Unless outrageously padded, the contents of the pouch were much too bulky for underthings, though.
Giddy squeals erupted as the gifts were unpacked.
Bea and I were the last to unwrap our gift—a red silk bomber jacket with flowy white embroidery on the back that readBoulder Babe.The same one Ness had worn at Thanksgiving, and which Sarah was wearing presently under a raccoon fur vest.
“This. Is. Gorgeous.” Adalyn’s eyes glittered like the delicate rhinestone and pearl headband woven through her bleached hair. She hugged Sarah, then Ness, and in her effusiveness, even gave Storm’s cheek a quick kiss.
As she shrugged it on, I pushed back one of my sleek curls and traced the white embroidery on my own jacket with my index finger. It was incredibly pretty and incredibly meaningful.
“Hey. It matches your eyes, Bea.” Although, for once, I didn’t think May had meant it as an insult, it made Bea fold the jacket back up.
“Everyone needs to put it on so we can take a picture.” Ads clapped her hands eagerly. “Grams?”
Grandma Reeves set down the curling iron she was using on her own hair and took out her cell phone.
“I . . . uh . . .” Bea bit her lip.
After putting mine on, I filched the pouch from Bea’s fidgety fingers, retrieved the jacket, and held it up, so she could spear her arms through.
“One day, those eyes will be on my niece or nephew. Be proud of them so they’ll be proud of being different, too.” This was me being hopeful again, because no one actually knew, not even Doc, if Bea would be able to reproduce, biologically or evenvenomously.
She hadn’t been able to bring her brother back, but maybe, for her venom to take effect, the person had to be alive. During one of my many afternoons spent at Nate’s, I’d heard her and my brother discussing biting terminally-ill people. Liam had vetoed it. For now.
With a little sigh, she gathered her thick hair and indulged me. I clasped her hand to remind her that she was one of us, no matter the shade of her eyes or the genetic makeup of her body.
After the photoshoot, Ness approached me, Liam’s son balanced on her hip. “How are you doing today?”
Storm stretched out his arms as though assuming he was about to be chucked my way. I hesitated for all of a second before taking him from Ness.
Just because Liam and I were done didn’t mean Storm and I were. We were both Boulders after all. I inhaled his sweet milky scent and whispered, “I missed you,” into his amber curls before answering Ness. “I feel like I’m about to throw up, and I’m not even the one getting married.”
Storm pressed his cheek against my collarbone, his little body going slack the way it always did when he trusted the person carrying him, but then he caught sight of my long earrings—rose-gold chains interlocked with diamond stars—and he eased off my chest to paw at the sparkly jewels.
“Sympathy nerves,” I added when Ness’s gaze drifted to my abdomen.
“Or solstice nerves?” Adalyn suggested with a wide smile.
I went as white as her gown, which still hung from the top of the living room door in its garment bag.
“You’ll know in”—May checked the time on her phone—“two hours and three minutes.”
“You have a timer on?” Gracey asked, as Grandma Reeves rolled her granddaughter’s dark hair into twin buns at the top of her head, Princess-Leia style.
“No, but I looked it up this morning.” May slid her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. “Solstice begins at 4:58 p.m. this year. Right smack during the ceremony.” She placed her hand on her own stomach. “My stomach’s been acting weird all day.”
Savannah rolled her eyes. “Every solstice you say that.”
Storm yanked on my earring, which made my attention slip to him instead of my spasming abdomen. “Easy there, baby.” I pried his fingers off and headed to the kitchen table to find something else to busy his little hands. After a quick scan that made my own stomach shrivel and hide, I grabbed a celery stick from the crudité platter.
Storm seized it excitedly and stuck it inside his mouth. The grimace that followed his first taste made my nerves release and a chuckle escape. He flung his arm out as though he were holding a stinky sock and dumped the green stick.
“Fine. Let’s go for the unhealthy option.” I peeled the bun off a slider and placed it inside his open palm. Delighted chewing ensued.
As I poured myself a glass of water, my phone buzzed with a message from Niall begging me for a ride back from the worksite. He’d gotten stuck finishing something in one of the cabins, and apparently everyone else in my family was too busy to taxi him around, and he couldn’t shift because he was already in his vest, shirt, and trousers.
Why in the world had he gone into work today? And why in his nice clothes? My brother was sometimes such an enigma.
After a quick kiss to Storm’s squishy cheek, I relinquished him to Ness, thanked her and Sarah for the gift, promised Adalyn I’d be right back, then got into my car and drove up the hill toward the cluster of brand-new cabins. The tawny wood glowed amber in the already low sun and the windows glistened like cut topaz.
