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Van buried her face in her hands.
I rubbed her shoulder, not knowing what else to do. Over her head, I exchanged a glance with my brother. No one knew about Van’s lost child, and considering how difficult all of this would be on her if Tab had any complications—though hopefully, this didn’t seem to be one—it felt like they should.
But that wasn’t my call to make, and she probably wouldn’t feel comfortable telling Tab about it while she was pregnant, anyway.
Brady led us inside and we sat on the living room couch. It seemed too silent without the dogs there.
“Honey still has them,” he said as if he could read my thoughts. “We were talking about going to get them when Tab started feeling off. Hey, you okay?” He crouched in front of Van.
She nodded fiercely. “I can feel her pain. It’s freaky as hell. Her back hurts really badly.”
Brady braced his hands on his thighs and huffed out a breath. “I had a feeling she wasn’t being straight with me about feeling so much better. She doesn’t want me to worry.”
“But you are. And I am. And Van is. It’s just part of loving someone.” I rose and walked to the windows, unable to stay still.
“Speaking of that…” Brady came to stand beside me. “I was way out of line earlier.”
“Now isn’t the time—”
“I don’t want this between us. I know we’ve had issues over the years, but mostly, we’ve been tight. Haven’t we?” he prompted as I remained silent.
“You know we’ve had times we didn’t really talk.”
“Yeah. Guess I don’t want to focus on those.”
“Then don’t.”
“I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“Yes, you did, and you probably had cause. I’ll always be your little brother, and you’ll always think you know better than me. Most of the time, you might even be right.” I shifted to face him. “But all that matters now is your woman and your little girl.”
“Yeah. I just wanted you to know I love you. I needed to say it, okay?” He held up a hand. “Don’t give me shit.”
“Same goes, you pain in the ass.” I pulled him into a hard hug and clapped his back before I stepped back. “Trust me, I’ve said plenty to you I’ve regretted.”
“I just want you to be happy. That’s all. Whatever form that takes.” He glanced toward the couch, frowning as he realized Van had taken advantage of our heart-to-heart to disappear down the hall. “She’s not easily contained.”
“She’s not contained at all. But Tab needs her. They need each other. So let them have some time.”
Brady lifted his hands. “I won’t stop them. Tab knows what she needs better than I do. Whatever that is, I’ll give it to her. Seeing her in pain and trying to be so strong… Fuck, it almost broke me.” He exhaled. “How am I going to handle childbirth?”
“You can have drugs too, you know.”
He let out a low laugh. “Not ashamed to say that I’m probably going to need them. Good thing Strawberry is tolerant of my faults.”
“Sure is. Hold onto her. Can’t imagine there are many woman as generous as she.” I forced a grin.
“I damn well am going to hold onto her. We’re getting married soon.”
“Well, yeah, early November—”
“We aren’t waiting until the day after Halloween. I don’t know why we even were going to in the first place. Tab likes the colder weather, but the middle of October is good enough and we can’t take the chance of the baby coming early.”
“No one says you have to be married before the baby.”
The look Brady gave me could’ve curdled milk. “I’m flexible about most things, but not that. I want my wife to be my wife before my child gets here. Period. So we’ll have the shower, then we’ll do the bachelor and bachelorette parties or whatever you and Van have planned, and then right after, we’re getting married at Mom and Dad’s place. Reception there too. Good thing they have that big yard. We thought about asking to use your dock, but it’s kind of short for a procession.”
“Yeah.” I didn’t say anything else because my mind was reeling. I hadn’t done a damn thing for the bachelor party. I’d just figured we’d go get loaded, and then I’d forgotten all about it. But my brother wouldn’t want to be hungover on his wedding day. “How do you feel about strippers?”
