“Who is that?”
I furrow my brow at his question. “What?”
“The girl with your wife and child! Who is that!?” he barks out.
I look over and conclude he must be talking about Octavia. “Oh, that’s Tavie. She’s the manager for the bakery.”
He works his jaw with an angry expression then nods. “I need to take care of a few things. I will return later,” he says without looking at me and simply staring straight in front of him now.
“Okay…” I frown and step out of the car.
He drives off immediately, barely giving me time to close the door. I watch him leave but then refocus my attention on why I’m here. I greet our friends along the sidewalk as I make my way toward my wife and daughter.
First Morgan and Clay, with their three kids, Theo, Trinity, and their baby girl, Tinsley, who is seven months old, while the twins are now two-and-a-half years old. Then Cecilia and Silas who arrived with four-and-a-half-year-old Dante, and their fifteen-month-old Esme.
Next, I greet Greyson and Emma, who is currently cursing under her breath about having too many children. She pulls out two double strollers from her trunk while Greyson begins to unclip the children.
“Here, let me help you.” I take the second stroller and pop it open as she works on the first.
“Thank you,” she says through gritted teeth. I know she’s not angry with me, but the glare she directs at her husband tells me she’s still not pleased with him.
“I swear I can’t wait for that vasectomy to happen! I’ll pop a bottle and celebrate as soon as I pop this baby out first.” She rubs her hand over her small belly.
Because yes, Emma is pregnant once more. She’s only a little over three months along, but it already shows. They now have Gracie, who just turned four, two months ago. Their first set of twins, Maddox, and Parker, who turned two in March. Then there’s their second set of six-month-old twins, Bryson, and Hayden.
We were all positive Emma would be having another boy, but they’ve had an early test done and turns out she’s having a little girl. And there’s only one. They’ve already decided to call her Magnolia.
I wait by their side, helping them secure all the kids in as Gracie stays beside us. We all walk along together toward the bakery, but I stop in my tracks when an SUV pulls up at my side. I quickly pull the door open and help a heavily pregnant Veronica out of the passenger seat.
“Always such a gentleman.” She smiles warmly at me.
“Hey! I was just coming to do that for you.” Gabe narrows his eyes at me.
“I know you were, Pretty Boy.” She pats his cheek lovingly as he comes to her side and places his hand on her very round belly. Ronnie is two weeks away from giving birth to their second child, a little girl that will go by the name of Daphne.
Noah comes around carrying Caleb, who is now one as of May. “Hey, Coach,” he says, nodding his head in form of greeting. “We should hurry, they’re about to start letting people in.”
I nod in agreement and follow behind them as they hug and kiss my girls on the cheeks before heading inside.
“DADDY!”
Aubrey sets Stellina down as she exclaims my name and comes running to me. I crouch down, opening my arms, and letting her jump into them as I stand back up and twirl us around. “There’s the most beautiful girl in the world!”
She giggles and blushes madly at the compliment.See what I meant about the famous blush?“Mommy bootiful, too?”
I grin widely. She always includes her mother in everything I say. “Yes, you and Mommy are the most beautiful in the whole entire universe.” She giggles some more as I rub my nose against hers then pepper her face with kisses.
“Is Daddy pretending to be Brownie again?” Aubrey comes over smiling.
Turns out our big boy Brownie isn’t so independent after all. He was just waiting for his little princess to be born. He’s stuck to her like glue ever since we brought her home, and Stellina gobbles up his love every step of the way.
“Yes, Daddy Bwownie!” She continues to laugh.
“Is that so?” I raise a brow. “Well, then. I suppose I should be licking your face instead of kissing it.” I come in to do just that as she squeals and tries to stop me.
I sigh with joy as I place my baby girl on my hip and wrap my arm around my wife’s waist, pulling her in. “Hi, Angel.” I lean down and capture her lips while our daughter watches us with pure bliss in her eyes.
“Hi, sweetie.” She rests her head on my shoulder.
