“Jenna,” I heard a voice call. “I’m going to take Cassie from you.”
“Mom.” I finally snapped out of my confusion. Feeling her arms around me, she took my six-month old daughter out of my arms.
Oh my God! It hit me. Max had thrown me a surprise party. “Jenna, Happy Birthday.” Becky, Nicole, and Kate gave me a hug all at once.
“Thanks for coming?” I said, looking down. Christopher had let go of my hand. After he turned two, all he ever wanted to do was follow Connor around.
“It was so hard to keep it away from you,” Becky exclaimed. “I was so afraid that I was going to slip.”
“Well, you did a great job because I was completely clueless. Max told me that he had planned a special dinner for our family for my birthday and that we would spend the night at the Disney hotel, since it’s in walking distance. We also planned to go to Disneyland the next day. Wait.” I paused. “Are you going to Disneyland with us?”
“They sure are.” Max placed his arms around me.
“I can’t believe it. It’s going to be so much fun,” I squealed.
“Let’s see how long we can handle standing in line with all of these kids,” Matthew added.
“Before we discuss our itinerary, let’s eat first,” Max suggested. Taking my hand, he led me to the buffet that was set up just for our room. “Birthday mommy needs to eat. I already told Connor and Christopher to eat lunch. My mom helped them with their serving.”
“Did I tell you how much I love you?” I asked, taking a plate that he offered out of his hand.
“As many times as I tell you that you’re beautiful.”
“That many?”
“I still don’t think it’s enough.” Max winked; the one that sent all sorts of shivers through me.
“You’re too good to me, you know that?”
“I have to make sure Mrs. Knight is happy.” Max scooped a spoonful of vegetables and placed it on my plate.
“Balloon, Mommy,” Christopher whined, tugging my dress.
“You can have it after lunch,” Connor said. “I told him to stay with Grandma, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Would you like to sit with Mommy and Daddy?” I asked Christopher.
With his head tilted back, his brown eyes were wide open. Christopher nodded with the most adorable pouty face.
“Can I sit with Addison and Shawn?” Connor asked. “We want to play super heroes. I’m Superman. Addison is Supergirl. And since Shawn is younger than me, he’s Superboy.” Conner lifted both of his arms to show us his muscles.
Max chuckled lightly. “Yes, you may, but we need to see how much you ate before you throw your plate away.”
“Okay, Dad.” Connor took off with his hands in the air.
As I watched him dash off, I gazed upon my mom and Ellen doting on Cassie while they ate. And the dads were talking about golf. It was such a sweet sight. I’d heard horror stories about in-laws unable to get along, but not in our case. Thank God!
“Mason is so cute,” Kate said, taking a bite of her fish.
“He’s such a lucky boy to finally have parents who will love him,” Nicole added. “How old is he again?”
“He’s almost two,” Matthew replied, spoon-feeding Mason, who was sitting next to him. “He’s still getting used to us speaking English. We hired a nanny that speaks Chinese to help us through the transition. It’s only been two weeks, but he’s adjusted pretty well. It took us longer to adopt than we had planned. We were still deciding which country to adopt our child from, but we finally decided on China.”
“Did you name him after a family member in your family?” Keith asked, placing his cup down after taking a sip.
“Actually,” Matthew started to say, chuckling. “He’s named after a paranormal young adult character Becky likes to read about.”
That got everyone’s attention. “Really? That’s awesome.” Keith grinned.
Matthew’s tone rose with excitement. “He’s named after a descendant of God. He can shoot lightning bolts out of his fingertips. He’s bad ass, I tell you.”
We all burst out in laughter. “Seems like someone read that book. What’s it called?” Max teased.
Matthew shrugged his shoulders. “From Gods. But just the part where he did things with his bolt of energy to make Skylar go crazy for him. You know...I have to make Becca happy.”
“Oh God! Matthew!” Becky lightly punched him. I totally understood the reason for that slap. Becky was not the shy type, but she certainly was around her in-laws. Sex was one topic that was off limits with parents for the both of us. Becky looked at me and cringed.