Page 95 of Adoring Delaney

Laney choked out another sob and sniffled. “I love that. She’s with family. Thank you.”

“I hope you don’t mind, but after we saw what Mom and Dad did, Tuesday wanted to plant a tree in her orchard,” Jackson remarked.

“A beautiful cherry tree among the apples,” Tuesday added. “It will be the prettiest tree in the orchard.”

“Thank you,” I croaked, fighting back the tears that threatened.

“So, we were thinking,” my mom said when she and my dad approached. “None of us were keen that there wasn’t a service for the baby or a place where we could go to visit. So Emily and I decided she’s gonna be with all of us. Reagan and Tuesday have their trees. The grandparents have new angel statues that are just perfect. The rest of the family have wind chimes. Every time there’s a breeze we’ll remember.”

“Jesus,” I muttered and swiped my face. There was no use trying to hide it, my emotions were flowin’ freely for my family to see.

“That’s so perfect,” Laney whispered, seeming to have recovered before I did.

“Today we’re celebrating. Baby Lenox, who will forever be loved,” Mom said.

“And you two idiots, who finally decided that the rest of us weren’t as stupid as you thought and finally came out of hiding,” my brother added.

“Thought you had an announcement. Are we celebrating that?” I jabbed back.

His arm went around his wife and he beamed. “Yeah, we’re celebrating that, too. For those of you Carson didn’t tell, we’re having a boy.”

And just like that, loud whoops and hollers were called out.

Damn, I loved my family.

“We’re naming him Oscar!” Carson yelled and silence fell.

“Oscar? Like Oscar the Grouch? The green furry thing?” my mom asked, her voice rising as she spoke. “That’s a nice name.”

My brother chuckled, Honor laughed so hard she had to hold her big belly that was jiggling so hard I was afraid the kid would slide out by the sheer force of shaking.

“I take it your mom doesn’t like the name?” Laney looked up at me and asked.

“That’d be a fair assumption.”

“Just kidding!” Carson shouted. “His name is Carter Hudson. But we’re gonna call him Hudson so we don’t get him confused with Grandpa Carter and Uncle Carter.”

“Christ,” I muttered and looked from Laney, to Carson who was back to dancing around, and finally to my brother.

His eyes locked with mine and there was so much being said without a single word being said.

“Good, solid name,” my dad said.

“Yeah, it is,” I agreed. “Don’t know what to say.”

“Nothing to say, big brother. I wanted my son to have a strong name, one that he’ll be proud of. There’s no two men I know who are stronger.”

I was too choked up to speak so I nodded.

Delaney nuzzled closer, tucked in close, her hand over my heart, and I looked back at her and watched her scan the crowd.

My aunt Reagan used to call it controlled chaos when all of us got together. Back then I thought she was wrong, there was nothing controlled about ten kids running around causing mischief. Now, I still thought she was wrong—it wasn’t controlled and it wasn’t chaos.

It was everything.

28

“Marry me,” Carter grunted.

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