“Dallas, I need to run to the bathroom real quick. Are you okay in here by yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Just don’t touch the puppies. Connie might not like it, okay?”
“I won’t.”
Brooklyn padded down the hall and into the bedroom she and Alec shared, then into the attached bath. She opened the cabinet and stared at the box of tests. Knowing Virginia, she was just going to ask about it again later. Better to just do it and stop thinking about it. She closed the bathroom door and went through the process she’d done now more than a dozen times. As she sat on the edge of the bathtub and waited for the test results, she decided that she was okay with whatever it had to say. She was truly happy with the way life wasright now. If it didn’t change, that would be fine.
The timer on her phone went off after two minutes, and she got up, not making a big deal about it at all, ready to toss the thing in the trash. And that was when she saw it—a plus sign.
Holy crap.She’d been waiting for this moment for so long, and had imagined it countless times, but she’d also slowly come to the realization that there was a good chance it would never come. Now it was here and she didn’t know what to do. Scream? Yell? Jump up and down? She was desperate to tell Alec, but it was less than a half hour until dinner. News could wait, but a Thanksgiving turkey could not. She really needed to get downstairs and help him. Instead of taking the pee stick with her downstairs, she snapped a photo of it on her phone, then left it on the back of the toilet.
She stopped at the guest room to fetch Dallas. “Come on, buddy. Almost time for dinner, okay? Let’s go see if Alec needs any help.”
“But the puppies. What if Connie needs me?”
Brooklyn held out her hand. He was such a sweet, sweet boy. “I promise you she’ll be okay for a little while. You can check on her later.”
“Can I sleep over?” he asked as they headed downstairs. “That way I can see the puppies in the morning.”
“Maybe? Probably. We’ll ask your mom. And I have to okay it with Alec.”
“Okay.”
They made their way into the kitchen, Brooklyn’s stomach doing a little flip when she saw Alec. He was going to be so excited when she delivered the news, and that made her nothing less than immensely thankful. She walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “How’s it going?”
“Uh. Okay. I guess. There are just a lot to do at this stage of things. It’s kind of a fire drill.” Calm, confident, upbeat Alec was now frazzled. Whispering news about a positive pregnancy test into his ear was going to have to wait.
“Yes. Tell me. What can I do?”
Alec rattled off a list of very rudimentary tasks for Brooklyn—things like popping the rolls back into the oven, stirring the gravy, removing the plastic wrap from the dish of cranberry sauce and asking Dallas to put it on the table.
“Can I help?” Brooklyn’s mom appeared. “I’m sorry if I’ve been missing in action. Tom was explaining football to me. It’s actually quite interesting.”
“I bet,” Brooklyn quipped. “Alec is in charge. He’ll give you a job.”
Alec hustled over to Aurora and put his arm around her shoulder as he asked her to taste the mashed potatoes and season accordingly. Brooklyn loved seeing them together. Her mom didn’t hesitate to shower Alec with affection, and Brooklyn knew that with Alec’s parents gone, he relished it.
Aurora dunked a spoon into the potatoes and let out an orgasmic groan of appreciation. “My future son-in-law is a genius. They’re perfect, Alec.”
“Awesome,” Alec said, sounding immensely proud. “Can you put them in the serving dish?”
“I can do that.”
With Alec at the helm, they were a well-oiled machine, and Thanksgiving dinner was successfully on the table at six o’clock, on the nose. Alec, seated at the head of the table and next to Brooklyn, raised a glass of wine to toast. “To family,” he said.
“To family,” everyone said in chorus. Dallas was the loudest.To fami-wee!
Brooklyn toasted with her water glass, noticing the wobble in her voice. It meant a lot to be celebrating this holiday in the home she shared with her fiancé. It meant a lot that everyone was happy and healthy.
Alec looked at her and reached for her left hand, which was resting on top of the table. He fiddled with her ring, curiously tilting his head to one side. “Are you okay?”
Those three words were enough to bring tears to her eyes, but she held them back, even when it took everything in her. She nodded, pressing her lips together tightly, and leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m great. But I want to steal you for a minute after dinner. Okay?”
He turned his head and brushed his lips against her temple. “Only a minute?” he asked in a very hushed tone. “I’m fast, but I’m not that fast.”
She laughed and shook her head. “You’re bad.”
