While I’d been doing that, the Klines had all burst out laughing, as in bent over and holding their guts types of laughing.
“I love this family,” Bond wheezed, and then turned to Jarrod. “I’m thinking you need to name y’all’s kids, though.”
My head had shot up out of my hands and I was thinking that the portal could go fuck itself because I was just going to run and never look back, when Jarrod roared out laughing and pulled me into his side.
“Agreed.”
“Anyway,” Dad forged on. “I decided that I wanted to merge Katherine’s name with Mom’s name,” he nodded at Maude who was sitting smiling at me proudly now. She loved that I was named after her and so did I. “So, I went with Katarianne.”
All the Klines, including Bond, Canon, and Reid had all looked over at me with the same soft expression on their faces, but it was Jarrod who commented on it.
“It’s as unique and special as she is.”
Well shit!
Giving us a moment to just look at each other, Gloria got the attention off us from everyone else leaving us in our own little bubble.
“And Aura? How did you decide on that?”
Seeing as how she’d arrived by this point and had sat quietly throughout the conversation, it was a shock to everyone when she’d stood up and picked up Elodie, holding her like a shield. “I don’t want to play this game anymore. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Oh, now I really have to know,” Canon snickered, leaning forward and shooting Aura a shit-eating grin.
Dad had the good grace to look guilty as he’d blurted, “She came out looking like a fairy princess, too, so I gave her the name Katherine had chosen for Katy…”
“Even though I’d already said I wanted her name to be Melody,” Mom hissed. “Why don’t you continue, dear, so they can hear how her name became Aura and not Arabella.”
Throwing his arms up in the air with frustration, Dad said loudly, “Because I forgot what you’d chosen, ok? You got taken through to surgery because you were bleeding everywhere and I was holding this little fairy in my arms thinking I’d never see you again. I knew it began with an A and ended with one, too, so I went with Aura.”
All the Klines sat blinking as they digested this, and I sighed, “Welp, there goes that then.”
Leaning into my side, Jarrod whispered, “There goes what?”
I hadn’t realized he was as close to me as he was, so when I turned my head my nose had bumped against his, making my brain short circuit for a second. “Huh?”
I watched up close as his beautiful eyes smiled at me and was slightly disappointed that with our positions I couldn’t watch his mouth doing it, too. “There goes what, Katy?”
“Any chance that your family will think I’m normal and like me,” I mumbled, still somewhat transfixed by his eyes and not realizing that it was silent enough for people to pick up what I was saying.
“Oh, we like you all right,” Reid called across the table. “Y’all are fucking crazy crackers and it makes us look normal. I vote aye.”
“Aye,” Canon agreed.
“Total aye,” Bond did too, nodding his head and slapping his hand on the table.
Tilting his chair back so it was supported by its back legs, Dolf stuck his thumb up in the air. “It’s a thumbs up from me.”
Getting up from her chair, Gloria walked around until she was behind mine and gently moved my hair off the back of my neck so it was resting over one shoulder. “You already had my aye, but this is me letting you know you’ve got it. I’m over the moon Jarrod found you,” she told me, squeezing my shoulder for emphasis. “And your grandmother does great hair, so now I’ve got that, too.”
My head snapped up to look at my parents in horror, and then over to Maude, who was sitting smiling happily. “Anytime, Gloria girl. Anytime. The higher the hair, the closer to God.”
“Jesus,” Jarrod muttered, looking horrified at the thought of his mom’s hair getting any bigger.
I didn’t even think it was possible for it to get any bigger.
“Him, too,” Maude agreed.
Gloria had given my shoulder a final squeeze before she moved back to her chair, and as I’d watched her doing this, Jarrod’s brothers had all given me a wink. Holy shit, that felt good.
Still, I leaned into Jarrod and this time kept my voice quiet enough that only he would hear it. “You regretting what you want to start with me yet?”
His head had jerked back, and he’d frowned down at me for a moment before he started chuckling and shaking his head. “Fuck no. I’m thinking I need to celebrate the fact I’ve made the best choice I’ve ever made in my life, baby.”