Page 34 of You Are Cordially Invited

“Jesus, we’re dorks.” He tipped his head back so I could kiss him, and so of course I did, nibbling on his plump lower lip before finally letting go.

I reached above my head to turn the water off and then hooked a towel with my foot and dragged it over to wrap around us both.

“You’re right. We are dorks. But this has always been our life, right?” I gently dried his face with a corner of the towel. “As much as we try to plananything, the universe shits on us every time. Look at my All Blacks’ selection; my coming out; people finding out about us, about you; Dad’s arseholery. And what about setting a wedding date? How many times have we tried to do that?”

“Four,” he grumbled. “Although only one got to the planning stage. Damn All Blacks. Why the hell—”

I squeezed his lips together with my fingers. “Four. There you go. And that’s in spite of all your efforts, Mr Control Freak. You can’t bend the universe to your will.”

He scowled. “I can damn well try.”

God, I loved him. “I’m just saying that it seems kind of apt that the chance of a baby happens the same way, slap bang in the middle of a whole lot of other stuff going on. We don’t always get to choose the timing; we just have to decide if it’s what we want.”

He turned his head, a cautious hope lighting up his eyes. “And this is what you want?”

I leaned forward and covered his mouth with mine, taking a few seconds to ground myself in the taste of him, the rightness ofus. “Yes. But I think we should talk to Stella first. Andyouwill have the final say—”

“But—”

“No. Listen to me. Of the two of us, you’ll be the one carrying the bigger load at home, at least until I retire from rugby. Cory’s life is busy, and we’ll be adding a baby to that. I have absolute faith that we can do this, but we’ll take all the help we can get, including from your family—”

“Oh, god,” Cam looked mortified. “She called you, didn’t she? I wish she wouldn’t—”

“It’s okay. She was worried.” I nuzzled his still-damp hair and set about scrubbing it with the towel. “I asked her not to push, but she did get me thinking about what we’d need.”

“I’m still sorry. I should’ve answered her calls, but sometimes she just drives me batshit.”

“I get that. It’s easier for me in some ways. But as much as the potential family over-involvement thing might need watching, it could also be a really important backup for us, foryou. Especially when I’m away. We’re going to need help, Cam, especially with Cory, and your parents love him to bits.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He blew out a weary sigh as I dried his back and then cocooned him in the towel and pulled him close.

“I’ll be there as much as I possibly can,” I promised. “But there’s no denying that I’ll be away a lot, and you’re gonna feel it. So, if you have any doubts at all, we can say no and wait. I’ll be absolutely fine with that.” I drew the towel up over his head until he almost disappeared under it like some feisty monk. “You are so fucking important to me, to our family, and I won’t risk what we have for anything.”

I wasn’t sure whether they were tears on his cheeks or dripping hair as he cupped my jaw and kissed me softly on the lips. “I love you so much bab—”

“Pappy? Cam? What are you doing on the floor?”

We jerked our heads to where Cory stood in the ensuite doorway, watching us. “I thought you locked the door,” Cam whispered.

“I thought you did.” I chuckled.

“We were waiting for a cuddle from you, Mr Awesomeness.” Cam held out his hand and Cory walked over to take it, then lowered himself onto Cam’s towel-shrouded lap.

I wrapped my arms around the two most important people in my life and let the idea of adding a third begin to take root.

Cam’s head fell back against my shoulder with a purr of contentment.

Yeah, we could do this.

Chapter Seven

Cam

Stella satat the far end of her parents’ deep-cushioned couch with her legs curled under her hips. She hugged a pillow to her stomach and picked at the sleeve of the bright red sweatshirt that bore her school’s logo. A tall, pretty, full-figured girl with kind, smiling eyes and a self-conscious expression that screamed she’d rather be anywhere else in the world than where she was.

My heart broke for her. This was a huge decision for everyone, but mostly for her. She’d been stumbling sweetly over her words for about ten minutes, thanking us for considering being parents to her baby, and attempting to offer embarrassed and unnecessary explanations for how she found herself in the unenviable position of having to even ask. They were explanations we hadn’t asked for and ones she didn’t have to give.

I finally put up my hand. “Stella, you don’t need to do this,” I said quietly, and Reuben squeezed my hand in approval.

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