Safe with Me (With Me in Seattle, #5)(45)

“I’m going to break all of your legs,” Caleb promises. “And what is up with your kids being little extortionists?” He asks me.

“What are you talking about?” I ask and look immediately at my girls, who refuse to look up and meet my gaze.

“They talked us into going to the American Girl doll store,” Matts begins. “We figure, sure, we’ll get them a doll. It’ll keep them busy.”

“Seven. Hundred. Dollars.” Isaac stomps his foot with every word. “For three little girls to get a doll and a whole wardrobe for said doll.”

“Why did you buy them so much?” I ask, my eyes wide in shock.

“They lie to you there,” Matt responds with a sigh. “The tags have numbers on them, which we thought were the prices.”

“But no,” Caleb joins in as the rest of us stand in the living room, watching them in awe as they tell their story. “No, it’s a code number that tells you how to find the price on a chart. A chart!”

“So instead of that outfit being eight dollars like we thought, it was forty damn dollars!” Isaac exclaims, pointing to Sophie’s doll.

“Forty dollars for a doll outfit?” Meg asks with wide eyes. “Holy crap.”

During this whole exchange the three little darlings in question have been silently playing with their dolls, as though they’re the only ones in the room.

“And then when we check out, these three smile up at us with the most innocent looks on their faces.” Matt shakes his head in disgust.

“They’re not innocent,” Caleb grumbles. “They’re freaking extortionists.”

“Nate?” Josie has walked over to the tall, dark man and taps his arm to get his attention.

“Yes, beautiful girl,” he replies and squats so he’s eye-level with her.

“Can I have a ride on your motorcycle when it’s sunny outside?” She asks and twirls her hair around her finger, her brown eyes wide and flirty, and if I’m not mistaken, she actually bats her lashes at him.

“Of course you can,” Nate replies with a smile and taps her nose gently with his forefinger.

“Thank you!” She wraps her arms around his shoulders and hugs him and then returns to her doll.

“If she’s already hitting on the guy in the leather jacket with a bike,” Will remarks with a laugh, “You’re going to have your hands full with that one.”

Caleb curses under his breath as the rest of us laugh.

“That, right there, is why we’re only having boys,” Nate tells Jules as he points to Josie.

“I guess we’d better hope this one’s a boy then,” she replies with a grin, watching Nate’s face.

“That’s fine, I just… Wait.” He turns on her and grips her shoulders in his hands, watching her face intently. “What did you just say?”

“I wanted to tell you later when we’re alone, but I can’t keep secrets, and most of our family is here anyway, so…” Jules shrugs and bites her lip, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “We’re gonna have a baby, ace.”

He leans in and cups her face in his hands, pulls his fingers down her cheeks and rests his forehead against hers, and the room is completely still as we wait to hear what he has to say.

“Am I dreaming?” He asks, his voice raw.

She shakes her head no and wraps her arms around him. “No.”

He kisses her then, long and hard, like I’ve never seen him do in public before, not even at their wedding. He finally pulls back and gazes down at her with so much love in his eyes, it feels wrong to be watching it, like we’re intruding.

Caleb reaches down and links his fingers with mine and squeezes tightly. All of the Montgomery men are quiet.

This is their baby sister.

“I love you so much, Julianne.” Nate finally speaks and brushes the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs. “Thank you,” he whispers.

He scoops her up into a big hug and twirls her in a circle before setting her down and turning to the rest of us. “We’re gonna have a baby!”

“Congratulations!” We descend on them, hugging and laughing and then hugging each other, celebrating and rejoicing in the new life that is about to join our family.

“Mommy,” Maddie tugs on my hand to get my attention. “Can Sophie stay with us tonight?”

“No sweetheart,” I lift her in my arms and kiss her cheek. She’s almost too heavy to hold like this now. “Not tonight.”

“Why not?” Josie asks.

“Sophie has to go home and sleep in her own bed,” Stacy tells them with a smile.

“She can sleep in our bed, like Caleb sleeps in Mommy’s bed,” Maddie replies and once again the room goes dead silent. My eyes go wide and I look around the room, looking for Caleb, who is standing next to Nate, also with the deer in the headlights look on his handsome face.

Isaac laughs, and everyone joins him, and I just close my eyes and lean my head against Maddie’s shoulder.

Just shoot me.





Chapter Thirteen


Caleb



“So, did you bring me here to remind me how out of shape I am?” Brynna plants her hands on her hips and glares at me after we enter through the non-descript front doors of Rich McKenna’s gym in downtown Seattle.