“Mom?” I asked, finding her surrounded by a bunch of relatives I only sort of recognized.
“What is it sweetie?” she asked, smiling at me, always smiling. I bet her face hurt from all that smiling, but I was happy for it.
“Can I talk to you for a second?”
Her smile faded just a little and she stepped away from the crowd. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah…” I said, looking back over my shoulder. “I think.”
She nodded, and we walked further away from people. “What’s up?”
I wasn’t sure how to say it now. I felt like I was probably being silly or imagining things.
“Ma!” Everly said, making grabby hands.
Mom chuckled and took Everly out of my arms, her poofy little skirt bunching up around her diaper. I reached out and tugged it down for her. “Yes, hello precious girl. How are you?” Mom said in her overly cutesy voice, rubbing her nose against Ev’s.
“Did you talk to me like that when I was a baby?” I asked, curling my lip.
Mom laughed. “I sure did, and if you forget that I am your mother, I will remind you I can still use this voice on you whenever I want,” she said, using the same baby voice on me. I winced, but still couldn’t help smiling. She was so much sillier these days, so much quicker to joke. She used to always be so serious. So… not fun. She tried, obviously, but she was just too stressed. Now with Dad, they could split the work, they could help each other — and I had chores too of course. She seemed like she liked her life a lot more than she used to.
“So, you wanted to talk to me?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow as she looked over to the guests. She probably needed to spend time with everyone, so no one felt left out, and I was hogging her time when I got to see her every day.
“Um… Aunt Kait seems… weird. Like maybe she doesn’t feel good? I don’t know. I just thought she didn’t look good but she said she’s fine, so I thought I should tell you.”
Mom grinned and hugged me, kissing the side of my head with a loud smack of her lips. “You are just the sweetest boy in the whole wide world. I am such a lucky mom. I’ll go talk to her, promise,” she said.
“I can take Everly,” I said.
But as soon as she tried to hand her over, Everly whined, clinging to Mom’s dress. “Maaaa!” As I tried to pull her away, there was the faint sound of fabric ripping and I froze.
“Did she just…”
Mom looked down at her dress, where a piece of lace was now flopping forward, not attached anymore. “It’s not that bad. Grandma can fix it for me. Don’t worry, I’ve got your sister. Go have fun, honey,” she said, kissing me on the forehead this time as she wandered off to find Aunt Kait.
I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do, but as I walked away from that spot, I passed a mirror and saw the red imprint of my mom’s lipstick on my forehead, so I stopped at the mirror to try to scrub it off.
There was a lot of talking and music being played, sounds of laughter and all kinds of noises, but all of the sudden, one thing cut through everything else: my mom.
“What?! You’re pregnant?” she screeched, loud enough for everyone to hear. But it wasn’t just surprise. She sounded furious, and then the next thing that happened, Aunt Kaitlyn was storming out, the door slamming behind her.
People murmured for a minute, but then Everly started crying and all attention turned to calming her. Once she was settled down, it was like nothing happened. Aunt Kait didn’t come back that I saw, but it was still a pretty good party, and watching my dad dance in a kilt was hilarious.
Uncle Bear asked me to get him a copy of the tape for blackmail purposes. Of course, then Aunt Lexi smacked him and told me I was, under no circumstances, to provide my uncle with that tape.
We’d see. I was sure Uncle Bear could get it with or without me. It was all in fun.
And it was fun. Even though I didn’t like dancing very much, everyone was happy and silly and having a good time. Mom had said that in our case, the wedding was a party for all of us, to celebrate our family finally being whole again. I liked that idea. And I liked that we were all a family. And if this party was any indication about how things would go, we were going to have a lot of fun and happy times together.
Want to know what happens next? Make sure you get the next book in the series, A Baby for the Vet! It releases on September 19, 2018!
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About the Author
Henley Maverick lives in Northern California and when she's not writing, she's reading, shoe shopping, or at the beach.
A Baby for the Daddy: Boys of Rockford Series Page 17