“We’re good,” he says, wiping his brow.
“You broke a sweat doing that?” I ask.
“Shut it.”
The girls call out their good bye to us and kiss Dorothea before leaving. I was worried about teaching Anastacia to drive while she was pregnant, but she wasn’t taking no for an answer. We drove around parking lots and practiced on all the wider roads. She caught on quickly, which I guess is easy when you aren’t in the big city.
I walk over to the front window and watch the car turn around in the driveway, then disappear onto the main road. I pull my phone from my pocket and dial Kaison.
“We’re ready.”
“We’ll head over.”
I end the call and go back into the kitchen to help Tommy finish the food.
“He sounds tired as fuck,” I say with a laugh.
“A new baby will do that to you.”
“We are so fucked,” I mutter.
I am beyond happy that I’m having another child. I can’t begin to express the way I feel about it, and I know Tommy feels the same. But we’re in for it. Dorothea was difficult at times. Sleep deprivation is real. And now we’re going to have two babies in this house, keeping all of us awake, so it’s not like we can take turns or anything. Of course it’ll be worth it though. There’s no doubt in my mind that growing this family will be worth the shit we go through.
Cars start pulling into the driveway fifteen minutes later, since they were all waiting for the call. We have at least a half hour before the girls get back, so we all scramble into the back yard to set up the decorations. Cora stays with Cecilia, her and Shark’s baby, and Dorothea.
“Can’t guarantee this is going to look good with a bunch of dudes out here setting it up,” I mutter. “Maybe we should have thought this through.”
“Do not worry!” Spam calls as he heads over with a box over-flowing with pink… stuff. “I’ve totally got this.”
“So you cookanddecorate?”
He shrugs. “What can I say? I grew up in a house of women. Yo, Pancake! Bring up the chairs!”
“Yeah, I got you, bro!”
“These prospects are coming in handy,” Tommy says.
“Yeah, it’s nice to say shit like that now that you’re officially patched in, huh?”
Club life has never been better. Though it doesn’t beat home life.
“We weren’t even gone that long,” Kelsey mutters, looking at all the cars. I’m standing on the porch, waiting for them to walk up. Anastacia hands me the bag, and I catch her around the waist, kissing her.
“Thank you, Angel.”
“Aww, you’re so sweet,” Kelsey says with tears in her eyes.
“Everyone is here already,” I whisper against Anastacia’s lips, then kiss her again. She moans against me, deepening our kiss. I chuckle as I pull away. “You hungry?”
“I’m always hungry.” She smiles up at me, and I’m glad she’s feeling better. I feel bad I upset her to go to the store, but I had to get them out of here.
“Food is already on the grill, if you want to head around back?”
“God yes,” she says, and the three of us walk down the path to the backyard.
The moment we reach the end of the house, everyone shouts, “Surprise!”
Anastacia and Kelsey have a similar reaction—their hands going to their mouths and tears filling their eyes.
