Creating Perfection (Sizzling Miami Book 10) Page 3

  “As you can tell, my wife is very passionate about her work,” Cam said when neither man responded.

  “A trait you obviously share.” Was Billy teasing? Corey thought he might be, but she didn’t know him well enough to be certain.

  “Yes, we do, and we picked demanding careers, but we’re ready to make adjustments for a child.” Cam shifted, tightening her arms before she asked, “Unless we’ve already lost you?”

  Billy snorted out a disbelieving laugh. “Guilt? Really?”

  “I wasn’t…ugh!”

  Corey flinched when Cam banged her head against the wall. If Billy was teasing, Cam was too worried to hear it and if he was serious, she wouldn’t know how to fix it.

  “Look, cards on the table, I am not the most personable person in the world and my wife wears her heart on her sleeve. Usually, we balance each other out, but right now…shit. We’ve been preparing for this since college and we thought we had time to find the right couple to create a family with. That’s no longer possible, but we’re not going to dive into the first available Petri dish just because you’re interested either.”

  “I don’t even know what to say to that.”

  “That’s exactly how we feel! How do we garner your interest without playing on your emotions yet still get you to be emotionally invested? It’s impossible and we’re screwing up and…”

  “Cam?” Liam’s softer voice was enough to cut through the rant Cam was building toward, but not quite enough to take the edge off her response.

  Rough, wary, prepared for the worst, she snapped back. “What?”

  “Why since college?”

  It was their turn to be silent. Cam had put it out there, so the question wasn’t unexpected or even unfair. They were strangers willing to strip themselves bare and open old wounds in the hopes of having a child. If they came to an agreement, then it would be worth it. But if they didn’t, then it was just another painful failure and Corey didn’t know how many more they could take.

  “We don’t want you to agree because you feel sorry for us.”

  “And we can’t agree without knowing who you are.”

  “Cancer.” Tone void of emotion, Cam might as well have been on the moon she felt so far away. “I was twenty-one. There’s genetic history there, so my doctor wanted to be aggressive. Full hysterectomy, plus chemo and radiation. Stop it before it could metastasize. She’s the one who suggested I freeze my eggs and agreed to put off the surgery long enough to get it done.”

  “Obviously, I would be the one to carry any children we had—” Corey added when Cam forced herself to take a breath. “—and since I wasn’t going to have sex with a man to do it, we saved up so I could do a round myself. Freezing enough eggs to give us the best chance of success.”

  “I admit, we don’t know what all is involved.” Liam sounded sheepish, though there was no real reason for them to know. If they had gone through an egg bank as opposed to asking a relative or friend, that part of the process wouldn’t be important to them. “But that sounds smart.”

  “It was. Until the storage facility had a freezer failure. More than half our eggs are no longer viable and though they assure us the others are still good… We’re afraid.” No, they were terrified, and that fear had taken over their lives. “If it happens again, then Cam won’t—”

  “Stop,” Cam begged. “Corey, we talked about this. Yours or mine, it doesn’t matter.”

  “I know. I do know. But Cam, we risked so much just to have the chance.” They would love any child that came into their lives, that was a given, and if the worst happened, Corey was still capable of having biological children. But Cam had put off a life-saving surgery for the chance to be a mother. They couldn’t squander that without trying.

  “What’s the alternative?” Billy asked. “If not us…”

  “If not you, we’ll find another way.” Having taken the risk, she refused to let their chance be snatched away by a technical malfunction. “As Cam said, you need to make the decision that’s right for you, not because you feel sorry for us.”

  “And we’re not asking you to say yes right this second,” Cam assured. “This was supposed to be a simple introduction. A first step to see if there was any interest in meeting and figuring out if this was something we wanted to do together. It got away from us a bit, but we’re still committed to taking the time to do this right.”

  “That’s good,” Billy agreed. “You could hate us on sight.”

  Cam snorted in commiseration. “Or you could decide we’re too neurotic.”

