Page 15 of The Plan

George pressed a kiss against her forehead, deliberately. Then he stood, putting his body between her and his family. She would want the buffer. “Yes, Dad. That isexactlywhat I did. And I’m damned glad of it. You’ll be grandparents the first week of April.”

“Then just what exactly do you plan to do about it?” His father gave himthe lookthat told George he knew what George had better do about it or else.

George looked at the woman he wanted. “Be the kind of man Veronica deserves. And the father this baby needs. That’s what I’m going to do about it.”

The inevitable happened after that: his mother burst into tears. Happy ones.

She’d wanted to be a grandmother for a long time.

Or so she had been telling him repeatedly for the last five years. Now it was finally going to happen. George half-felt he’d made all of his mother’s dreams come true here.

His mother looked at Veronica, who was staring at her in terror. His mother gave a watery smile and reached for Veronica’s hands. “How wonderful! Oh, sweetheart! You and Georgie are having ababy!”

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Okay.That wasn’t exactly how Ronnie had expected him to tell his parents. A little more finesse, subtlety, you know, some sort of lead up to the big reveal. But no, George just stood up and said it.

Of course, she had almost fainted at the man’s father’s feet, but…

His mother was still patting Ronnie’s hand, telling her to just stay still for a moment. That the dizziness would go away after a moment. She’d had eight pregnancies, so she knew. And if Ronnie had any questions, or needed her for anything, she would be right there. All Ronnie needed to do was call her. Instantly.

Ronnie resisted the urge to cling to the woman’s hand as George’s brothers just sat there, and waited for someone else to say something.

Well, his sisters were all chattering. They were excited. Little Genny was telling Ronnie that George wasn’t all that bad. Not really. That he could probably be trained okay before the baby came. His family would help train him—at least, his sisters would. That he already knew how to change diapersbecause they had had Greer to practice on when George was almost nineteen, so George knew the basics of what to do and everything.

Finally, George loaded her back into his truck and was ferrying her home.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Your family is… weird.” Not that she meant to be insulting or anything. But they didn’t match what she had expected.

“How so?”

“No one was angry.”

“Why would they be?”

Ronnie was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know. I… still have to tell my family.”

“I’ll go with you when you do.”

“Like we’re together, or something? I’m not certain that’s a great idea.” She could just imagine what her own mother was going to say. If she even cared at all, actually. But her brothers… “My brothers will probably want to kick your rear end, just so you know.”

“I think I’ll be okay. I’ll just get Gene, Guthrie, and Grady to back me up.”

“What about the fourth?”

“He’s a minister. Gunn doesn’t ever resort to violence.”

“You have a brother named Gunn who is a pacifist? Do you see the irony in that?”

“I do. Three of my brothers have historical family last names as their first names—including Gunn. Drives him nuts, actually. But… once you get to know him, you’ll understand. He’s probably the nicest person on the planet. Annoying, really. No one could ever quite measure up to Gunn when it comes to likability.”

Gunn had wanted to help her down the steps. He was so cute. She could see where he was a nice man. She was going tointroduce him to Becky first chance she had, too. “I did like your family. They are just… very different… from mine.”

“Your family isn’t nice?”

“Nice doesn’t really describe my brothers. Intense, mostly. And overprotective of me and Becky.” And that did not bode well for George’s survivability. “I don’t know what to tell them.”

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