“She was wrong,” Maverick said.
“Yep,” Bev added. “When I got pregnant again, Martin made the same bet with me. This time, I knew. I just knew it was a girl and told him if it was a boy, we’d name him after his favorite beer.”
Miller raised his hand and shook his head, adding ketchup and mustard to his burger.
“The third time I got pregnant, the first time we had sex after Miller was born, mind you.”
“I didn’t hear that,” Maverick said, taking the last corn on the cob off the grill and putting the large plate in the center of the table.
“Well, I said if it was a boy, we were going to name him after my favorite television show.”
Magnum raised his hand.
“And the last time I got pregnant with my youngest and favorite son. I knew he needed a powerful name. A bold name.”
“Oh god, Mom. Please, no,” I said, hanging my head as Jenna looked between us like we were an exciting tennis match.
“I told Martin if this last baby was a boy, I’d name him after a Roman Emperor and Philosopher. So we gave him a hyphenated first name, Marcus-Aurelius, and threw in a Roman middle name for good measure.
“Four boys and four utterly unique names. Here, here,” Jenna said, raising her glass.
We all did the same, clinking them together before digging into burgers, corn on the cob, and fruit Mom and Jenna prepared.
We were quiet for a time, with nothing but the sounds of twilight and our silverware clinking on the plates to fill the space.
“Tell me a random fact,” I said, not looking up from my plate as I took another bite of the street corn.
Damn, that was good.
“Hmm. Did you know that your middle name is also my favorite Harry Potter character?”
Magnum snorted with laughter and put his fork down, covering his mouth to keep from spitting out the last bite of burger he took. “Your favorite character’s the werewolf? For shame. Couldn’t even pick a pureblood.”
“Ouch,” Jenna answered. “I guess that means your favorite happens to be a certain white-haired, wealthy family with an affinity to peacocks?”
“Damn right.”
“I suppose that’s better than ginger blood-traitors.”
Jenna winked, and Magnum picked up his beer and tried to take a drink, but he kept laughing until Maverick reached over and slapped him hard on the back. He was shaking his head like he was put out that his brother would dare laugh, but I swear I heard him mutter filthymudbloodsunder his breath, whatever that meant.
“Mom, tell us this big news,” Miller said, spearing another burger without a bun. We all looked at her, and she finished her wine, then steepled her fingers on the table.
“I’ve made a decision that you boys are probably not going to be happy about.”
My heart started racing as Mom looked at us. Was she moving? Was she sick? A million worst-case scenarios ran through my brain, but Jenna let her hand drop to her lap, then drift to my leg, entwining her fingers with mine and scooting closer, so our shoulders were touching. I gripped her fingers and moved my other hand to rest on her thigh, but it still wasn’t enough. I was tempted to pull her onto my lap and wrap my arms around her waist. The more of me that touched her, the better I felt.
“I’m not saying this is going to happen today, or tomorrow, or even next month, but I’d like you all to start warming to the idea of me dating again.”
“Dating?”
“You?”
“Are you serious?”
My brothers peppered her with questions, and I relaxed my hands on Jenna. Mom wanted to date? She deserved happiness. She didn’t deserve to be alone for the rest of her days, and I’d support her. After I thoroughly vetted the guy with my nine-millimeter.
“I’m happy for you, Mom. You deserve to share the rest of your life with someone,” I said, drawing everyone’s eyes to me.
