Page 26 of The Gunnery Sergeant's Ready-Made Family

“Yes, I would let you know.” Satisfied, Stevie bid Chase goodnight and went up to bed, but it was a long time before sleep claimed her.

When Stevie went downstairs the following day, Chase had already left for work, a note pinned to the fridge reminding Stevie that his parents were due to arrive today, not that she could forget, his mother had phoned them every day since Ranger had gone into hospital, desperate to be of help. Chase had managed to convince her not to come down any earlier, but rather to wait until the weekend, when her and her husband had originally intended on visiting. It had been hard on her though, and Stevie knew that she was looking forward to meeting Ranger and Finn properly, instead of just on webcam. Stevie went through the motions of setting the table for breakfast, of doing a load of laundry and getting it in the dryer before the sounds of others stirring in the house reached her ears. She went and got Finn up, Ranger already out of bed and chatting to his brother through the bars of his crib.

“Aunt Stevie, I’m teaching Finn how to talk.”

“Are you? You’re such a good brother, Ranger.” She dropped a kiss onto his head before lifting Finn up, carrying him over to the change table and changing his diaper. “Do you remember who is coming to visit us today?”

“Nanna and Poppy!” Ranger squealed, earning a squeal in return from Finn, who waved his chubby fists in the air in a show of support.

“That’s right, Nanna and Poppy, and they are so excited to meet you.” Chase’s parents, Jenny and Chris, had been delighted when Chase had married Stevie, although Stevie wasn’t quite sure if Chase had told them the entire truth yet, and they were thrilled to be able to add two more grandchildren to their ever-growing brood, despite the traumatic circumstances. As they were already known as Nanna and Poppy with their other grandchildren, that is what Chase and Stevie had referred to them as when they spoke to Ranger about them, which was quite often during the past week.

“Are they here yet?”

“Not yet, Ranger, they won’t be here until lunchtime.”

“Will Uncle Chase come home too?”

“No honey, he’ll be home after work.”

“What will we do until Nanna and Poppy get here?”

“I think Gran has an art class to go to today, so I thought that I thought that we might make a cake together, or we could go to the park with Bella, there’s one nearby that allows dogs to be off-leash if you would like to go?”

“Rainbow cake,” Ranger nodded thoughtfully, “with sprinkles on top.”

“Rainbow cake it is then,” Stevie balanced Finn on her hip, “but first, breakfast.” Stevie had been right, her grandmother did have a class to attend, pottery today, and left straight after breakfast, promising Ranger that she would be back in plenty of time to see Nanna and Poppy.

Their morning passed quickly enough, and it wasn’t long before Ranger heard a knocking at the front door.

“They’re here, they’re here!” He jumped up and down, squealing. Stevie took his hand in hers, and with Finn on her hip, went to open the door to Jenny and Chris.

“Stevie!” Stevie was enveloped in a warm hug, the scent of cinnamon wafting in the air. “It’s been too long since I saw you last.” Jenny pulled back, eyeing Stevie up and down. It had been years; Stevie was ashamed to realise. When her own parents had passed away, it had been Jenny and Chris who had taken her and Kyle under their wings, who had kept everyone connected.

“Jen, you haven’t changed a bit,” Stevie smiled at the older woman.

“You flatter me,” she waved away Stevie’s compliment. “Now, then, this must be my grandson Ranger,” she crouched down to his eye level, “I am so happy to meet you.”

“Hi Nanna,” Ranger replied easily, throwing his small arms around her neck, “we made you a cake.”

Both Ranger and Finn took to Jenny and Chris easily, it was as if they had always been their Nanna and Poppy, always been a part of the family, which in a way, they had been. When Chase arrived home, it was to find everyone on the back patio, his father on the grill with Ranger by his side, Finn cocooned in his mother’s arms, Stevie and Nikki on either side, chatting away.

“Come and join us, Chase, we were just talking about Finn’s birthday on the weekend.” His mother called out.

“Jen and Nikki are conspiring that we should have a birthday party for Finn,” Stevie supplied as she passed Chase a glass of lemonade.

“A party. I see. What do you think about it, Stevie, do you think we should mark his first birthday with a party?”

“I think Finn deserves to have everything that Ranger had, including a first birthday party. It’s just different, isn’t it?”

“I think that you might regret it if you don’t have one, and we’ll keep it small, just us,” Jen spoke.

“In fact, you won’t have to do anything at all, you can leave it all to us,” her grandmother added.

“Oh dear,” Chase broke in, “there is no stopping you now,” he joked.

“I don’t mind if you do the planning, in fact, that would be a big help, but I want to make the cake, I made Ranger’s first birthday cake,” Stevie explained.

“That’s a wonderful idea, dear, did you have a theme in mind?”

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