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Gianna Duncan, 26. Slightly neurotic and very OCD.
Loves vacuuming, making lists, and due in about eight months.
Only men interested in an instant family need reply.
“I’m glad because you don’t have time to be sick,” Liza said. “Tomorrow’s the wedding!”
She, Jess, Keeley, and Liza had been helping Penny prepare for her wedding for months. Gage had crashed Penny’s birthday party back in September and dropped the bomb that he wanted to be her boyfriend.
And then, because Gage was Gage, he’d rushed them to an engagement, and now to the altar. It was like the man was so in love, he couldn’t function in a world where Penny wasn’t his wife, his forever.
Gianna couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to be loved so completely and passionately. Which proved once more just how wrong she and Sam had been for each other.
“There’s no way I’d miss Penny’s big day,” Gianna reassured Liza.
“What the hell are we going to talk about once this wedding is over?” Liza joked. There was no denying they’d all gone wedding mad, the preparations consuming every conversation she’d had with her girlfriends.
Regardless, Gianna knew exactly what they were going to start talking about next.
The baby.
Gianna was going to have a baby and Liza was going to be an aunt. While Gianna wasn’t sure how Elio was going to take the news, she knew without a doubt how Liza would respond. Once the shock wore off, Aunt Liza, as well as honorary aunts Keeley, Penny, and Jess would rally around her. Knowing her friends, the theme for the nursery would be figured out and the entire thing decorated before Gianna hit her third trimester.
She grinned at the thought.
“This weekend is going to be a blast,” Liza gushed, “between the wedding tomorrow, the kickass reception tomorrow night, and Elio’s game on Sunday.”
Elio had gotten their whole gang of friends—her included—great seats for Sunday’s game against Philadelphia. Gianna wouldn’t have understood or even cared about stadium seating before the cabin, but now that she was basically the world’s biggest Baltimore fan, she knew Liza’s excitement was justified.
“I’m glad he’s going to be able to come to the wedding,” Gianna said, measuring her words so as not to give anything away.
“I told him it was amazing luck, but Elio swears the chances of Baltimore playing Philly the day after Penny’s wedding were so miniscule, that when partnered with the fact the coach was okay with him driving himself up the day before instead of riding the bus with the team, it technically classifies as a miracle, not luck.”
Gianna had been surprised when Penny mentioned Elio had RSVP’d as a yes for the wedding because, as Liza said, it was unusual for him to make it home for any events during the season.
She was grateful now for that miracle because it meant she could tell Elio about the baby in person. The moment Dr. Blake confirmed the pregnancy, she’d known she didn’t want to tell him over the phone. She wanted—needed—to see his face.
She’d pull him aside, drag him somewhere private during the reception, and then…God…then she’d say the words she’d been playing on repeat.
Elio. I was wrong. I am pregnant. We’re having a baby.
She would tell him first. And after that, well, despite being only six weeks pregnant, she felt as if she had to tell Gio and Rafe. She was as nervous about telling them as she was Elio. Because she was going to be very pregnant when the inn opened and having a baby a couple months after that. What would they say? Would they be angry at her? Would they feel deceived?
Don’t borrow trouble.
Those words, spoken in Elio’s deep, soothing voice, drifted through her mind and, surprisingly, they calmed her.
Monday was her first official day as hotel manager, so she wanted to tell them before she started. In case they wanted to fire her ass.
But Elio first.
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she heard Liza say.
Shit. Liza had been talking about the wedding the last few minutes, and Gianna hadn’t heard a word of it, too lost in her own thoughts.
“See you tomorrow,” Gianna said.
She set her phone on the coffee table and dropped down on her couch, aware she was grinning like a lunatic.
