Page 121 of Daddy By Design

She flipped me off.

I laughed. “Got any adult beverages in that fridge?”

“I have some Brothers Three hard cider. Have at it, since I can’t have it for a while.”

“So, the rumors are true?” I checked the fridge and rearranged my food items, so they didn’t topple out. Ahh, teenagers. I found the bottles on the bottom shelf and snagged a Firefly.

“Yep.” Macy hip-bumped Gideon. “Swimmers finally got the job done.”

“Nice.” Gideon gave her look before he bowed down to meet her mouth in a sweet kiss. “At least this time you aren’t puking up your toes.”

“Don’t say that!” Macy whacked his arm. “It’s still early.”

He dragged her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. “Did you get an appointment with Dr. Jagger?”

“Yes.” She hugged him back before pushing him away. “Such a killjoy. I’m not looking forward to the poking and prodding.”

“Just want to make sure everything is good.” He stroked a hand down her hair. Shouts from the backyard had him rolling his eyes. “I’ll check on them.”

“Everything cool?”

Macy sighed. “Yeah. We had a super early miscarriage last year.”

“Oh, honey. Why didn’t you tell me?”

She shrugged. “It’s tough when everyone starts with the ‘sorries’ and ‘aww, you can try again’. Doesn’t really help, you know?”

I thought of Harriette and how isolated she’d become.

“Just know you can come to any of us.”

“I know. I tried to keep it under wraps because of all the popping mamas around here. Didn’t want to get anyone more nervous.”

“Yeah, I get that. Shelby’s also pregnant.”

“Jeez, really? Is she happy about it?”

“When she’s not green.”

Macy held up her hand. “Yeah, let’s not talk about that part. I am waiting for that to start any day. Honestly,” she lowered her voice, “kinda hoping I do. The last pregnancy I didn’t, so…”

Impulsively, I hauled her in for a hug.

“Hey!” She put her cup down with a thunk. “What’s this?”

“Nothing. Just wanted to.”

Macy patted me awkwardly. “What’s going on with you?”

“Just a little misty today.” I stepped back and picked up my cider. “I’ve been working on your brother’s house.”

“I heard. How’s that been?”

I shrugged. “Okay. Beginning stages. But we found this secret room during the initial inspection and stuff got a little weird.”

“What kind of weird?”

“Have you heard about the ghost?”

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