Always Loving You (Danvers #6)(23)
Always the blunt one, Suzy deadpanned, “Well, that sucks. I mean, like, you can’t do anything or just the main event?”
“I’m really not sure,” Ella admitted. “I was too embarrassed to ask for specifics. It doesn’t matter anyway. With the doctor saying that, Declan would cut off his hands before he would touch me down there now. He’s terrified that something will happen. He won’t even let me . . . help him out. I put my hand on his . . . you know last night and he jumped out of bed like I’d just violated him or something. Apparently, he thinks that if I help him come, the baby will explode out of my vagina at the same time.”
Everyone started laughing at Ella’s description. Only Ava shifted around uncomfortably. Hearing Ella talking about sex with Declan was a little disturbing. She liked to pretend that both Brant and Declan lived with their wives without actually doing anything sexual. It was right up there with talking about sex and your parents. Of course, Emma was constantly referring to how freaky Brant was in bed. Ava was certain that one day her eardrums would start to bleed and might never stop.
Desperately needing a change of subject, she was relieved when Ella turned to Suzy and asked, “How did the home study go last night?” Ava knew from Emma that Suzy and her husband, Gray, had suffered multiple miscarriages and were now in the process of adopting a child. She remembered everyone wishing Suzy good luck when they’d had lunch together yesterday.
Suzy groaned before putting her hands around her neck as if she were choking herself. “I think it went okay in the end, but it was a long evening.” Looking across the room at Gray, she said, “I love that man, I really do, but I wanted to tape his mouth shut last night.”
“Oh no,” Claire whispered, “not the jokes again.”
“Oh yeah. Like we hadn’t discussed that very thing an hour before.”
“Like dirty jokes?” Ava asked, seeming to be the only one not privy to what Suzy was talking about.
Suzy shook her head, saying, “No, not really. The thing about Gray is that when he gets nervous, he tends to start cracking stupid jokes. Apparently, it runs in the family, because his mother says Gray’s father does the same thing. I mean, we’re sitting at the table answering all these serious questions about our views on child-rearing and I swear out of nowhere, he looks at the woman and says, ‘Knock, knock!’ We both just stared at him until the woman put her pen down and asked, ‘Who’s there?’ Then he says, ‘Little Old Lady.’ And then she of course stares him down some more before saying, ‘Little Old Lady who?’ And he says, ‘Wow! I didn’t know you could yodel!’” By this time, everyone was laughing, even Suzy. She gasped out, “I thought I would die, right there on the spot. The woman just looked at Gray like he had two heads, before picking her pen back up and acting like the whole thing never happened.”
“Suz,” Claire said, giggling, “that’s completely adorable. He was probably just trying to loosen everyone up. Although it’s hard to picture Gray doing that, because he’s always so suave.”
Ava, feeling an inexplicable need to defend the man she barely knew, spoke up. “Everyone handles stress in different ways. It sounds like he tries to inject some humor into uncomfortable situations. The jokes probably pop out before he even realizes what he’s doing.”
Smiling at her husband, who was now looking at Suzy with so much love in his warm gaze that Ava was envious, Suzy said softly, “I know. He’s a little unpredictable, but he’s mine.”
Beth bumped shoulders with her sister, saying, “Well, I bet if anything his jokes show that he would be a really good parent. He should get extra points for that. God knows you need a sense of humor when you have a child.”
Ella pointed to the Skylanders cake sitting on the table behind them and said, “We probably need to get started with the main event. If I don’t get a huge slab of that cake within the next five minutes, I’m not responsible for my actions. At this point, it’s the only thing I can have that will make my eyes roll back in my head.”
Emma snickered as she helped arrange the plates on the table. “Honey, you just grab that thing again tonight and don’t let go. There’s no way that any man can have a woman’s hand on his dick for more than five seconds without losing his mind.”
“Yep,” Beth agreed. “And call your doctor tomorrow to find out if you can have some fun without going all the way.”
They had all been so involved in their conversation that they hadn’t noticed the men moving closer. “Going all the way with what?” Declan asked as he moved up behind Ella.
“With Dominic,” Ella sputtered, “Ava and Dominic.”
Ava’s mouth fell open in shock as Declan’s smile turned to a scowl. Her eyes jerked to Mac, who appeared to have heard the whole thing if his snarl was any indication. Even the usually unflappable Dominic looked surprised. Ella turned to her, looking contrite. Great, now it appeared that Ava was going to have to be the sacrificial lamb to keep Declan from finding out that his wife was horny.
Her brothers were both looking at her as if she were the new town tramp, while Jason, Nick, and Gray seemed to be unusually interested in the playground. Ava figured they were just desperately trying to pretend that they hadn’t heard anything. When Evan bounced up with Chrissy and Henry in tow begging for cake, Ava vowed to herself that he was getting the biggest gift next week that she could carry out of the damn store. He had just saved her from the awkward silence that had fallen over the entire group.