James and I share a look before I blurt, “Okay, I give up! Annie, are you pregnant? I can’t take it anymore!”
She looks panicked for a moment before her eyes catch something—orsomeone’s—across the table, and she smiles like we’re in the middle of a murder mystery and I have accused the wrong suspect. “Nope. I’m not pregnant.”
“What! But you’ve very clearly not been drinking alcohol for months. Actually . . .” I say, blinking and turning to Emily. “You’re not the only one who hasn’t been drinking.”
“Don’t look at me.” She raises her hands. “I’m not pregnant.”
“If it’s not Annie, and it’s not you or me, that means it has to be . . .” We all slide our eyes to Amelia, who’s sitting back in her chair, Noah’s strong arm around her shoulders, holding her like he has everything to protect now.
“It’s me,” she says with a quiet, satisfied smile. “We’re pregnant.”
My mouth falls open. “But . . .” I swing my gaze to Annie. “You . . .”
“Suspected me all along?” Annie asks, delighted to have pulled the wool over our eyes. “So, this is what happened. I wasn’t supposed to know either. But I came over one day to see Amelia, and she forgot she’d left her pregnancy test on the counter.”
Amelia takes over. “I told Annie I didn’t want anyone to know yet because . . . well, to be honest, we’ve been trying for a while, and it’s been difficult. I wanted to keep it on the down-low until I knew it was safe.”
“Understandable,” Emily says, and it immediately makes me skeptical of her. She sees my look and laughs, leaning in to whisper, “No babies on the horizon for me. You’ll be the first to know if that plan changes.”
“Before Jack?” I need reassurance.
“Duh.”
I nod, satisfied by this answer, and turn my attention back to Amelia. “It’s nearly impossible to keep a secret in this family, so me and Annie concocted this plan to get everyone’s eyes off of me and onto her instead.”
“Which,” says Will, interjecting with a dimpled smile, “let me tell you, was very confusing to me for a minute. Nearly sent me into an early grave when I realized what y’all were suspecting. Not because I’d be upset if Annie was pregnant, but because I was really freaking out that she didn’t want to tell me. I got the truth out of her one night though,” he says, that dimpled grin aimed at Annie and insinuating all kinds of ways he extracted the truth from her.
“Brilliant,” I say with deep affection as I look to Amelia. “You’re both absolutely brilliant little liars, and I am so proud to call you my sisters.”
“What about me? I knew too.” Noah kisses her temple. “Well, she told me the night I came home from playing Hearts with y’all. She’d been waiting for aBUN IN THE OVENshirt to arrive in the mail. She was wearing it when I got back.”
“I’m proud of you too, big guy,” I say, leaning to shove his shoulder.
“We would’ve told you sooner, but it sort of became a fun game,” Amelia says proudly. “I wanted to see how long I could keep up the alcohol gag before any of you caught on.”
“You gorgeous, devious woman,” says Emily, and it takes her all of thirty seconds to turn into Mother Hen. “Have you had enough water today? Need me to get you some? I’ll get you some.” She’s off like a shot to the bar.
“James, did I see you leaving Dr. Macky’s office yesterday?” asks Noah. Ever since the Tommy punch, Noah has been hovering a bit. I don’t think he realized just how out of the loop he’d been until that moment. All week he’s been popping in or calling at inconvenient times to make up for it. James has begged him to stop.I’vebegged him to stop.
He hasn’t.
Emily returns to the table with an ice-cold water for Amelia atthe same moment James says, “Uh, yeah.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Was there for a blood pressure recheck.”
“Recheck?” Noah and Emily both ask at the same time.
They glance at each other, and Emily looks offended that Noah is encroaching on her overprotective territory.
James makes a shooing gesture to both of them and then lays his arm over the back of my chair. “I’m fine. I had high blood pressure a few months ago. But it was perfect yesterday.”
“Because I’ve healed him,” Will says like a mystical guru. “Through the power of our morning runs. I’ve given this man the gift of cardio. And inner healing via deep conversations.”
“Gift of cardio, my ass,” James mumbles.
Jack leans around Emily to ask me about the launch tomorrow. “Feeling good about it?”
“No. And thank you for reminding me.” I look to Emily and roll my eyes. “Control your boyfriend, please.”
She glances at him, and the slightest smile touches his mouth:Dare you,it says.
