Dean grimaces, likely weighing out his chances of survival against one of my kicks, before reluctantly handing Gia over. “Fine, but just so you know, I’m taking her back as soon as you guys are done.”
Mala ignores him, already melting as Gia curls into her. “Oh, my God. She smells so good.”
“Like pomegranates,” Patton declares before turning his warm gaze my way. “Just like her mom.”
Dean drops onto an Adirondack chair with a dramatic sigh. “While the baby hogs are getting their fix, it’s time I show you guys the gift Mala and I brought you guys.”
“Don’t pull me into this,” Mala chides, gently handing Gia over to Bella. “I got themnormalgifts.”
Dean reaches for a bag next to him, sifting through the tissue paper to pull out three cream-colored onesies—a tiny one for Gia and oversized ones for me and Patton—that read “Pierce Party of Three”.
“Oh, my gosh,” Piper gasps, grabbing one of them. “That’sactuallyreally cute, Dean.”
Patton smirks, looking directly at me. “One of us is not a Pierce yet.”
“Just a matter of time though, right, brother?” Dean asks as if I’m not standing right here.
Patton’s eyes stay on me. “Oh yeah. She doesn’t really have a say in the matter.”
I tilt my head. “Oh really?”
He leans down to press his lips to mine, making my heart skip a beat. “Really.”
“Those are way better than the pajamas you made us all wear with Troy’s face on the crotch,” Dev says, breaking our spell.
Dean shakes his head. “You have no appreciation for the finer things in life, my friend. Those pajamas were epic.”
“I’d like to make it clear that I didn’t want my face on any of your dicks,” Troy says.
“Damn, you should have said something before I got all my boxer-briefs with your face printed on them,” Dean counters, making everyone cringe.
It’s then that I notice both my sister and Piper reach for drinks from a server’s tray. They give each other surprised looks before something like realization dawns over them.
“What’s going on?” I ask, pointing a finger between my besties. “Why did you both pick up the mocktails when we all know no one could pay you to drink them?”
Sarina bites her bottom lip, flicking Troy a glance, to which he simply nods. She takes a breath, smiling. “I’m pregnant.”
Piper gasps, a hand rising to cover her lips. “Me, too!”
Gasps and squeals ring out around us as we all start to gather Sarina and Piper in a hug before a voice resounds from near the side door.
“Did I just hear that my daughter is pregnant? And Piper as well?”
My dad, wearing one of his usual Hawaiian shirts and a beige Panama hat, walks into the yard with his enormousboyfriend-slash-bodyguard in tow. Emanuel pushes their sassy Pomeranian’s stroller ahead of him as if he’s escorting royalty.
“Dad!” Sarina yells, launching herself into his arms while still clutching her mocktail.
He places a kiss on her forehead. “You know, I had a feeling when you came over last week . . . You were positively glowing.”
Her brows furrow. “What do you mean? I just found out yesterday.”
“Oh, please, darling. You should know by now that I was blessed with the highest paternal intuition.” Dad opens his arm toward Piper, who falls into a hug right beside my sister. “And you, my honorary daughter, congratulations on another upcoming bundle. Lord knows you and that delicious husband of yours make gorgeous babies.”
“Dad,” I wince, walking over for my own hug. “What have we talked about with you checking out our husbands? You’re lucky Emanuel isn’t the jealous type.”
Emanuel, the equivalent of a human teddy bear in a pink polo shirt, just shrugs. “Actually, we check them out together. We talk about how hot and muscular they are, and who we’d like to?—”
“Yeah, nope,” Sarina interrupts. “Don’t need either of you expanding on that.”
