Room for Just a Little Bit More(2)

“You were?”

“Yeah. You’ll have the baby by then. I didn’t know if you’d want to do it or—”

“Shut up,” she interrupted. “Of course I’d still do your wedding flowers for you. This baby isn’t going to change our day-to-day life, Kacie.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Okay. We’ll see if you still say that once he’s here,” I replied confidently.

She narrowed her eyes at me but kept quiet.

“Or she.” I tried to stifle my laugh.

Alexa shot me a quick glare and disappeared out the door.





An hour later, the girls were playing out back with my mom and I was in and out of sleep on the couch in the living room when Brody sat down next to me, gently gliding his lips along my neck. His hot breath made all of my little hairs stand up. I cracked a smile as a small moan escaped my lips, but my eyes were too heavy to open.

“Wake up, Sleepyhead.”

Still smiling, I shook my head.

“No?” He laughed.

“Shhh. I’m sleeping.”

He gave my shoulders a small shake. “The girls are heading up the hill with your mom. Let’s tell ’em!”

I cracked one eye open and peeked at him. The fact that he was as excited as I was about our engagement was beyond adorable, but wait…

Sitting up quickly, I squinted at the bright sun coming through the French doors. “How are we gonna tell them? Are we just going to blurt it out? We haven’t talked about it.”

“Kacie, not everything has to be planned out.” He grinned as he tucked a piece of my wild hair behind my ear. “Let’s just see what happens.”

Before I could argue, the doors flew open and Lucy and Piper came into the room, arguing over whether the frog they’d just seen by the lake had yellow or blue eyes.

“Morning, Twinkies!” Brody smiled at them.

“Brody!” Lucy ran and jumped into his arms. Her tiny hands cupped his cheeks and she frowned at him. “Where were you this morning? We didn’t see you.”

He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. “I was waaaaaay in the back of the garage helping Fred organize a bunch of boxes and stuff.”

Piper’s eyes grew huge as she took a step forward. “Did you see a spider?”

“I did.” He laughed. “A few of them, actually.”

Piper shuddered. “I hate spiders.”

I reached out and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her in close so I could nuzzle my nose into her hair. She smelled like sunscreen and fresh grass. “I know you do, baby. But don’t worry. They’re way, way in the back of the garage.”

“I hate spiders too.” Brody smiled sweetly at her as he grazed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “But I promise to always kill all the spiders for you.”

Piper didn’t say anything, simply offering a shy smile in return.

“Hey, I have a question for you guys. What’s your absolute favorite Disney movie?” Brody looked back and forth between the two of them.

They looked at each other for a split second before blurting out, “Cinderella!”

“Mine too!” He looked at me and winked before returning his gaze to them. “You know how after the prince tried the slipper on Cinderella and it fit, they got married and lived happily ever after?”

The girls nodded, their eyes fixed on Brody’s face as they hung on every word he was saying.

“Well, last night I asked your mom to marry me.” His hand slid over and covered mine, squeezing it gently. “And guess what? She said yes!”

A tiny gasp sprang from Lucy, and Piper’s mouth dropped open, both of them looking stunned. Their big brown eyes looked back and forth between Brody and me until Lucy turned and threw her arms around Piper’s shoulders. They started hugging and jumping up and down excitedly.

I frowned and looked curiously at Brody. While I was happy they were so excited, their reaction was unexpected.

Then I learned why they were so thrilled.

“We get to live in a castle! We get to live in a castle!” they sang out as they jumped in circles, pumping their little arms up and down.

“Wait, wait, wait.” I held my hands up, trying to get their attention.

“Do they think—”

“Yes,” I interrupted Brody, quickly turning back to the girls. “Guys, guys, listen.”

They stopped jumping, but their smiles still clung to their faces.

I sighed, not wanting to crush their sweet little dreams, but unless Brody was the prince of some faraway country in Europe and forgot to tell me, we were most likely not gonna live in a castle.

“Ugh, I don’t know how to break it to you guys, but we aren’t gonna live in a castle,” I said quietly.

Their faces fell like someone had just given them a puppy and then quickly taken it away, or in this case a castle.

“But… in Cinderella they live in a castle,” Lucy whined.

“I know they do, baby, but we don’t have a castle,” I explained.

“Where are we gonna live, then?” Piper asked.

Crap.

“Well… um…” I looked at Brody, desperately searching his face for an answer. “We’ll probably live—”