Page 56 of Saving Shepperd

That’s where I spotted my brother-in-law. He was on the far side of the floating net, whooping it up with his buddy, Sebastian Shark. Their team must have just scored because the men were celebrating with high-fives.

Breathe.

It’s all I could repeat to myself as I scanned the crowd again for my sister. She had to be here somewhere, and likely not far from her man. They were sickening like that—always connected at the hip. Though I couldn’t really tell if it was her neediness or his controlling tendencies that fed the behavior.

Law must have felt me tense beside him because he steered us to the edge of the crowd and tipped his head down beside my ear. “You okay, baby? I know there’s a lot going on here, might be a little overwhelming.”

Bless the man for understanding what a scene like this might do to me. The smile I offered was genuine. His caring enough to check in with me when he noticed my demeanor shift was so touching and thoughtful. From across the gym, I had found the perfect man and didn’t even know it at the time. Now that I had him, I wanted to keep him.

“Yeah,” I squeaked. If he heard me above the cacophony of this soirée, I’d be shocked. Louder, I repeated, “Yeah, I’m good. It’s just a lot, you know?”

He nodded while I spoke, basically agreeing about the decibel level. Even outside.

“You know, this is kind of birth control in a way,” I joked, regarding the hordes of children in that backyard.

Law looked at me with almost a hint of sadness in his expression before he covered it up with a forced laugh.

Time to backpedal. And quick.

“I mean, I want kids, someday, but yowzah, this is a lot.” I squeezed the hand he had slipped into mine and studied his face to see if my damage control was enough.

“Definitely overwhelming.” He nodded. “Especially if you aren’t used to being around little ones. Oh, there’s Stella and my sister. Come on, I want to introduce you,” he said excitedly and began towing me across the patio to a beautiful woman and the most adorable little redhead standing before her.

The child was pleading her case for another soda when we approached. Her mother expertly handled the situation, though, and agreed to another sugar-filled drink if she first had an entire bottle of water. She just happened to have a water to offer, and the little girl took it and was off.

“Cecile, how are you today? Looking gorgeous as always,” Law said to his sister as they embraced. If he hadn’t told me this was his sister, I would never have guessed they were related. They looked nothing alike, which seemed odd to me. Given my sisters and I were all spitting images of each other, I guess I expected they would’ve looked at least a bit alike.

“Oh, you’re so full of it, Lawrence. It’s nice to see you out and about, though.” She kept her eyes on me while they hugged, and Law quickly turned in my direction. Hearing his older sister teasingly use his proper name had me smiling.

“I have someone I’d like you to meet. Cecile, this is my girlfriend, Shepperd Farsay. Shep, my oldest sister, Cecile.” He made the introductions with that infectious smile that calmed my anxiety no matter when he bestowed it upon me.

The fact that he just introduced me to a family member as his girlfriend didn’t go unnoticed. I’d have to give that one some brain time later when I reexamined the day. On first impression, I loved everything about it.

“Hello, very nice to meet you,” I said and extended my hand. She shook it and smiled. Ahh, there was the resemblance. The two had the exact same warm, genuine smile.

Playfully, she gave her brother a sideways look. “Law, you’ve been holding out on me. I didn’t know you had someone steady, or that she was this gorgeous.” She lightly punched his shoulder, and like a good brother, he pretended it hurt.

“No need to hit me over it,” he laughed and rubbed his upper arm.

The woman turned in a circle before saying, “Your niece is around here somewhere. She’s in heaven with all her classmates here to play with.”

“She’s adorable,” I said. “We saw you talking to her when we were crossing the lawn.”

“Oh, you witnessed that, did you?” she asked with an eye roll. “Everything is a negotiation these days.”

“She’s just gearing you up for the teen years.”

Cecile dropped her face into her hands and shook her head back and forth. “I’m not ready,” she teasingly wailed, and we all chuckled.

“Have you seen Jacob?” Law asked.

“I think he and Pia are inside. He mentioned something about the magician they hired cancelling this morning. I think they’re scrambling for a replacement.”

“Oh, that stinks,” I added. “It will probably be hard to find someone last minute.”

“Well between the two of them, they have a lot of connections,” she replied. “So if anyone can make it happen, it will be that power couple.”

“Do you want to go see if we can find them inside?” Law asked me.

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