Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
PART ONE
BABY: DAY 1
PREGNANCY: MONTH 1
BABY: DAY 1
PREGNANCY: MONTH 4
BABY: DAY 7
PREGNANCY: MONTH 6
BABY: DAY 38
BABY: DAY 39
PREGNANCY: MONTH 8
BABY: DAY 42
PREGNANCY: MONTH 9
BABY: DAY 45
PART TWO
PRESENT
PAST
PRESENT
PART THREE
THE FUTURE
FURTHER INTO THE FUTURE
Sneak Peek at CHILDREN OF VICE
Discover More by J.J. McAvoy
About the Author
RAINBOWS EVER AFTER
A Black Rainbow Happily Ever After Novella
JJ McAvoy
Copyright
This ebook is licensed to you for your personal enjoyment only.
This ebook may not be sold, shared, or given away.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Rainbows Ever After
Copyright © 2017 by J.J. McAvoy
Ebook ISBN: 9781943772858
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No part of this work may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
NYLA Publishing
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http://www.nyliterary.com
Dedication
For everyone who never wants the happily ever to end…
PART ONE
BABY: DAY 1
LEVI
The world was full of liars. I was sure of it. It had to be. I was sure of it. Throughout my life, I’ve had to endure many people shoving their kids in my face, saying how they were so cute. How there was no other kid on the planet as beautiful as their child. I’d awkwardly just agree, smile, give the kid a little nod, and move on. But now as I held my child—my son—cute wasn’t good enough; beautiful was just the bare minimum, barely cutting it. Ulric was pulchritudinous. Yes, pulchritudinous, a 15-letter, 5-syllable word that meant a person of such breathtaking and heartbreaking beauty effort needed to be used in order to say it. Closing my eyes and opening them again, I smiled wider seeing him sleeping soundly in my arms. He was actually the cutest baby in the world, and as such, everyone else was a bunch of liars.
“Shh…” I whispered softly as he started to twist and turn in my arms. His light face bunched up as he prepared to demand his next feeding. I didn’t want to wake her, but—
“Someone’s hungry,” she said softly, her head tilted at us in the chair beside her. She smiled and opened her arms for him. Standing up with him, I moved to the side of her bed, gently snuggling him into her beautiful brown arms. He was already a genius; the moment he was with her, he knew food was coming, calmed down, and turned toward her breast, leaning over I helped open her gown enough.
“Ahh…”
“Does it hurt?” I asked, watching her carefully.
She giggled and shook her head smiling down at him. “No, it just kind of feels like a tiny vacuum getting attached to me.”
“Do you need anything?” I asked, stroking the side of her dark hair. She shook her head no, unable to look away from him. I understood the feeling.
That’s how pulchritudinous he was. He could steal the attention of the love of my life, and I’d gladly accept it because … because my heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest.
Feeling my phone vibrate, I pulled it out to see the stream of texts pouring in from both of our families.
“Are they really trying to get here at this hour?” Thea asked, finally looking up at me.
“As they should be,” I nodded, texting my mother back. “What is a New Year’s celebration compared to him?”
“Can’t believe you held out for the new year,” she said to him.
“I can’t believe you did either,” I teased, grinning, remembering how much she’d jiggled, wiggled, and begged for him to come out.
“Shut up.”
“Shh…” I reached over, putting my fingers over his tiny ears. “Don’t teach him bad words yet. You know I’m going to fu—screw up with that later.”
She rolled her brown eyes at me. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m happy,” I told her, kissing her forehead. “thank you…thank you for all the ways you’ve blessed my life.”
She swallowed, nodding, fighting the tears in her eyes. I was too.
Was it possible to explode from too much happiness? If so, I was sure I was ready to simultaneously combust. The only thing stopping me was my fear that I wouldn’t get to stare at them more.
God…these really were the best years of my life. Even on the worst days, it was the best.
THEA
He wasn’t playing fair.
But, then again, he never played fair. He just said whatever he wanted, without hesitation, smothering me with all of it, and it hurt in the best kind of way. Even now as I was struggling to concentrate, both of us completely exhausted, his dark hair a mess on his head, his green eyes fighting off sleep, he made it hard for me not to stare at him. If he was this happy, what did that make me?
I never figured this would be my life and yet here I was. Here we all were. Sitting in a hospital bed on New Year’s Day, now, fireworks and cheering still lingering on outside even though it had been hours since midnight. It was like it was all one big celebration for him. Our son. I was a mother. I was someone’s love, fiancée, and I’d soon be a wife. I was blissful. But the truth was we’d both been over the moon since I told him.
Looking back, even on the days we’d been annoyed with each other, we were content.
“We did good, Levi,” I nodded to him as he gently poked Ulric’s cheek. He looked like a kid himself, so in awe, and curious.
