Crazy Thing (The Brighton Family #5)

Chapter 57

57

DARIUS

J immy helps Rainbow climb onto a large tree stump and she waves her arms overhead. “Everybody! Hello! Hello, folks!”

The jovial buzz begins to simmer down and a serene hush falls over the forest. The residents of Starlight Falls turn their attention to Rainbow.

Her smile beams over the crowd. “Thank you everyone for showing up here today to lend a hand as we clean up our beloved waterfall. Thank you for volunteering your time, and a special thank you to our sweet Ziggy for organizing this day for us.”

I loop an arm around Ziggy’s waist and she blushes as the crowd claps gleefully, chanting her name. “Zig- gy ! Zig- gy ! Zig- gy !”.

Rainbow’s eyes swing to me. “And of course, thank you to Darius Brighton from the bottom of my heart. You are our town’s knight in shining armor, stepping up to the plate when we all needed you. If you hadn’t intervened, we wouldn’t even be standing here today. Thank you for purchasing this land and thank you for gifting it back to the people. The land that was once in jeopardy, it now belongs to all of us. Now, the waterfall is accessible to the entire town forevermore.”

Cheers rip across the forest and my bones fill with pride. And it’s not just my siblings clapping and hooting for me this time. I take a moment to let my eyes sweep across the place. The faces of my neighbors—faces that just a few months ago regarded me with suspicion and distrust—now, they’re cheering for me.

And Ziggy did that.

That’s what her influence is like. Everything she touches turns to… love.

I’ve accomplished a whole lot in my life. I have many achievements to be proud of. But saving the local waterfall has got to be my favorite.

No—my second favorite.

Making Ziggy fall in love with me is achievement number one in my book, of course.

All that to say, Starlight Falls finally feels like home. For real. Now everything makes sense. Now, I finally understand why life took me away from the fast-paced routine I built in Manhattan and San Francisco. It was so I could end up here, and rediscover what it truly means to find home.

Ziggy pops up onto her tiptoes and kisses my cheek. And it’s all the confirmation I need that I’m right where I need to be.

After Rainbow says a few more inspiring words, she tugs on a pair of work gloves and grabs a broom. “Okay, family—let’s clean this place up.”

Rakes and gloves and trash bags are distributed, and Ziggy assigns everyone to a particular task. Then the residents of Starlight Falls go to work.

There’s a lot to be done today—picking up litter, raking dead leaves, and installing benches along the path down to the falls. We have plans to plant flowers along the trail and even to build a treehouse where the kids of Starlight Falls can play. But those plans will have to wait until the spring.

For now, it’s a crisp late autumn day. The sky is gray and cloudy. But everyone is in high spirits and as long as the rain doesn’t come down, we’re all good.

I’m right in the thick of things, doing my fair share along with my neighbors and… friends . But Ziggy is uncharacteristically low energy today. She’s exhausted. No wonder, after all the work she’s put in over the past few months. Yet still, she holds onto her smile as she goes around, handing out water and snacks to the volunteers.

I don’t like seeing her this way. It’s decided. I’m clearing my schedule next week and I’m whisking her away. Anywhere she wants to go. Just me and her. For as long as she needs to recuperate her energy.

I see the way Ziggy’s expression darkens even further as an older couple hesitantly approaches our clean-up crew.

“Mom…Dad…” she says, her jaw tight as she watches them descend the slope toward us. “What are you doing here?”

Her mother’s nose stays upturned as she stares around like she’s never seen mud and twigs and bugs before. “Elizabeth…erm, Ziggy , darling. We’re here to help.”

My fairy girl blinks. “You’re here to help?”

Her father clears his throat. “This is a community effort, isn’t it? And we’re a part of the community.” He throws me an unsmiling glance.

Ziggy looks at a loss for words. “Wow. This is…unexpected.”

Mrs. Beaumont sighs. “Look, Ziggy. We’ve had our missteps in the past. But as your parents we want to show that we support you and your endeavors.”

“We’re not perfect, but we’d like to try,” her father mumbles. He glances at his wife before reluctantly adding, “We’re proud of you.”

From Ziggy’s wide-eyed expression, I can’t tell if she’ s about to cry or if she’s about to call bullshit. All I know is, with the mood she’s in today, it’s my duty to protect her. I don’t want anyone showing up here and upsetting her even more. That’s why I step in.

With a pasted on smile, I hand Mr. Beaumont a poop scooper and a doggie bag. “Well, nothing says ‘I support you’ like shoveling deer poop, and there’s a lot of it around here.” I give him a pat on the shoulder. “Thanks for your help, sir.”

