I turned and smiled up at him. “No, I want to see my family.” With my free hand, I stroked my fingertips over his jaw. “Thank you for coming with me. And thank you for understanding why I have to do it.”
He pulled me onto his lap, and a
s it always did these days, one of his hands went straight to the small baby bump. We would find out what we were having the following week, and I was so excited to know if there was a boy or a girl kicking around in there.
“I would do anything for you, Violet. No matter what you ask for, I’ll always make it happen.” He buried his face in my neck, nipping at the sensitive flesh just under my ear. “But when this evening is over, I’m taking you home and keeping you in bed for a few days.”
I squirmed against him in anticipation. “I’m totally okay with that,” I assured him, arching my neck to give him better access.
“Good. Because I need you to remember who you love and married. Who put this love bug deep inside you.” He stroked his hand over the baby bump and down between my legs.
I covered his hand, pressing him closer since Jenner was out of the car and couldn’t see. Turning my head, I caught Remington’s gaze and held it. “I’ll never forget who I married, because I love him more than life itself. And maybe later, he’ll give me a repeat of how he put our love bug deep inside me.”
“Count on it,” he said with a grin. With one soft, lingering kiss, he released me and opened the door.
Jenner came around to hold it open while Remington helped me out. As I stepped onto the sidewalk, my parents’ vehicle pulled in behind us. We stood there waiting as Mom and Dad got out, with Mason right behind them.
“Merry Christmas Eve,” Mom greeted and embraced us.
“Yeah, yeah,” Dad grumbled. “Let’s go. I’m not staying long. Just enough to give Emmie and Nik their gift and then get the hell back to Santa Monica.”
I tightened my hand on Remington’s, hoping this would work, but already fearing it wouldn’t. My husband kissed the top of my head encouragingly. “I’ve never been to a family party like this,” he mentioned, turning everyone’s attention to him. “Is it crazy?”
Mason laughed as he fell into step with us. “You have no idea. It seems like someone always gets engaged at one of these parties. Or announces they’re pregnant.” He glanced at my baby bump, all too noticeable beneath my tight red dress. “Guess it’s going to be the baby announcement this time since you haven’t told many people yet, sis. I don’t think anyone else is even dating anyone to get engaged.”
I thought about Shaw and Jagger, but I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure anyone even knew about them yet, or even if they were official or not. It was hard to keep up with those two.
My brother rang the doorbell, and seconds later, Uncle Nik opened the door. With Emerson in his arms, he greeted us with a huge grin. “Come in,” he said, winking at me. “You’re missing out on all the fun.”
“Whatever,” Dad grumbled, but then Emerson threw herself at him, and he was powerless to do anything but catch her and love on her. “What’s my favorite little redhead doing?” he asked, sounding marginally happier all of a sudden. “Did Santa come yet?”
“Papa said Santa only comes when I’m sleeping. But how can I sleep with everyone making all this noise?” She glared around at everyone in the living room as we walked in. “They need to use their inside voices.”
With Remington still holding my hand, I glanced around, looking for Aunt Emmie. She’d assured me everything was already set when I’d texted her earlier, but I knew it was anyone’s guess how this would turn out. I’d planned out how I would handle everything in my head, but I wasn’t overly confident I could pull it off.
Two steps into the living room and I caught sight of Luca standing across the room. He was with Lyric and Mila, who was very obviously pregnant with twins. I didn’t know how she could walk around so easily with so much weight in her belly keeping her off-balance, when I had become so damn clumsy with just the little bump I had.
She looked beautiful with her hair pulled up in a simple ponytail, in a red dress similar to the one I was wearing. Lyric stood beside her, his eyes eating up the sight of his wife. He looked so happy, I couldn’t help smiling, glad he had found his endgame and was enjoying the life he was making for himself and his growing family.
But my eyes went straight back to Luca, unable to keep them away from my ex. Dressed in black pants and a deep green button-down with the sleeves rolled up to show his massive forearms, his hair cut shorter than I was used to seeing and a drink in his hand, he looked like he was at ease in the room full of our family. But I saw the slight tension in his shoulders, the set of his jaw that not even the smile he gave his sister-in-law as she said something to him could fully hide.
Aunt Emmie said he knew the plan and was on board with it, but I was scared he would cause a huge scene once he realized I was pregnant.
As if he could feel my eyes on him, Luca turned slowly and met my gaze. I watched as he stiffened, then slowly smiled. His eyes warmed and then started to run over me. But when they landed on my waist, his entire body turned to stone and he took a step back, as if I’d physically pushed him.
Quickly, he righted himself and started toward me. With each step he took, I could hear the conversations around us pausing until the entire room was so quiet, all I could hear was the faint holiday music in the background.
I tightened my hand on Remington’s, and I felt his thumb caress the backs of my knuckles. Taking courage from my husband, I put a brighter smile on my face, and by the time Luca reached us, he was smiling too. Smiling, but the color of his eyes told me he was in pain. This was killing him, but he wasn’t going to disappoint me.
He stopped only feet from me and then extended his hand. Remington hesitated for just a moment before shaking Luca’s hand. As I looked from one to the other, I saw something strange pass between the two of them, but I didn’t understand it and didn’t want to ask about it when I could feel my parents’ eyes on all of us, along with Uncle Jesse’s and Aunt Layla’s.
We needed to show them that we could be adults. Which was exactly how they should have been acting too. Not fighting. Not holding grudges. They needed to let the past go, because we had.
And even if that might not be completely true for Luca, at least he was trying.
For me.
“I see you have more than one thing to be congratulated for.” Luca dropped his hand as soon as he could and then reached for me.