Unbreak My Heart (Unbreak My Heart #1)(42)

“Okay, my time’s up, guys,” Shane announced to the kids, who were all crammed onto one kitchen chair. “Go get your auntie.”

“I’m here,” I called as I raced into the kitchen.

“Love you guys,” Shane told the kids as they blew him kisses and waved. “We still on for tonight, Katie?”

“Yep.”

We didn’t say more than that because, if the kids knew he’d be on Skype again later, I’d never get them to bed.

“Don’t forget to go to the store.”

“Believe me, I won’t,” I groaned, making him smile.

“Bye everyone!”

The screen went blank, and he was gone.

I hated when that happened.

“Okay, Andersons! In the car. We need diapers and milk or we’re going to starve covered in Gunner’s pee.”

*



I held the envelope in my palm and forced myself not to open it. I’d been holding on to it for two weeks and the anticipation was killing me. I slid my finger into the small space I’d pried open and jumped as the laptop rang.

“Hey, stranger.”

“Hey yourself.”

We smiled at each other for a long moment. It was so nice to finally see his face without the distraction of four little monsters screaming over one another in order to be heard.

“Bad day, huh?” he asked finally.

“You have no idea. Thankfully, we got a huge bag of diapers so we’re set for a while. I even hid some around the house just in case.”

“Good call.” He laughed and reached up to rub his face with one hand. “You had your ultrasound?”

“Yep, everything looks great. Your monster child is measuring a bit big, but other than that, everything was normal.”

“Good. That’s really good.”

I smiled smugly as he fidgeted. He was working up the nerve to ask me, and I’d rarely seen him so flustered.

“Well?” he finally asked.

“Well, what?”

“What are we having?”

“A baby,” I answered innocently.

“Kate,” he growled back, making me laugh.

“I don’t know.”

“What? Why didn’t they tell you—” He froze as I lifted the envelope in front of the computer screen and waved it back and forth.

“I figured we could do it together,” I said with a small smile.

Watching his face move from disgruntlement to awed excitement was a moment I’d never forget in my entire life.

“You waited?” he asked softly.

“I thought you might want to find out at the same time.”

“Thank you, Katie.”

“Yeah, well, you owe me. This thing has been burning a hole in my pocket for two weeks.”

“You didn’t peek?” He raised his eyebrow.

“I thought about it.” I lifted the envelope and showed him the small tear. “But I wanted to surprise you, so I held out.”

“Really good surprise.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

I slid my finger into the tear and ripped the envelope the rest of the way, pausing before I pulled the slip of paper out.

“Do you care? I mean, do you care if it’s a boy or a girl?” Suddenly I was nervous. We were in unchartered territory, and frankly, nothing was solid between us. What if he was disappointed?

“I don’t care, Katiebear,” Shane answered softly, the endearment making my throat clog. “Now hurry up, I’m dying here.”

I gave a watery chuckle and pulled the sheet out, facing it toward the screen first so I could catch Shane’s reaction.

His mouth dropped open before snapping shut, and I watched him clench his jaw as his eyes rose slightly to look at me. He sniffed once and rubbed the side of his face with his palm.

“Aren’t you going to look?” he asked with a little embarrassed laugh.

“No,” I replied slowly, coming to a decision as I dropped the paper to my lap. “I want you to tell me.”

He wiped both hands over his face before taking a breath and then smiling huge. “A princess.”

My eyes widened in surprise, and he laughed at my stunned expression. I’d teased him that we were going to have a girl, but I hadn’t really believed it. After he’d had so many boys, I’d figured Sage was an anomaly. “No way.”

“Unless they didn’t get a good ultrasound…”

“Nope, total crotch shot,” I murmured distractedly, picking up the small sheet of paper and turning it over to verify. There was our little girl, with an arrow pointing and announcing her gender.

He barked out a laugh. “How could you not see that there was a penis missing?”

“I don’t know what any of that looks like in the womb.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe we’re having a little girl.”

“You know what this means, right?” Shane asked with a snort.

“What?”

“None of Gunner’s stuff is going to work for her. She’s going to need pink and ruffles.”

“Oh hell no. She can sleep in blue pajamas.”

“And a blue car seat, and blue clothes and hats and onesies and socks, and—”