Proving Paul's Promise (The Reed Brothers 5)

Logan taps Peck on the shoulder. Then he signs to her. Peck, I’d like for you to meet my stupid brother, the dumbest man on the planet. He waves at Sam, and Sam’s mouth falls open.

“Oh, f**k,” Sam says. “She’s deaf.”

Not deaf, she signs back. I can hear.

And you can sign.

Apparently. She grins at him.

I’m Sam. I’m an idiot. And I like your ass. And your thighs. He jerks a thumb behind him. Do you want a cupcake?

His face is red, and the whole room bursts out in laughter.

She pulls her drumsticks out of her pocket and taps them lightly on the counter. Then she opens her mouth and says hello. It’s a Peck thing. Sam watches her sticks while she speaks to Reagan and Emily. When she’s done talking, her sticks stop moving.

Sam has been gone. He started playing pro football right after graduating from college. So while we have spent time with Wren, Finch, Lark, Star, and Peck, he hasn’t.

You should tell her how you play pro ball and make a shit ton of money. That’s the only thing that would save you now, Logan tells him. He laughs.

Sam flips him the bird. Fuck you.

Sam flops down on the floor beside the couch. Paul is sitting at my feet with my leg over his shoulder. He rubs my instep, and I f**king love that he still likes to do this.

“The episode is starting,” I cry. I turn the TV up loud, because no one can hear over all the children.

The tears don’t start until halfway through the episode, and they’re mainly from Garrett and Cody. We watch as Tuesday comes into the world. We let the cameras into the room, but they had to stay up by my head. So, when they pick her up and lay her on my belly on the TV, I can almost feel the weight of her on me now. I close my eyes and I’m right back there, right back to the day that Tuesday was born. I held her for a moment while Cody and Garrett cried on each other, and then I handed her over. She wasn’t mine.

They now had their family, and they were happy. So was I.

We all laugh at some of the outtakes in the shop that the cameras caught. We never know what the final cuts will look like, but so far, they have been a lot more about the customers than about us.

Our business has gotten so busy that we bought the shop right next door to ours, added eight more booths, and hired a slew of new artists. People wait months for appointments with us.

The episode is over, and everyone hangs out. No one is in a hurry to go home. They never are. The apartment is always full, and there are so many babies here that it never seems to quiet down. But we love it this way. We don’t want to change it. Ever.

People start to mill around, and Sam keeps trying to get close to Peck. I watch him from across the room. She sidesteps him and shoots him funny glances. She’s in her element here because everyone signs, so she doesn’t have to talk unless she wants to, which is almost never.

Suddenly, Sam is beside me. “So, what’s up with the tapping?” he asks.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I say crisply.

He rolls his eyes. “Yes, you do.”

Suddenly, Peck is right behind him, and she taps him on the shoulder. She doesn’t stop her finger from pecking as she speaks. “You could just ask me,” she says quietly.

He stands up. “I keep f**king up,” he says.

She nods.

“I was being really rude. It’s none of my business.”

She nods.

“What does Peck stand for?” he asks instead.

She taps the table and makes a sign for the word bird.

“Woodpecker?” he asks. “Peck is short for woodpecker?”

She nods and smiles. With her brown hair and brown eyes, she’s stunning. Absolutely stunning. And when she smiles, she lights up a room.

He looks to her band mates. “So you all have bird names.”

She nods. “We got them when we fell out of the nest—Fallen from Zero,” she says. She taps the whole time she’s talking. When she stops talking, the tapping stops. “You want to know what the tapping is about, right?” she asks. She rolls her eyes and blows out a frustrated breath.

Sam smiles. “I don’t particularly care what the tapping is about if you’ll keep talking to me.”

Tap. Tap. Her eyes narrow. “Does it bother you?”

“I f**king love it,” he says.

She blushes.

That’s the beauty of the Reeds. They look beyond the surface. They always have.

Sam and Peck go off to a quiet corner to talk. I see her refuse cupcakes a few times, even though he keeps trying to feed her. It makes me laugh.

“What’s funny?” Matt asks as he drops down beside me.

“Your stupid brother might have just met his match.” I point toward Sam.

He raises his brow. “That one might be a challenge.”

I grin. “It’ll be fun to watch.”

Suddenly, pain shoots from across my belly. I clutch for it, and Matt sits up. “Oh shit,” he says. “Paul!”

Paul is standing across the room, and he runs over. He takes Matt’s spot beside me and puts his hands on my huge belly. I’m a week overdue and have been having pains all day. I thought it was just Braxton-Hicks, but I think I was wrong.

“Is it time?” Paul asks.

“I think so.” I’ve done this twice already, so I have a pretty good idea of what’s happening. “We should probably hurry.”

When Tuesday was born, I was in labor for an hour and a half. That’s it. Just an hour and a half. I’d really like some drugs this time, though, so we should probably go.