A wobbly smile joined her tear-stained face. “The baby is fine.”
“Baby?” Liz rounded on them. “Did you saybaby?”
Glory nodded.
Face going white, and then suddenly flooding with wild joy, Liz shrieked.
She startled the cops as much as she did Glory and Kam.
Arms spread wide, she reached for Glory, but Kam intercepted her—and got swept into her jumping joy dance.
Laughing pained her, but Glory couldn’t hold it back. Never had she seen her aunt like this. Her wild performance wasn’t dignified, and in fact, it was goofy. She kicked up her feet, bouncing wildly around the confines of the terrace, making the most ridiculously happy faces.
When she finally released Kam, it was only to throw both fists in the air and shout her happiness.
Kam started laughing, too, but he said in an aside to Glory, “Addie looks a little overwhelmed by the excitement.”
“Addie is here?” She turned slightly to see Addie and Callie, with Tanner between them.
“I think they just arrived.”
One hand to the wall, the other over her heart, Addie both cried and smiled. “A babyisexciting,” she said. “The best kind of excitement. The kind that makes you happy from the inside out.”
“Glory?” Callie approached her slowly, her gaze roving all over her, again and again. “Oh, my God, Glory. We’re having a baby?”
Glory barely tempered another chuckle. “Yes, we are.”
With extreme gentleness, Callie embraced her. “A baby,” she breathed.
“I know.”
A second later, she stepped back and demanded, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Figures that would be her cousin’s first question. “I had to tell Kam first.”
“And that just happened last night.” Putting a hand to Glory’s cheek, his thumb brushing over her lips, Kam said, “Our girl was keeping that all to herself.”
“Well, not anymore,” Tanner said, joining them with a towel, which he held out to Kam. “And definitely not in this family.”
Family.Glory hurriedly looked around. Cruisers with flashing blue-and-red lights were at the curb. Two police officers headed toward them while others stood by the car where they’d put Mike in the back seat.
Nowhere did she see her dog. “Kam, PB ran off! At first, I was glad, because then Mike couldn’t hurt her, but in this storm—”
“Shh. She’s fine,” he told her as he stripped off his saturated shirt, dropping it with a sodden plop to the terrace floor. “Just as I pulled up, I saw Glenda taking her in. She said she’ll hold on to her until we get this all wrapped up.”
“Thank God.” With that settled, every ache swamped back in on her. Elation did, too, because finally the drama with Mike would end. He wouldn’t be able to disrupt her life anymore. “I need off my feet, please.”
Everyone came at her at once, but they all backed off when Kam said, “I’ve got her.”
His strong arms came around her, offering her support, just as he’d done from the start when Mike had shown up at Callie’s wedding. His warmth enveloped her, and the scent of his skin filled her head with every slow inhalation.Mine, mine, mine, her heart chanted with every steady beat.
He led her to the living room, and when they reached the couch, Kam carefully helped to get her situated.
Addie showed up with a cup of tea. “It’ll warm you.”
She realized she was shaking, but it was more from nerves than cold or pain.
Liz pressed her way in to spread the beautiful new quilt over her legs.
