“Nobody try to peek!” Ella scolds. Jesse jumps at her sudden shout from directly behind him and we all burst out laughing.
Ella laughs too, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Oh, I’msorry, honey. Did I scare you?” she teases, leaning in and pressing a kiss to his cheek from behind.
Jesse chuckles, shaking his head. “It’s fine. I’m used to you keeping me on my toes anyway.”
“I have a question,” Cody interrupts, holding the cupcake out in front of him and inspecting all sides.
“What’s your question, Cody?” Ella asks. Her cute little belly disappears beneath the edge of the table as she sits back down in her seat.
“Who put the color in there?” he asks.
“Obviously Ella did.” Mason gestures towards her with a scoff, as if that’s obvious.
I glance at the chocolate cupcakes on all of our plates before looking closer at the soft yellow icing on mine. Yeah, they definitely aren’t professional. No offense to Ella.
“No, she didn’t,” Jesse corrects.
“Yes, I did,” Ella mutters, and Jesse turns to her, his eyebrows raised.
“You know what we’re having?!”
Her cheeks blush slightly, but she smiles. My heart beats faster but everyone else laughs. I didn’t think either of them knew. She’s better at keeping a secret than I’d ever be.
“Well, this just got interesting,” Cody says, setting the cupcake down and leaning back in his seat, his arms crossed.
I glance at Mom. She tucks her lips and looks to Dad, who snickers and takes a sip of his drink. Brantley laughs and rests his arm around the top of chair.
“Yeah.” She reaches up to rub Jesse’s back, continuing in a playful tone, “But, sweetheart, I thought I’d save us seventy bucks and make them myself.”
“El.” He shakes his head. Then freezes. “Wait. Seventybucks?! For cupcakes?!”
“Um, yeah, that’s why—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on,” Cody cuts in, waving a hand and picking his cupcake back up. “You thinktheselook professional, dude?”
“Hey!” Ella responds, indignant.
“Cody,” Mom warns, but everyone else is laughing.
“You try frosting twelve cupcakes after a fifteen-hour shift,” Ella retorts.
“Well, I think I deserve to find out before any of you.” Jesse points around the table and nobody disagrees.
Ella shifts in her seat and watches Jesse pick up his cupcake carefully. He grins before biting into half of it. My heart races while we all wait. Ella’s already smiling ear to ear.
His eyes light up. “Nuh-uh!” he mumbles through a full mouth, icing on his lip. Then he practically tackles Ella in a hug.
“What is it?!” I shout, and nobody else gives it a second thought as we all simultaneously pick up our cupcakes and break them open.
“A girl!” Mom is the first to exclaim after breaking hers in half.
Cheers erupt around the table, followed by the sound of chairs scraping the floor to give the happy soon-to-be parents a hug. I’m trying not to cry, but when I see Ellais, her hug is just enough for the tears to get pushed past the brim.
“I’m so excited,” I say into her hair. I’ve been surrounded by boys my whole life—aside from her and Mom. We need some girls around here. Keeps things interesting and not so testosterone-driven all the time.
Brantley doesn’t get up to hug them, but I don’t expect himto. He just gives Jesse a fist bump across the table and gets back to his cupcake.
Jesse scoops Ella right up like she weighs nothing at all.
