Protect Me(85)

“Happy birthday, little man,” I reply with enthusiasm that mimics my nephew’s. Technically, Grant’s birthday was last week, but this was the first Saturday that my brothers and I were off from work. So, it’s an entire afternoon of celebrating.

“Me?” he asks, eyes wide as he stares at the box that is bigger than he is.

“It is, little man,” I say as I place a kiss on the top of his dark hair. “Who’s your favorite uncle?” I ask.

“Nay Nay!” he exclaims and throws those little - and sort of sticky - arms around my neck. “Don’t get too excited, Nate. He told me the same thing earlier when I gave him a handful of Cheetos,” Maddox says before heading out the back door to man the grill with Jake.

I put Grant down and send him off to play with his cousins. Mom and Dad are sitting on the sectional couch with Erin who is already huge for four months. Jake and Travis are outside grilling hamburgers and hotdogs while Maddox and Will play with the kids on the floor. Lia, Avery, and Joss all work on setting the food out on the counter, as we get ready to feed the masses.

I take in my family around me when I feel my mom’s arms wrap firmly around my waist. “Did you do it?” she whispers.

“Not yet. I’m taking her to the creek as soon as we leave here. I put the sign up and I have the paperwork in my pocket,” I reply, trying hard to mask my excitement.

“I can’t wait for her to see it,” she adds with a knowing smile.

I lean down and kiss my mom’s head, pulling her close in a tight hug. I can’t imagine what would have happened two months ago if my mom hadn’t come to my house and kicked my ass into seeing the big picture. The thought of Lia being out at the creek by herself, while I practically drank myself stupid back at my house, still burns my gut. But, Mom knew Lia wouldn’t have just left me. And while, deep down, I knew it too, I was too hung up on her words in the note and what happened in my past to see it. Thank God for Mom.

“I hope she’s as excited as I am to tell her,” I say softly to Mom.

“She’ll be ecstatic,” she adds with a smile.

If Mom only knew the extent of my excitement…

The afternoon progresses without a hitch. I’ve always loved spending time with my family, but with Lia in my life, it seems that much more fulfilled. I don’t mind my brothers sneaking kisses on the lips of their wives. I don’t mind my brother-in-law and my sister…No, wait. I still mind that.

I glance around the room as Grant and his cousins play with all of his new toys. I had to promise Travis and Josselyn that I’d come over, not this spring, but the next spring and teach Grant to drive his new battery operated Mustang. He’s definitely going to be too little for it even next year. Little does Travis know that I’ll be over the first Saturday that we have temperatures over fifty degrees, rigging up some way to take him for a ride in it, even though his legs won’t reach the pedals. Little man better have a snowsuit.

“So, I know that today’s about Grant, but I was hoping I could talk to everyone for a few minutes,” Jake says from his perch on the floor in front of Erin who is still sitting on the couch, eating her second slice of birthday cake. Or is it her third?

“What’s up, Jake?” Dad asks from Travis’s easy chair in front of the big screen television.

“Well, Erin and I went to the doctor yesterday and we got to see an ultrasound thingy,” Jake says with a big smile.

“Did you find out the sex of the baby?” Avery asks, practically bouncing up and down on the floor next to Maddox.

“We did,” Jake says as he looks over his shoulder at Erin. Both wear matching grins.

“So, what are you having?” Josselyn asks as we all wait with baited breath for the announcement.

“We’re having a girl,” Erin says with a big smile that lights up her beautiful green eyes.

The room erupts into cheers and laughter as congratulations messages are thrown around at the expecting couple.

“And another girl,” Jake finally hollers over the crowd.

Everyone stops talking and looks at the couple, both sitting down, relaxing as if they haven’t a care in the world.

“What did you say?” Avery asks, dumbfounded.

“We’re having a girl…and another girl,” Erin giggles.

“Twins?” Mom asks from the other end of the sectional.

“Yep,” Jake says with a big, shit-eating, cocky grin.

Everyone jumps up at once. I can barely hear myself think as everyone talks over the person next to them. I throw my hand inside my brother’s hand and pull him in for a hug. “Congratulations, man. That’s awesome news,” I tell my brother with excitement.