I burst out laughing and buried my head into his neck. “He’s the only one who knows and he was sworn to secrecy. I knew it would hurt you if I wasn’t excited about the pregnancy when I told you, and I had a feeling it was going to take a few days or so for me to get there. I sat there thinking of how I wanted to tell you, and I figured I couldn’t just randomly blurt it out after knowing for some time, so I thought of the jersey.”
“It was a good idea, darlin’, I like it. And it’ll be fun with the family too.”
“Do you think they’ll be happy?” I asked, a little anxious. If I thought we were too young, I could only imagine what John and Tessa would think. It would be the same as if Amanda was pregnant.
“Oh hell yeah. Cass, they don’t say much around you because they know how you are about having kids, but when you’re not around, dear Lord, it’s all they ever talk about. Even little Emily wants to know when you’re going to have a baby so she can have someone to play with.”
“Oh, I didn’t know they were trying not to talk about it in front of me. Now I feel bad.”
Gage leaned away, placed two fingers under my chin, and lifted my head up. “Don’t. I didn’t say that so you would feel bad. They just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, sweetheart. But I promise they’ll be excited, especially when they see how happy you are.” He kissed my lips softly and without moving away asked, “When are you due?”
“July eleventh; I’m seven weeks today.”
He repeated the date and smiled. “Holy shit. We’re having a baby in July. This is unreal.”
“I know, we have the first ultrasound a week from today.” Just then my alarm went off and Gage reached over to my phone to shut it off.
“What’s that for?”
“Gotta go help your mom cook.”
Gage rolled us over so my back was to the bed and he was hovering over me; he planted a knee between my legs and I willingly opened them again. “She can wait.”
WE PULLED UP to the main house and I finished putting my hair in a high, messy bun, Gage’s request so nothing would cover the name on the jersey. I looked at all the cars and the butterflies in my stomach tripled; Amanda had been home for two days, but Ty’s Jeep and Jesse’s Camaro were there as well.
Gage stopped me before we hit the door and kissed me thoroughly. “I love you, Cassidy.”
Forcing my hands to unclench from his burnt-orange shirt, I sighed and whispered my love back to him.
As soon as we were in the house, I was pulled into a massive bear hug from Tyler and I thought Gage would have a stroke. I wanted to tell him I was only seven weeks, he wasn’t going to hurt anything, but that would ruin our plan to wait for someone to notice the name on the jersey, so I kept my mouth shut. Jesse and Isabella hugged us, and I cringed when I noticed how much thinner Isabella was, but she looked happier than ever.
“Oh, nuh-uh! Get out!” Amanda demanded, and I looked at her with wide eyes. “Both of you, and, Ty, you can go with them! No burnt orange allowed in this house.”
I laughed and looked up at Tessa’s back. “But your mom is wearing a Longhorns jersey.”
I’d thought Gage was joking when he said everyone in the family wore jerseys or college shirts during Thanksgiving, but he wasn’t. The only people in the entire house not wearing maroon or burnt orange were Emily, Isabella, and Jesse. Amanda and Nikki were wearing maroon “Twelfth Man” shirts; John was wearing a “Saw ’Em Off” gray-and-maroon shirt; Tyler was wearing a burnt-orange-and-white “Hook ’Em” shirt, same as Gage’s; and Tessa was wearing a Longhorns jersey.
Texans . . . they’re their own kind of people.
“Now, now, I’m showin’ my love for my divided house,” Tessa said, and turned around to show the front was an A & M jersey.
My jaw dropped and I pointed. “Not fair! Why is it okay for her to sew two jerseys together, two rival jerseys, might I add, but it’s not okay for me to wear Lakers and Spurs jerseys at the same time?”
Gage was the only one who understood what I was talking about, so he just laughed and kissed the top of my head. “Darlin’, that’s ’cause you were trying to bring Texas and California together. Doesn’t work that way.”
Tessa looked pointedly at the two of us and smirked. “I’d say it does.”
Gage winked and kissed me again quickly as I started walking into the kitchen, and he went over to sit with his dad, Ty, and Isabella.
It took much longer than I thought it would, but an hour later Nikki finally said, “Mama, did you let Cassidy borrow your jersey or something?”
My smile grew and my hands stilled momentarily, then I made quick work of washing and drying them as Tessa responded distractedly from the other side of the counter. “No, baby, why?”
“ ’Cause hers says ‘Mama Carson.’ ”
“No, I—” Tessa cut herself off and I heard Amanda’s gasp from right behind me, followed quickly by Tessa’s. I could hear Tyler and Jesse start razzing Gage, and I turned to face the family with the world’s biggest smile.
Tessa and Amanda both had wide eyes, hands over their mouths, and were frozen; Nikki looked like she’d just gotten it; and Emily was sitting on the counter just looking at everyone. Before I could say anything, Gage stumbled into the kitchen with Jesse and Tyler clapping him on the back and still razzing him, and John was walking Isabella in. Gage walked right up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, letting his hands rest on my stomach.
