Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Every one of us groans, except for me and Liam.
“Remind me not to have you plan any reveals for Elle and me,” Ben says as he shakes his head.
“What on earth?” Josie asks as Noah parades us out.
“As you can see, the men in your family look pregnant. Each of them has a balloon under their shirt, filled with either blue or pink water.”
“Ooh, a wet T-shirt contest. Sign me up,” Elle says.
“I’m with you,” Yvie adds.
“My first adult time fun,” Paige says.
“Leave, now,” Liam points to the house while everyone laughs.
“You too, Little One. You’re still a baby in my eyes,” JD says.
Poor Rush seems embarrassed.
“I’ve seen him without a shirt on, Daddy,” Eden says.
“I didn’t need to hear that!” JD sighs.
I can’t help but laugh. Eden is going to give JD a heart attack.
“Anyway, Peyton and I know the gender,” Noah says, interrupting everyone. “Here’s what’s going to happen; I’m going to count to three and the men in our family will pop their balloons. Their shirts will either turn blue, pink, or remain white.”
“Wait, what?” Mack asks.
“What did you think was going to happen?” Nick asks him.
“Ah, man.” He shakes his head as he looks to the ground.
Everyone laughs at him.
Noah holds his phone out to video our family. I eye Nola and am surprised to find her paying attention.
“Guys, are you ready?” We all hold up our safety pins. “Assume the position.”
Noah drags this out while I mentally prepare for cold water to seep into places I don’t want cold water to seep.
“Go.”
So much for him counting to three.
“You’re having a . . .”
“Boy.”
“Girl.”
“Wait.”
“Oh my God.”
“Peyton, what’s going on?” Mom asks.
My sister puts her hand on her stomach and beams at Noah.
“You tell them,” he says to her.
“Yesterday, we found out we’re having triplets,” she says excitedly. “Two boys and one girl. The boys are identical.”
Holy shit, I’m going to be an uncle of triplets. I hold my arms out and imagine what it’s going to be like to hold three babies at once. I’m not sure I can do it, but I’m sure as hell going to try. I’m happy for my sister. Over the moon, actually. She and Noah have struggled for so long, trying to get pregnant, and now they are. They’re like super pregnant.
Elle’s pregnant too.
And then there’s me, wanting to get married and I suppose start a family. I almost said as much earlier when Nola said her birth control made her sick. As soon as she said she wasn’t ready to be a mother, I mentioned condoms, because whatever she wants, I’ll do.
Nola and I have to wait our turn to give Peyton and Noah our congratulations. I hold her hand and she looks at me. When she does that, it makes me think everything is fine and I’m imagining shit.
Finally, I get to hug my sister. My arms wrap around her tightly, and I whisper that I love her before I step over to Noah. It’s then I hear Nola ask if she can touch Peyton’s stomach.
They have a conversation, which I’m trying not to pay attention to.
“Things good?” Noah asks.
Are they?
Probably. Maybe. Could they be better—yes, they could—but I suppose everything is manageable at the moment.
I give him a face, one that he understands. This isn’t the place to talk about whatever it is that’s going on.
Nola and I stay for about two hours. After a series of goodbyes, we get to the bike. “How about tacos?”
She smiles and then shakes her head. “I’m full. Did you have any of the cake?”
I shake my head. “The pink and blue freaked me out a bit.” We both get on before I start my motorcycle. “What would you like to do?”
“How about we take some snacks down to the beach? I think I really want to sit on the beach for a bit.”
But too full for tacos.
Thankfully, my parents don’t live that far, and we’re back at the house in record time. I move about the house, gathering things before she changes her mind.
She doesn’t.
We lay a blanket out and sit, watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.
“It’s so pretty here.”
“It really is,” I tell her. “I think everyone is going to end up moving back to Beaumont.”
“Why would they want to do that?”
I lift one shoulder in a shrug. “It’s a different life there. It’s slow, community-oriented. It’s where we grew up.”
“Yes, I remember. It’s boring.”
That’s my sign to change the subject. I lie on my side and pull her to me, her back pressing into my chest.
“Today was fun.”
She nods. “Three babies will be a lot, and they’ll be tiny. They’ll have to stay in the hospital for a bit.”
“If they’re tiny, that means I can hold all three at the same time.”
“True,” she says, laughing.
I rest my hand on her stomach. “Do you ever think about having a baby? I know we just talked about you stopping your birth control. Maybe we try. It’s not like we’re not getting married when my tour stops in South Carolina.”