Keeping Secrets.
Summary: Peyton is waiting on Lucas and Sawyer’s return to tell them her big secret but until then, those around her start to put the pieces together.
Sawyer just finished lunch and before her afternoon nap, decided to play with her new Lego set from her Aunt Brooke. Peyton sat in the rocking chair, scrolling through her phone while Sawyer quietly played.
"We're going to have to move this chair into your brother's room pretty soon, little girl."
"Why, Mama?" Sawer asked... her favorite question.
"Because he's going to be here soon, and we're going to share, right? Plus, you don't need it anymore, but when you were a baby, this was the only way we could get you to fall asleep... by rocking back and forth."Â
Sawyer smiled and went back to building.Â
Peyton put her phone down and rested her hand on her perfectly round, basketball-sized stomach.Â
"You're ready to play Legos too, aren't you?" She said out loud, trying to adjust herself comfortably in the padded rocker.
She placed her right elbow on the arm of the chair and used all of her weight to readjust herself. Sawyer was distracted by her mom's constant movements but was too young to realize what was going on.
"Sawyer, Mommy is going to go to the bathroom. Can you go into the kitchen and see if Dad can make you a snack?"
She knew the word snack would get attention, and the quick sound of pitter-patter down the hall confirmed it.Â
"Oh!" she exclaimed, grabbing her side below her rib cage. She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and held her breath until the pain stopped. With 3 and a half more weeks to go, Peyton was sure it was too early for this to be happening, but the pain was back, stronger, and this time she didn't close her eyes, and saw the large pool of blood forming around her and Sawyer's rocking chair.
Peyton jolted awake as her phone vibrated next to her on the bed.Â
It was Mia calling, and it was all a dream. A nightmare, but just a dream.Â
Peyton quickly sat up to answer and for a second, felt like she had gotten up too quickly.Â
"Hello?" Peyton answered, rubbing her temple with her left hand, trying to process what she swore just happened, and trying to sound like she was fully awake and not sleeping.
"You good?" questioned Mia.
"Yeah, sorry...what's going on?"
"Okay. Get this...Remember how last tour I used the Dove and talked about how it's the best guitar in the universe? Well, Gibson hooked a girl up and sent me a custom Dove AND a custom Les Paul for the summer tour!"
"No way, Mia that's incredible!"
"I'm coming over to show you all the stuff they sent me. You're gonna die!"
Those words and that phrase caught her off guard for a second.
"Yeah. I uh. I'm sure I'm gonna love it. I'm at the house, so."
"No worries, I just got everything into my car, so I'll head there now! Seriously, this is insane!" Mia exclaimed.
"Alright, girl, settle down, I'll see you soon." Peyton laughed and hung up the phone.
She sat at the edge of the bed for a moment and tried to wrap her head around everything that had just happened. It felt like a whirlwind on its own, but as she stood up, she was hit with a wave of nausea that quickly brought her back to reality.
Peyton washed her hands and stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She exhaled and rubbed some cold water onto her cheeks. Another exhale and Mia was at the door.
"Are you ready for this?" asked Mia as she came barging in with 2 guitar cases.
"Definitely!" replied Peyton, trying to act like herself, like the last hour or so did not just happen. "Let's see what all the fuss is about!"
"Ta-da!" Mia opened the cases and extended her arms out to showcase the glory of her two beautiful new guitars.
"Mia, these are amazing!"
"Dude, amazing? That's it!? I am going to look SO badass on stage this summer! This isn't even all of it. Wait until you see the basket of stuff they sent. I've gotta go grab it from my car."
Mia's energy was radiating through the roof, and it allowed Peyton a minute to forget about how nauseous she was feeling.Â
Mia burst back in again with a large wicker basket packed with an assortment of goodies from Gibson Guitars.Â
"Dude, look at these chocolate-shaped guitar picks!"Â
"I'll take those!" said Peyton.
"And here we go... TWO bottles of vino! Let's open one up! Where do you and Luke keep the wine glasses?"
"Don't you want to save those? This is a big deal! You should save them for a special occasion," said Peyton trying to get herself out of the current situation.
"Are you kidding me? This is THE special occasion! These guitars have to cost like $10,000. We hit the lottery!" said Mia, who ignored Peyton's lack of response to where the wine glasses were stored and went on a hunt of her own to find them.Â
"Hey, you know what I was thinking. For the southern leg of the tour, you and Haley can totally stay on the bus with me. I have two extra top bunks and Sawyer can come too. The bunks are big and kids love sleepovers right?" Mia said, trailing off.
Peyton followed Mia into the kitchen and stood behind a chair at the kitchen table.Â
"It's like 4:30 in the afternoon. Don't you think it's a little early?" Peyton asked.
"One...it's 5:00 somewhere, and Two...I'm Italian, so it's always time for wine."
Mia took down two glasses that were hanging upside down from the wine rack and placed them on the table. They admired the engraving on the Gibson bottle of Pinot Noir, and Mia began to unscrew the top.Â
The combination of nausea and nervousness about having to tell Mia before Lucas was too much, and Peyton about knocked over the kitchen chair she was holding on to as she rushed to run back into the bathroom.
"Okay..." Mia said as she finished pouring the second glass and watched her boss run down the hall.Â
Mia put the twist wine opener back where it belonged and left the two full glasses on the table.
"Hey Peyton? Are you okay?" Mia asked, puzzled over what just happened.
Peyton removed her hand from the porcelain that she was gripping and gave Mia a thumbs up with her left hand while her face was still very much in the toilet. She ran in so quickly that she didn't even have a chance to close the bathroom door.Â
"Yeah, I don't think so," said Mia as she entered the bathroom took the extra hair tie off her wrist, and began to help Peyton tie her hair back in a ponytail.Â
Peyton flushed the toilet and took a second before standing up and moving over to the sink.
She washed her face and hands and looked at Mia, who was watching the whole show through the mirror with her arms crossed. She could tell Mia felt bad but also seemed a little skeptical.
Peyton smiled at her through the mirror and put her hands over her mouth, closed her eyes took a second to exhale, and turned around.Â
"I'm so sorry you had to witness that. And I'm so sorry that I can't stay with you in the bunk this summer." Peyton said, putting one hand on her hip, biting her lip, and grinning.Â
"Why do I get the feeling like you're not gonna fit in the bunk this summer?" Mia asked in the most Mia way possible.
"Uh!" responded Peyton, taken aback by her response.
"You know you're probably the only person in the world who can get away with a question like that. But you're right, there's no way I'll be able to fit myself in a bunk or probably even a tour bus in the next few months. I'm pregnant.”
"I knew it! I knew either you had to be totally hung from last night or you had a bun in the oven. There’s no way you'd say no to a glass of Pinot!" Said Mia as she stepped in to hug her boss and friend.











