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She’d never been with a guy that made her want to leave her mother and it was hard for her to come to terms with it.
“I’m only picking on you.”
“I know. Would you care if I stayed tomorrow night too? You can say no. I just thought it might be nice.”
“It’d be more than nice,” he said. “You aren’t asking that because of the comment I made, are you?”
“No,” she said, kissing him. “I packed clothes for two nights hoping I could feel you out and ask without putting any pressure on you.”
“I don’t want you to feel me out,” he said. “I want you here. No reason to ask. You can leave a few things here if you want too.”
She knew she wasn’t ready for that but was happy he’d brought it up. “I’ll think about it.”
But the next afternoon, she and Ivan were watching TV when his phone went off. She’d been focusing more on their conversation last night than the show they were watching.
“Hello,” Ivan said, putting it on speaker. “Kendra is here with me. I’m assuming you’ve got baby news?”
“I do,” Shay said. “Landon Travis was born about thirty minutes ago. Jolene called to say Ella and the baby are doing well. She went to see them both in the delivery room and was kicked out for a bit.”
“That’s great news,” Kendra said. “I’m sure I’ll get a text with information on it from someone soon.”
They talked a few more minutes with Shay and then Ivan hung up. “There, my aunt will be busy with Landon for a good month and will leave us alone.”
She snuggled under his arm. “Do you really believe that?”
He laughed. “Nope.”
* * *
Jolene hungup the phone with her sister-in-law, Lynn. She’d called her sister, Shay, too and now it was time to call her sisters-in-law in Durham. She supposed she could have texted them all, but there was no fun in that.
Besides, she had some time to kill before she could see Ella and the baby again while everyone was being cleaned up.
“We are all here. Tell me you’ve got baby news,” Diane said.
“I do,” she screeched. It was never going to get old—the excitement over sharing this news. “Landon Travis McKinley was born an hour ago. Nine pounds two ounces. Ella is doing wonderfully and so is Travis. Of course not much ruffles his feathers.”
“Congratulations,” Diane said. “Those boys just keep coming with Joseph in December and now Landon.”
“As long as they are happy and healthy that is all I care about,” she said. She was lucky and knew it. “Fill me in on what is going on there? How did your party go?”
She knew Diane was having a party to try to figure out what was going on with their latest matchmaking target, Julia McNamara. She was proud of how her sisters-in-law were smoothly turning into pros like her.
“I can’t believe you want to know about that when you welcomed a new grandchild today,” Carolyn said.
“Please. I’m an old pro at this now,” she said. “Did you get anywhere with Julia?”
“We planted some seeds,” Diane said. “But Carolyn caught something we didn’t notice and now we have to think this through.”
“What?” she asked.
“That every time Flynn’s name came up Julia looked at her brother who was frowning,” Diane said.
“That’s good,” she said.
“It is?” Diane asked.
“That means she has her eye on Flynn and is trying to figure out how her brother would react. If she wasn’t interested, she wouldn’t be looking for approval. That’s what that is about. Trust me, I know. I’ve seen it with Ella over the years, though she wouldn’t admit it. You caught it because Jade did the same, didn’t she, Carolyn?”
