Page 37 of Tripp

“Cracks a knee cap on something.”

“I have my bag in the car,” Shelby laughed softly. “I’m charging double today.”

We all stopped when the kids lined up with them. Each little had a handful of colorful strips.

“Aww, damn. Just when you think the old grouchy butts can’t surprise you.”

Tripp scooped up Penny. Gabe held Reid close to his chest. One by one each of the guys picked up a smaller child, leaving the bigger kids to play on their own.

Talk about the best bit of comedic party football moments. These big men were amazing. Running from the kids, chasing the kids with the ball. We laughed so hard that I fell out of my chair, sprawling out on the grass.

In the end, they all won, and Lori brought out popsicles for them to devour.

I looked around, my cheeks sore from all the smiling and laughing I’d done so far.

We’d told everyone no gifts—they hadn’t listened. I spied a few boxes covered in shiny paper and bows on the back porch. Chuckling, I turned to find Tripp. I had a gift of my own for him too. I’d planned to wait until later, but now was the right time.

He stood by the big table; our cake on display beside him. The outside of the cake was a white buttercream. Which was why it’d been in the fridge this whole time. This Texas heat had no mercy for people or pretty icing. The top layer had flowers all over the top that dripped down along the side onto the next two layers. The top layer would be saved for our one-year anniversary, but layer two and three were for today.

The second layer also held a surprise. I couldn’t wait to dig into this thing.

Shelby, who I adore, walked by and slid a velvet box into my hand.

Here goes nothing.

I used my free hand to tap a spoon against a glass.

“Before we cut the cake, we’d like to thank you all for being here; being a part of our special day. I know today is all about the wedding, but I have a surprise for my husband. I figured now, today surrounded by our family, would be the perfect setting.”

I pulled my hand from behind me and held it out. The black box sat on my open palm.

“What did you do, woman?”

I smiled, waiting for him to open it.

I saw this going one of two ways. But, of course, my husband surprised us all by dropping to the ground. Out freaking cold. The dude passed out! Shelby thankfully was prepared because she ran an ammonia stick under his nose. He opened his eyes and sat up.

“Are you alright, Pops?” Phoenix asked, helping his father up.

It was then that everyone got to see what was clutched in his hand.

A positive pregnancy test.

My face burned with heat as he looked from it to me then back. Then he did what I was expecting. He scooped me up and spun us in a circle.

I laughed, my heart full to bursting.

“Stop before I barf…” I laughed out loud.

He quickly stopped and put my feet back on the ground. I gripped his arms, letting the world come to a halt around me.

“I have one more surprise for, well, everyone. Before anyone says anything, no one knew about this other than me before right now. Other than Shelby that is. She’s the one that did the test so…” I grinned. “But there’s more. Shelby says I’m sixteen to seventeen weeks along.” I glanced up at Tripp.

It had to be that first time we were together after he’d found me out in that field. We’d used no condom. I wasn’t on any type of birth control because I hadn’t been sexually active. The man had fast swimmers. One of us would have to get fixed after this because I was getting too old for this.

Though Shelby said I was perfectly healthy. I’d been going once a week to be looked at just to make sure my blood sugar stayed in check. With Penny, the last couple of months had been hard. My sugar didn’t know what it wanted to do.

“What is the other news?” he asked.

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