“That might be the winner.” I covered my mouth as I spoke. “Baby Blueberry.”
“What do you think, Max?”
My skin prickled when he appeared at my side, his hand coming to rest on my lower back and resuming its slow circle there. “Think about what?”
“Baby Blueberry.”
His roaming fingers stilled, and the adorable look of confusion on his face made my ovaries go wild.How many times would I wish that I had been with Max that night?
“I don’t understand.”
“We’re talking about baby names, and the current lead is Baby Blueberry,” Harper filled him in, plucking a blueberry from off the top of the cake and tossing it in her mouth. “What do you think?”
Max slid his head to me, but I lifted my gaze hesitantly to his, suddenly bombarded with the memory of the first time I’d treaded through this conversation.
“Maybe Rose. Or Iris. Fits with Daisy, you know?”That had been Todd’s response when his mother had asked about names during our very first conversation with her after Todd told her I was pregnant.“I think Hyacinth would be lovely,”was Mrs. McCormick’s non-suggestion.
Maybe I hadn’t thought about baby names because for six months, I’d resigned myself to the idea that it wouldn’t be my choice. If Mary McCormick wanted Hyacinth, that was what she would get.
Meanwhile, I loved my name, but I didn’t have any strong desire to name my daughter after a flower.
“Hmm.” Max’s chest rumbled, but when I looked up at him, I could tell he wasn’t thinking. At least, not about a baby name. He was holding himself back, like it was overstepping for him to suggest a name for another man’s baby.Or maybe he just didn’t want to help.
“You don’t have to?—”
“Lucy,” he cut me off firmly, quashing what I was going to say. “I think her name should be Lucy.”
My eyes rounded, all the oxygen suddenly vacating the room.
Lucy was one of the heroines in The Chronicles of Narnia.Brave. Sensitive. Faithful. Valiant.And he picked it because he knew it was my favorite. Because he knew it meant something to me.
“I like that,” I said, my voice catching as a foot landed squarely in my ribs. Again and again.Apparently, little sprout liked it too.
“Where did you get Lucy from?” Harper sounded like she was at the other end of the tunnel.
“From my brain,” Max teased wryly, keeping the weight of his suggestion between us.
Harper rolled her eyes. “Okay.”
“Don’t be jealous because my suggestion was better than yours.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the name Blueberry?—”
He growled. “We’re not naming our baby Blueberry.”
Forget oxygen, gravity itself seemed to turn off for a second, and my body simply floated on the intentional slip of his tongue.Our baby. Our. Baby.He’d said he’d take care of me and the baby, that he wanted me and the baby. His insistence only solidified by the secret I’d kept about that night. But he’d neversaid it out loud to anyone but me. Now, his whole family heard him, and they heard the significance just as much as I did.
Little sprout wasn’t even here yet, and Max thought of her as his.His Lucy.And, god, if I didn’t want to think of her that way too. Imagining Max as a lover…as a husband…was one thing. As a father? Well, it was a good thing I was sitting because that was the kind of fantasy that would send my hormones into crippling capacity.
I stared at Max. Harper stared at Max. I was pretty sure everyone was staring at Max, but the only thing that mattered was how he was looking at me—like he meant every syllable and had no plans to take it back.
“Hey, Max, we’re ready whenever you are,” Jamie came over then, his interruption shattering the moment. Jamie’s brow creased, realizing he’d walked into…something, but I caught Frankie quickly jerk her head to stop him from asking. “We’ll be outside.”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” Max answered without looking at him.
Jamie, followed by Kit, headed for the door. When they were a few paces away, Max explained, “Sorry, Jamie just asked if I could help them move a piece from his shop into his truck. I’ll be right back.”
I smiled, my eyes fluttering when he pressed a kiss to the side of my head. As soon as he was gone, Harper declared, “We should do presents next. Frankie and Lou, can you get everything ready for Daisy?”
