Page 108 of Beached Wedding

He gave Fliss a quick hug and said to Ryan, “Let’s help your old man with the luggage. Oh hey, Whit.” He came up short at the door. “Asleep?” he asked in a softer voice, nodding at two-year-old Jayden hanging lax against Whit’s shoulder.

She nodded, both arms wrapped under the boy’s bum.

“How’s he been going?” I asked as she gently settled him on the sofa.

“I can’t say I’m looking forward to the flight home,” she said wryly. “But it was worth it to be here and see you.” She held out her arms to hug me. “Howareyou? And where— Fliss. Tsk.” She dropped her arms and frowned at her daughter. “I called dibs.”

“You should have been faster up the stairs,” Fliss said, unrepentant as she nuzzled her nose against Penny’s cheek.

“So it wasn’t me you were in such a hurry to see,” I teased.

Fliss lifted a shoulder and kept cuddling my baby.

Whitney stepped outside to squabble with Fliss over Penny. I left them to it and trotted down to where Fox was pointing out the bungalows.

“Gary and Stephanie are in that one. Vicky and Mitchell have that one. We thought we’d let the kids take over the suite downstairs, unless they want to bunk with their parents. You guys get that bungalow and Joanna, you’re upstairs in the guest room again. Does that work?”

“That sounds good— Oh, there you are.” Mom hugged me and so did Oliver. “How are you?” Mom had flown out to be with me when Penny was born, so she was less agog at than everyone else. “You look good,” she added with a critical eye.

“I am. My iron’s back to where it should be. How was New Zealand?”

“Really good. Lots to see. I wish we could have stayed longer, but next time.” Mom talked like that now, like flying around the globe was a thing that was normal for our family because it kind of was.

Whitney met me at the door with a squawking Penny. “She’s hungry. But I get her next.”

“Yeah, she’s been up a whole five minutes and my boob isn’t in her mouth. That means I’m clearly starving her todeath.”

Penny curled her fist into the collar of my shirt and bobbed her head, complaining rather loudly that I was, in fact, guilty of human rights violations.

“All right. You’re going to wake your cousin. Shush.” I sat and hurried to get her latched.

As she settled to suckle, I stroked her curly hair. Fox’s hair and Fox’s eyes staring up at me while her little baby nails scratched lightly against the swell of my breast. God, I loved her.

“Water?” Mom asked.

“Thanks.”

Mom moved to the kitchen while Fliss came and sat on the sofa near Jayden’s feet.

“Okay, be real,” Fliss said. “Are we here for a surprise wedding?”

“Ha! No. And you’re not the first to ask.” I had chatted with Izzy a week ago, telling her about this family reunion we were hosting.

Don’t you dare get married without me, she had warned.

Same, I had said of the woman she was living with. Her parents had met her girlfriend, but I hadn’t. Izzy had promised to come see us as soon as they could line up their vacations.

“Fox and I actually talked about it a few times, but we just don’t have the bandwidth right now. And we can’t do it without Izzy and Shane.” He was Fox’s first choice for best man.

“Shane’s still with Gillian? How’s she doing?” Whit asked, scooping up Jayden as he stirred and crawled grumpily into her lap, eyeing me and these unfamiliar surroundings with suspicion.

I smiled at him, then answered Whit.

“Continuing with her world domination.” T&B had sponsored Gillian when she’d first gone pro a few years ago. She was twenty-five and killing it on the Championship Tour—which was awesome for T&B from a marketing and publicity standpoint, but it put even more eyes on the company.

That meant T&B was growing like mad while Shane was personally managing her, ensuring her support team was the absolute best from coach to equipment manager to photographers to nutritionists. They were also a couple and yes, she was a little too young for him. Or he was a little too old for her, but maturity-wise, they were very evenly matched and they did seem to actually adore each other so Fox and I were very happy for both of them.

But Shane’s traveling meant Fox was the man on the ground here, keeping the business running. T&B had a lot more managerial staff now, but we were still really freaking busy all the time. It was all nice problems to have, though, so we didn’t complain.

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