Page 129 of Own the Eights Maybe Baby
“Barry, are you getting this?” Hector called to the CityBeat producer.
“Every last bit,” the man replied.
Jordan had almost forgotten they were recording. But what a great thing to capture!
“When did this happen?” he asked, shaking his father’s hand as Georgie hugged Maureen, Mya, and Mia.
The twins bolted over to his dad, and the man wrapped an arm around each girl.
“Well—” he began, but the twins were faster.
“Denny took us all to the botanic gardens last night,” Mia began.
Mya hopped from foot to foot. “You know, where you and Georgie got married.”
He barely had time to nod in agreement before Mia took over.
“And then, he told me and Mya that he loved our mom and wanted to marry her, but only if it was okay with us,” Mia continued, their twin-speak shifting into warp speed.
“Yeah, and then we said yes and asked if that meant you would be our brother.”
“We always wanted a brother.”
“And now we have one.”
“Plus, with Denny’s garage, he says that when we can drive, he’ll make our cars go super-fast, right?”
Jordan could barely keep up with the back-and-forth between the tweens.
His father chuckled and gazed lovingly at the girls. “Right to everything but the super-fast cars. That one we’ll have to run by your mother.”
Mya rolled her eyes as only a newly minted twelve-year-old can. “Anyway, Denny got down on one knee and said some super sweet stuff to Mom. Then, Talya and Simon picked us up and babysat us for the rest of the night because Mom and Denny said they were going to go do boring adult stuff.”
“Boring adult stuff, huh?” he repeated, eyeing his father and Maureen as the woman who’d been like a mother to him for the past decade blushed.
“Open the present, Jordan! Open it! Your dad was so excited to get it for your baby,” the girls chimed, pointing to the gift.
He tore the wrapping carefully, then tears blurred his vision.
“Your mother used to read that book to you all the time when you were little,” his father said, growing misty-eyed as well.
Jordan nodded, his throat tightening as he stared at a copy ofThe Tale of Peter Rabbitby Beatrix Potter. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Do you like it?” Mia pressed.
“I do. Thank you,” he said, emotion coating the words as he held his father’s gaze.
“Can we go talk to Simon and Talya now?” Mia asked, injecting a bout of tween humor into the wave of emotion that nearly overtook him.
Maureen nodded. “You may. First, tell Georgie and Jordan congratulations.”
“Congratulations, bro!” the girls chimed, then skipped out of the room toward the front of the shop.
“I know your mother is looking down on you from heaven. She’d be so proud and so happy for you and Georgie,” his father said, blinking back tears.
Jordan looked between his father and Maureen. “I think Mom would be happy for the both of us,” he replied.
He passed the book and Faby to his wife, then embraced his father—so grateful to have the man back in his life. He was beyond excited his dad had proposed to Maureen. If anyone deserved to be loved and cherished, it was her. And he knew his father was the one for the job. All he had to do was watch his dad for a second to see the absolute devotion in his eyes when the big guy caught a glimpse of her.
