“You too. Congrats on… well, everything. The wedding and the babies.”
“Luckiest man on the planet,” Kane says. He drops his hand and turns back to Jess.
Mitch quietly makes his way around the room. It’s not that he’s shy; he just doesn’t care to meet new people. He squeezes Jess’ shoulder. Nods to Jay and Soph. Shakes Angelo’s hand. And then he stops in front of Luc and Kari, and smiles.
“Luc.”
He reaches out and shakes my brother’s hand. “Mitch. Small world, huh? I didn’t know your sister was doing my sister’s wedding.”
He shrugs and releases Luc’s hand. “I knew. Congratulations on becoming an uncle.”
Kari steps forward and surprises my brother when she pulls him into a hug. I don’t know how well they know each other, but she works at the hospital too, so I doubt they’re strangers. “It’s kinda weird seeing you out of uniform. It’s like seeing a school teacher on the weekend.”
Laine snorts beside Jess.
“Yeah.” He grins. “Congratulations on becoming an aunt, Pipsqueak. You didn’t deliver them yourself? I’m kinda disappointed.”
“Nah.” She steps back and brushes his collar down. “But you bet your bottom dollar I tried. I stuck to her like velcro, but the universe wasn’t having it.”
“You wanted to deliver my babies?” Jess questions. “Are you insane? This wasn’t gonna be a backyard birth. Only crazies let you guys deliver babies outside of the hospital.”
“I was gonna deliver them, too,” Jay says. “I was ready to prick your belly with a pin to see if that’d move shit along.”
“Poke my wife, and I’ll snap your neck,” Kane murmurs. “She’s my baby mama. She stays.”
“Well, obviously.” Jay rolls his eyes. “They’re here now, so I put my pins away. It sucks I didn’t get to deliver them, but I love how you named them for me. Rosalie Jay and Luna Jay. It sounds nice.”
“We didn’t,” Jess answers dryly. “You’re making shit up again.”
“Well, their last names are Bishop, and so’s mine, so there’s that.”
“They got Bishop because of Kane,” Angelo inserts. “You get no part in this, Ghost.”
“I still married them yesterday.” Jay sits back in his chair and pulls his bundle higher. “I said the words before Reverend Hannah did, and no one can ever take that away from me.”
His eyes light up as Soph sits down on the arm of his chair. He turns to her and holds the baby out as though he’s holding baby Simba on Pride Rock.
“Marry me, Sophia?”
My heart stops dead in my chest, only to restart and race a million miles a second. Somebody is asking somebody else to marry them, and it’s happening right in front of me.
I turn to them with wide eyes and a shoutedyeson my lips, then I turn to Mitch as though to sayit’s happening. It’s happening!
But then my brother dashes my hopes when he brings a hand up to scratch his chin and discreetly shakes his head.
“Marry you?” Soph snaps. “Seriously? You offer me someone else’s baby, and think that’s the grand gesture I’m waiting for? Get the fuck outta here, Bishop. Try again.”
“Fuck.” Jay brings the baby back to his chest and turns in his chair to face straight on.
My heart collapses into a ball of dust in my chest.She said no. She said no!
“I’ll get you next time, Sugar Plum. I have something better coming. Just watch.”
“Mmhmm.”
Our room descends into quiet for a minute while Jay and I study our tiny bundles. Jess and Kane whisper between themselves on the bed, while Ang and Laine make their way toward Kari, Luc, and Mitch. Several different conversations take place, and they all revolve around pink babies and ribbon bows.
The door opens again about an hour after Mitch and I arrived. Heavy footsteps on the utilitarian floor bring my eyes up, but my heart doesn’t race until Spencer looks around the curtain and freezes.