She eyed me suspiciously and walked back over to Dad. I looked at Bryn.
“I guess we should probably just go ahead and tell them before dinner. Mom already knows something’s up. If we don’t tell them now, we’re going to end up with her guessing and spilling it herself.”
Bryn agreed and we stood right there on the deck, looking out over our ever-growing family, and told them we were getting married. Just like I expected, everyone cheered and rushed to hug and congratulate us. Mom was the only one who didn’t immediately run forward. She was too busy crying.
“Mom?” I finally said. “What do you think?”
She looked up at us. “I still have all the magazines.”
Bryn burst into a combination of laughter and tears. She was the one who ran forward to throw her arms around Mom.
We didn’t stay at the dinner as late as we usually did. At this point in her pregnancy, Bryn was getting tired much more easily. I wanted her to rest as much as she could. I was planning on taking plenty of time off when the baby came, and she had already stopped working. We would be taking care of the baby together, but that meant we were probably going to be tired together. And there were things I couldn’t do, including finishing up the pregnancy and delivering the baby. She deserved the rest.
When we got back home, I found a note tucked into the doorframe. I read it and laughed.
“What is it?” Bryn asked.
“Gabe’s friend Clint, the police officer, has been keeping an eye on Justin. And he finally got caught. It took all this time, but he finally fell on his face.” I handed her a scan of his police record. “He was trying to fleece an older widow.”
Bryn laughed and kissed me. “You know what? I don’t even care. I’m not mad anymore. I’ve got you.”The End