Page 15 of A Love So Sweet

Margaret eased next to Bridgette. “It sounds like you two want to do the reveal first.”

Lance answered. “Technically, if we open the gifts first, the surprise will be out, correct?”

Bridgette and Margaret turned to one another. “They’re right,” they said.

“That settles it then. The reveal first!” Bridgette shouted. She reached for their hands again. “Come, we’re headed to the deck!”

The entire party followed Bridgette through the kitchen and out the back door to the deck that looked as if the wood had been plastered with a fresh coat of polyurethane. At the end was a circular makeshift altar, with pink and blue roses clasped to the top and bottom.

“You two stand here.” They followed Bridgette’s instructions. “Now together, you’ll hold up this umbrella, and on three, open the umbrella, and whichever color of these roses that fall out will reveal whether you’re having a boy or a girl.”

Allison blushed, her cocoa brown cheeks reddening as they stood there holding the neck of the umbrella.

“Are you ready for this?” Lance asked her.

“My heart is beating fast.” She smiled. “But I’m excited and scared.”

“I love you. Regardless of what is revealed today, that will never change.”

“Yes, but you want a boy, right? I mean… most men want boys to take on their legacy.”

“Calm down a minute for me, Beauty.”

“I want a healthy child—with you. And if any of this gives you anxiety, say the word right now, and we’ll put this umbrella to the side and go have something to eat inside.”

Allison’s heart soared, and she dropped her eyes then looked back up at him.

“What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“You were authentically you. I’m thankful you revere me in such a pleasing light, but it is you that’s the gift, love.”

They stared at one another for a long minute with Allison’s blush, deepening. “Okay, let’s do this.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “Yes!”

“Okay.”

“Alright, everybody, take out your cameras if you want to capture this moment!” Bridgette shouted.

“We are already ahead of you.” It was Bri St James-Valentine who’d said it, Allison’s best friend.

Allison glanced at her and winked, and she winked back then gave a thumbs-up as all recording devices were on them. She took a minute to mentally capture the excitement on their faces. Her brother-in-law’s, Hunter, Xavier, DeAndre, Kyle, Raphael, alongside their wives and some of her closest friends, Camilla, Corinne, Avery, and London. Her father-in-law, Leslie, recorded next to her father Thomas, while her mother smiled from ear to ear with her own recording.

“Wooo.” She took in a deep breath and met back up with Lance’s gaze. “Ready.”

They held the umbrella up. “On the count of three,” Bridgette said. “One, two…” a long dramatic pause ensued, then, “three!”

They clicked a button that sent the umbrella shooting up and sprouting open, and they were covered in a shower of blue roses.

“Oh my God!” Some of the women shouted. The applause became deafening, but Lance drew Allison into his embrace underneath the umbrella while holding on to the handle with one hand, laying a kiss so deep on her mouth that she fell into him. Heat dispersed around their lips, and their tongues mated, flipping around in a hot tango that shot tingles to their loins.

“Ti voglio bene.”I love you, he said in the Italian tongue.

“Anch'io ti amo.”I love you too.

Combiningthe gender reveal and the baby shower had been a magnificent time for Lance and Allison. Having the pleasure to celebrate the upcoming birth of their child meant the world to them. They’d lounged for hours, eating, opening gifts, and dancing. But afterward, the weeks seemed to fly by, and before Allison knew what was happening, she was in the labor and delivery ward at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

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