Ariana moved on. “To the best mates a girl could ask for, Dani and Kins,” she choked out. “There was only us before the hims. I know this year has been a rough one, but together we will always be the tough ones. I will always love you tons.” She turned to our grandparents. “No blessing song would be complete without Sam and Kaye, without whom there would be no bright days. Grandma and Grandpa, thank you for giving us your all. Now let us eat before I stall.” Ariana strung her last chord and bowed.
We all clapped for her. Her brothers gave her a standing ovation. Whitney ran to her best friend and mommy, as she called her, and threw her arms around her. Ariana placed the sweet girl on her lap, and there she stayed. It was all Ariana ever wanted—to love and be loved. It was all that all of us had ever wanted.
Brock must have noticed my longing gaze and the way I held my empty womb. He whispered in my ear, “Someday our daughter will sit on your lap.”
My misty eyes met his. There was so much hope in those words I could scarcely believe them. “I think you’re getting ahead of yourself.”
“I don’t think I’ve been going fast enough,” he responded without a second a thought.
“Brock,” I whispered.
He kissed my lips and lingered there for a few brief seconds, willing me to feel how much he loved me. Making me realize that with every kiss we had ever shared, he’d been trying to tell me what his lips were saying now.
“Please—” Brock began to say intimately as if we were alone.
“Not to be rude,” Max interrupted Brock, “but we get enough PDA around our sister and Jonah.”
Brant and Sebastian chuckled as we broke apart and faced our unimpressed audience. I bit my lip while Brock took my hand and kissed it. “Give a guy a break. I’ve been away from my wife for weeks.”
I noticed now how Brock called me his wife whenever he could. It still sounded strange to me. Not to say I didn’t like it—I just needed to get used to it.
Sebastian waved his hand. “Eh, regrettable, but we can’t be swayed.”
“Survey says—get a room,” Max added, making Brant and Sebastian laugh.
“Great idea.” Brock gave me a smoldering smile, making my cheeks burn red.
I pushed on his rock-hard chest. He had obviously been able to work out at the treatment center. “I think we should eat some pie,” I stuttered. I wasn’t ready for that step yet.
Brock recognized my obvious discomfort and rested his hand on my blazing hot cheek. “We’ll eat as much pie as you want.”
I translated that into, “Take all the time you need.” I nodded, grateful, before reaching for a slice of the pumpkin cheesecake Ariana had brought.
The conversation shifted to more awkward topics. Max and Sebastian were in awe of Brant. Which wasn’t a bad thing at all, except it meant poor Brant had to put on more than a fake politician smile. He had to mask the pain of giving up his life’s work.
“Dude, we tell everyone at school that we know you.” Sebastian talked with his mouth full of apple pie.
“We want to campaign for you, even though we don’t live in Colorado.” Max was eagerly dishing up a second piece of chocolate cream pie after inhaling the last piece in two bites.
Brant swallowed down his bite of pie and faced his admirers with grace. “That means the world to me. What I would love to know is, What issues concern you and your friends most?”
I wanted to reach across the table and hold Brant’s hand. Instead, I watched in awe at how he spoke to Max and Sebastian as if they were his equals; how he listened to them, not to respond, but to internalize what they saw as problems in society. Their fears about the future. Well, not them so much as their peers who didn’t come from a wealthy background. I was amazed at how thoughtful Ariana’s younger brothers could be. Brant’s thoughtfulness didn’t surprise me at all. Nor did his courage.
Dessert and dinner were done before I knew it. Normally, I loved to linger at the dinner table after such a wonderful meal and chat with those I loved most; today I found all I wanted to do was be alone with Brock. I had so many questions. Yet I also longed to be held by him and not say a word. Unfortunately, I had to employ patience. We always cleaned up together as a family, and then we played Ariana’s game of car hide-and-go-seek. Brock was definitely going to be my partner. Hopefully we wouldn’t be the seekers first and we could find the perfect hiding spot where no one would find us.