“Contractions? You’re not due for another 2 months…”

‘I know, Josh.  I’m scared.  It’s too early.”

“Did I cause this, just now, what we did?”

“No, Josh.  No amount of intense sex will hurt the baby.  The timing isn’t ideal, I’ll admit that.”

“Should we get you to a hospital?”

“No, I’ll be…”  She winced as the pain got worse, changing her mind.  “Just in case something happens.  Of course this happens when Justin isn’t here.  I don’t need people judging me for having you with me at the hospital.”

“If anyone asks, we dropped the kids off at school, we do have witnesses for that, then say we were having brunch or something when it happened.  I mean, are they going to know…?”

“Well, they’ll likely have to check if I’m dilating or not, so yeah, they’ll know.  If they can tell when I’m getting an annual exam, they’ll know now. I’m hoping they don’t say anything, they legally can’t, doctor-patient confidentiality and all…  But it will raise some eyebrows that it’s you and not Justin.”

“Can we call your doctor and get an emergency appointment?  That way it’s someone that knows you, that might be more understanding of the situation?”

“I don’t know, I just want to figure out if Silas is in any danger, if we need to call Justin to come home early…”

“Thankfully your doctor is on the hospital campus, I’ll call on the way.”

They got dressed, JC helping her as much as possible so she wasn’t moving and in more pain, getting her into her car to lean back while he drove.  Her doctor directed them to the hospital, where she would meet them in the ER.  He was given directions to use the ambulance entrance, given who she was, to get her in quicker and less seen.  He parked the car, going in the way she did to circumvent having to check in with the desk and possibly be turned away.

They began with an ultrasound of Silas, making sure he was ok. They began to examine her, JC trying to be in the corner and out of the way.  Her doctor looked at him, a curious look on her face.

“What, doctor?” Mikayla asked.

“Nothing,” her doctor replied.

“I don’t believe you, but I’m sure it has nothing to do with why I’m here.  Is Silas ok?”

Her doctor sat up on her stool, scooting away from the examination table.  “It’s rare, but it looks like it’s a combination of Braxton Hicks and round ligament pain.  Silas is fine, so there’s no need to worry.  We will keep you for a few hours to observe, just in case anything changes, but so far, so good.  Hopefully we won’t need to keep you overnight and you can go home to the twins.”

Mikayla saw it was just the three of them in the room, nurses and techs having left.  “You’re going through a myriad of questions in your head, I can tell.”

“Yes, and none of them are my business. We are running some labs, so we’ll need you here until we get those results back and can go from there.  It’ll be a while, but I’ll keep you in here until we have answers. You’re hooked up to monitors in case anything happens.  Just relax as best you can in the meantime.”

The doctor closed the door, leaving the two of them alone. “Can we finish our conversation from earlier?” Mikayla agreed. 

“Which one?”

“About how things would have gone if you’d known from the beginning.”

JC sighed. “Well, I’d have proposed. Not right away, once I had something planned out.”

“What ideas did you have at that point of how to propose?”

“I’d probably have recreated that last birthday together. Dinner at Firefly, take you up to the observatory, say something cheesy and romantic about you shining brighter than all of the stars in the sky or something… Then get down on one knee and asking you to make me the happiest man in the world.”

“I don’t think I could say no to something like that.”

“I’d be nervous as hell.”

“I was pregnant with our twins, would I really have said no?” she laughed. 

“It’s still a big step, making sure it went perfectly.”

“Even if it didn’t, you’d find a way.  I know you.”

“Ok, let me ask you this, then.  What would our wedding have looked like?”

“After the twins were born, so I’d have time to lose the baby weight, for sure.  Probably get a dress from David’s Bridal or something, nothing too expensive or over the top. Probably a simpler version of what I wore for our big wedding, just not custom designer made.  Keep things simple, keep the focus on us.”

“See, I’d wanna go big. You hopefully only get married once, so do it up big. Make sure that is memorable and have no regrets years later.”

“You can be memorable and still be intimate and meaningful. I’d rather the memories be for us than everyone else.”

“I’ve been smart enough with my money that we could do a decent big wedding. I mean, you were at Lance and Michael’s.  Something like that. A great venue, great food, good company.  So yeah, it could be small as far as the guest list, but you go all out for those people.”

