Page 30 of Shattered Love

I pull up at our house, placing my hands on my stomach.

“Thank you, baby, for showing your daddy you love him.” There’s a little butterfly movement inside of me.

“That’s right, baby.”

* * *

The evening is stillwarm and Dominic is grilling the burgers. When he got back to the station, Carter said Molly was dying to hear all about the baby scan. We hadn’t seen each other for a couple of weeks because Molly had been busy with work. She was an amazing photographer from the pieces she had shown me.

The doorbell rings. I go to stand, but Dominic shakes his head as he reaches for the door. Carter and Mac walk out first. I smile over as Mac who seems to relax when he sees my smile.

He reaches out to me. “Avery, I’m sorry—”

I hold my hand up. “Please stop. It wasn’t your fault Mac, you’re always welcome here, okay, you’re apart of this dysfunctional family and there’s no escaping.”

He smiles. “You’re amazing, you know that.”

“How are you finding it on the force?”

He’s half-way through taking a sip of his beer. “Yeah I am enjoying it. It’s hard, but I like it.”

Molly walks into the garden a few minutes later with a long black tube. Molly can be a lot for some people to handle when she full Molly Mode but I love her over the top confidence and no filter.

“What’s that?”

She smirks. “Inside is confetti and glitter.”

I raise an eyebrow, but someone catches my eye. “Cecelia!”

She smiles and comes straight toward me. “I want to see the pictures.” She leans down hugging me tightly.

Someone barrels through the door. “Not before me! It’s my grandbaby.”

My eyes widen even more. “Mom, what’s going on?” I’m hesitant. Standing.

My mom’s eyes widen as do Molly’s. “My, look how big you have gotten.”

Molly squeals, running to me and hugging me tight in her over the top fashion, she seems on top of the world.

My mom pushes Molly out of the way, making us laugh as she squeezes me. “You look beautiful.” She runs her hand over my belly. “So, your husband is a sneak. When you left the doctor, he went back in and found out the gender of Baby Stone. In this black tube is the answer, pink for a girl or blue for a boy.”

I look up at Dominic who is now by my side. “If you want to find out…” His voice holds warning, but I can’t contain my excitement

I nod my head, doing a little dance. “Yes, hell yes!”

His lips curl into a cocky grin. “Come on, then.”

Grabbing my hand, leading me to middle of the garden.

Carter and my dad both hold up the confetti canister as all the women hold up their phones.

Dominic grabs my face, kissing me.

There is a pop sound, then we get showered in confetti. I laugh against his lips. My eyes open and it takes me a second to realize it's pink. We are having a girl.

We have a daughter…

Dominic picks me up as if I weigh nothing—even though I’m a big as a whale—and as he twirls me around, a deep laugh comes from him before he kisses my forehead.

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