There was a collective let down at the table.
“What if it’s accidental?” Emma asked.
I narrowed my eyes at Emma. “How do you accidentally entangle yourself with someone?”
“Ooh, pick me.” Jenna raised her hand. “I have lots of ideas. I can even draw you some pictures.”
We all laughed at her.
Henry laughed too and said, “Draw me a picture.”
Jenna pressed her lips together and looked at Henry. “Maybe I should tell you my ideas later.”
“I think that would be for the best.” We needed to protect the innocent ears at the table and, more importantly, make sure he didn’t hear anything he shouldn’t repeat to his uncle. “Or you can forget them altogether,” I suggested.
“Uh, no.” Jenna flashed me a devilish grin. “I’ll text you.”
I could hardly wait for those. Not. “Can we move on now?” I prayed the answer was yes.
Emma reached into her bag. “Well, I have some news.”
We gave her all our attention.
“Sawyer and I went to the doctor this morning. We had our first ultrasound.” Joy burst from her words. “And . . .” she pulled out an ultrasound picture, “we are having TWINS!”
The table erupted in excited cheers.
“Oh, Mylanta!” Shelby snatched the picture. She was obsessed with babies, being a former midwife and a general lover of babies. She and Ryder were planning on having five kids. Shelby carefully studied the picture of what looked like two peanuts. “Everything looks perfect. Now, you can still do an unmedicated birth with twins. I’ll be there every step of the way.” Shelby was also a big proponent of drug-free births. I wondered if she would change her tune on that after she herself had given birth. Though, Jenna did say Shelby was an amazing coach in the delivery room and made it possible forher to go natural with Elliott. Me, I was all for the epidural. And it wasn’t like Leland was much help in the delivery room. He slept and watched sports most of the time.
Emma took back the picture and stared doe-eyed at it. “I can’t believe it.”
“What does Sawyer think?” I asked.
“He’s over the moon,” Emma gushed. “He cried when the doctor told us.”
I was so happy for her. She never thought she would find love, but I always knew she would. She just needed the right man to be strong enough to not be intimidated by how confident and good she was. Sawyer was the lucky man. From day one it was plain to see he was in awe of her.
“Have you told your daddy yet?” Shelby asked.
Emma nodded. “He’s so excited. He’s already out buying two rocking horses. And he’s putting the word out that he’ll be on the lookout for two ponies.” Emma’s dad, Dane, was an avid horseman. “Sawyer’s dad was just as cute about it. He and Bridget are now talking about going to the courthouse to get married sooner rather than later. They are both questioning their decision to get married on the slopes this winter. They’re worried I shouldn’t be skiing in my condition. Personally, I think they just want to get married. And I think it will help Bridget feel justified being able to call herself grandma, which obviously to me she will be.”
“Does that mean you haven’t told Sawyer’s mom yet?” I hesitated to ask. We all hated Josephine, especially Emma. No one could blame her after how awful Josephine was to her and her father. And there was the little issue of making Sawyer and Emma stepsiblings for a short period, which kept them from exploring their own romantic relationship. Thatwould be a fun story to tell their kiddos—that they were stepbrother and stepsister when they got married.
Emma’s face scrunched and her fists clenched any time her mother-in-law and ex-stepmother’s name was brought up. “No, we haven’t told her. We try to have as little contact with her as possible, though she has been calling Sawyer more often. He rarely answers. I’m not sure he will ever forgive her for trying to ruin our wedding.”
“What about your sisters?” Jenna threw in quickly, trying to change the subject for Emma’s sake.
Emma rolled her eyes. “I haven’t told them yet either. I wanted to tell you guys first. They are both on my nerves anyway.”
Shelby wrung her hands like she knew why. It wasn’t surprising, considering Macey and Marlowe worked for her and Marlowe was dating Ryder’s cousin Bobby Jay.
Jenna pulled a bib out of her diaper bag for Elliott. “What’s up with the M&M twins?”
Emma gave Shelby a pointed look. “Well for starters, Macey keeps stringing along poor Jamie, and. . . Marlowe broke up with Bobby Jay.”
“What? Is she an idiot?” Jenna asked.
We all nodded. Bobby Jay was a nice guy as far as I could tell, and funnier than anyone I had ever met. He also treated Marlowe like a queen.
