“Two babies,” I corrected as Luke pulled the ultrasound pictures he’d printed out of the envelope. “Twin sisters, dude.”
Aiden ran a hand through his hair in a gesture that reminded me of… well,me. “This is epic! When are they coming?” he demanded, looking around the room like we might’ve been hiding actual infants behind my office chair. “What are their names?”
“We’ve got a few months to prepare and decide that stuff. You’re the first person we’ve told, of course.” Luke shrugged fake-casually. “Since they’re your family too. Big brother privilege and all.”
Aiden stood a little straighter. “Yeah. I mean… obviously. I, ah, don’t have to change diapers, do I?”
“Of course not,” Luke said at the same moment I said, “Only the really stinky ones.”
Aiden grinned wildly.
“We figured you might want to help us tell everyone out there our news during dinner.” I nodded toward the chaos in the kitchen. “So we got you this.”
Aiden reached into the gift bag I handed him and pulled out a T-shirt. When he read the groan-worthy slogan splashed across the front of it, he rolled his eyes. “You meanyougot me this, Dad,” he countered. “Luke would never.”
Luke covered his mouth with his hand, but his eyes danced.
“You’re right,” I admitted. “It was all me.”
In truth, I’d bought the shirt months ago, right after Josie had told us she was pregnant. Because despite the fear that nearly choked me whenever Luke tried to talk about it, those babies had twined themselves around my heart from the first minute. I’d already loved them and wanted them fiercely. And deep down, I hadn’t stopped hoping because…
“Because you’re their dad,” Luke had told me last night with tears in his eyes when I’d pulled the shirt out of the box I’d kept hidden at the top of my closet. Then he’d pushed me onto our bed and kissed me passionately.
Double-underline passionately.
“I’m gonna go put this T-shirt on under my other shirt, and you can give me a signal when you want me to pull it off for the big reveal,” Aiden said, catching on immediately. “Don’t tell ’em without me, okay?”
“Obviously not,” Luke agreed.
Aiden hesitated only a fraction of a second, then threw himself into Luke’s arms and gave him a quick, hard hug. “I love you, too, you know,” he muttered. He turned to me and repeated the gesture. “Both of you.” Then he ran out of the room, clutching his new shirt.
“Wow.” Luke blew out a shaky breath. “That was…”
“Amazing? Even better than I’d expected? Yes, to all of it.” I pulled him into my arms and buried my face in his neck. “By trying to keep my fear to myself, I almost cost Aiden and everyone the chance to feel this joy.”
“But you didn’t. Because you’re brave. Andgood.” Luke wrapped his arms around my neck and lowered his voice to a whisper. “And really, really hot, too. In case I haven’t mentioned that today?—”
“Yeah?” I nipped at his jaw. “Because I was thinking, after everyone goes home?—”
“Hey, Webb? Luke?” Hawk called as he came down the hall. He appeared in the doorway a second later. “Uncle Drew is nearly done at the grill, so—oh my God,Pecky?” He goggled at the rooster, which Luke had moved to the table by my office door during our frenzied tidying earlier. “What are you doing here?”
Then his gaze swung to Luke and me, locked together, and he pointed at us accusingly. “Iknewit was real! You’ve fallen under the rooster’s spell, haven’t you? And to think, Jack nearly had me convinced it was just a cookie jar!”
Luke and I exchanged a glance, and I noticed he was fighting not to laugh at Hawk’s histrionics.
“No spells, Hawklet,” I said mildly. “Just embracing my husband. Fully clothed. In our home. It’s a thing we do from time to time.”
“Oh, sure, you’re fully clothednow.” Hawk rolled his eyes. “But tell me you weren’t both thinking sex thoughts.”
I opened my mouth to argue but found that I couldn’t. Luke blushed.
Hawk grinned. “Ha! The Cock of Good Fortune isreal. Wait until I tell Gage.”
“It wasn’t the rooster—” I began, but when Luke started laughing, I gave up and decided to kiss my husband instead.
By the time we got to the kitchen, everyone had taken their seats at the big farmhouse table, which had beenexpanded with an extra leaf to accommodate everyone, and Hawk was already in the middle of recounting his story.
“—and Webb wassmiling, for no reason whatsoever,” Hawk said. He thrust a hand in my direction and smiled smugly. “See that big, goofy grin? That’s Cock-induced.”