  Billy laughed then, the sound rich and warm, and Corey thought she heard a touch of relief as well. “Now that we’ve all put our worst foot forward, when do you want to meet?”

  Having gotten a little sense of who they were, she would have doubted the veracity of that question had it come from Liam. He seemed like her—rushing in heart first. Whereas Billy seemed more cautious, like Cam. Either way, Corey expected them to ask for some time. If not days, at least a few minutes on mute to talk privately.

  But Billy asked without a second’s hesitation and Cam was answering just as quickly. “Tuesday. That’ll give us a day to recover from this phone call and gain some perspective.”

  “If you say so.” He was definitely teasing then, but he didn’t argue.

  “I like when people agree with me, just so you know.” Whether that warning was necessary or not, hearing Cam laugh with Billy gave her hope and Corey knew how dangerous that was. Welcome, but oh so dangerous. “Both our schedules are light, so we can meet you for an early dinner unless…”

  “That sounds perfect, just let us know where.” Though Billy didn’t outright end the call, the polite bid for a break couldn’t be ignored.

  “Right, okay, we should… Uh…” Corey was afraid to hang up. Afraid they would change their minds long before dinner on Tuesday.

  “We’re really glad you called, and we’ll see you Tuesday,” Liam murmured, quiet and sincere. “Happy New Year.”

  Cam’s arms tightened as the line went dead and Corey snuggled in.

  Happy New Year? She really hoped so.

  Chapter Four

  Current Day - Cam

  A decade of planning, nine months of waiting, and every possible class from prenatal to parenting, Lamaze to CPR, and Cam still wasn’t prepared for the sight of her wife writhing in pain. Standing at the foot of the bed, alone for a few minutes while Billy went to find Liam, Cam wondered if they made a mistake. What if something went wrong?

  She would never be able to choose between the love of her life and the babies they did everything to have. God wouldn’t do that to her, would he? Give her a glimpse of everything and then take it away?

  “Cam.” Corey held out her hand and, loath as she was to admit it, Cam hesitated.

  Pregnancy had given Corey superhuman strength and Cam’s hand was still smarting from the car ride over. But she couldn’t refuse. Corey had been a trooper from the beginning and as the pregnancy progressed, Cam privately acknowledged that she wouldn’t have done as well. The morning sickness, the constant aches, a growing belly that made it impossible to get comfortable, the never-ending urge to pee. All day. All night.

  She didn’t know the bladder could work that hard.

  Corey said it was magical. The most wonderful time of her life and she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Cam believed it because, unlike her, Corey was special. In fact, if she had the only functioning uterus between them, this would have been a completely different experience.

  Nightmare level: expert.

  They had been spared that horror show and with Corey doing all the hard work, Cam could only walk around the bed and clasp the hand that reached for hers. She didn’t even flinch. Much.

  “Should I get the nurse?”

  “No. They seemed to have settled for a moment.”

  Cam glanced at the bare belly that looked nothing like Corey’s normally soft curves and didn’t see any movement. On the chair, the
hospital gown lay discarded. They had tried, of course, the nurse was adamant that they wrangle the darn thing on. In the end, all they managed was to strip Corey down to her sports bra and she was content to go bare beneath the blanket.

  Billy, bless his gruff little heart, just hefted her into a comfortable position while Cam stuffed her clothes in the spare bag. He and Liam had come a seriously long way in the last year and had gotten a crash course in the female anatomy. If they were bothered by any of it, they did a better job of hiding it than Cam did of pretending her hand didn’t hurt.

  Having them there for every doctor’s visit, as concerned for Corey’s well-being as she was, did something Cam hadn’t expected. When she came out at nineteen, nearly everyone who claimed to love her turned their back on her. In the years since, they made some decent friendships, but she didn’t expect them to last and she certainly never counted on them.

