“Sure. On the count of three, everyone bite into their cupcake and you’ll find out if we’re having a boy or a girl.” I held my cupcake up to Shane’s mouth. “One. Two. Three.”
He opened wide and took a huge chunk out of the vanilla cupcake. Bright pink frosting covered his lips. “It’s a girl?”
I nodded before I kissed the frosting away. Somehow, I’d known our first would be a girl.
“What do you think, Liam?” I handed him a napkin to wipe the frosting off of his fingers. “I know you were hoping for a baby brother, but will a sister be okay?”
His nose crinkled, but then a smile broke out. “Yeah, I suppose a sister might be kind of cool.”
“Come here, you two.” Shane gathered us both into a hug.
I put one arm around my husband and the other around the boy who’d become my son. I’d been so worried that Liam and I wouldn’t hit it off, but in hindsight, all of my fears had been unfounded. He was an incredible kid and was going to be a fabulous big brother.
Mama Mae offered her congratulations, and my eyes brimmed with tears when my mom started to cry. After a few minutes of everyone chatting at once, we managed to say our goodbyes with promises we’d touch base again soon. Getting pulled into Shane’s huge family fold felt like coming home.
“Are you happy?” I asked.
“Are you kidding? I’m thrilled.” He wiped a smudge of frosting from my mouth. “She’ll have your looks, my voice, your baking talent...”
“And her auntie Abby’s sense of adventure.” Abby beamed at us from the other side of the counter.
“I don’t know if we want her to have your sense of adventure,” I said, meeting my bestie’s pout with a grin.
“Hey, if it weren’t for me, the two of you might not have ended up being the most sickening sweet couple on the face of the Earth.” Abby gave us both a “so-there” grin before pushing through the door to the front of the bakery. “Gah, you even have Valentine’s Day as your anniversary. Come on, Liam. Let’s give your mom and dad a few minutes of privacy. I can’t handle all the ooey, gooey, mushiness.”
Liam followed her out of the kitchen, leaving me and Shane alone. I laughed and turned toward my husband. He’d made me the happiest woman alive last Valentine’s Day when we got married. Today might come in for a tie.
“You ready for the first of many?” Shane placed his hand on mine where it rested on my belly.
“How many are we talking? Don’t you think we ought to get one under our belt before we decide we’re ready for more?”
“I thought you said you’d be up for a dozen.” He picked me up then set my butt down on the counter, just like that first night we’d spent together, two years ago to the day.
“A dozen?” I giggled as his hand skimmed over my belly.
“Maybe even a baker’s dozen?” His warm breath on my ear never failed to make my skin pebble with goosebumps.
“You’d better slow down. How are you going to go on the road with thirteen kids?” We’d had a hard enough time figuring out how to balance parenting Liam with my work at the bakery and his commitment to the band. Thanks to Abby and the funds to hire a full-time manager, I was able to homeschool Liam and work at the bakery when Shane and I were in Silver Creek and join the band when they went on tour. But adding more kids to the mix would mean a whole different level of complications.
“If you know anything about me, baby, it’s that I’ll always figure out a way to give you what you want.” He pressed kisses against the column of my neck. “To give you what you need.”
“What did I do to deserve you, Shane Weston?” I pulled back enough to meet his gaze. The love in his eyes was the perfect match to the love I held in my heart.
“You wowed me with your honey buns.” He shrugged off the question. “Now, are you ready to head home? It’s our anniversary and after Liam goes to bed, I’ve got a bottle of sparkling juice and a bubble bath waiting for you.”
I let him help me off the counter and headed toward the door. “Don’t you mean for us?”
“If that’s what you want, baby, then yeah, for us.”
That’s what I’d always want… my husband by my side through anything and everything life tossed our way.
And to think… it all came about because of a little honey bun.