He gave me a quizzical look, but smiled.
"Announcement, announcement, announcement," Noah began to sing. "A terrible way to die, a terrible way to die, a terrible death to be talked to death, a terrible way to die."
"Shut up, Noah," Andi said, throwing a chip at him.
"You two behave," Margaret snapped from across the table.
"You better say whatever it is you have to say soon, before this devolves into a food fight," Carter said.
I laughed. "Being a part of this family can be a little overwhelming, between all the surprises and —"
"Hey, it was Carter's idea to have a surprise wedding, not ours. Good thing you were on board with it."
"Is that a pun, Noah?” Hunter asked because Carter and I had been married on a boat.
I waved my hand to take back control of the conversation. "Well, today is my day for surprises. First, I want to thank all of you for the way you've accepted me and Tanner into the family."
"You are family," Carter said, lo
oking up at me questioningly. I don't think he fully understood the difference between having my son be a Strong, and my being a Strong. Tanner was family by blood. But that wasn't important now.
"The point is, I love being a part of this family. I love all of you."
"Here, here," Noah said, holding up his beer.
"And we love you too," Alex said, also holding up his drink.
Before they could start toasting each other, I cleared my throat. "Well, having come from a small family, it's wonderful to be part of such a large, close-knit family. And I'm equally thankful that Carter decided to build such a large table." I put my hand on his shoulder and looked down at him. "Because the family is about to get a little bit bigger."
Other members of the family reacted quickly. Carter, thought, took a moment to realize what I was saying. But when he did realize it, he jumped out of his chair, knocking it back.
He wrapped his arms around me, swinging me in a circle. "Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered in my ear.
"I wanted to surprise you like you surprised me with our wedding."
He sat me down and he was grinning at me like he'd never been happier.
"Mommy what's going on?" Tanner asked from where he sat between Margaret and Alex.
"Your mom is going to have a baby," Natalie said to him.
Tanner's eyes widened. "Really?"
Carter held me close. "That's right, you're going to have a brother or sister."
Tanner thought about that for a minute. "I hope it's a brother."
The rest of the table laughed. Eventually things settled down and we all sat down to eat.
"I don't know why you're so surprised," I said to Carter. "It's not like we weren't planning this."
The truth was several weeks ago, we had left Tanner with Hunter and Natalie because Alex had decided it was their turn to have a child and felt babysitting could encourage that.
Carter took me out on the family yacht, where we spent a few days. We'd been married a couple months, but both agreed that we were ready to start filling the house, so the trip on the yacht was the beginning of growing our family.
"I know, but it was theoretical on my end. But now it's a reality.” His hand reached over and pressed against my belly. "We've made another person."
I always love the way Carter looked at life with such awe and wonder.