Page 85 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
Egg warmers? What did that—oh.Was that what that weird contraption in the front was? Byeggsshe meant...
“It's Easter after all!” Mrs. Rosewood continued while I stared at the piece of clothing in my hands, trying to figure out what an appropriate reaction might be.
“That's... um... very kind of you,” I got out in the end.
The old lady grinned at me. “Won't you go try them on? If they fit, I can make you more.”
“I...uh...” Searching for some sort of escape from this conversation, I looked to the door—and was glad to see Ethan enter the kitchen.
“I'm afraid I'll have to borrow Rhys from you,” he said to his grandmother. “We still have some party preparations to make.” Taking me by the arm, he led me out of the kitchen before his grandmother could get a word in edgewise. “Sorry my grandmother's a bit odd.”
“It's fine,” I said, looking at the underwear I was still holding in my hand. “At least she waited until I was away from the children to give this to me.”
“I was watching from the door the whole time, you know? Ready to jump in if things gottooweird. I figured she was plotting something when she followed you.”
“And yet you decided to say nothing as I unwrapped my present.”
He laughed. “Sorry. I guess I was just too confused, and maybe a little bit amused,” he admitted. “Egg warmers? Seriously?”
“It's okay,” I forgave him. “I guess being part of your family means putting up with your eccentric grandmother too. I'm cool with that.”
Ethan's expression softened. “I'm glad you feel that way. I think we're going to make agreatfamily.”
I felt myself smile. It was impossible not to when Ethan looked at me like that—like I was his whole world somehow. It was moments like this that I knew this relationship would never go the way my marriage had gone. Jeremiah had never even seen me as aperson. Ethan saw me as his partner, his equal.
And I was never going to let him down.
3 1
E T H A N
I t was the last Friday in April, late afternoon, and I was in a meeting with Kade and Shane to help them with the seating chart for their wedding when my phone rang. I actually kind of enjoyed doing seating charts, even if most people didn't appreciate them. They were like puzzles and brain teasers all wrapped into one. My fun was about to be interrupted, though, when I answered the call. It was my son on the other end of the line.
“Nathan? What's up?”
“It's Rhys,” he said. “We think the baby's coming.”
It took me a moment to process what my son was telling me. I understood all the words, but their meaning escaped my understanding. It was too big. The baby was coming? Now?
It wasn't due for another two weeks, but those darn babies always had a mind of their own.
“How is Rhys? I'll come home right away.”
It was going to be okay. We'd planned this birth. Okay, maybe we hadn'tplannedit, but we had prepared for it anyway. This wasn't my first ride in the rodeo, after all. We had a hospital bag by the door packed with all the things we were going to need in case of emergency.
“He says he's fine,” Nathan spoke again after a moment while I tried to gesture to my clients that I needed to go. “I think you should hurry, though.”
“I will.” With that, I ended the call. “It's the baby,” I told Kade and Shane.
“Oh,” they said in unison, mirroring in each other in their expression of surprise.
“Don't just stand there then,” Shane said. “Go support your omega.”
He was right. I had to get going. Rhys was my partner. We were a team. We were going to raise this child together and I wanted to be there from the first breath the little one took.
Within five minutes, I was out the door with all my things and in my car. In another couple of minutes, I was home. Rhys sat out on the porch, breathing in the spring air and waiting for me.
“The baby picked a beautiful day to be born,” he said as I approached.
