“OK, name?” Phoebe asked.
I reached over to rub her tummy.
“Oh my God. I love it! Ok, send us pics.”
Phoebe tossed her phone in the cupholder and grinned from ear to ear. “Baby number 3 of your clan has been born.”
“Our clan,” I assured her, squeezing her hand.
“Fine, our clan. They had a boy. Benjamin Matthew Hendrick.”
I nodded. “Nice.”
“Yep. So, Zach and Emma have a Benjamin, Grant and Sarah have a Kendall and Ryan and Ali have a Beth. We must come up with an awesome name, baby.”
Basically, Phoebe had been stressed about the baby name since conception. Actually, she was worried about everything. Hannah still helped us with the kids; hiring her was the second-best decision we’d ever made. I tried to come up with names so we could erase that stressor from her plate. Nothing made her happy yet. I’d keep trying.
Once we sat with our ice cream, she rested her head on my shoulder.
“I think we should move to Oregon,” she whispered. “The adoption is complete. I just worry about Sloan and Jake. I know their life is here. But Heather and Claire can go to school there.”
“Vito will too?” I asked, caressing her tummy.
“You mean, Sebastian?”
Tilting my head to the side, I knew my eyes widened. “That’s my grandfather’s name.”
“Do you like it?”
“Of course, I do. Do you?”
“Yes. But what if it’s a girl?” she asked.
Nestling my nose deep in her hair, I grumbled. “Can we get back to the moving conversation?”
Her green eyes rose to mine. “I want to raise them there. Not here.”
“And if Sloan or Jake doesn’t want to come?”
“We talk to them until they do. I don’t know how to live without them.”
I nodded, figuring I’d find a way to make it worth their while. I’d do whatever it took to make Phoebe happy.
“Another crew of kids growing up on Cannon Beach, eh?”
With the roundest eyes pleading at my heart, she nodded quick choppy nods.
“You know that means fires on the beach, football, sandcastles, underage drinking and young-love kisses.”
The smile that I knew would light my world until my last breath pulled fully across her face. “Everything I never had.”
For a short moment, I closed my eyes thinking about that beach. A series of memories flickered through my mind and suddenly, I couldn’t wait to get back to Oregon with my tribe. Raising them there.
“So, what you’re saying is all of our kids are going to be the next crew?”
With her ice cream cone, she tapped my nose, leaving the sweet cream on the tip. “They are going to be the best crew.”
My first crew went through my mind. Ryan. Emma. Grant. Seth. Conner. Josh. Zach. Hmm. Not sure we could be beat. I chuckled to myself, then wiped my nose.
“Let’s do it…”
Other Titles by Kristi Pelton
Just One of the Guys Series
Old Enough to Love
Finally…One Summer
My Someday
Finally…My Forever
Standalones
Pure Will
Sessions Interrupted
A Haunted Heart
Slick
Dibs
Scars and Tats
Your Honor
Convicted
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Finally...My Forever (Just One of the Guys Book 4) Page 18