“I know,” I say softly.
“I’m excited that this house is going to have a little girl in it. I think all those boys needed this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, sweet girl. They’ve never really been around little girls to know how precious they are. I think when this little one comes, she’s going to turn their lives upside down, and they all need it. Each one of them needs to see that all women were once precious little girls.”
“You’re right,” I agree quietly. “But I think they all know how precious women are from you and Susan. They’re just waiting for the right woman to come along and show them how precious they are.”
She smiles and pats my cheek. “Smart girl.” I laugh.
“Well,” I say, kissing her cheek, “I’m going to go find my husband.”
“Are you ever going to have a real wedding?”
“I don’t know.” I honesty haven’t thought about it. After I got out of the hospital, me and Asher went right to the court house and got a marriage license. I was wearing sweats and sneakers and so was Asher. We just wanted to be married. The wedding didn’t matter to me. “Maybe, after the baby gets here, we can have a small ceremony.”
“That would be nice. She can be the flower girl.”
“Yeah and Beast can be the ring bearer,” I say, laughing. “Maybe you and I can start planning something small. I’m sure Mama Susan would like to help.”
“I know she thinks of you as a daughter and would love to help you. Shoot, if you let her, she would probably take over the whole thing for you.”
“I might just let her do that.” I laugh.
“Alright, go find your husband before he starts running around the house, yelling for you and scaring all the guests.”
“I’ll come back and check on you soon. Do you want a piece of the baby shower cake?”
“No, thanks. I’m on a diet.”
“Oh, lord.” I roll my eyes.
“Hey, there’s a new guy that’s kind of cute. I need to watch my girlish figure.”
“I’m leaving,” I say, laughing and walking out the door, trying to get the image of Miss Alice and a man, any man, out of my head.
“Hey, sis, you’re leaking,” Nico says and I look down at the water pitcher in my hand. I don’t see it leaking, but I do see water running down my legs and onto the floor at my feet. I look back at the pitcher and then back at my feet, and then I realize that it’s time.
“I…I’m, well, I think my water broke,” I tell him and he looks like he may fall over.
“Your water broke?” He stumbles back.
“Oh crap!” I mumble.
“What’s going on?” Cash asks.
“My water broke and Nico is freaking out,” I tell him, waving a hand in front of Nico’s face. Then I look at Cash and he looks the same as his brother. “Come on. You can’t be serious?” I groan.
“Is everything okay?” Trevor asks and I don’t even tell him. What’s the point? He’s just going to freak and I don’t have time to deal with them.
“Your water broke?” Trevor says from behind me and I notice that he sounds normal, so I stop and look at him.
“Yes, and I need to find your brother. Will you help me without going comatose?”
“Sure.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal, and his other two brothers aren’t standing four-feet away staring into space. He grabs me around the waist and slides his arm under my thigh, lifting me. I scream and hold onto his neck for dear life.
“I could have walked,” I tell him, digging my nails into his back.
“This would be easier if you would retract your claws there, kitten.”
“Oh, sorry,” I mumble.
“What are you doing? Put her down,” Asher says when he sees us come through the backdoor.
“Her water broke. I’m taking her to the car.”
“Your water broke?” he asks in the same tone as Nico and Cash.
“Asher James Mayson, if you freak out, we’re going to have so many problems, especially after you shoved that damn baby book down my throat every day for the last nine months. You know everything that is going to happen. You cannot be surprised by any of this.”
“You tried to burn it,” he reminds me of my failure. When we finally got home from the hospital and the guys came over for dinner that weekend, they decided to grill steaks and found the baby book still inside the grill, safe and sound, not even slightly damaged by the horrible rains that we had for two days before. He brought the book inside, set it at the island, and then went back out to the grill, never saying a word about it.