Gaining Miles (Miles Family #5)(30)

“Hey, Zoe,” I said. “How are you feeling?”

She leaned against the car, resting her hand on her belly. “Not bad, all things considered. Four weeks and we get to meet her.”

“How does Hudson feel about having a baby sister?” I asked.

Zoe shrugged. “He says he’s excited. But I think he figures this baby will be like his cousin Zachary. He’ll come over and then leave when he gets fussy. We’ll see how he feels about her when she’s in his house all the time and he has to share his parents with her.”

Roland came around, holding Hudson’s hand. “Huddy, can you say hi?”

“Hi, Auntie Grace,” he said.

“Hi, buddy,” I said. “Listen, I told Leo and Hannah this too, but I don’t know what you’ll find on the floors in there, so just be careful. It’s… well, it’s a mess.”

“No problem.” Roland picked up Hudson. “Come on, buddy, let’s go check out the new house.”

I followed everyone inside, then showed them around. They meandered through the house, peeking in bedrooms and wandering through the kitchen and living rooms. It wasn’t very big, but the lot had room to add on if we wanted to, down the road. Of course, making it livable was the first step, and it was going to be a while before that happened.

It was fun to see everyone with their growing families. My family dynamic had changed so much in the last several years. First with discovering four new siblings, then with my mom getting married. They were good changes, but it had taken some time to process.

And it was sad not having Asher here to share in it. We should have been married by now. Maybe even starting our own family. I wrote him letters regularly, so of course I’d told him everything. But when he got home, these people would be strangers to him. Moments like this made my chest ache with the pain of missing him.

“Oh, hey, we’re all here,” Cooper said, as if just realizing that fact. Glancing at Amelia, he grinned. “Should we tell them?”

“Tell us what?” Brynn asked. “Oh my god, did you find out if the baby is a boy or a girl?”

Amelia’s face lit up with a grin to match her husband’s. “We did.”

The room went quiet, as if everyone was holding their breath. I certainly was.

“Okay, first of all, I knew this from the beginning,” Cooper said. “I can even tell you where we conceived, that’s how soon I knew she was preggers. We were—”

“Stop,” Hannah and Zoe said together.

“Coop, know your audience, buddy,” Zoe said, gesturing to the two very curious children looking at him with wide eyes.

“Oh, right,” Cooper said. “I’m going to have to get used to that, aren’t I? Anyway, I’m just saying I totally called it. Didn’t I, Cookie?”

“That’s actually true,” Amelia said. “I didn’t even know I was pregnant, and Cooper looked at me one morning and said I looked pregnant, and he wanted the record to show that he thought it was twin boys. And I said that was probably impossible, but you never know. And we found out yesterday he was right.”

The room went dead silent. Even among the dust and debris, you could have heard a pin drop.

“Did you just say twins?” Brynn asked.

Amelia beamed. “Yep. Both boys.”

“Holy shit,” Leo said. “Two baby Coopers?”

Cooper puffed out his chest and put a protective hand over Amelia’s belly. “Is anyone really surprised? Of course I’d make two babies at once.”

“This is amazing,” Brynn said, rushing over to hug Amelia.

“Aw, you big goofball,” Zoe said, hugging Cooper.

“Congrats, you guys,” Roland said. “Wow, life is definitely getting interesting.”

“Okay, Chase and Brynn,” Zoe said. “When is it your turn?”

Brynn and Chase smiled at each other. “We’re talking about it,” Brynn said. “Soon.”

“Do Mom and Ben know it’s twins yet?” Roland asked.

“Nah, we’ll tell them when they get back,” Cooper said.

Madeline tugged on Leo’s pant leg. “Daddy, are Grandma and Grandpa coming?”

“No, sweetheart,” Leo said. “They’re still on vacation. But they’ll be back soon.”

I glanced around at our broken-down surroundings. This was sweet, but we didn’t need to keep standing around in my dilapidated house. “Well, now that you’ve seen it, we can go get some food or something. It’ll be a while before I’m ready to entertain guests. But there are a bunch of good restaurants in town.”

“Okay, but can we talk about how scary this house is?” Cooper asked. “Seriously, Gracie, this place looks like it’s going to cave in.”

Everyone looked around, murmuring in agreement.

“You know, we can help,” Chase said.

“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate that, but I didn’t ask you guys to come over here to put you to work.”

“Yeah, but—”

Chase was interrupted by the sound of a loud engine outside. A very loud engine, followed by rowdy voices. I sighed. Of course they were here.

“Hang on a second,” I said, and went to the front door.