Page 71 of The Sweet Spot

Brynn grabs my hand and squeezes again.

“Does he know?” her mother asks, seemingly dismissing everything I just said.

“He does,” Brynn tells her with a shake in her voice, which kicks my protective instincts into overdrive. “He’s taking me to get the test.”

That’s when Scarlet’s perfect facade cracks. Her face falls, and a gasp gets stuck in her throat as she lays her hand on her husband’s and looks at me with tears quickly filling her eyes. “And you’ll be there, no matter what those results are?” she asks as her first tear falls.

“Yes,” is the only word I manage before I blow out my own breath, trying to maintain some sense of control over the consequences she’s concerned with.

“We just wanted to get married. Just us. But we were thinking about doing something small that would include Deacon’s daughter, Kennedy. Just us and our families,” she tells them both, and Cade groans.

“That’s not small, Brynn.” He shakes his head.

“What if we did it at your parents’ inn, Deacon?” Scarlet asks as she silently looks at me with something like approval in her eyes.

“Whatever Brynn wants,” I answer with eyes only for my wife.

“Brynnie?” Scarlet asks, waiting not so patiently.

“Something small, Mom. And maybe wait until I get the results. I don’t know that I’ll want to do anything after that if they’re not what I want to hear.” The elephant in the room just trampled over my fucking heart with one fucking sentence.

“I’d like to do it before the season starts next month.” I sit down next to Brynn and force her to look at me. To really listen to what I’m saying. “No matter what the test says. You can’t live your life in fear, baby,” I tell her, completely ignoring anyone else listening.

“Perfect, I’ll call your mother, Deacon.”

Brynn throws her mother a look, then leans her forehead against mine. “Do you realize what you’ve done?” she asks me, and her father laughs... hard.

“You’ve unleashed a kraken, son. Don’t say you weren’t warned.” Cade pushes Sam’s still-full glass of bourbon my way and holds his up, waiting for me to do the same. “Welcome to the family, Deacon.”

BRYNLEE

Deacon is the love of my life, but my tribe...

They’re my soulmates.

—Brynlee’s Secret Thoughts

Iwait a few days until Everly and Gracie are back with the guys from Maine before I send my text.

Brynlee

Any chance we could get everyone together tonight?

Lindy

Everyone, everyone? Like the guys and the kids? Or just the girls?

Maddox

Am I supposed to be on this text?

Brynlee

Yes.

Everly

Ohh. You’ve been forgiven for Apartment-swap-gate?

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