His features grew tight. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“Good. So please put this discussion on the back burner until I’ve had a chance to fawn over the two of them.”
Colt stepped out of the way, his hand sweeping out in front of me like he was letting me into the most exclusive club in the world.
And to be fair, that’s what it felt like for me, too. The divorce was devastating for so many reasons, but right at the top of the list was the loss of the brothers and sister I’d grown up with. In the blink of an eye, I was back to being an only child. Something I hadn’t had to contend with since I was twelve-years-old.
“Vi!” Jessie’s smile grew the closer she got to me. “Oh my God, I still can’t get over how cute you look. This belly! I am so excited to be an aunt again! But on the Ford side of the family this time.”
I wrapped my arms around the pipsqueak, grateful to get to soak in time with her twice in one day. She might be a wife and a mom, but she would always be the little girl who followed mearound endlessly with hearts in her eyes. The one who made me want to be a mom myself.
“It’s wild to me that you’re not officially a Ford anymore.”
Jessie scrunched up her nose. “It feels so weird. I mean, I love writing ‘Mrs. Morgan’, but I’m just not used to it yet.”
“Speaking of Morgans…” A tall—okay, very tall and very handsome—man stepped into the house through the back door, bringing with him a wiggly little boy and a plate full of steaks that made my mouth water as he set them down on the table.
“Oh,” Jessie laughed, “Vi, this is my husband, Hawk. Hawk, this is, well, for all purposes other than legally—which honestly is the least important—my sister, Violet.”
I laughed at the description as I offered my hand to Hawk, who was balancing their son on his left arm. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too, Violet.”
“And this,” Jessie reached and scooped her son from Hawk’s arm, “chunky boy is Beckett. Beck, say hi to Uncle Coco’s friend, Violet.”
“Hi Lielet!”
“Well, hello there, Beckett. It’s so nice to finally meet you.” My heart was about to burst out of my chest. “Jessie, he is the cutest! I’m just so overwhelmed thinking about our boys playing together one day soon.”
Colt flinched next to me. I turned to look at him, wondering why the hell he was standing ramrod straight and staring at me. But then my words played over again in my mind.
He didn’t know the baby was a boy. I’d just accidentally blurted out something I should have saved to tell him when it was just the two of us. When I was going to explain everything.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Don’t be.” His fingers twitched, but he didn’t move.
“Dinner’s almost ready, everyone can find a spot to sit. Just don’t sit next to Beckett unless you want to share your food with him.” Jessie’s joke broke the lingering tension.
“I talked to Stone today about the house. He’s going to come and do a walk through so he knows he’s ordering the right parts, I guess.” I brought the glass of water that was sitting in front of me up to my mouth. Colt and I sat next to each other, him on my right and Jessie to my left. Beckett was currently pushing mashed potatoes all over his plate while Hawk and Jessie wrangled his hands to try and get them clean.
“Did he say when? I can be there,” Colt offered.
I shook my head. “He didn’t. But he did mention telling you, so you’d know.”
“Good.”
I pushed another bite of meat onto my fork. “This steak is delicious, Hawk. But I won’t lie, I’m already eyeing those brownies.”
Jessie laughed. “I’ve definitely upped my skills since you got me that toy oven for Christmas, and I made you two eat half-baked cookie dough.”
“I don’t know how I forgot about that,” Colt chuckled. “I remember how many tears there were when you pulled the cookie tray out after thirty minutes and everything was still raw.”
“Hey, you don’t mess with a woman and her sweet treats.” I crossed my arms and winked at Jess. “I’m not sure why toy manufacturers think it’s smart to try and have kids cook with light bulbs.”
“It was special, but I just enjoyed getting to spend time with you both.”
The conversation continued like that through the rest of dinner. Light. Fun. Reminiscing through the memories we shared together. No one brought up my pregnancy again, and I was grateful for that. Because even with as lovely as the night turned out to be, I was still standing under the giant shadow of a secret I needed to share sooner rather than later.
