Faster than the Night

Chapter 43

Hi everyone and welcome back to Faster than the Night! I hope everyone's enjoying the novel so far! Elaine's mother is not being supportive at all, and Elaine decided to only think of the positive during this gender reveal party. How will the party go? What will the gender of the baby be? Keep reading to find out! Also, please comment and give the chapter a like!

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We pulled up to her house, seeing all kinds of pink and blue balloons everywhere in the yard. Bayfield and Hailey lived on a three acre piece of land with a beautiful ranch style home. A gorgeous white picket fence that surrounded the house was now covered with blue and pink streamers. I saw the balloon Hunter was going to shoot under a white wooden arch. This was everything I could have possibly dreamed of.

"Ready?" Hunter asked as he turned the truck off, catching me out of my gaze.

"Yup." I smiled, Hunter coming around the truck to open my door for me.

Grabbing my hand, Hunter took us to the front of the house before we knocked on the door. There had to be fifty cars filling up their land space. I was surprised so many people came. Most of my family from the panhandle were probably shaming me behind my back, but want to show their "support." I snatched those thoughts out of my own head when Hailey opened the door, jumping to give me a hug.

"How do you like it?" she asked excitedly.

"It's unbelievable!" I said back, just as excited.

"You ready brother?" I heard Bayfield laugh as he came to the door.

"Ready as I'll ever be." he laughed as they did their bro shake.

"Well come on y'all come inside." Bayfield insisted as we walked in, Hailey taking my arm to lead the way to her room.

"She finally decided to come!" I heard Layla and Bella jump up as they hugged me.

"I'm so glad y'all could come!" I chuckled.

"That's our little niece or nephew in there!" they said as they touched my baby bump.

I wasn't used to people touching my stomach yet, since Hunter had been the only one doing that. I figured it would only get worse throughout the day, much less the rest of my pregnancy.

"We've been planning this thing with Hailey. Are you ready to hear what we're doing?" Bella laughed.

"Of course!" I said happily.

"Well we've got a giant chalkboard for baby girl and baby boy names. Then we've got a contest to measure how big your belly is with party streamers, a jelly bean contest in a baby bottle, pop the belly, and finally Hunter shoots at the balloon!" Layla said as she jumped up and down a bit.

I was so lucky to have such great, and supportive friends. They never passed judgement or spoke poorly of Hunter and I's situation. All three of them were so genuinely happy for me it made me want to burst with joy.

"What's pop the belly?" I laughed.

"Oh its this game where we have five pictures of you across a huge wooden board and there's a balloon on each of the picture's stomachs. The guys then throw darts at the balloons to see if they can pop the belly." Hailey added.

"That's definitely something for the guys to do." I laughed as we walked out of the room.

"Alright so the baby boy and girl name chalkboard is first. Everyone's waiting outside." Bella said making me realize that Hunter and I hadn't discussed names yet.

I saw him standing out there laughing with Bayfield and Oldan. He looked so happy and complete, it made me relax. When we stepped outside, Hunter excused himself from the guys and went to take me to the chalkboard.

"We haven't talked about names yet." I laughed as I looked up at him.

"Just write whatever you think." he winked at me.

The chalkboard was set up for Hunter to write down baby boy names on one side, and I was to write girl names on the other side so that we couldn't see each other or what we were writing. Hailey blew a horn to signal our "go" as I wrote down my ideas with light pink chalk. All of my family and friends were on my side of the board, and Hunter had his on the other. They were all cheering and saying "ooh I like that" for both of our names. When I stepped back, Hunter doing the same, Hailey came back on with a megaphone.

"Ok y'all we're gonna spin the chalkboard around so Elaine and her people can see Hunters names, and vice versa." she said as she spun the chalkboard around.

We all gasped as we saw his list of three names written down in light blue chalk.

"Colt, Wyatt, and Porter." I smiled, naming off the names he picked. "I love them." I said as I disobeyed the rules, walking over to Hunters side.

I could see him smiling at all the names I picked as he took me in a hug, kissing the top of my head.

"Colt Porter if it's a boy." I looked up at him as he smiled down on me.

"Baelynn Paige when it's a girl." he laughed as he pressed a kiss to my lips.

"I would say get a room but y'all obviously already have." Bayfield said, making Hunter playfully punch him in the shoulder.

The girls came running over to us as they got excited at the names we picked out. This baby had so much love and it wasn't even born yet. I realized I would never have to worry about it being alone. It had a family right here in Atlanta.

The next activity went more humorously as I had expected. Everyone was wrapping party streamers around themselves, sometimes doubling it up, to figure out how big my baby bump was without being able to measure me. When everyone placed their bets, the girls had Hunter wrap a party streamer around me, measuring out how big my bump was. My aunt Fall guessed it the most accurately, and Hailey gave her a goody bag for winning.

When that was over, we did the jelly bean contest, and Hunters sister guessed three off the amount, taking the baby bottle of jelly beans home with her as her prize. The guys moved over to throw darts at my balloon baby bump placed on a huge piece of wood. Oldan and Shawn ended up tying in most "baby bumps" popped, as they each took home a goody bag as well.

"Alright y'all it's finally time! Are we ready?!" She yelled over the megaphone as everyone clapped and cheered, making Hunter and I laugh.

Hunter took my hand in his as we walked over to the blocks of hay for people to sit on if they wished. I loved how Hailey and the girls made it a rustic party.

"Nervous?" he asked as he saw me rubbing my hands together.

"Yes." I laughed as he grabbed the rifle.

Everyone either stood, or took their seats near the hay bails as I noticed a long table full of gifts. I smiled as I looked back at Hunter who was aiming at the black balloon under the white arch.

"Ready?" he asked happily.

"Ready." I said.

"Alright on my count of three." Layla said into the megaphone. "1! 2! 3!"

The whole party went silent as we heard the gunshot go right into the middle of the balloon, pink confetti burst out of the balloon, making everyone jump into the air in screams.

We were having a baby girl, Baelynn Paige.