“Just not ‘spend a week in Italy’ all out. I seriously never saw a single bill for how much things cost for that wedding. Justin took care of all of it as far as that.”

“I’d be the same way. Doing as much of it as I could to give you a special moment for us without all the stress.”

“I’m glad you think about this kinda thing, even if it’s just dreaming of what could have been.”

“Sometimes I literally dream it, nowhere in particular, but that you’re in a great dress, walking towards me, and I get to make you mine forever.”

“I’ve definitely thought about it from time to time over the years.  I loved you so much, I thought that was our future, and then everything got… complicated.”

“I know.  It’s my fault,” JC sighed.

“I was the one pushing you for more.”

“It had been almost 5 years, I’d be surprised if you didn’t give me an ultimatum, walk out if we weren’t heading in that direction.”

“I thought about it, sometimes.  I loved you, but I started to think you didn’t feel the same.  Then everything happened with Jo, and it made things worse.  We’d started to reconnect like that after my show was done, had that incredible weekend that gave us the twins, and then I find you like that… It really hurt me, Josh.  I know I’d been putting pressure on you for more, but to let that happen, it felt like I meant nothing to you; that you could just throw it all away for a few minutes with someone that was practically a stranger.”

“I shouldn’t have done it, pressure or no pressure from you.  It was wrong, and it led to all of this.  I know you don’t regret being with Justin, where it led you, but I have nothing but regret for where it led.”

“Things are better now,” Mikayla sighed. “Not how we’d like, I’m sure, but we can’t change it. We’re together now, and that’s what matters.”

“Thank you for giving me a second chance,” he sighed, kissing the top of her head.  He looked at the monitors she was attached to.  One was quietly making a whooshing sound. “What’s that noise?”

“His heartbeat.  It’s soothing, at least at this volume. I could almost fall asleep…”

“Go ahead, Kay.  I’m gonna call Jackie, see if she can get the kids from school. Should I call Justin, or wait until we know more?”

“Call him, see if he’ll answer if nothing else.”

“Love you, Kay.  I’ll be right back.  If you need anything, call for a nurse, ok?  I know you’re my brave woman, but with this, it’s ok…”  He kissed the top of her head again, Mikayla getting settled under the blankets of the hospital bed.

He stepped into the hallway, glad that the coast was clear.  He pulled out his phone, calling Jackie first.

“Hi, JC,” Jackie answered.

“We need you to get the twins from school today.  That shouldn’t be a problem, right?” JC asked, his voice hopeful.

“Yeah, I’m good.  Why am I suddenly nervous, though?”

“We’re at the hospital.  Braxton Hicks and round ligament pain.  Waiting for more test results before they’ll send her home.  Not sure how long we’ll be here, they may even need to keep her overnight.”

“I’ve got stuff at the house, just in case.  How are you holding up?”

“I’m a mess, to be honest.  I’m glad she’s ok, Silas isn’t in any danger, but we’ve been talking, and I can’t help but think of what life would be like for us if I hadn’t been such an…”

“Asshole?” Jackie laughed.

“Yeah… for some reason I didn't want to say it in a hospital.  Asshole, idiot, take your pick of negative adjectives…”

“She took you back, though, in whatever form you guys have agreed on.  You get to be a dad to the twins…”

“She’s married to someone else, Jackie.  I can’t ignore that my stupidity led to her being with someone else, even if she did give me a second chance of sorts.  She should be MY wife, not his.”

“Keep your voice down, JC.  You can be mad about it, or be happy for what you have.  Your choice.  She’s back in your life, you’re a dad to great kids, what more could you want?”

“You know the answer to that, Jackie…”

“I do, but you can’t change it.  She’s made up her mind about not leaving Justin.  You can’t change anything, just move forward and be glad for what you have.  She needs you right now, you can do what Justin can’t.  You can be in there and comfort her, help her with whatever she needs.  Have you told him yet?”

“He’s next on my list. I needed to make sure you could take the kids first.  I don’t want to alarm him, they’ve assured us she’ll be fine, Silas is fine, but he also needs to know.”

“I’ll let you call him, hopefully he’s free.  I’ll take care of the twins, you help take care of Kayla.  Talk to you later, JC.”

“See you later tonight, hopefully.”

