“Just a little bit. Maybe a year.”
He nods with a determined look on his face. “I’ll teach him everything I know.”
“Oh, good. You’re the best and all,” I say, hugging him to my side.
He nods happily, and then Autumn takes Harrison once more. Jude stands on one side of her as I do on the other. When our eyes meet, I nod, and he grins.
“Hey, Mom, did you see his shirt?”
Autumn furrows her brow. “His shirt?”
Jude takes him, and I come around so that I can flatten it for her to read. Her brows draw in even more, and then she screams before she wraps her arms around me.
“What?” Phillip yells, and Reese comes over. She looks at me as chills run through my body and my heart pounds in my chest.
“Really?” she asks.
I nod, and she covers her mouth.
“What?” Phillip asks again, and she turns to him so he can look too.
With his eyes focused, he reads aloud, “I just got here, but I’m being promoted to big brother.”
When my uncle looks at me, his eyes glaze over as everything clicks. I nod, my own tears streaming down my cheeks. He lets out a cry of relief before he pulls me into his arms, holding me close. A sob leaves my lips as he holds me. “Oh, Claire.”
I nod against his chest. “I know. I can’t believe it either.”
“We both can’t,” Jude laughs, and when I look at him, he’s crying too. “We were both convinced it was negative. But the doctor came in and said it was positive and her levels were high. We even took another test at the hotel. All positive.”
I wipe my face free of tears. “There is still a chance—”
“No,” Autumn says, stopping me. “This is God’s work. He did all this—all these changes and all these blessings. That baby is coming, and we are gonna have baby number ten. Right, River?”
River wipes his face as he hugs Jude. “Right. I feel it.”
I do too.
“I don’t think I’ve ever bee
n so happy in my life,” Reese cries, and then everyone is crying.
Jude pulls me into his arms, and as I look around, seeing everyone crying and showering us with love, I honestly don’t know how I can be so blessed. Jude looks down at me as his hand slides over my belly, and my lips tilt. I want to believe that this baby will stick and we’ll have it in nine months. But if it doesn’t, I know we’ll be okay because we have each other. Each day we have together is a blessing, a miracle, and I am so lucky to have found the man who loves me unconditionally.
“I don’t think I could be any happier,” I say, and he bends his head down to mine, kissing my nose.
“Me either, Mama,” he whispers, his green eyes burning into mine. “I look at you, I look at Harrison, and all I hear right now is that song playing in my head.”
I look at him quizzically. “What song?”
“The one I sang to you at our wedding, ‘All of Me.’”
My lips curve. “Really?”
“Yeah, and Claire, no matter what happens, no matter how many changes are thrown at us, all of me loves all of you. All of Harrison, and all of the new baby.”
My throat is thick with emotion as I cup his face. “I have never felt such truer words.”
He moves his nose against mine. “I love you, Mama.”