Smiling at his friends – he couldn’t help the burst of emotion within him as he realized that he had an incredible life, a stunning wife, friends surrounding him, loving parents, and friends back home.
Life was truly blessed… and now this.
He was going to be a father!
Sparky held out his thumb sideways… before turning it upwards with an upraised eyebrow, grinning, and wiggling the digit silently as if to say, ‘yes?’
Jax laughed easily and gave him a thumbs up – only to have the entire gang explode in a flurry of congratulations, cheers, hugs, and patting him on the back.
“I’m going to be a daddy!”
CHAPTER24
MARY
A month later…
Mary staredat the flurry of people that showed up unexpectedly, helping her move into her new home. She couldn’t believe how openly wonderful everyone was.
The moment that she’d asked Karen and Jace for help moving a couple of items – the news was everywhere. Her neighbor had told her, ‘You are a part of the team now’… and Glory had uttered the same thing, but Mary never expected any of this.
Each family had pulled up in front of the apartment, gathering some of Mary’s boxes – and then when they began unloading at her new home down the street from Thumper and Harley’s home? There were boxes she didn’t recognize appearing… only to discover that this was something Glory had orchestrated.
“Romeo and Dixie have the bathroom box. Melody and Firefly have kitchen duty. Thumper and Harley have walls, which means they bring putty, nails, hammers, and anything else we might need. Delilah and Armadillo are the floor crew – so they bring a new vacuum and a mop. You, my dear, can choose to bring a ceiling fan or lawn chairs. Personally, because it gets so hot here? I’d prefer a ceiling fan if I was moving in…”
Glory shrugged easily like it was an everyday occurrence and everyone spoke her language or followed her train of thought.
“What?”
“Buy a nice ceiling fan at Home Depot and keep it tucked somewhere in a closet or the garage. If someone else moves into a home or is getting started in their lives - you’ll get the text announcement. Then all you need to do is bring the ceiling fan, and my beloved Studmuffin…”
“Hey Sexy…” Alpo interrupted, walking past Glory in that moment, causing the woman to smile intimately at her husband.
“Gosh, I love that man,” Glory sighed openly, obviously distracted – before shaking her head. “As I was saying, Hunter will install the ceiling fan. We each do a little something in each part of the house so you are right at home – and you should definitely be our ceiling fan person.”
That’s when Mary realized what it meant to be welcomed to the team and included. Not only were they helping her move her things - they were quite literally helping her set up their home.
Glory walked Mary inside to see that Melody was putting liners in all the drawers, and Firefly was unboxing a brand new, expensive Keurig…
She could feel herself crumbling mentally.
“Mary, what drawer do you want the utensils in…” Melody began, and hesitated. “What’s wrong?”
Glory was standing there beside her, immediately hugging her, and Mary began to sob gratefully, feeling so overwhelmed as the chaos around her came to a screeching stop.
“Shhh, sweetie,” Glory crooned. “This is what it’s like to be part of our Flyboys family, and let me tell you – this was something that came about out of necessity over the years. Sleeping on the floor isn’t fun, and we were so broke that first month moving in. Harley cannot even stand the smell of ramen noodles, and I refuse to ‘make do’ anymore. We’re just trying to help.”
Mary pulled away and looked at the woman, smiling tearfully and feeling a little embarrassed at the concerned faces watching her, holding boxes, and waiting.
“It takes a village,” Glory said softly, smiling at her. “You are part of our ‘village’ now, my friend.”
“Sorry,” Mary apologized immediately. “I’m pregnant and have been a weeping, emotional mess…”
“You are? Oh my goodness!” Glory squealed happily, hugging her again. “Can we call the baby Casper – like Casper the Friendly Ghost? Get it? Ghost??”
“You’re pregnant?”
“Ghost is going to be a daddy?”