“Damn right we did.” He smirked, and then frowned at himself. “His first word is going to be a swear word, isn’t it?”
I laughed, and Ulric lifted his hand up like he was trying to reach for me, to touch my voice. Or maybe that was just my mommy brain, he could have been telling us to keep it down he was eating here.
“I’m glad it’s just us for now.” He bent down and kissed our son’s head.
“So am I.” We wouldn’t have minded if all of our family was here, we were sure they’d be here soon, but having these couple of moments to ourselves with him was everything we could have wanted.
“I love you.” It was only a fraction of what I wanted to say.
“Love me enough to stop making me go out at two a.m. for Korean food?”
“Let’s not get crazy here.” I grinned, and he sighed, allowing Ulric to grab his finger.
“At least she can’t blame you anymore,” he said to our son.
I’d put him through the wringer while I was pregnant. I knew that. So did he. But looking back, at least we had some funny memories. My mind replayed them all like a movie reel, and I couldn’t wait for Denise, Levi’s mother, to get here because I finally understood what she meant.
“My dad told me it would be like this.” Levi brushed his hand over Ulric’s head again. “He has never been more right.”
I wanted to ask him to elaborate, but I felt like it was personal. Kind of like the talks I’d had with his mother.
“Welcome to the world, Ulric Black,” I said down to him when he was done. “We’ve been waiting for you since we found out you were coming.”
“I’ve wanted him since I met you,” Levi said, looking up at me with those stunning green eyes of his, which tonight looked evening more striking due to the shine in them. “Since that first week, I’ve wanted you to be the mother of my children, and I’ve wanted him. I love you, Thea. And I love him.”
There he was, being unfair again.
PREGNANCY: MONTH 1
THEA
“Twelve hours? You were in labor for twelve hours?”
“Bethan was fifteen.”
I groaned, looking down at my own flat stomach. “Don’t you dare.”
Denise laughed at me. “Yeah, but don’t rush too much, though. Enjoy it. With Levi, I always wanted him to be close by, calling me Mommy. One day it changed to Mom, and the next thing I know, he’s an adult who’s going to be a father. Being a mom is like that. You want your kids to be independent and grow up healthy and happy. But you also want them to need you. Even when they’re adults.”
“Levi talks about you guys all the time.” I felt like hugging her, and I wasn’t sure why. “He tells me all the fun things he did as a kid. In all honestly, I’m jealous. I wish that it was like that for me.”
“The good thing about not having the best childhood is you know exactly what to do to make sure that your kids do.”
I hadn’t thought about it that way. I—Levi and I—would now be responsible for another person’s life, to make sure he or she didn’t end up a black rainbow, stripped of colors.
“Thea?”
“Huh?” I snapped, reaching to take the spoons from her. “Sorry, it just kinda hit me again. There is a person growing in me.”
“Freaky, but cool, right?” She smirked, just like Levi did when he guessed what was on my mind.
“Exactly,” I replied as I saw her moving to take the plates. “Oh, I got it!” I tried to take them back from her, but Denise was too quick and had already grabbed all the plates and silverware, and moved to the kitchen, much faster than any other sixty-year-old woman in heels I’d ever seen.
“The food was amazing; you’re a much better cook than I was at your age.” She smiled, placing the dishes in the sink and rolling up the sleeves of her two-hundred-dollar cardigan. “I’m so happy, I have to put it to use. After his divorce, I worried he’d just be Levi Black, the amazing lawyer.” I liked how even she called him the amazing lawyer. Though I knew she was teasing a little bit. “Then you came. And now our family has gotten bigger and much brighter. I want you to know I’m grateful. And I want you to also forgive me in the future because I’m really going to spoil the heck out of that kid.”
She pointed to my stomach and sounded so excited. I laughed.
“I can see it now. This kid is going to have coats in ten different colors with matching shoes and hats.”
“And gloves, and scarves, and tiny dresses or suits.” She was giddy, which was making me giddy. “And that’s just the first year. The moment he starts getting older, you’ll see Walter riding up on different sized bikes.”
“Oh gosh.” I remembered Bethan, with her room of dresses, and I imagined needing a larger place soon.
“I want you to know, you’re my daughter, too, Thea. So that means I’m going to invite you for lunches and shopping, and to get our hair and nails and anything else done that I can think of. You’re important to us, too. So even if Levi tries hogging you, you will have tell him to sit in the corner to hang out while you are spending time with his old, attention-begging mother.”
My throat went dry, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at her for a moment, only nodding and folding the towel in my hands. “I … thank you, Denise.”
“I’ll accept that for now…” She hugged me. “But let’s work up to Mom, okay?”
I hadn’t had a mom; my actual mother didn’t feel like my mother. And so this … this was special for me. “Yes … Mom.”
“Perfect.” She squeezed tighter.
