Lena nodded, pleased. “If all goes well, it should be tied up with a neat little bow before the courts close for the holidays.”
“Nowthat’sthe real Christmas present,” I said. “Aw, Lena. There’s going to be so much to celebrate in the new year.”
She reclined back in her chair, nodding in agreement. “Aisling. The baby. And Weston has just mentioned that Alistair’s been looking for property in the area for him and Kenna.”
I perked up. “He’s leaving London?”
Lena lifted her shoulder. “They’re going out to look at a place this weekend.”
“Do you think it’ll really happen?”
“I don’t know…Maybe? It could just be a temporary thing, but wouldn’t that be amazing?”
I couldn’t stop picturing it. Aisling, Kenna, and baby boy. All growing up together. I imagined them at the summer festival next year, rolling around the green. This was the kind of community I wanted for my child. Friends who felt more like family. Neighbors who would know his name. A bevy ofhonorary aunts and uncles. I was determined to make sure he’d never be lonely. That he’d never feel the burden of Locke’s repeated absences from his life.
“That would be incredible,” I said. “I really hope he finds something.”
“We’ll keep our fingers and toes crossed.”
“Count me out of the toes,” I said. “They might get stuck like that if my feet swell. I’ve heard I have that to look forward to in the third trimester.”
Lena’s laughter was eclipsed by Agnes muttering as she stormed into the library, still wearing her apron. She had a laptop in one hand, her other propped on her hip as her nostrils flared. “Will someone show me how to work this bloody thing!”
Lena held her hands out for the laptop. “What’s wrong?”
Agnes handed it over. “I’ve beentryingto get Isla a gift for her baby shower?—”
“Oh, you don’t have to do?—”
“Bah!” Agnes said, waving me off.
Lena shot me a cheeky grin. “Don’t try to tell any of us not to spoil you. It’s a waste of breath.”
I rolled my eyes, fighting the flush in my cheeks.
“I can’t get the blasted thing to work!” Agnes continued. “Every time I click on something in the registry, it says it’s unavailable.”
“That can’t be right,” Lena said, clicking away, starting to frown. She glanced at me. “Didn’t you just put this up yesterday?”
“Yes, against my will,” I murmured. The ladies in Braeburn had insisted I make a registry so they could throw me a proper baby shower.
“What am I doing wrong?” Agnes said. “And before you ask, yes, I’ve already turned the darn thing off and on like Weston’s always telling me.”
Lena’s eyebrows drew closer together the longer she stared at the laptop screen. “I think…” She blew out a breath. “I think everything’s already been purchased.”
“All of it?” I cried, leaning so far forward I almost tipped myself off the couch. That wasn’t possible. “Even the over-the-top silly things I put on there as a joke?” Who needed a high-tech baby sleep pod with forty-five different white-noise options? No one. That’s who.
Lena nodded.
Agnes harrumphed. “Who bloody went and bought it all?”
My face fell, and I could feel myself flushing. There was only one person I knew who could be responsible for that.
Hooonnnnkkkkkk!
“Now who’s that?” Agnes complained as she set off for the door. “If this is another bloody Christmas tree—when the house has three already, and me sweeping up loose pine needles morning, noon, and night as if I don’t have other things to do—Weston and I are going to have some words! And they won’t be very merry!”
I stood and shuffled toward Lena to peek over her shoulder. It was true. Every single item on the registry was grayed out. “Do you think?—”
