Monday 10 October 2016

Epilogue



I was standing in the kitchen pulling everything of the fridge that was needed.

It has been way too long since all of my friends were together, it was unbelievable how hectic and crazy our lives can be and it’s only been four years since Carter was born.

I found out I was pregnant only a couple of weeks after I moved in with Spencer, something that came as a shock to both of us when I found out.

At first we were both unsure as to what to do about the pregnancy, whether or not we should keep it, go through with the pregnancy and put the baby up for adoption, there were so many options and we couldn’t figure out what we wanted.

We were arguing for weeks trying to make a decision, one simple decision about the life of an unborn baby and I was questioning the chance of our relationship surviving the pregnancy and the baby once he was born.

“There you are, I was wondering where you were.” I jumped at the sound of Sutton’s voice and quickly turned around to face her before rushing over and giving her a hug.

Sutton was the person I probably haven’t seen in the longest amount of time, nearing Fashion Week she has been jet setting all over the place, it was something that Alex had complained about the other night when he joined Spencer and I for dinner. In fact I’m surprised she was able to make it today.

“I’ve really missed you,” I exclaimed pulling away getting a good look at her, I really have missed her.

“Really? I would have thought considering Alex and I were the last ones to turn up you would have been bouncing to answer the door, instead Emery did.” Normally her and Alex being the last ones to turn up would shock me but she had given me the heads up that she was flying in before coming to ours, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they stopped by their place first.

“Emery has all right to miss you as well and that damn girl practically lives here, we need to find her a goddamn boyfriend.” I grumbled and Sutton just laughed.

“Why would I need a boyfriend when I have this handsome fella to keep me company all day long,” I heard Emery’s voice and I turned to look at her holding Carter.

“Mamma!” he exclaimed before squirming in Emery’s arms.

“Because this isn’t your damn house Emery, it’s mine.” I growled at her but she only grinned in response and I could hear Sutton stifle her laugh.

“Speaking of this damn house, where is Spencer?” Emery’s question made me freeze, I didn’t know how to answer.

I was hoping he would have returned from his office before everyone had turned up but he hadn’t he was still hiding away and I was hurt. I couldn’t believe he was being like this.

“Dri what’s wrong?” Emery questioned and it was then I realised my eyes had welled up. I quickly placed Carter on the ground and gave him a smile.

“Baby go find Uncle Alec,” I didn’t need him here for this conversation, he was already asleep last night when Spencer left and this morning I just stated he was working and Carter happily took it before going back to his colouring.

“Okay mamma,” he grinned at me before running out of the room.

“Spencer spent the night at his office…” I trailed off before heading to the fridge.

“Wait, did you tell him?” Emery questioned.

“What am I missing?” Sutton spoke sounding confused and I just took a deep breath.

“I’m pregnant,” I stated and Sutton’s face was showing a range of emotions before she looked at me with empathy and I knew why.

It was hard between Spencer and I when I was pregnant with Carter, instead of large range of emotions due to hormones I was constantly peeved, the smallest thing set me off.

It was another thing that made me think that Spencer and I wouldn’t last, but I look back at those nine months where I was pregnant and he was so patient with me, he didn’t have to put up with me the way he did but yet he did because he loved me and I love him, I truly do.

If I wasn’t pregnant any number of those moments where I snapped and yelled at him, he would have fought back, it would have turned into a full blown argument between the two of us and ended badly and I’m so grateful to this day that it didn’t.

“Maybe he was just shocked with the news Dri, knowing you two you probably spat it out in anger.” Sutton rolled her eyes and Emery laughed.

“Do we really have to talk about this right now?”

“You’re right, let’s talk about when Sutton and Alex are going to have children.” Emery exclaimed before clapping her hands together and this time Sutton looked put out and I laughed.

“Okay, okay. So I haven’t told Alex yet but I am actually pregnant.” I almost dropped the bowl I was holding, I placed it on the bench before rushing over and hugging her.

Sutton and Alex having been trying to have children for years but it just wasn’t working, they had both been tested and everything came back fine. They were just unlucky when it came down to it and I knew every time Sutton looked at Carter she would see what she was missing out on and it was partly why I told Emery I was pregnant and not her.

In fact it wasn’t long after I gave birth to Carter and we had all our friends helping on a number of occasions that it made Sutton and Alex realise that they too wanted children one day, but they wanted to wait until they were married.

