Page 73 of Ghosted By Texas

“Normal? You?” Austin teased her.

“Well, yeah. She already knows the rest of you, so that’s not a big stretch.”

I laughed at her. “You’re probably right, so long as you can beat out Houston in that department.”

“My biggest brother wears ginormous shoes, so they’re hard to fill,” she mumbled as her cheeks turned pink.

“I’m sure you do just fine.”

“Can we keep you?” She asked.

I patted my belly. “I guess one way or another, there’s really no choice in that anymore.”

She reached out as if to touch my belly and then stopped at the last minute. “Is it okay?”

I shrugged. “There’s not much to feel. It’s more like I have a giant food baby than a real one. I’ve felt the little one move around a bit, but no one else can feel it yet.”

“That’s so cool,” Katy gushed.

“Not too cool though,” her father reminded her.

“Don’t worry, I just started college. I have no plans of going out and getting myself pregnant.”

“I didn’t either,” I whispered conspiratorially.

“Shirley, this one’s trouble,” Mr. Mercer announced to his wife who playfully swatted him.

“That’s what I’ve been telling Becs since the moment we met,” Austin announced proudly.

“Come on, let’s get everyone inside before Dallas and Houston eat us out of house and home.”

“Might want to keep an eye on Clea, too,” I informed her. “That girl can out eat most grown men on a good night.”

Everyone laughed, but Katy was the only one who bothered to agree. “We noticed, but mom loves it. You’ll probably have to keep up with your friend, especially with a baby on the way or Mom will keep loading up your plate anyway and force you to take whatever you don’t eat back home with you.”

“I’m sure that won’t be a hardship, since I love a good home cooked meal.”

Austin’s hand never left my lower back as he guided me into the dining room. Then, the man surprised everyone by pulling my chair out for me. I’d never had anyone, including him, do that before. Things got a little awkward when he tried to slide me back in toward the table and nearly overdid it, then slid me back, and caused Dallas to burst out laughing.

“Damn, Bro, chill out before you give your baby momma motion sickness.”

Everyone laughed as my face flamed, but a quick glance at Austin as he tucked himself into the seat beside me showed that his ears were on fire, too. I thought it was adorable that he was trying to take care of me, even if he bumbled it a little bit.

“So, Clea was telling us that you had a doctor’s visit a few days ago. How is everything progressing?” Mrs Mercer smiled as she waited for me to answer. I turned to Austin to give him the go-ahead to tell everyone what we were having.

“Are you sure?” He asked. I nodded and kept my eyes on him as he announced our news. “We found out it’s going to be a boy!” He damn near yelled it, as if it had been painful to hold onto that information for four whole days. Oddly enough, Houston didn’t seem the least bit surprised. Clea did, though.”

“You knew all this time and didn’t tell me?”

“We wanted to tell everyone at once,” I explained as my eyes shifted to Houston and narrowed on him. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled at me. Yeah, Austin had blabbed, but obviously his brother was capable of keeping a secret.

“You knew?” Clea hissed at him in an accusing tone.

“I think that’s lovely news,” Mrs. Mercer interjected in an attempt to keep everyone positive. Then she looked at her husband. “Our oldest grandchild is going to be a boy who can look after any who come after him,” she announced proudly.

“Like a girl being the oldest would have been a bad thing?” A woman asked from somewhere behind me. I turned to see Victoria standing there with someone else, half-assed hiding behind her. Oh no she didn’t.

I had just been about to feel bad for her, since she was the oldest child and a girl, and her mother’s announcement must have sounded like only a boy could be the protector of the others – even though I don’t think she meant it that way. There was no way I was going to feel bad for her after she showed up with Jordan though. The whole family knew I was coming tonight, minus Clea. I’d asked Austin to spread the word to keep it a secret, to surprise her.

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