Page 4 of Should Have Been Me

She blew out a raspberry and crossed her eyes exaggeratedly. “Yeah, but this little one has decided it’s time to do a clog dance all over my bladder,” she explained as she caressed her swollen baby bump that was even bigger than the last time we FaceTimed. “So I decided to skip sleep and make myself an ice cream sundae instead.” She waggled her eyebrows and shoved a heaping spoonful of ice cream with all the fixings into her mouth.

I smiled, the bleak mood brought on by my wedding dress gone thanks to one phone call from my sister-in-law. “I take it Dalton’s asleep?”

She licked her spoon clean before answering. “Yeah, I figured I’d give him the benefit of sleep since I’m going to put him to work later when I make him paint the nursery.”

My head fell back on a deep belly laugh. “Didn’t you finish the nursery last week?”

Her nose scrunched up adorably. “Yeah, but when I walked in earlier today I decided I hated the color. I think I’m nesting, and I can’t do that in a room with pale yellow walls.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “I’m feeling a really soft sage green. What do you think?”

I shook my head as my shoulders shook with silent laughter. “I think Dalton’s head is going to explode, but what Mama wants, Mama gets.”

“Exactly.” She narrowed her eyes and pointed at me through the screen of my phone. “See, I always knew you were the smarter Prescott sibling.”

“Thank you for noticing,” I said with a tiny bow.

My brother’s gruff, sleep-raspy voice carried through the speaker. “Jesus, do you have any clue what time it is?” A second later, his shirtless form popped on the screen over her shoulder, his overly-long hair a mess and his beard flat on one side from where he’d been sleeping on it.

“Ugh, gross! Put on some clothes before I go blind!”

His deep chuckle resonated through the air and a sharp pain shot through my chest. Man, I missed him. I missed them both, but I had a special bond with my big brother, in spite of the distance separating us.

I had hoped when he retired from the military he’d come home, but through some of his connections, he ended up getting a job as a certified badass for a company called Alpha Omega. It was through that job he’d met Charlotte. She’d been a confidential informant on a case dealing with police corruption, drugs, and murder. Dalton had been tasked with protecting her when the shit hit the fan. Charlotte had been the one to fight the draw, but my brother was a smart man. He knew what he wanted, and he went for it, full-tilt. It was something right out of a movie or romance novel.

“Good to see you too, little sis. But is there a reason you’re keeping my pregnant wife up so late?”

I placed a hand on my chest in feigned offense. “Hey, this wasn’t my fault. It was your wife who started blowing up my phone.”

The look he gave Charlotte created an uncomfortable knot it my chest. Concern marred his brow, pulling at the center of his forehead, but there was also adoration shining in his eyes. It was how he’d been looking at Charlotte from the very beginning, and the reason I’d pushed so hard for them to get together the first time I met her. He cherished her. It was written all over his face.

It was just another reminder of how stupid I’d been to think that what I had with Barrett was forever, because I couldn’t remember him ever looking at me the way my big brother looked at his wife.

Like she was the meaning for his very existence.

“The little one keeping you up, baby?”

I watched in fascination as her features went soft. She brought her hand up to give his beard an affectionate scratch. “It’s all right, Cowboy. I was having an ice cream craving anyway.” She lifted her spoon with the other hand, but before she could tuck it into her mouth, Dalton leaned forward and stole the bite for himself.

Just like that, the tenderness in her expression was gone. For such a tiny little thing, my sister-in-law could be fierce as hell, and the death glare she shot him was enough to send any other man scurrying. “You keep stealing my ice cream and you’ll be sleeping on the couch for the rest of this pregnancy,” she warned, making me laugh.

“I’d take that threat to heart,” I said through a big smile. “I’m pretty certain she means it.”

Dalton shot me a wink. “Please, my wife is obsessed with me. She can’t get enough.”

My eyes stopped mid-roll when a jaw-cracking yawn forced its way out of my mouth. “As much as I love watching you guys argue, I need to get to sleep. The wedding tonight kicked my ass, and I still have to go into the office tomorrow.”

Charlotte’s bottom lip jutted out in a pout. “Fine,” she huffed. “I guess I’ll let you go. I just miss you like crazy.”

“That makes two of us,” Dalton added. “You need to get your ass to Hope Valley for a visit, little sis. It’s been too long.”

I smiled huge, warmth spreading through my chest. My romantic relationship might have gone up in a burst of flames, but I still had more love that I could possibly ask for. My support system was mighty.

“I miss you guys too. You know how it is during wedding season, though. We’re slammed right now, but I’ll be there when that little nugget is born, I promise.”

My brother hit me with a stern look. “You better.”

I drew an X on my chest over my heart. “Cross my heart. You know I wouldn’t miss it. I need to solidify my place as the favorite immediately.”

It might have just been my brother and me, but Dalton and Charlotte’s circle of friends and loved ones in Hope Valley was huge, not to mention Charlotte’s twin sister. I had a ridiculous amount of aunts and uncles to contend with, and I refused to be shoved to the back burner just because I lived half a continent away.

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