  Corey was the exception for the longest time, so she wasn’t prepared for Billy and Liam to become an integral part of their lives. Now, not only were they trusted, she liked them and that made them dangerous. Gave them power. But for all she wanted to shore up the walls and stand guard over Corey, she couldn’t—and wouldn’t—deny that together they had made a chosen family worth being born into.

  For that alone, she loved them.

  “But you look all wound up,” Corey teased, tugging her closer. “What’s wrong?”

  “What if something happens to you?” She hadn’t meant to ask that out loud. Especially, not to Corey who had enough to worry about. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to me.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because you wouldn’t let it.”

  Normally, that was true, but she had no power here. She couldn’t carry their children, she couldn’t give birth to them, and she wasn’t medically trained to fix anything that might go wrong. Literally, everything was out of her control and she didn’t know how to deal with it.

  “Cam.” Corey tugged on her hand again, urging her close. “It’s going to be fine. I promise.”

  “Sorry—”

  “That’s two!” Blue eyes rounding comically, Corey gasped. “Who are you and why do you keep saying sorry?”

  “Who keeps saying sorry?” Billy asked as he pushed the door open, Liam right on his heels. “Surely, not our dear sweet Cam.”

  “Oh, shut up, you fucker.” Snarling made her feel better, which he knew. “What took so long?”

  Because seeing them, having them in the room, made everything better and right. They embarked on this journey together and hadn’t veered from that path once. She might not be willing to tell them how much that meant to her, but they knew. She knew they knew.

  “Me. I’m sorry.” Liam rushed to the other side of the bed, long hair hastily pulled back, handsome face set in tragic lines. His regret was heartbreaking, but his apology was unnecessary and putting him at ease was enough to pull her out of her thoughts. “I shouldn’t have gone out.”

  “Nonsense. It’s because of you that we’re here tonight.”

  Without seeming to think about it, Liam’s hand found Corey’s among the blankets and she immediately latched on. They were a lot alike. Emotionally available, easily hurt, and they brought immeasurable comfort to one another. Cam waited to be jealous, but then, she’d been waiting since their first meeting and it still hadn’t happened.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’ve all been hovering and watching and waiting. Those babies were feeling the pressure and as soon as you let down your guard, they decided to make a break for it.” Originally, the doctor expected Corey to go at thirty-six weeks, if not earlier, because they were having two. Every week beyond that mark was both a blessing and a concern.

  “Speaking of…” Corey’s whole body seemed to ripple from the belly up and they all grimaced along with her.

  “I should really get the nurse...”

  “Not yet!” Panting, sweat beading on her brow, Corey sank back against the pillows and released a shaky breath. “This is normal, remember?”

  How could she remember? None of them had ever done this before. “Corey…”

  “No. No. We’re doing this the natural way. Vaginal birth if at all possible. Right now, it’s still possible. The babies are positioned right and I’m not in distress.”

  “But you’re in pain.”

  “Oh, Cam.” When Corey grinned, she knew she was being ridiculous. Of course, she was in pain. Unless she asked for an epidural or a cesarean became necessary, the pain was a given.

  “Fine, but I don’t have to like it.” Billy’s laughter gave her a place to glare, which only made his smile grow. It was their way—the teasing and glaring equal to Corey and Liam’s more tactile affection.

  “How ya doing, honey?” In contrast to their mutually enjoyable antagonism, Billy donned kid gloves when dealing with Corey. “Let me help you sit up so Liam can fix the pillows.”

  “Don’t bother. They keep sliding to the side or under me.”

  Better at doing things that showed how he felt rather than expressing them verbally, Billy was unstoppable in his need to make Corey comfortable. “We can adjust the position of the bed.”

  “This is definitely not the same bed they showed us on the tour. Pretty sure that futon we had in grad school was softer than this.” Corey slapped her hand on the mattress beneath her. Then she turned those expressive eyes on their bear and whimpered.