If fact their wedding happened so quickly, everyone thought that maybe she was pregnant as well but she wasn’t. Still to this day, no one knows the true reason as to why they only got married mere weeks after I found out I was pregnant, their response every single time was that they were in love and didn’t want to wait.

“I’m so happy for you,” I spoke while hugging her and Emery quickly joined in on it.

But before any of us could say anything else, a quiet voice interrupted us. “Hi,” we all looked over and found Spencer standing there holding a bouquet of flowers looking incredibly guilty.

Both Emery and Sutton gave my arm a squeeze before leaving me alone in the kitchen with Spencer, I didn’t say anything as they left I just leaned against the counter and looked away from him.

“I’m so sorry for the way I reacted last night, I know I shouldn’t have taken off like I did. I truly am happy that you’re pregnant and we’re having another baby. But I panicked alright, that’s the honest truth. We were a mess when you were pregnant with Carter, I panicked not knowing what was going to happen this time round.”

“We’re not even talking about this right now Spence, you took off last night. We’re married for god sake! You can’t just take off every time something goes wrong in our lives, we’re meant to work on it together.” I hissed at him before picking the bowl back up.

Some days I still couldn’t believe that Spencer and I were married.

After all the times where he made jokes about his proposals being big and over the top that I would definitely know it was happening, his actual proposal was the complete opposite. He proposed in my hospital room after I had given birth to Carter, despite us fighting for most of the pregnancy, him sticking around was enough to know how much he cared.

It wasn’t until before we were leaving the hospital, finally able to take Carter home that Spencer appeared with a ring in hand, he even stated when he proposed that he had a ring, wasn’t making Alex’s mistake but it was hidden at Alec’s.

It was in that moment, seeing the ring that I panicked and made sure this was what he wanted, after everything we’ve been through in the last nine months. His response was that, yes we had a rocky nine months, but we also had a rocky couple of months before hand and we made it through that. He believed enough in us that he knew we could get through it, he loved me and loved Carter and wanted us to be a family.

It took a while for us to actually get married, in fact we had only gotten married last year and I was scared a second pregnancy might ruin what we had finally worked so hard towards.

“Dri…”

“Don’t Spence, we have guests and after last night you’re lucky I’m not kicking you out.” I spoke harshly but his face didn’t change, he walked up to me and grabbed the bowl from my hands before placing it on the counter.

“Babe looked at me,” he spoke softly while stroking my cheek and I couldn’t help but do as he said, I really did love him and after everything we’ve been through him spending the night at the office because he panicked isn’t that big deal of a deal compared to everything else we have dealt with in the past.

“What Spence?” I snapped at him and he let out a sigh before resting his forehead against mine.

“I love you Dri.”

“I love you too Spence but we will talk about this later,” I spoke and he nodded as I picked the bowl back up to head out to the dining room, I turned and looked at him before I left the room. “Oh and before you try to convince me otherwise, you’re sleeping on the couch tonight.” I smirked at him and he frowned.

I walked into the dining room and placed the bowl on the table, looking around at my family, the people I loved dearest.

Over the years Belle and Jess had drifted away, moved out of the city with their partners and we did catch up every few weeks. I missed both of them and we understand that our lives have gone in different directions but I still had Sutton and Emery while Spencer still had Alex and Alec.

“Oi cut it out,” Spencer growled and when I looked around I couldn’t help but laugh at what he was annoyed at.

Not long after I had given birth to Carter Lee had moved to the city to be closer to both me and our mother, I hated that she gave up her dream school to be closer to us but she was still following her dreams and I couldn’t fault her for that.

Especially considering how much I needed her when Carter was six months old, our mother’s health didn’t last long. She was able to meet her grandson and be there for the first six months of his life, whether or not he would remember it but it made her happy to see at least one grandchild being born.

Something snapped for both Lee and I when our mother passed away and it was hard, despite having a bad mother daughter relationship we still took the death of her incredibly hard. I was happy having my sister around permanently and I didn’t realise how much I missed her while she was studying in a different city.

Spencer and I don’t know when it happened, neither of them will tell us, maybe with fear of what will happen but somewhere along the way Lee and Alec had begun dating, something that Spencer despised.

Spencer saw Lee as a younger sister, something which I was grateful for, I loved that Spencer and Lee were so close but it also meant that Spencer hated that she was dating someone like Alec, a giant man whore were his exact words when we realised what was happening.