LEVI
When I didn’t hear water, or them muttering back and forth again, I glanced over my shoulder. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but seeing them embrace was what I’d hoped for and gotten.
“You’re getting your ass kicked.” I looked back to my father as he stared down at the chess match in front us, his eyes unwavering. He took my knight and then looked back up at me. “I fear for your clients.”
“My clients are fine, thank you.” My jaw cracked to the side as I looked at the hole I’d fallen into … wait. Relaxing my face, I glanced back to him. “Really, Dad? You’ve resorted to cheating now?”
“Cheating?” He huffed angrily. “You rude little—”
I reached down and rearranged the pieces. “This was the last move I made so how in the heck did my rook move all the way over there?”
“I pray you have a son who’s exactly like you,” he muttered, leaning back in his seat. I chuckled and glanced over my shoulder once before pulling out the flask near the arm of the chair. He glanced back to them before he slid his cup of cranberry juice closer.
“My boy.” He nodded proudly.
“Oh, now you’re happy to have a son like me.” I snickered, adding some to my juice before hiding it again.
“I never said weren’t both a joy and a frustration.” He tipped his glass.
“Levi Roman Black!” My mother called. I jumped before the glass got to my lips. “Did you spike your father’s drink?”
How? How did she know?
I looked to my father who made it worse by chugging the evidence.
“What drink?” I asked her trying to be his lawyer. “There is no more drink, and as such, there is nothing spiked.”
She marched over and even my father sat up straighter.
“It was just one—”
“Just one glass. You know with your heart condition that you shouldn’t be drinking even drop.”
“You already have me eating grass three times a week—”
She snapped her fingers at me, and I stared at them for a moment. Then back at her. Sighing, I handed her the flask. But she wasn’t done there. She took my glass too.
“He’s the one with the condition!”
“Are you the prosecutor or the defense?” my father muttered.
“And you’re the one who takes after him, so you’re welcome in advance,” she replied.
My mouth dropped open, preparing to say something, but my father shook his head, but I went forward to my death anyway. “At least let me finish the glass. Dad drank his.” If I was throwing him under the bus, I might as well drag him a little too.
She paused, turned back to me, and I froze, recognizing that look. She rejoined Thea, who was trying her best not to laugh at me.
“Thea, dear, don’t you think it’s a little unfair that you can’t drink for nine whole months while you carry your soon-to-be husband’s child?”
Karma had no grace period. Just as I’d thrown my father under the bus, so had she done to me.
“Absolutely!” Thea said passionately. And just as I’d dragged my father, she decided to rub it in. “I’m also barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen while he’s just having a grand ol’ time.”
Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut?
“I lied actually,” my mother continued as she poured my glass and flask down the drain. “It’s actually much longer than nine months … breast feeding time, too.”
“Really?” Thea pouted.
“Don’t worry. You have a whole support team, right, Levi?” There it was—the final nail in my coffin.
I looked to my father who just nodded like he knew it was coming.
“Levi?” Thea called.
Closing my eyes, I forced myself to smile. “Sure.”
Nine months plus without alcohol?
“The first eight months are the hardest,” my father said softly, reaching for his chess piece again. “After that
, you get so busy preparing and panicking that you’re too scared to drink.”
“She did this to you too?”
“Twice,” he said, and it sounded just as painful as I thought. “You got off easy. I’d gone out to drink with a few buddies at the firm, and she was so upset. Irrationally upset, was what I told her. But she told me if I drank again without her, she’d raise you on her own.”
I took his pawn and asked, “How did she even know?”
“Don’t ask questions, son. The answers will scare you. They pick up.” He shook his head, and for some reason, the thought made me laugh. “What? I’m being serious.”
“I know. I was just thinking how I want a son. Just so I could say those types of lines to him.” I laughed again … I couldn’t stop laughing. I was going to be a father. Me.
“Yes, half the time he’ll ignore you,” he added, obviously distracted as he searched the board for a victory.
“And the other half?”
He paused and looked up at me with familiar green eyes. “The other half he’ll end up being much wiser than you. And you’ll be so shocked and amazed at the person he’s become you’ll end up letting yourself lose chess games just to spend time with him.”
The corner of my lip creeped up. “So you let yourself lose now, Grandpapa?”
“Yes, and you’re not getting any other explanation from me either, Dad,” he said proudly, sitting back in his chair, not making his final move into my trap.
I took a deep breath and sat back as well. “I always knew that one day I wanted to be a father. I just didn’t realize that one day was finally here.”
“Now everything starts.”
“What?”
“Falling in love. Getting married. That’s all the prequel. Actually starting a family … seeing that family grow … that’s the movie and goes by quicker than you think. That’s when you feel love is bottomless.”
“There are those lines again.” I tried to tease, but in all honestly I wanted to know what it was he was trying to explain.