Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Sniffling, I shook my head. “I’m not upset.”
Frowning, he stared down at me. “Then why are you crying?”
I knew Maverick wanted kids. What I wasn’t sure of was if he wanted them so soon.
With a deep breath, I slowly exhaled, met his gaze and said, “I’m pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.”
His eyes went wide with shock. Then a million different emotions played across his face—disbelief, shock, then a look of terrified fright quickly replaced by pure happiness.
“A baby? We’re going to have a baby?”
I nodded. “We are. Are you happy?”
Tears instantly streamed down his face. “I’ve never been so happy in my entire life, Lily. My own family. I’m going to have my own little family.”
With a laugh that sounded more like a sob, I nodded.
Maverick pulled me into his arms and let out a shout of pleasure as my brother Nathan burst into the office yelling, “I’m going to be an uncle!”
Grams’s voice pulled me out of the memory.
“New Year’s Eve? Well, I guess it matches with how fast your relationship has gone, but don’t you want a spring wedding?” Grams asked.
“We don’t want to wait that long,” Maverick replied as he held me a bit tighter.
Aunt Kaylee sighed. “Young love. Oh, don’t you miss those days?”
Every woman in the room sighed.
Rose and Kipton walked in, with Avery pulling up the rear. It was so good to have her home from France, and Bradly home from the circuit.
“We can’t take the fighting any longer,” Rose declared. “I take back what I said last year about not wanting to be in the kitchen helping with the food.”
Kaylee laughed.
“Kipton, sweetheart, how are you feeling?”
Resting her hands on her stomach, Kipton beamed. “Wonderful! I love being pregnant.”
Stella huffed. “Wait another month until your ankles swell and you can’t sleep. You’ll be counting down the days until that little one comes out.”
The older women in the room laughed as Kipton suddenly looked nervous. “I was just talking to Morgan, and she said it was blissful the entire time.”
Right at that moment, Georgiana walked into the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks. “The hell it was. She complained nonstop! I told her she should try it with two babies.”
“Speaking of, where are Blakley, Ryder, and Rhett?” Lincoln asked.
Rhett and Ryder were Blayze and Georgiana’s one-and-a-half-year-old babies, and Blakely was Morgan and Ryan’s one-and-a-half-year-old little girl.
“Brock has all three of them in the playroom with Ryan, and now Blayze. Granddad threatened to make them all go to the barn and muck out stalls if they didn’t stop arguing.”
“No arm wrestling this year?” Mom asked.
Georgiana shook her head. “Apparently not.”
Aunt Merit smiled at her daughter and said, “Avery, sweetheart, go let everyone know we’re about ten minutes away from dinner.”
Avery nodded and left the kitchen for the task of rounding up the Shaw clan.
“What can I do to help?”
All the women in the room turned to look at Maverick, and grinned. I had to chuckle. He was that handsome and that charming.
“Why don’t you and Lily set the table,” Aunt Lincoln said. “This year, we went with paper plates and cups to make the cleanup easier.”
“Wait,” Grams called out. “You never did answer why you wanted to get married on New Year’s Eve.”
Rose and Kipton both turned to look at me, equally surprised expressions on their faces. Then they both said in unison, “What?”
I felt my cheeks flush and stole a glance at Maverick. He simply smiled and waited for me to drop the news.
“Well…we figured we should probably get married before I started to show.”
“Show what?” Rose asked.
Then, as if the lightbulb went off for everyone at the same time, they all started to scream.
Minutes later, the kitchen was soon filled with every Shaw who could fit.
“What is going on?” Brock asked as he walked in with Ryder in one arm and Rhett in the other. Blayze held Blakley on his shoulders, and Ryan brought up the rear with Mr. Rabbit, the large stuffed animal Bradly had bought for her. It was her favorite, and she took it everywhere she went.
When my father pushed his way into the crowd, with my brother somewhere in the mix, I held up my hands to try to stop everyone from talking all at once. Maverick put his fingers to his mouth and whistled, getting everyone to instantly shut up. Well, everyone but Blakley, who was singing some little tune.
“Shh, baby girl. Lily has something to say,” Ryan said as he took her off Blayze’s shoulders. She snuggled into his neck and butterflies danced in my stomach at the thought of a little girl doing that to Maverick.
“Tell everyone!” Rose shouted.
“Tell everyone what?” my father asked.
Maverick took my hand in his, and I leaned against him. “We were going to wait, but with everyone here and all…”