With a wink, she spun on her heels and followed the rest of the girls out of the living room and to the kitchen.
I glanced over at the large mirror that hung on the wall and looked at myself.
“Am I about to get married?”
“Scarlett, come on,” Amelia pleaded.
With a deep breath in, I answered myself.
“Only one way to find out.”
After Scarlett headed into the bathroom, I made my way to the guest bathroom, quickly changed, and headed outside. My heart nearly exploded at the sight in front of me.
When I’d told my parents I wanted to marry Scarlett right after we brought Aurora home, my mother went into immediate action, along with the rest of the girls.
I stood in my backyard and took in the sight. White lights were hung in the trees, lanterns were sprinkled all around. A beautiful arch was at the end of a small makeshift aisle, and it was covered in white roses. It was a miracle that Scarlett hadn’t heard everyone back here last night and this morning. Of course, I’d done a good job of distracting her last night…
My four brothers and Wade stood there with smiles on all of their faces. Wade was holding his son, John Jr, who was only a few weeks old. I quickly made my way down to him.
“So, is this my new nephew?” I asked, peeking down to the sleeping baby boy in my best friend’s arms.
“This is him. John Jr, meet your Uncle Trevor.”
The baby didn’t budge, except to suck on his pacifier a few times. Other than that, he was sound asleep in his father’s arms.
“Damn, he’s cute as a button.”
“Uncle Twevor!”
Turning, I threw out my arms in time to catch Gage.
“Hey there, little buddy.”
“Come pway whiff me, pwease!”
My heart melted. “I’m sorry, little buddy. I can’t play right now, but I promise here in a bit, we’ll play, okay?”
He stuck out his lip and pouted big time.
“This is what happens when the favorite uncle is away for too long,” Steed said, laughing as he took his son from my arms. “Uncle Trevor has to do something really important and then I bet he’ll play with you.”
A smile reappeared on Gage’s face.
“Where’s Chloe?” I asked, looking around for my niece.
“Well, she is currently putting flowers on Patches.”
Now it was my turn to pout. “Shit. There’s no chance we can talk her out of it?”
Steed shook his head. “Paxton and I tried every trick in the book. Sorry, dude, the goat’s in your wedding.”
“Can’t break tradition,” Mitchell said with a chuckle.
I shot him a dirty look. “I hope you have twins.”
His face went white. “Dude, that’s not funny. At all.”
Jonathon walked up holding Liberty, who was fussing to get down and walk on her own. She was over one now and all over the place.
“We are finally here. This is what happens when Mom leaves Daddy in charge of getting ready,” Jonathon said, reaching his hand out to shake. “I’m glad y’all are finally back home.”
“Me too. So, we never got to talk about the adoption,” I said, reaching over and scooping Liberty from his arms. The moment I had her, she settled and started to rub her hands on my cheeks. She liked the slight stubble I always kept on my face.
“Unwell Twewor.” She gave me a slobbery kiss, which I gladly accepted.
“Hey there, sweet little Liberty. I missed you. You have a new baby cousin, Aurora.”
Liberty’s eyes widened.
“Dude, Sleeping Beauty. She thinks that’s who you’re talking about.”
I laughed and kissed her on the cheek.
“Anyway, back to the adoption,” I said.
“August 3 is the big day. It’s a couple in their late twenties. Both are lawyers, good friends who happened to get drunk and got a little carried away. She’s taking a leave of absence once she starts showing, and she’s actually coming to stay here in the main guest house until she has the baby. It was all in the agreement with the adoption. We’re pretty excited. Found out she’s having a boy, so that will make one of each.”
“We’re going to be overrun with females soon,” my father said from behind me.
“Gandpa!” Liberty screamed out, pushing off of me to get to my father.
He took her and spun her around, making her laugh.
“Glad to see I’m still her favorite.”
“Dad, you’re all the kids’ favorite,” I replied.
He beamed. “You are all going to make me go broke if you keep popping out these kids. Your mother spoils each of them and y’all don’t say a damn thing.”
“Damn!” Liberty repeated as we all stilled.
“Waylynn is going to freak!” Jonathon said, quickly looking around for my oldest sister. “Where is she? Y’all are my witness, it was your dad who taught her that. Not me!”
Cord shook his head at his best friend. “Dude, what happened to you? You are the definition of pussy-whipped.”