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“The house.” Ryan waved his arm.
“Y’all did a great job. I see the film crew is here.”
Both brothers nodded.
“But where is Sandra Lynn?”
This time the Irish twins born a little more than eleven months apart shrugged.
“There they are.” Aunt Eileen pointed to the backyard.
Through the kitchen plate glass window Sandra and David could be seen in the yard, Paxton walking alongside them.
“They are cute, aren’t they?” Aunt Eileen had a sappy look on her face as she stared out the window.
“Cute wasn’t the first word that came to mind.” Quinn was thinking sappy suckers but cute would do.
“Look at that.” Aunt Eileen pointed. “All three holding hands, David in the middle. They look like they’ve always been a family.”
That they did. Quinn actually sighed. Surrounded by all his cousins with kids running after kids and his own brothers marrying one after the other, he really was starting to feel like he was missing out on something. At least a little.
“Oh, my.” Aunt Eileen’s eyes widened and her hands flew to her mouth.
Quinn whipped his head around to his brother outside in time to see him down on one knee holding a ring in front of David. “Ain’t he supposed to be asking the girl to marry him?”
“That’s the way it usually works,” Ryan deadpanned.
“Men.” Aunt Eileen shook her head. “He’s asking David’s permission. He’s not wanting to just marry Sandra, he’s marrying both of them.”
“Oh,” Ryan muttered.
“Makes sense,” Quinn added. It actually made a whole lot of sense. Connor treated Stacy like his own daughter. As a matter of fact, the first time he’d met them he had no idea that she wasn’t his daughter. So now, Paxton was about to do the same thing. Instant family. Maybe.
Another minute passed and David flung his arms around Paxton, almost knocking him over. Still gripping the ring box tightly in one hand, Paxton circled his other arm around David holding him steady, still on one knee, only now he was staring up at Sandra.
Quinn wasn’t a romantic or a sap, but even he wished he could hear what the two were saying. Another second and Paxton’s lips stopped moving while Sandra’s head bobbed up and down so fast it was a wonder it hadn’t fallen off.
“And there they go.” Aunt Eileen laughed at all three tumbling to the ground, laughing and hugging and he was pretty sure Sandra Lynn was crying. “Oh. Here they come. Look busy.”
“What?” Ryan asked.
“We don’t want them to know we were spying on them.” His aunt turned to fuss with non-existent dust on a perfectly clean kitchen counter.
“We weren’t spying. We were looking. And if they didn’t want us to see, then maybe my big brother should have proposed someplace more private.” Quinn didn’t mind turning his attention elsewhere, but he didn’t like being called a spy.
The screen door squeaked open followed by the back door and Ryan muttered something about oiling the hinge before the ribbon cutting and disappeared.
Sandra Lynn stopped at the sight of Quinn and Aunt Eileen in the kitchen. “Oh, hi.”
“Hello,” was all either of them said, but his aunt had a grin on her face so wide that Sandra Lynn would have to be an idiot not to realize the cat was already out of the bag. Blushing, she didn’t bother to hide her own grin. “You know?”
Aunt Eileen nodded.
“I guess I need to find the head of the charity.” Sandra Lynn glanced down at her son, holding onto Paxton’s hand. “It seems I don’t need a house after all.”
This time, staring at her as if she were an oasis in a dry desert, Paxton nodded. “I’m going to build her the perfect house—”
“I’m sorry,” Quinn interrupted. “You?”
