“It is my pleasure,” Cleo says, and I don’t miss the way she smiles at my two youngest brothers who are still trying to pick their jaws up off the floor.
“Any friend of Remy’s is a friend of ours,” Uncle Brad announces. “But if you don’t mind my asking, how exactly do you know our boys?”
Jude chokes on his own saliva.
“Many, many years ago, she was our fortune-teller,” I explain, and Cleo grins over at me. “The night of my non-wedding’s bachelor party.”
“What?” Uncle Brad looks around the room. “Who goes to a fortune-teller at a bachelor party?”
“It was Jude’s idea!” Ty chimes in.
“Wait…are you a…？”
“No, Brad. I am not a stripper,” Cleo answers before he finishes his question, her mouth turning up into an entertained smile.
“What the hell? What idiot planned that for a bachelor party?”
“Uncle Brad, we went to a strip club first, then the fortune-teller,” Jude mutters. “Fuck.”
I don’t miss that Flynn is now eyeing me with amused curiosity, his brain calculating how current events came to be.
“I’ve been handling her investments,” I tell him, and he shakes his head on a laugh.
“You’re screwing with me.”
“No.” I grin. “For the last fourteen years, actually.”
“You’ve been handling her investments for fourteen fucking years, and you never told us?!” Ty shouts. “What the hell?”
“Ty!” My mother is quick to chastise. “We have a guest!”
I’m loving this all too much, I know I am. But after all the shit I’ve put up with from my brothers over the years, it feels outrageously fun to be the one pulling a stunt.
Maria eventually steps in, introducing Cleo to each member of our family by name and then offering her a seat at the table.
Of course, Cleo takes it all in stride and sits down, her eyes very much enjoying the show around her.
“You like word games, Cleo?” Howard asks, his favorite party trick always holstered and at the ready, and she nods.
“Love word games, my dear.”
“Okay, I’m going to give you a word—” he starts to tell her, and she stops him midsentence.
“I know the rules, my dear. Go ahead with your first word.”
He furrows his brow, a little creeped out by the whole thing, but does what Howard is so good at doing and just goes with it. “Surprise?”
“Pregnancy.”
From beside me, Maria starts coughing into her hand, damn near choking on food or something. “You okay, babe?” I ask her, and she nods erratically, reaching for her water glass to take a sip.
“Fine. I’m fine.”
But when I look across the table and meet Cleo’s eyes, I don’t miss the fact that she’s staring directly at me. And she’s smiling, like she knows something I don’t know.
Then she winks at my wife, and a chill runs up my damn spine.
I look at Maria, and Maria looks at me. She sucks in a breath that makes her face swell up.
“Babe?”
“I’m pregnant!” she blurts out in a rush, her puffed cheeks caving without much fight. “I just took a test today and I was going to tell you after everyone left, but this is too much. I’m pregnant, Remy. With a baby. Our baby. We’re going to have another baby.”
The room around us erupts into chatter and questions like “Maria’s pregnant?” and “Oh, holy shit!” and “Oh my goodness, another baby!” but I do my best to slice through the mental chaos.
This is big news—huge. And my chest feels like it’s going to rupture, it’s so full.
“You’re pregnant?” I ask her, and she nods as tears begin to form in her pretty eyes.
“We’re going to have a baby, Rem.”
We’re going to have a baby.
Immediately, I’m on my feet, pulling Maria out of her chair and up into my arms. With my hands on either side of her face, I stare deep into her eyes and declare three words with every fiber of my being. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she whispers back. “I know this is a pretty big deal and crazy unexpected… but…are you okay with this?”
“Am I okay with this?” I repeat. “Ria, I feel like the luckiest son of bitch in the world right now. We’re going to have a baby.” I reach down and gently touch her stomach. “Our baby is growing inside you. Right now.”