She glances around the room and her gaze lands on Asher. “His name is Daniel Asher.”
Asher sucks in a breath, and his eyes gloss over.
Kyla reaches out and takes his hand. “It was an easy choice.I thought the first boy should be named after the best man I know.”
“Ky,” Asher whispers.
“Do you want to hold him?” Kyla asks.
He just nods, and she hands him the tiny bundle. The second the baby is situated in his arms, Asher loses it, his tears spilling over and running down his face. He leans down to hug Kyla again, the baby between them, and watching Asher crumble over the sister he loves so much and her first baby has my own tears falling.
“You love him.” Asher’s mom speaks quietly from behind me.
It’s a statement, not a question, but I find myself wanting to answer. Even though I haven’t given Asher the words yet, I turn to Susan.
“Yes.”
She gives me a warm smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Well then, welcome to chaos, Julie Parker. I think you’ll fit in just fine.”
I really think so too.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Asher
“Susan, these are the best cookies I have ever tasted, seriously. If I knew how to bake, I would ask for the recipe because I’m going to need a constant supply.”
I grin at Julie, who is sprawled on the living room sofa with my sisters and my mom, three infants in bouncers lined up on the coffee table and plates of cookies everywhere. It’s our third day in Boulder, and since Kyla came home from the hospital last night and is officially on maternity leave, my mom, Annie, Charlie, and Lucy took the day off and decided a girls’ day was in order. And today, a girls’ day means starting with six different cookie flavors and hot chocolate on the couch, while they order me to get them whatever else they might need. Usually, I would balk at being their errand boy, but the contentment radiating from Julie as she sits curled up on the couch, slotting right in with all the most important women in my life as if she has known them forever, means I would do literally anything for any of them right now.
My family’s casual acceptance of Julie has put her at ease in a way I haven’t experienced with her yet, even in our bestmoments together. She has held babies, talked law with my mom, asked my dad questions about his surgical practice, read books with my nieces, and displayed a truly impressive knowledge of Disney princesses. That she feels this way in my hometown, sitting with my family, is a feeling almost more intense than I was prepared to handle, and I was prepared for quite a lot when it comes to my feelings for Julie. My love for her is so enormous I’m shocked she can’t feel it every time I look at her. The words are right there, ready to spill out every time I open my mouth. I have to tell her soon, otherwise I’m pretty sure I’m going to blurt it out at a really inopportune time.
“Honey, you don’t need the recipe. I’ll send you cookies anytime you want. Also, Asher can make them for you.”
“He can?” Then she turns to me. “You bake?”
“Seriously, Asher? You never told her you bake? That’s like a core Asher fact, and also an A-plus way to woo a woman.” Kyla stretches her arms above her head and gives me a wicked grin. I step over to the couch and shove her over so I can take the seat next to Julie.
“Shut up, Ky. And anyway, our relationship hasn’t exactly been…conventional. I haven’t had the chance to wow her with my baking skills yet.” I toss an arm around Julie’s shoulders and tug her into my side.
“As soon as we get back to Pittsburgh, it’s baking o’clock baby.”
She leans into me. “I like cinnamon rolls.”
“I make a killer yeast dough.”
I lean over and kiss her cheek, and I can practically hear all five of the other women in the room sigh.
“Jesus Christ, Hansley women. It’s like you’ve never seen me with a girl before.”
“We haven’t seen you with a girl before. At least not likethis,” Charlie says, while getting up to readjust the blanket covering her baby.
“The only other girl you’ve brought home since college was that really annoying one during your third year in the league. What was her name again?” Annie looks around the room.
“Alyssa maybe?” Lucy says.
“Yes! Alyssa!” Annie points at Lucy. “She had teeth so white there was no way they weren’t veneers, and she called you Ashy, which, gross.”
