re technically full term, but it was supposed to bake in there for another few weeks.”

“Breathe, Mason,” my father tells him, placing his hand on his shoulder. “It’ll all be fine. Babies come when they want.”

“But I did this. It’s all my fault.”

Once again, I feel like I’m outside my body, watching the chaos and craziness of my family all around me.

“We should check her cervix,” my aunt Grace demands, spilling half her drink as she rushes over to me. “I can do it. I have gloves in my purse.”

“Mom, you’re not checking her cervix,” Owen states flatly while holding Rory’s hand and trying to pull her away from the frosting on the cake. “Rory, stop that. No fingers in the cake.”

“Why is the inside blue?” she asks with a scrunched nose. “I wanted chocolate.”

“Blue?!” That’s my mother. “Oh my god! It’s a boy!” And then she breaks down into tears, as do half of my drunk aunts.

“We were supposed to let you tell us when you sliced into it!” my aunt Rina whines as she hands Rory a fork and starts to dig into it herself.

Others join in, and now they’re all attacking the cake with gusto, while my grandmother gets upset that it wasn’t cut properly, and Rory is crying because she ruined the surprise. Meanwhile, Grace, Carter, and Keegan are going back and forth on who will check my cervix. Spoiler alert: None of them.

Jesus, this is getting out of hand fast.

I stick two fingers between my lips and blow out a sharp whistle. The room quiets, and all eyes turn to me.

“Here’s the deal. Mason is going to take me to the hospital now because I’m starting to have contractions, and they’re already not a lot of fun.” My mother hands me a towel, and I shove it between my legs because I’m hot like that. She drops another on the floor and a third on the chair where I was just sitting to clean up my mess. “Thank you,” I say to her and then go back to the room overstuffed with way too many people. “Yes, we’re having a boy. We’ll announce his name after he’s born. Thank you all for coming and for the presents. I’ll get to them after he’s born, but if anyone purchased us a bassinet, a crib, newborn clothes, and gear, I’d appreciate you letting Serena know because she is now my point person for the nursery and making sure I have a space to bring my baby home to and that he won’t be naked when I do that.”

There’s rumbling, and a few hands go up as if to say they’re the ones who purchased those items. Awesome. Now we’re getting somewhere.

I look at Mason as more discomfort rolls up my back, and the fact that I’m having back labor truly sucks. I’ve been uncomfortable all day, so who knows how long I was actually in labor before I realized it. If I wasn’t in front of my entire family and they weren’t all drunk, I might consider that cervix check after all.

“You ready?” I ask Mason, because yeah, it’s time to go.

“Uh.” He gulps, looking pale and a little lost. “Yes. Yeah. Of course.”

“I’ll drive you,” my dad tells him, and Mason practically sags in relief. My dad and Mason have gotten very close over the last couple of months.

“Thanks, Dad.” At least he’s calm. No one else is. My mom is still sobbing that it’s a boy and Stella is trying to calm her down.

Mason wraps his arms around me on one side, and Serena comes in on the other.

“My darling girl.” My grandmother cups my face and kisses both my cheeks. “You take care and have a safe delivery of my great-grandson.”

“I will.” I kiss her back, and then we leave, getting to the hospital in under half an hour because my father knows all the back roads and drives like a total Masshole. Mason hasn’t let go of my hand as we’re brought into a room, and I’m helped into a gown and up onto a bed where they set me up with monitor strips. I can feel his hand trembling in mine. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I just…” His eyes search mine. “I thought we had a few more weeks. The room isn’t ready yet. We don’t have a name. And I read… well, you know a lot can happen during delivery.”

I lean in and kiss him. “You pick the name.”

He shakes his head. “No way. I’m not living with you holding that over my head for the rest of our lives.”

I giggle only to hiss out a breath when a contraction hits. “Well,” I pant. “I’m thinking we need to figure one out right about now. Where did we leave off?”

“N.”

“Ugh.” I focus on my breathing, my eyes closed, and my body centered like I learned in birthing class. “We didn’t get very far.”

“Nolan, Nixon, Nico, Noah, Neil⁠—”

“Nolan?”

“Nolan Reyes,” he says with a contemplative hum to his voice. I start to relax as the contraction wanes and open my eyes to see his smile. “I like it. Let’s go with it.”

“See.” I smile. “Easy. Unlike labor.”

The doctor comes in, and finally, my cervix is checked. Already at six centimeters, I’m the lucky recipient of an epidural. Hours pass. Contractions come and go along with some of our immediate family who pop in and out. Serena and my mom stay for a while, but when I start to have the urge to push, it’s only me and Mason.

His head is beside mine as he whispers encouraging words and praise into my ear. I’m squeezing two of his fingers so I don’t break his hand, but fuck does this hurt.

“Come on, Sorel,” my OB commands. “You’ve got this. One more push. Come on. Give me one more big push.”

The pressure is enormous, even with the epidural, and I can’t breathe or think. I can only feel and I’m tired. I’m so tired. So freaking tired.

“Come on, princess. One more push and we get to meet him. You’ve got this. I’m so proud of you, baby. I love you. I love you so much. Push.”

Fuck. Fuck! I bear down and push with everything I have left. I’m covered in sweat and pain, but I push and yell, and a second later, the doctor says, “Stop pushing. Stop pushing.” More pressure, and then a tiny cry pierces the air.

“Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet your son.” A tiny naked baby covered in vernix is placed right on my chest, and we’re both wrapped up in a warm blanket.

I stare down at the tiny, slimy baby and then up at Mason, who has tears down his face. He leans in and kisses me before he kisses the wet top of the baby’s head.

“You did so good,” he says to me. “Look at him, Sorel. He’s so perfect.”

“He is.”

I hold him for a few more minutes, keeping his little body warm with mine. Mason cuts the cord, and then he’s taken from me to get weighed and measured. Mason goes with him as they finish up with me, and by the time they’re returned to me, Nolan is swaddled tight in a blanket with a small cream-colored hat on his head.

Mason climbs on the bed beside me, his large frame on his side, and up against the railing still takes up most of it, but I don’t care. The nurse places Nolan back on my chest and helps me start to nurse him. After he’s latched on, starting to suckle away, the room gets dark and quiet, and now it’s just us.

Mason’s hand is on Nolan’s back, his eyes bouncing back and forth between our nursing newborn and my face. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers reverently. “You both are.” He leans in and kisses me. “You’re the loves of my life. I’m in awe of you. Look what you made. Look at our sweet little man.”

“I love you,” I murmur, my body feeling heavy, even as I can’t stop watching my sleepy baby with his dark eyes and tiny little face nurse from my body. I had no idea it would feel this way. This consuming. This… perfect. Just as Mason said. I had no idea I could love anything this much. Because with the three of us like this, that’s exactly what it is. Love. Perfection. Heaven. Happiness. And I already know, come what may, it’s what it’ll always be as long as we have each other.