Page 48 of Inked Devotion

“You’re just a tease.”

Annabelle leaned over, kissed Brenna on the cheek as Brenna surreptitiously handed over the cake box to me.

“Keep it safe, Benjamin.”

“I’ve got it,” I muttered, and Annabelle laughed at me.

“You’re my brother. You’re supposed to be the one on my side.”

“Sorry, the cake baker makes the rules.”

“Meanie,” she muttered, her eyes dancing.

“You’re looking good,” she said, looking between us and then at my truck. “I didn’t realize you were driving in together.”

“It’s amazing what happens when you hang out with your friends,” Brenna said, her eyes dancing as she moved into the house. Annabelle gave me a look, and I shrugged. Thankfully, Annabelle knew me well enough that shrugging was usually enough. She wouldn’t have actual questions yet, which was good because I didn’t have answers for her.

It seemed we were the last ones to arrive, as everybody was hanging out in the living room and kitchen areas. We had designed this house as a family, and I had done the landscaping on it. While Annabelle and Jacob did some of the upkeep, I did the significant things during the spring. I loved this place. It fit the two of them. And fit the children they were going to have.

Jesus, I was going to have to have a room for my kid in my house. And that kid would have a different room in Brenna’s house, because Brenna and I weren’t together. We weren’t going to raise this child as a unit underneath one roof. We would be living separately, so there were already going to be complications for this baby before they had even taken their first breath.

We were going about this completely wrong, and I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to fix it.

“You’re here,” Mom said as she went up to her tiptoes to kiss my cheek.

“Your dad and Jacob are out there grilling while Beckett, Colton, Lee, and Archer are on the patio, watching the two of them and pretending they don’t want to step in at the grill.”

I snorted. “Are you telling me that I need to go out there and help them?”

“You mean help annoy them? Maybe.”

I frowned. “Archer’s here, but is Marc here?”

“He’s on his way. He had an emergency at work, so they needed to take separate vehicles, but Archer said that he would be here because they had something to tell us.”

Her eyes filled with something I couldn’t quite read, and I swallowed hard.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re moving in together? Or, I don’t know. I do know that Archer seems happy. Therefore, I am happy.”

“Good.”

I leaned down and kissed the top of her head and then went deeper into the house. Paige was bouncing in the kitchen, helping Brenna and Eliza with some of the meal prep. The guys were indeed back on the deck, but came in every once in a while to bring in different items. They were all working cohesively as if we had done this a thousand times before. And maybe we had. And the odd part was that soon there would be children in this. Annabelle was having twins soon, and then Brenna and I would be joining them.

We were expanding the Montgomerys, just not in the ways that I thought we would.

Brenna met my gaze, anxiety filling her eyes, but I did my best not to stress out or show anybody that I was just as anxious as she was. We needed to tell them that we were having a baby. And I wasn’t sure how we were going to do that.

The doorbell rang again, and I looked over my shoulder as Mom let Marc in. Archer came strolling into the living room and looked over at his boyfriend.

“You’re here.”

“I told you I would be.” He leaned down and kissed Archer square on the mouth. “I’m sorry I’m late. However, I’m here. Promise you.”

“Good.”

And then Archer reached up his hands to push Marc’s hair from his face, and my mother let out a squeal.

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