We gave her all our attention.
“Sawyer and I went to the doctor this morning. We had our first ultrasound.” Joy burst from her words. “And . . .” she pulled out an ultrasound picture, “we are having TWINS!”
The table erupted in excited cheers.
“Oh, Mylanta!” Shelby snatched the picture. She was obsessed with babies, being a former midwife and a general lover of babies. She and Ryder were planning on having five kids. Shelby carefully studied the picture of what looked like two peanuts. “Everything looks perfect. Now, you can still do an unmedicated birth with twins. I’ll be there every step of the way.” Shelby was also a big proponent of drug-free births. I wondered if she would change her tune on that after she herself had given birth. Though, Jenna did say Shelby was an amazing coach in the delivery room and made it possible for her to go natural with Elliott. Me, I was all for the epidural. And it wasn’t like Leland was much help in the delivery room. He slept and watched sports most of the time.
Emma took back the picture and stared doe-eyed at it. “I can’t believe it.”
“What does Sawyer think?” I asked.
“He’s over the moon,” Emma gushed. “He cried when the doctor told us.”
I was so happy for her. She never thought she would find love, but I always knew she would. She just needed the right man to be strong enough to not be intimidated by how confident and good she was. Sawyer was the lucky man. From day one it was plain to see he was in awe of her.
“Have you told your daddy yet?” Shelby asked.
Emma nodded. “He’s so excited. He’s already out buying two rocking horses. And he’s putting the word out that he’ll be on the lookout for two ponies.” Emma’s dad, Dane, was an avid horseman. “Sawyer’s dad was just as cute about it. He and Bridget are now talking about going to the courthouse to get married sooner rather than later. They are both questioning their decision to get married on the slopes this winter. They’re worried I shouldn’t be skiing in my condition. Personally, I think they just want to get married. And I think it will help Bridget feel justified being able to call herself grandma, which obviously to me she will be.”
“Does that mean you haven’t told Sawyer’s mom yet?” I hesitated to ask. We all hated Josephine, especially Emma. No one could blame her after how awful Josephine was to her and her father. And there was the little issue of making Sawyer and Emma stepsiblings for a short period, which kept them from exploring their own romantic relationship. That would be a fun story to tell their kiddos—that they were stepbrother and stepsister when they got married.
Emma’s face scrunched and her fists clenched any time her mother-in-law and ex-stepmother’s name was brought up. “No, we haven’t told her. We try to have as little contact with her as possible, though she has been calling Sawyer more often. He rarely answers. I’m not sure he will ever forgive her for trying to ruin our wedding.”
“What about your sisters?” Jenna threw in quickly, trying to change the subject for Emma’s sake.
Emma rolled her eyes. “I haven’t told them yet either. I wanted to tell you guys first. They are both on my nerves anyway.”
Shelby wrung her hands like she knew why. It wasn’t surprising, considering Macey and Marlowe worked for her and Marlowe was dating Ryder’s cousin Bobby Jay.
Jenna pulled a bib out of her diaper bag for Elliott. “What’s up with the M&M twins?”
Emma gave Shelby a pointed look. “Well for starters, Macey keeps stringing along poor Jamie, and. . . Marlowe broke up with Bobby Jay.”
“What? Is she an idiot?” Jenna asked.
We all nodded. Bobby Jay was a nice guy as far as I could tell, and funnier than anyone I had ever met. He also treated Marlowe like a queen.
Shelby bit her pouty pink lip. “He’s pretty torn up about it.”
Emma’s shoulders sank. “I’m sorry. My sister has lost her mind.”
“What was her reasoning?” I asked.
Emma let out a deep breath. “Honestly, I think she’s scared.”
“Well,” Shelby cut in, “for as wonderful as he is, Bobby Jay can get in a hurry. I think he fell harder for her than he intended to, and he was ready for more than she was.”
“I’m hoping she comes to her senses,” Emma commented. “He was good for her.”
“I hope so too.” Shelby squeezed Emma’s hand. “Sometimes we don’t see the gift we’ve been given for what it is until it’s gone.”
All eyes turned toward me as if I should be taking Shelby’s statement to heart.
I swallowed hard. “What are you all looking at?”
Jenna, never one to miss the opportunity to make a smart-aleck comment, answered, “Well duh, you better get to unwrapping that dashing Brit.”