Page 40 of His Forever

Meg leaned over, nudging King with her elbow. “You should learn to appreciate how well-informed I am,” she said with a grin. “I keep you in the loop.”

“I appreciate you just fine,” King grumbled, but the smile tugging at his lips gave him away.

“Sure you do.” Meg rolled her eyes playfully, then turned to Brynn. “How about you, Brynn? You ready for the madness to really kick off when Royal and Marco show up?”

Brynn gave a small, tired smile. “I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. At this point, what’s a few more people, right?”

Murphy snorted from across the table. “A few more people? More like a whirlwind. You’ve never met chaos until you’ve seen Duke and Kane playing together. Once little Murphy is born, they’re going to take over.”

“I think they’re going with Jacob, not Murphy,” Meg laughed.

“I still think Leo is a good name,” I chimed in.

“Need I remind you again that Kane has your name as his middle name? You can’t have every kid named after you,” Princeton pointed out. “Next thing you know, Kitty is going to get pregnant, and you’re going to expect us to name them Leo, whether it’s a boy or girl.”

“It’s true,” Creed chimed in. “You think this house is full now? Wait until they get here.”

Meg waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, please. It’s all in good fun. Besides, Royal keeps the boys under wraps well enough.”

“I’ll give you that,” Bristol said with a grin. “She plays bad cop, and I get to be good cop.”

“Exactly!” Meg exclaimed, pointing at Bristol. “They’re like me—a little tornado of energy, keeping everyone on their toes.”

King muttered something under his breath, but I caught the words “too many tornadoes” and chuckled. Meg, of course, heard him too.

“Watch it, Lo,” she warned, narrowing her eyes at him. “You know you love my tornado.”

He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, I do. But don’t go starting trouble when Royal shows up. She’sprobably ready to pop that baby out any day now. I think they have enough on their plates already.”

Meg grinned, clearly not making any promises.

The room fell into a comfortable rhythm again, the chatter and laughter flowing easily as the evening wore on. Brynn leaned into me slightly, her shoulder brushing against mine. I could feel warmth coming off her.

“You okay?” I asked quietly, leaning down so only she could hear me.

She glanced up at me, her eyes soft but filled with a kind of exhaustion I knew all too well. “I’m fine. Just trying to keep up with everything.”

I nodded, understanding exactly what she meant. “Yeah. Me too.” Having everyone here was a lot to keep up with, and I’m sure it was even harder for Brynn, who just met half of the people in the room.

Her lips curved into a small, grateful smile, and the tension eased between us. Even in the middle of all this chaos, just being near her made things feel a little more manageable.

Across the table, Pie and Bristol were deep in conversation, talking about some recipe or another, while Jada and Creed were teasing Tatum about something she’d said earlier. I let myself settle into the moment, appreciating the brief respite even as I knew it wouldn’t last.

“You ever get tired of all this?” Brynn asked suddenly, her voice soft and thoughtful.

I turned to her, raising an eyebrow. “All this?” I repeated, glancing around the crowded kitchen.

She laughed softly. “Yeah, the constant action, the people always coming and going. Doesn’t it get exhausting? On a normal day back in South Carolina, I only see Sig. Clyde, Don, and Jack seem to blend into the background.”

I thought about it for a second, then shrugged. “Sometimes. But it’s part of the deal, you know? This is my family. We take the chaos with the quiet moments. Not like there’s ever much quiet, but... I wouldn’t trade it.”

Brynn looked at me for a moment, her eyes searching mine. “Yeah. I get that,” she said softly. “It’s just so different from how things used to be. When we were together before…” Her voice trailed off, like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go down that road.

I didn’t blame her. The past was messy for both of us.

“I think if we both weren’t different from twenty years ago, something would be wrong with us,” I said, keeping my tone light but honest. “We’ve both been through a lot. I think we turned out fine, even if we might’ve taken the hard road to some things.”

Brynn smiled at that, a light laugh escaping her lips. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. The hard road might’ve sucked, but here we are.”

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