Page 105 of Lose to Win: Lost Trilogy: Part 3
“Layna said that,” he points at his older sister, my nosy one. When my eyes go to her, she looks guilty as all hell.
“I’m sorry,” she mouths.
“So it’s true then?” Missy asks in her always quiet tone. She is the type who likes to mind her own business, and she gets annoyed quite often by how intrusive Alayna’s personality can be.
I look at Puck in question. He shrugs at me with a smile on his face. This is as good of a time as any to announce it.
“It’s true.” I press a hand to my belly. “We’re having a baby.”
“Yes!” Tyler is the most excited of the bunch. “I won’t be the baby anymore.”
His words get to me. I loved him being a baby. I burst into tears, freaking everyone out.
“Ty, look what you did,” Alayna chastises him. “You made mom cry.”
Chaos ensues, something that is quite normal in our house.
“Okay, everyone quiet,” Puck calls over the noise. They all shut up at the same time, making me laugh.
“That’s weird,” Alex mumbles.
I open my arms to give a collective hug, and they all rush in, even Tommy, who thinks he’s way too cool for anything like this. I laugh and cry and am so much better when I feel Puck at my back.
“Okay, enough of this. I want to see this surprise you have for me,” I tell them, and they all take a step back as one.
It sounds like a herd of elephants when we all go down the stairs.
“God, I hope they can learn to be quiet once the baby is here,” I whisper to Puck.
“Babe, this baby will be louder than all of them put together. I think we’ll be fine.”
We finally make it to the French doors that lead us to the back yard. The heavy curtains are drawn, making it so I can’t see what’s happening past them.
“Okay, now I’m nervous,” I let out a chuckle. “What’s going on?”
“I want to tell her,” Tyler jumps up and down in excitement.
There’s some grumbling from the older kids who are not one hundred percent on board with the idea.
“Guys,” Puck puts his arms up to quiet everyone down and settle the issue. “Since this is the last year that Tyler is the baby of the family, I think we should let him reveal the surprise, yeah?”
“What a rip off,” Tommy mumbles. “What did I get special before Missy came?”
“You got our full attention as an only child,” Puck deadpans, shutting him up.
“Okay,” I look down at Tyler. “I’m ready.”
All of a sudden, he looks nervous and shy. He takes a step back and pushes his face into Missy’s leg. She loves his attention, and it is obvious when she wraps his arms around him from behind, bending her knees a bit to whisper something in his year.
“Happy anniversary, momma,” he finally says at the same time that Tommy pulls on the cord that opens the heavy curtains.
I am speechless when I look at our back yard. It is dark out. Lights are strewn all across, and there are large panels on each side of the yard, with a projector showing a slideshow of pictures from the last twelve years. I gasp in shock when it pauses on a picture of me and Puck. We are standing in the yard at the airport where dad keeps his private plane.
“That looks like…”
“It’s from the day we came back from Vegas.” Puck wraps his arms around me from behind and whispers in my ear. “Malone took it.”
“That’s probably the only picture we have from our wedding day,” I laugh.
