Page 160 of Gracefully Yours

Benjamin frowned at his son. “That’s not very nice.”

It was nice to see my sister—straight laced and always professional—like this. Her hair was down, not a lick of makeup on, high heels tucked away in a closet somewhere. The armor she’d used to protect herself for all those years until she met her husband. We’d always been close, but our relationship was better than ever these days.

It was just one more thing we bonded over.

Abigail loved her Aunt Angelina. I was pretty sure our little girl had no fiercer protector than my sister.

“I’m gonna go check on Noelle and our little man,” Matthew said, standing up from his bench and leaving his beer on the side table. “Anyone need anything?”

I shook my head, but I was already standing up, too. Turning to Charlotte, I watched her sip on her hot chocolate as she cuddled under a blanket. “I’m gonna go grab Abs.”

“Okay.” She smiled, her eyes drifting shut as I leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Don’t be long.”

Following Matthew inside, I found Abbi still napping on their couch, Noelle sitting in the recliner next to him, rocking their son in her arms. Owen was almost a year old now, already resembling his dad with his mop of sandy blond hair.

“Daddy?” Abigail’s eyes blinked open as I scooped her up off the couch.

“Hi, little dancer,” I said, taking in her stormy blue-gray eyes. “Want to go see mommy?”

She nodded, giving me a toothy smile as I found her little pink coat discarded by the door, and pulled it onto her arms before carrying her outside.

“There’s my girl,” Charlotte said as I sat back down, Abbi resting in between the two of us as Charlotte pulled the blanket over our little family.

“Hi, mommy,” Abbi said, nuzzling into Charlotte.

“Did you have a good nap?”

She nodded. “More snow?” Our little girl looked out at the backyard with sparkling eyes.

Charlotte laughed. “Not right now, sweetie. Maybe later.”

“Oh.” She sighed, wistfully. I didn’t know how a two-year-old could inject one word with so much longing, but she managed it.

Even if she looked just like me in so many ways, it was obvious she was just like her mom. Down to her love of pink and the way she insisted on copying mommy’s dance moves when Charlotte was choreographing something in the living room.

That was another thing that had changed—Char had cut back at the studio, and even though I knew she missed some aspects of it, she assured me that this was her decision. She wanted to be a full-time mom, and not miss any part of Abbi growing up. Despite her busy schedule, she still found time to choreograph dances for the girls and attend their competitions when she could.

And watching our daughter’s eyes light up when she got to tag along with her mom to the studio, well… It was magical. We’d gotten her a pair of ballet slippers for Christmas—little tiny toddler ones that had made Charlotte cry when they’d come in because they were so cute.

“No love for daddy, huh?”

Our daughter turned her head towards me, sprawling into my lap.

My heart was full.

Four years ago, the eight of us had been outside at a rooftop bar, celebrating New Year’s Eve together. It wasn’t the first time we’d all hung out, but that night had felt like the start of something.

And now, here we were. All married, with kids in our laps or coming into the world soon.

“What do you think, Angelina?” Gabbi asked, her voice drawing my attention away from the two-year-old in my lap.

“About what?” My sister asked, bouncing baby Wesley on her knee.

Gabbi rubbed a hand over her stomach. “Think you want to do this again for a girl?”

She snorted, glaring at Benjamin as if he’d purposefully knocked her up with twins. “I feel like the two-for-one special really saysone and done.”

“Yeah.” Gabbi rested her head against Hunter’s shoulder, then looked over at the other four of us. “What about you guys? Thinking about having more?”

---