“You ordered a gazillion copies of my book?”
He shrugs. “Had to. Today is your first book signing.”
“My first what?” I squeal.
“Look out the window,” he says.
A long line of Fork Lickers has assembled outside the restaurant, and Bella is handing out copies of my book.
“What in the world is happening right now?” I want to add some happy expletives to that question, but much to Gran’s delight, I have managed to clean up my language just a tad in honor of my new motherhood.
“You don’t mind signing a few copies, do you?” he asks as he guides me to the soft armchair positioned behind the table. “They paid online. All proceeds are going to The Bedd Fellows Family Fund, which is basically just a separate bank account I started so we can keep doing our part to pay off the farm debt.”
“You are something else, Hotman.”
He winks. “Back atcha, Bedd. What do you say? Can I let them in?”
“Please,” I say excitedly. “Yes!”
I take a seat and pick up a pen, then instantly drop it and leap to my feet when the first person enters the room. He’s trying to be incognito with a baseball cap and dark sunglasses, but I’d know my kid brother anywhere.
“Jackie Boy! Oh my—What are you doing here?” I squeeze him in the tightest hug.
“I heard my big sister wrote a book and had some babies,” Jackson says. “There’s no way I was going to miss all that.”
“This had better be the last surprise, Bacon,” I say, my arms still wrapped tightly around my little brother. “I don’t think I can take any more.”
“I can confirm that Jackson is, in fact, the last surprise. I saved the best for last.”
“Thanks, man,” Jackson says. “I knew I liked you.”
I guide Jackson closer to Bacon and our two sleeping bundles of joy. “Cassie? Danny?” I whisper. “This is my baby brother, Jackson. Think you can handle one more uncle?”
