“Or helping you start over with a job…?” Houdini said openly, surprising Mary that the man was being so nice.
“We take care of our own, and I’m just curious what Ghost’s time frame looks like when he returns,” Harley said easily. “There’s business cards to order, and that means increasing the capacity in the schedule.”
“It means another plane,” Thumper acknowledged.
“Maybe another mechanic,” Glory winced.
“Nahhh… I’ve got you sweetheart,” Alpo interjected. “Let’s keep costs down and increase output. A plane, yes – but only because it produces income. Maybe we can look at expanding our hours at Flyboys, or have Ghost work the weekends, giving the rest of us the weekend off.”
“I’d do weekends,” Romeo volunteered. “Dixie is at the café until four.”
“We should probably work this out and talk to Ghost when he comes home,” Firefly smiled, winking at Mary.
“I can’t believe all of this,” Mary whispered, stunned. “He’s not even here and you are offering him… a job?”
“He’s our brother,” Houdini said easily, nodding at Alpo, Thumper, and Romeo. “Why wouldn’t he have a place here, with all of us?”
“I would do anything for any one of you,” Romeo said openly, smiling at Dixie. “You gave me my life back when I thought I was lost, gave me hope, allowing me to meet the love of my life. I never imagined after my wife had died that I would find peace and my beloved Dixie – but here I am, looking at a future so wonderful that it’s more than I could have dreamed of.”
“I love you, Lee,” Dixie whispered softly, smiling at him and moving to hug him as he kissed the top of her head.
“So, when’s my favorite Spaceball coming back?” Firefly grinned, hefting his daughter over his shoulders as the toddler screamed in delight.
“Sutton, put her down… she just ate.”
“Oh!” he said, quickly putting the little girl down and smiling at Mary. “Did Ghost tell you a date yet?”
“In four months,” she smiled. “Jax will be here when the baby arrives.”
“I bet he will…”
“I bet Reaper is having fits at getting another newbie for the squadron…”
“I feel bad for them. I know Reaper’s got a little over two years left.”
“Oh, I know. He got completely hosed and reenlisted a month before he met Sophie.”
“Where is Sophie, anyhow?”
“Reaper is home again,” Glory grinned. “I didn’t text them deliberately.”
“Good call.”
“Let’s finish getting everything unpacked, so you can rest and get ready for Ghost’s visit. I know you must be so excited.”
“His mother bought so many baby clothes for us when I was up there,” Mary laughed nervously. “This child will be dressed until they are fourteen.”
“We also do ‘pass-me-downs’… so don’t buy a crib, because I just took down Betsy’s,” Melody offered. “She’s in a big-girl bed now, aren’t you sweetheart?”
“You’ll need a baby mattress,” Firefly volunteered. “I can grab one when I bring over the crib, because Princess Betsy needed a mattress for her little pink canopy bed that we found for her.”
“The pink canopy bed she is going to outgrow in no time,” Melody said easily, smiling at her husband.
This was all so wonderful, such a surprise, and a relief to know that somehow, someway, things would work out, despite everything. Jax would have a job, and they now had a home that had room to grow.
She had her job at the bakery and Eva was flexible with her schedule, in-laws that were crazy about her… and a love that she never imagined with the most incredible man she’d ever met.
CHAPTER25