“This is so beautiful. How did you get all of this done in only a few hours?” I look at Shane as he sits down beside me.
“I had a lot of help from our friends. They were just waiting for you to leave the house to get started.” He laughs.
“Well, thank you all. This means the world to me.” My eyes grow misty as I look at every one of them.
“Of course, sweetie. You didn’t think we’d let you go without a proper baby shower or bachelorette party.” Cecilia smiles and takes my hand to squeeze it.
“Seriously, what kind of friends would we be if we did,” Emma says, grinning. It’s then I notice she has her arm looped in with a young girl I don’t recognize. Emma must catch my curious gaze because she feeds my curiosity immediately. “Oh! Right, you weren’t here for introductions. Baby Brey, I’d like you to meet my new sister, Sophie.” She then looks at the ginger-haired girl and smiles. “Sophie, this is another one of my friends, A.K.A. another sister to you.” She winks.
“Wait, I’m confused.” I frown, not understanding what she’s saying.
“You remember last year my father and Amanda talked about wanting to adopt? Well, Sophie here is the new addition to our family. She managed to worm her way into their hearts, and they just couldn’t let her go.” She squeezes her arm tighter around her new sister. “And I don’t blame them.”
The girl blushes madly at the attention and compliment. She must not be older than fifteen or sixteen years old, but I love that they chose an older child rather than a baby like most do. Even teenagers want a loving family, not just newborns.
“Wow, that’s amazing. Well, welcome to the family, Sophie.” I stretch out my hand to shake hers. “Run while you still can,” I whisper as she giggles and blushes again.
“Too late, I already got my claws in her.” Emma pulls her back to her side.
“Well, if she can handle Em, she can easily handle all of us combined,” Morgan says, laughing.
“Facts,” Ronnie agrees with Morg. “Emma’s the crazy one in our group.”
“Why does everyone keep saying I’m crazy!?” Emma frowns at us all, folding her arms across her chest.
“Because you are, Bunny. But we all love you for it.” My brother comes to her side and kisses her cheek.
She pushes his chest but leans into him immediately after. “You better.”
“Where are all the kids?” I look at everyone, then at Shane. “I didn’t see your sisters’ either.” All of them together should make fourteen kids running around, and that’s not including the guests that came with their own.
“All the older kids are in the pool room with two hired lifeguards,” Shane says.
“Sam and Josephine are in there as well with Dante and Gracie,” Cecilia adds on.
“Natalia, their nanny,” Em points to Morgan and Clay. “And Vivian, our new nanny, are with the babies in the living room.”
“And the dogs? Where are my babies?” I look around, expecting Cupcake to pop up any second.
“They’re in the gym. They were out before, but they started getting too excited when everyone was showing up, so we put them in there with food, water, and their beds and toys. They’re fine,” Shane reassures me. “Marianne has been checking up on them every half hour.”
“Okay.” I smile, relieved that my babies are okay. Shane is right, we are a lot of people—I’d say about a hundred.
“But seriously, Coach. What were you thinking getting five big dogs?” Silas laughs as we all join in.
A few hours later, everyone is handing over gifts, and I feel like I’ve been unwrapping for hours. Our daughter will have an ungodly amount of clothes and toys, that’s for sure. We finally reach the last gift, which is from Pamela and Adam.
Pamela hands me a white box with a light pink bow on top. She smiles at me tenderly, then returns to her husband’s side as they hold each other lovingly. I pull the ends of the bow, letting it unfold onto my lap, then lift the lid off and set it aside. There’s tissue paper all over, hiding the gift beneath. I gently peel it back and gasp when I see the beauty within.
A gold hexagon-shaped, vintage-looking music box, with little diamonds around it. I carefully lift it out of the box and notice the little feet underneath to support it. On the top is a small heart-shaped charm with Stellina’s name engraved into it, and on the front of the music box is another engraved message.
“My beautiful granddaughter, I love you today, tomorrow, always,” I say softly for everyone to hear as tears rise to my eyes.
“Open it,” Pamela coaxes me.
I do as she says, pulling the top back as a soft lullaby begins to play. Inside is a small jewelry box with the Andromeda Jewels logo above it. I pull it out, lifting the lid up, and am greeted by a gold necklace with a little gold cupcake pendant covered in diamonds. It’s identical to the one Shane got me for Christmas, just a little smaller.
Lifting the pendant, I turn it over to glide my finger over the braille writing I was expecting on the back, but the bumps are differently placed than mine. “What does it say?” I look up at Adam and Pamela.