But I knew Alec, he wouldn’t do anything to hurt the people that Spencer and I loved, he wouldn’t do something like this unless he actually felt something towards my sister.

“So when are we going to find exactly when this all started?” Emery questioned with a large grin on her face while pointing a finger at the two of them.

“Is lunch ready yet Dri?” Alec questioned with a smug look on his face, walking over to the table and I rolled my eyes.

I think there was a part of both Alec and Lee that refused to say anything about their relationship because it annoyed Spencer.

“Do I really have to sleep on the couch?” I turned at the sound of Spencer’s voice and found in him leaning in the doorway to our bathroom.

Dinner was finished and everyone had headed home for the night but I knew with everyone in town for the weekend that chances are they would all be back tomorrow.

“You took off Spencer,” I responded softly and he frowned before walking over and wrapping his arms around me.

“I panicked, we haven’t spoken once about another child and Carter is four, I thought maybe we were past having children but babe I am thrilled, don’t get me wrong. I love Carter, and you, I will also love this new baby of ours.” I felt Spencer press his lips into my hair and I just pressed my face against his chest for a moment before looking up at him.

“You didn’t even say anything after I told you, you just left. How do you think that felt on my end? I was terrified to tell you because of how much we fought when I was pregnant with Carter, I just-” I was cut off by Spencer kissing me.

When we broke apart Spencer cupped my face, “I’m so incredibly sorry for doing that, I didn’t even realise how me leaving would be considered. I’m not going anywhere, after everything we have been through, I’m not going anywhere. We made it through all that crap with Nathan and Damon, the court cases, we made it through therapy, we made it through everything with your mum, before and after she got sick, even when she died. Dri we’ve made it through so much, things are different between us now, it won’t be the same this time round.”

I nodded, “I know Spence, it just hurt when you left like that and you never came home. I didn’t even know what to tell Carter when he was asking where you were this morning, I just lied and said you were at work.”

“I really am sorry babe,” Spencer apologised again and I just nodded pulling away, slipping past him and climbing into our bed.

Spencer stayed in his position in the doorway of the bathroom and I sighed, “come on.”

“How far along are you?” Spencer questioned once he was positioned in the bed beside me.

“12 weeks.”

“12 weeks, you’re 12 weeks along and I’m only finding out now?” he questioned and I could hear the anger in his voice.

“Babe, I’ve only known a week. Between our holiday when we went to France and work being crazy I didn’t even realise I missed that many periods until the other week and I instantly made a doctor’s appointment, I’ve barely had morning sickness.” I shifted closer to him and laid my head on his chest, happy when his arms came around me.

“So another baby, hopefully we’ll get that girl you want this time.” Spencer spoke and I nodded.

I couldn’t even remember the reasons as to why I wanted a girl, it could have had something to do with the crappy relationship I had with my mother growing up and I wanted to have a proper mother daughter relationship with a future daughter of mine.

“Carter’s going to be thrilled about being a big brother,” I responded half asleep and Spencer laughed.

Carter has been asking questions more and more over recent months about when he was going to get a brother or sister because so many of his friends in day care have siblings and he didn’t.

We never knew how to respond when he asked, just said one day before abruptly changing the subject and it was pretty easy with a four year.

“You know Alex thinks Sutton is finally pregnant,” Spencer spoke and I sat up to look at him, wondering if I should betray one of my best friends know she was telling her husband tonight. “She is isn’t she?”

I nodded, “she wanted to tell him first but we were talking about my pregnancy and it came out. You know our children will grow up together, ooo what if Lee was pregnant as well,” I spoke with a smirk and I could see the frown instantly appear on his face.

“She better not be or I will kill Alec,” he threatened and I laughed before laying back down beside him.

“You would be happy for them, finally being able to get revenge on all the times Alec has loaded Carter up on sugar before bringing him home.”

“Good point,” Spencer responded gripping my waist and pulling me closer to him. “Now how tired are you?” he questioned, not even letting me respond before he kissed me.

I love Spencer and Carter and the little family we had going as well as the friends we had in our lives that we considered family.

Our lives were so different to what they were five years ago when we went on our break, we were thrown so many curve balls and Spencer was right when he said we made it through it all. There were even things that came our way that may have broken other couples up but they didn’t faze us, we brushed them off before going along with our lives.

Still do this day I am incredibly grateful for having Spencer and Carter in my life and I can’t wait to see where our lives go now, how our family develops and the families of our friends.