The man looks like he’s about to pop a vein.

Ziggy snorts back a giggle before she thanks her parents for coming. Then she makes an excuse about having to ensure that all the volunteers are hydrated. She hustles off with her basket of snacks in hand.

By evening time, the volunteers are exhausted and getting ready to leave for the night. Nolan declares that everyone can stop by The North Node for one drink free on the house. That gives the crowd something to cheer about again.

Felix snatches a discarded sheet of newspaper off the ground. His expression collapses in disgust. Edison Astor Sinclair’s ugly mug is splashed across the page with the caption Bozo-in-chief? printed at the bottom in bold red letters.

Archer sneers at the page as he passes by, pushing a wheelbarrow full of tools to be returned to his new hardware store. “I hope they lock his ass in jail and toss the key in the waterfall.”

“I know, right?” Ronan mumbles, carrying a tall paper bag overflowing with dead leaves. “He definitely deserves it after that stunt he tried to pull.”

My private investigator was able to get to the bottom of what has been going on at the mayor’s office. It turns out town officials had accepted bribes from Edison to push through the waterfall deal. It’s with the help of those crooked insiders that Edison was able to locate the mysterious waterfall owner in the first place.

When the judge blocked the original sale agreement, the mayor sent his building inspectors to my place to dig up dirt on me and try to sabotage the deal I was trying to put together with Ross.

Now, the whole situation is under investigation and Edison’s face is splashed across the front of the local newspaper for being the bozo that he is. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person.

Revenge is sweet.

Felix aggressively crumples the newspaper into a ball. When he attempts to toss the paper into a recycling bin, Ziggy stops him with a hand on his shoulder. “No!”

My brother pauses, looking at her questioningly.

“I know the rule is that the garbage stays separate from the recyclables,” she says to him with a smirk, “but in this case, we should make an exception.”

“Um, okay…” My confused brother chuckles as Ziggy grabs the newspaper from his hand.

She rips it to shreds and merrily tosses the scraps into the garbage bin, leaving the memory of Edison right in the trash, where he belongs.

The crowd cheers again.

Felix drapes an arm around Daphne. They snicker to themselves as they follows our neighbors who are trudging back up the hill, away from the falls.

Chuckling, I wrap my arms around Ziggy from behind. “So I see that you’re in the mood to boss everyone around today? ”

The clouds are so dark and heavy. It feels like it’ll start raining any second now.

Dropping her sunhat to the ground, she turns around to face me.

“Just so you know, as soon as we get home, you’re the one who’ll be getting bossed around,” I warn her playfully.

“Mmm. You know I like that.” She grins softly at me.

But I see something shadowy behind her eyes. And she looks even more exhausted now than she did mere minutes ago. It worries me.

I grip her waist. “What’s wrong?”

She chews on the corner of her lip. “There’s something I need to talk to you about. I’ve been holding it back all day and I can’t wait any longer.”

“Of course.” I grab her hand and lead her down the path, opposite from the direction the crowd is moving in. I want to give her the privacy to speak freely.

Ziggy lowers onto the riverbank, sitting cross-legged on the ground and I sit beside her, stretching my legs out in front of me.

“Thanks for helping with the cleanup today,” she begins. “This waterfall means so much to the community and we almost lost it. So it feels important that we take care of it now that it officially belongs to us, y’know?”

I nod my head. “I can’t believe I just spent my Tuesday afternoon picking up trash on the riverbank. And I can’t believe that I actually had fun .”

Ziggy laughs ruefully. Then she goes silent and I can tell that there’s something heavy on her chest.

“Baby, what is it?” I ask. This isn’t like her. She’s freaking me out.

She drops her eyes to the ground, her shoulders rigid when she inhales deeply. She opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out. She shakes her head and tries to speak again but she still can’t find her words. Whatever it is she needs to tell me, she’s struggling.

I find myself panicking on the inside. Frantic to solve whatever the problem is. I gather her up and pull her into my lap.

“Hey, look at me.” I angle her face and force her eyes to connect with mine. “Whatever it is, I’m going to fix it for you. Whatever it is, know that you’ve got me in your corner and I’m not leaving you to deal with it on your own. You believe that?”

Her eyes fill with tears and she cups my jaw, bringing her lips to mine. She nods subtly. “Okay…” she sucks in a breath. “I believe that.”

With a shaky hand, she reaches into her cross-body satchel, pulls out a thin white tube.

And changes my whole life with two simple words.

“I’m pregnant.”

At that very moment, the heavy clouds overhead scatter and the sun pours down, illuminating Ziggy’s face with the most heavenly light.