Tessa’s eyes followed his hands and tears sprang from her eyes as she let out an excited cry, but she clamped her mouth shut. “I’m not going to assume, I’m not going to assume,” she whispered, and leaned into John, who was now at her side with his arm around her shoulder.
“I really hope you’re ready to be a grandma,” I said through my smile.
The same cry came from her and she left John to pull Gage and me into a big hug. When she let us go she cupped my cheeks and kissed my forehead, before moving to do the same to Gage, and I was pulled into another hug from Amanda.
We went through another round of hugs from everyone, and at the end of the line was Ty. He pulled me into his arms and didn’t let go for a long moment. He knew what this meant for me, and as Tyler always had, he knew how to respond to the situation. I was thrilled, and he could see that in my smile and laughs as I told everyone the due date and how far along I was. But he knew deep down what this meant for me and that he needed to be my rock. I wrapped my arms tighter around his waist and face-planted into his chest when the tears started falling down my cheeks. This had nothing to do with Gage’s not being able to understand what I needed, because he did; it just had everything to do with why I’d asked Tyler to walk me down the aisle and give me away. He was the closest thing to my family I would ever have.
Still holding me tightly, he whispered close to my ear, “You’re going to be an amazing mom, Cassidy. I’m so happy for you, sweetheart.”
I nodded against his chest and brought one of my hands back to my face to wipe my tears, then down to find and link my fingers with Gage’s.
GAGE
I STRETCHED MY body out along Cassidy’s and kissed her lips softly. “Wake up, darlin’.” Her being tired had nothing to do with the massive lunch all the girls had made; her eyelids had already started shutting before we’d even sat down to eat. So I’d brought her up to my old room as soon as we were done eating, since Mama refused to let us help clean up, and Cassidy had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She groaned and automatically rolled into me; one hand went to my stomach and her head found its way to that perfect spot in between my neck and shoulder.
Kissing her cheek, I brushed my lips across her jaw and repeated in her ear, “Time to wake up, darlin’.”
Her eyes popped open and that slow smile she only ever showed me crossed her face. “What time is it?”
“The game is starting in about thirty minutes. Everyone’s grabbing leftovers and pie for dinner.”
“Dinner?” She asked warily, “How long was my nap?”
“You call that a nap?” I teased. “Cass, you slept for over five hours. I tried to wake you up earlier after I woke up from my nap, but you were out. So I went back home, grabbed Sky and the pies you made, and I’ve been hanging with Ty since.”
“Five? Holy crap!”
“Yeah.” I laughed and let my hands trail over her neck, reveling in the deep breaths I was able to take now that I could feel her heartbeat under my fingers. “You feelin’ all right?”
“I feel fine. I’ve been sleeping a lot the last couple weeks, I guess from being pregnant, but five hours. Talk about food coma.” She pushed on Sky until she jumped off the bed, then scrambled off as well.
I followed her out, grabbed three beers, and headed back to the kitchen table, where Jesse and Tyler were, and handed them each one. Amanda sat in Jesse’s lap, and I tried not to let that bother me, but c’mon, she was my sister, there was no way in hell that wasn’t going to bother me. So I made sure my eyes never left Cassidy while she grabbed a plate of food and sliced up two of the pies—not like that was hard. She was so damn beautiful, and watching her had been all I was able to do for a year and a half, so it had become one of my favorite things to do. Especially when she was in the kitchen; she moved around the kitchen like it was a part of her, and she always had some song going on in her head, and every now and then she’d start dancing to it. I loved those times, because when she’d notice me watching her, the blush I loved so much would creep over her face and she’d shoot me one of those blinding smiles. And now? I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed something was going on this last week and a half; Cass had a new smile I’d never seen before, like she had a secret, and it hadn’t once left her face today. I only wished I’d been paying enough attention to notice it before, but I had to admit, I did like the jersey idea.
Just as I looked down at her new jersey, her body started moving to whatever song was in her head and I had to hold back a laugh. God, my wife was cute. Tyler stood up and walked into the kitchen and over to Cassidy; when he reached her, he leaned his hip against the counter and draped an arm over her shoulder. He said something too low for me to hear and she looked up at him to respond. She set down the plate of food, her body automatically sagged against him, and he curled his arm tighter around her. Tyler continued to whisper to her, and I waited for it, the jealousy, but it never came. I hadn’t felt it since Tyler came back from their trip to California in May.
I’d seen Cassidy and Tyler when they were friends, and then I’d seen them together. By the time Cassidy and I were together, she and Tyler were only ever near each other in hostile environments, so when Tyler was finally done trying to keep us apart, I’d stopped worrying so much. When I saw them together for the first time after she got back from California, I wondered how it’d taken me that long to see exactly how Cass responded to him. Like right now, with her leaning into him and his arms around her, sure, they were close, but there was nothing intimate about the way they were holding each other. Ty was her best friend, nothing more.