  Cam loved her wife dearly, didn’t share her willingly, and grinned like an idiot at her bald-faced attempt to seek comfort from that big welcoming body. In the grand scheme of things, she was all boney angles and Liam, while more muscular than her, wasn’t much better. Billy, though? Thick, strong, and warm—he was all the comforts of home.

  Many an evening found them in the living room, Liam in Billy’s arms. Then Corey would wiggle her way closer and, being pregnant, they just made room. Cam would be the hold out because, really, it was ridiculous. But then Billy would open his arms and damned if she didn’t find herself slinking inside.

  Now, with Corey in obvious pain and unable to get comfortable, it was no shock to see Billy pull out the pillows and climb on the bed. It took a little doing, with her and Liam helping Corey up, but finally, she was happily cradled and fully supported.

  “Feel like she’s been planning this all along?” Cam teased.

  “I’m no lawyer,” Billy mused. “But the evidence seems pretty overwhelming.”

  “If I take a picture, are you going to beat me with my phone?” Liam asked as he watched them, his lips curving up for the first time since he walked into the room.

  Corey had been adamant that she didn’t want any pictures or video, so they were all surprised when she asked, “Who’s outside? Maybe we can get someone to take a before picture of the four of us.”

  “Chris was my ride and Owen was already here. I’m sure they’re making calls, but as far as we know, they’re the only ones in the waiting room so far.”

  “That’s fine.” At their stunned expressions, Corey added, “They’ve been there through most of this. If they’re comfortable coming in for a few minutes, I’ll be glad to see them.”

  Cam wanted that picture bad enough that she was quick to go find Chris and Owen. There wasn’t a single title that encompassed what the two men meant to them, so they were going with in-laws even though that wasn’t technically correct. Roommates was more apt, but that didn’t do them justice. Billy and Liam had brought so much more than DNA to the table and in the long list of people who welcomed them, Chris and Owen were the top two.

  Finding them was easy since they had dragged chairs right into the hallway outside their room. They jumped up as soon as she emerged and, though it wasn’t necessary, she let the door close behind her, giving them a moment of privacy. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Chris regarded her in a way that made it impossible to hide. There was no judgment in that stare, just genuine concer
n for her well-being that was sometimes hard to accept as real. That could be said about Chris in general. Unlike Liam or Billy or Owen, she wasn’t looking for someone like Chris to be her beacon and yet, his quiet strength was a guiding light that was impossible to ignore. “Everything okay in there? We haven’t heard any screaming yet.”

  “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.” The internet was littered with stories and memes about women turning into crazy, head-spinning monsters during birth. Corey tagged her in at least one a day, and they were funny right up until they became a possibility.

  “Maddie didn’t.” Owen chuckled, knowing full well it probably wasn’t true. “At least, that’s what she claims, and Kieran would never tell us differently.”

  Having met the oldest sister in Clan Connor, Cam would bet good money that she screamed the walls down. That whole family was expressive, even the ones who thought they weren’t. She guessed that was a byproduct of being four siblings that were close in age. You learned to talk over one another, fight for your place, and eventually—hopefully—coexist.

  “Corey wants to get a group ‘before’ photo.”

  “Corey?” Owen asked doubtfully. “Miss Bring-A-Camera-And-Die?”

  “The one and only, and I don’t want to give her a chance to change her mind. So what do you say?” She offered her best congenial smile which she knew looked super awkward, and added, “It’ll be good practice for when it’s your turn.”

  For her and Corey and, she believed, Billy and Liam, this was it. Their chance at parenthood and they were so blessed to have two. Not twins in the traditional sense because they had eggs and sperm from four donors. Once the babies were born, DNA tests would be done and sealed—only to be opened in the event of a medical emergency that required a true biological relative.

  But theirs wouldn’t be the only children raised in the house Owen just finished. The nursery was ready to welcome beloved cousins who would and should be raised together. An extended family like they could have never imagined, and one they were so grateful to be part of.