My heart stops beating cold in my chest. “You’re…”

I see the way her shoulders quiver when she inhales. “I’m pregnant, Darius.”

I feel my chest start to rise and fall rapidly. My nose starts to tingle. My eyes start to burn. “You’re pregnant?” I say through my tight throat. “You’re having my baby?”

She watches me with uncertain eyes. Her forehead crinkles and her nostrils flare. “I know we didn’t plan this. I must have miscalculated my moon cycle. Or maybe you didn’t pull out like you were supposed to. All I know is, we did this. Together. We were both careless. And we made a baby. And I know you may not want this. But this is my body and I don’t believe in—”

Before she can finish that thought, I slam my mouth over hers. I kiss her like she’s more important than my next breath.

Because she is.

When we pull apart, my vision is foggy and teardrops cling heavily to Ziggy’s eyelashes.

“You’re happy about this…?” she whispers quietly.

“God, yes!” I say, not hesitating for a moment. “I’m so fucking happy. We’re going to be a family, Ziggy. I’m going to be a father. And you’re going to be the mother of my child.” I kiss her again. I kiss her until I’m breathless. “ You …and me . Having a baby.”

A smile breaks out across her face and her shoulders start shaking with laughter. “ You and me. Oh, my god. You and me and a baby. ”

We sit there on the hard ground, laughing and kissing and wiping tears from each others’ eyes. This is the best moment of my life. And I know it’s only about to get better from here on out.

Ziggy rises suddenly, tugging at my hand. I follow her to the water’s edge. “What are you doing?” I ask cautiously as she lowers herself into the water.

She just keeps smiling at me. “Don’t you think it’s sort of magical that this is happening right here? The place where it all started.”

Entering the water, I take a moment to look around at our surroundings. “Yeah. It is magical. Almost like it was destined to happen.”

“So, to answer the age-old question—the waterfall does make people fall in love.” Her eyes shine with tears and she holds onto me. “It made me fall in love with you. ”

Ziggy shivers in my arms and I kiss her again.

We hold each other and take a moment to absorb this significance of all this. I don’t let her stay in the water too long, though. She’s carrying my baby and I need to make sure she doesn’t catch a chill.

I hold tight to her hand as we trudge back up the hill to my parents’ yard where her bus is parked. Ziggy takes a quick shower and changes into dry clothes while I make her a snack. Then I climb behind the wheel as she buckles herself into the passenger seat and I start the engine.

“Amethyst…” she mumbles distractedly, looking up from her journal where she’s scribbling as I maneuver the vehicle through the winding hillside.

“Huh?” I glance over at her.

“Amethyst Brighton. Amy for short?”

“I like that,” I say with a conclusive nod. Then I pause. “Might be a bit hard to spell, though.”

“Don’t worry,” Ziggy says brightly. “Our kid will be a genius.”

I nod. “You’re right. Little Amethyst will be spelling her name in no time.”

Ziggy grins. Then she taps her chin thoughtfully. “I also like Aquamarine…Or Dandelion…Or Lavender…”

I furrow my brows as I navigate the bus down my long driveway. Oh boy!

“What about Cornucopia, if it’s a boy?” she suggests brightly. “Ooh! That’s good. Cornucopia Brighton.”

At that one, I almost knock over the damn water fountain in my yard. No way am I naming my son ‘Cornucopia’. But that’s an argument for another day.

“You don’t like it?” she questions, clearly shocked.

“Write them all down,” I say in the meantime. “We’re going to need some ideas for the next kid. ”

Ziggy looks over at me, surprise in her eyes as I safely bring the vehicle to a stop. “The next kid? You want more babies.”

“Of course.” I unbuckle her seat belt, pulling her back into my lap and stroking her flat belly. “Of course I want more babies with you.”

She grins widely in my face, her head almost touching the ceiling as she straddles me. “How many? How many babies are we having?” she asks excitedly.

“Ten!” I squeeze her thighs.

She barks out a laugh. “My vagina hurts just hearing you say that.”

“Let’s go inside. I’ll lick that pussy all better for you.” I grin at her.

She shivers before saying, “I was thinking we could sleep in the bus tonight? Things are going to be changing soon. I’d like to enjoy Lady Tourmaline while I still can.”

I stroke her cheek, pushing her pink hair away from her face. “Lady Tourmaline’s not going anywhere. Things around us may be changing but you will always get to be you, if I have anything to say about it.”

Her beaming smile sends a ripple through the bus. Through the town. Through the universe.

“I meant it when I said it, Ziggy. I’ll never clip your wings. I’ll never try to stop you from being you. I’ll forever love you exactly as you are, my Fairy Girl.”