He sighed as he ended the call, moving to Justin’s contact.  He wasn’t sure how Justin was going to react.  Once the word ‘hospital’ came out, he’d be worried, JC knew that much.  Mikayla being pregnant and needing to go to the hospital would send off all types of alarms in Justin’s head. He pressed to call, hoping Justin wouldn’t pick up. 

“Hey, perfect timing, I just ended an interview,” Justin said as he answered the call.  “What’s up?”

“I don’t want to worry you, everything is fine, but…”

“Why am I feeling like this isn’t good news, C?”

“Kay and I are at the hospital.  She-”

“Oh God, is Silas ok?” Justin immediately began to panic.

“She’s fine, Silas is fine.  Braxton Hicks and something called round ligament pain.  It’s off and on, but no danger to either of them.  She hasn’t started any signs of delivery, everything looks good.  They’re just waiting for blood work and tests to come back before they clear her to go home.”

“Thank you for telling me, C.  I’m sure you would’ve told me tonight when I did the bedtime FaceTime, but yeah…”

“I’m scheduling a session with Tessa,” JC admitted.

“Everything ok?”

“A lot of guilt about things.  We got to talking… about how things could have been.  How I’d have proposed, where we’d have gotten married, that kinda stuff.”

“I tried giving you that chance, C.  Even now, being willing to walk away so you two could be together.”

“She loves you too much to do that, we both know that.  I just… it should’ve been me, ya know?”

“I know, C.  Trust me, I know.  I feel it more now than ever.  This is what she wants, both of us.  We can make it work.”

“I just feel so much regret about everything, what could have been, things I missed out on… I didn't get to hold my kids the day they were born, T.  They were 4 years old by the time I finally got to hold them.  I can’t get that back.”

“You can get close.  Come see Kayla when Silas is born.  I know he isn’t yours, but it’s still an incredible feeling, holding something that tiny and new.  I’ll never forget holding the twins, even though they weren’t mine.  You know I love them as if they were.”

“And I’ll love Silas like he was mine.  I lost out on so much, T.  I can’t get any of it back.  I can’t propose, we can’t get married… The things I want the most, I can’t give her.”

“You can give her yourself now, and that’ll have to be enough. See Tessa, get some help on this.  Kay wants you, for better or worse.  She could have just told you about the twins and left it at that, two people working together to raise their kids.  She still loves you, you know that.  I’m pretty sure you’ve been actively showing that…”

“Actively… what?”

“Have you not been banging my wife this whole time I’ve been away, C?  I don’t need details, but I hope you’ve been enjoying this time with her in more ways than one.”

“Is this friendship bordering on weird now?”

“We hit weird a long time ago, C.  Not sure what you’d call this, but it’s what she wants, what we are happy to accept from her and each other.  I have no doubts about what’s been going on while I’m gone, and I know you have a rough idea when I’m home.  Just wash and change the sheets and I don’t need to know anything else…”

“Got it.  Talk to you later tonight, hopefully she’ll be home.”

“Keep me posted,even if it’s just a text.  Bye, C.”

“Bye, T.”

JC went back into the hospital room, Mikayla asleep.  JC sat in the chair next to her bed, watching her. I wonder what you’re dreaming of, that big smile on your face…

…

Mikayla looked around, flowers were everywhere.  The house was gorgeous, it was a perfect day.  She looked around, everything ready. Turning to look in the mirror, her dress was perfect, hair was incredible, her bouquet sitting in a vase on the dresser. 

She walked through the house, portions of windows blocked off to allow her entrance to be more dramatic and less visible. 

“You ready?” her sister asked, a smile on her face.  

Mikayla nodded, walking to their dad. Miranda walked out first, Mikayla feeling nervous butterflies.

“This is the happiest day of your life, enjoy it.  Before you know it, today will be over and it’ll all be a blur. I love you, Mikayla.  There’s nothing to worry about.”

She walked out with her dad, all eyes on her. She couldn’t look up, knowing she’d cry if she saw him.  She slowly looked up, seeing Justin and the other guys smiling at her.  The face that meant the most to her was the one she’d be standing next to.  His eyes sparkled, trying to hide the tears forming.  JC looked incredible, and she knew it was going to be a day she’d remember the rest of her life.