“I knew it,” Ava said to much general laughter when things calmed down. “No, I’m serious! I knew it! When she wouldn’t have any wine, I put it together.”
“I was hoping I was slick enough to slide that one by,” Becca said.
“You did get it by me,” Mom said. “I thought you just had a headache.”
“Well, the headache was real. It’s still thumping a little, but it’s manageable. It just also worked as a perfect cover,” Becca said.
“Sneaky, sis,” Matt said, and my heart warmed. Hearing him refer to her as “sis” was enough to make even me misty.
“Alright, that was worth it,” Jordan said. “And I love you both, and I am extremely happy for you, but if I don’t get something to eat in the next few minutes, I am liable to eat the damn table.”
I laughed, and we all dug into the salads and bread, the conversation flowing and Becca becoming the center of attention. A loving attention.
“You know,” Ava said, “I had my own issues with coming to terms with telling Mason about being pregnant.”
“You did?” Becca asked. Ava proceeded to give her the rundown of that whole situation, which was still very familiar to all of us.
“Amanda did the same thing, didn’t she?” Mom said more than asked. It was technically a question, but only in that there was a question mark at the end. Mom clearly knew the situation but wanted Ava to be the one to get into the details of it. As she told the story as she remembered it, Becca curled into my arm, and I felt the warm glow of my family’s love along with the wine, making my evening even more perfect.
After dinner, Mason went outside for a few moments, and I left to join him, kissing Becca on the top of the head and making sure she was okay. She smiled and kissed my hand that rested on her shoulder and looked up at me with sparkling eyes.
“I’m just fine,” she said. I believed her. As traumatic as her family finding out was, my family learning the news went as well as it possibly could. Ava and Becca were happily chatting away as I walked out onto the porch with Mason, who was just getting off the phone.
“Everything okay?” I asked, handing him his glass of wine that I snagged off the table.
“Oh yeah, everything’s fine. Just wanted a breath of fresh air. It gets stuffy in there with all those people,” he said, laughing.
“It does,” I said. “It’s about to get stuffier, too.”
Mason laughed again and clinked his glass to mine.
“Congratulations again on that, brother,” he said. “You are going to make a fine father. Trust me on that.”
“I hope so,” I said. “I’m terrified.”
“As you should be,” Mason laughed. “All new fathers are. It’s part of the package, I think.”
“It’s just a lot with all the things I was planning. Makes me change course a little,” I said.
“Oh?” he asked. “How so?”
I explained in short how I was going to go to school and work at the bar before possibly heading out to work with Tom. He nodded along and didn’t object to any of it, only occasionally taking a sip of his wine almost like a punctuation to his thoughts.
“Besides all that,” I said, opening myself up to my brother, “there’s the issue with her family.”
“Nick’s not a fan?” Mason asked. He was always the most intuitive one of us.
“That’s putting it lightly,” I said. “He accused me of betrayal again and ruining her life. He and their father went bananas and tried to start a fistfight with me. If it weren’t for her dad’s friends being there for his birthday, it likely would have devolved into one. It’s why we took off for a few days.”
“I was wondering what finally spawned you to take vacation days,” he said, chuckling. Then his expression grew more serious, and he turned to me. “Don’t worry about Nick. He will get over it. Her father, too. They’re going to have a new baby in the family soon. New babies melt angry hearts.”
“I hope so,” I said, putting my hands on the railing of the porch and leaning out over the back yard.
“They will,” he assured me. “Her dad will either come around or he won’t, but either way, you know you have the full support of everyone in this house right now, plus Tom and Amanda. You know that.”
I nodded. “Thanks, Mason. That means a lot.”
“It’s true. One hundred percent,” he said. “You and Becca are family, and your little one is a blessing. Never, ever forget that. Don’t let them make you feel any other way about it, either. If you have any questions, or Becca has anything she wants to talk about with the pregnancy or being a new mother, do not hesitate to call either one of us. We’re there for you.”