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She smiled shyly and for the first time, I saw myself vividly in her face. “Thank you for sharing them with me. Even Penn.”
“Hey, I heard that.”
Laughing, I leaned down to give her a hard hug. “Thank you for coming. Thank you for being mine.”
“Dude, warn a girl, would you?” On Reagan’s other side, Honey was discreetly dabbing her cheeks.
“Correction—thank you for being ours. If that’s okay with both of you.”
“It’s okay with me,” Reagan said hesitantly, looking between us.
Honey’s lips curved a second before a tear plopped on her cheek. “Okay, that did it.”
“No tears,” I told her. And myself.
“Too late.” Honey rose to give Reagan a hug before she folded herself into my arms, pressing her face into my chest. Then she reached an arm back to loop around Reagan’s waist.
Our little family. I didn’t know how we’d made it work so fast and almost effortlessly, but I couldn’t have been more blessed.
Reagan bit her lower lip. “Hey, this might not be the right time to ask.”
“Shoot, Rea. You have a very good chance of us saying yes.”
She gave us an entreating look. “Would Boomer like a puppy?”
Honey laughed. “Oh, I love puppies.”
My gaze drifted between them. I didn’t even bother trying to say no. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t be able to say no to them for quite a while. “I guess we’re getting a puppy.”
Penn laughed from where he was pouring himself his second coffee. “She shoots, she scores.”
I ruffled Reagan’s hair and tightened my hold on Honey. “Nah, I’m the one who won.”
TWENTY-TWO
The next fewweeks went by in a blur.
Between working Dispatch and at the bakery—and suffering through Presley’s first cold which subsequently went from Tabitha to my brother to me and then to half the people we worked with at both locations—and learning how to be a couple, it felt as if we were always running. But even in the midst of chaos, the quiet cozy moments where we curled up on the couch with Boomer between us to watch a movie were my favorites.
When I walked into Christian’s home gym while he was working out on his Pilates machine to stretch his very fine back muscles or when I caught a glimpse of him doing laps in the pool were also very special occasions. I was tempted to snap pictures for my personal enjoyment.
I didn’t throw up again. We didn’t talk about possible babies or peeing on sticks. We just lived our lives in this kind of limbo, trying not to assume anything or worry either way. The time was passing fast enough.
Once, Christian and I babysat for Brady and Tabitha while Presley was at the tail end of her cold. If I hadn’t been in love with the man beforehand, watching him cradle my baby niece so carefully in his arms would’ve done it.
Add in the bonus of walking in on him in her nursery singing her a lullaby, and my ovaries basically landed in his lap.
If I hadn’t been sure about the whole baby thing at first, things had changed. Maybe it wasn’t a liberated view, but I wanted to give Christian a baby. To my way of thinking, the guy deserved one after being denied Reagan for so long.
Not that it could make up for the years he’d missed with his daughter. Nothing could.
Being a parent wasn’t all fun and games. I think he already understood that from seeing Moose, Travis, and Brady with their kids and just in general. But he wanted a chance to do it from the beginning, and I wanted to be the one to give that to him.
Hopefully, we wouldn’t have to wait too long.
Things between us were going so well that in mid-December, when Christian said he was getting one of the bathrooms remodeled so we could stay at my place to avoid “construction debris”, I barely blinked. Boomer didn’t mind the change in location, either.
Sure, it was sort of a weird request, but he could’ve said he needed room to store his alpaca and I probably would’ve been onboard. Not like he didn’t have other bathrooms or that the workers would be working overnights—especially since Lucky and Moose and some of the rest of Gideon’s crew had families so they wouldn’t be burning the midnight oil—but if Christian said it was necessary, I was okay with it.
