Page 111 of Pucked and Pregnant

“Okay, that makes me worry more, not less,” I insist, trying to tug at the blindfold. Dimitri is like a big kid when it comes to time alone with our sons. They get into more trouble than they could ever manage to dream up without his influence.

“Come on, just a little further,” Aiden tells me. I can feel the change in flooring beneath my feet as we step onto the walkway to the plane.

Aiden finally pulls off my blindfold and I shake my head to get my bearings. I glare at him with my hands on my hips.

“You can’t just kidnap me, even in the name of a good surprise,” I scold him.

He nods and shoos me down the walkway. “I know, but this is going to be amazing.”

We find our seats in First Class, setting up the twins with toys and coloring kits. I look around, trying to figure out where we’re going.

Finally, the crew announces that they are preparing for takeoff and begin talking about the details of our flight.

“Your cabin crew on today’s flight to Scotland will be…” the male flight attendant begins and my eyes go wide.

“What the…”I manage to cough out. “Are we going to see my parents?”

Aiden, who took the seat next to me, nods eagerly, and I throw myself at him and kiss him, hard.

Dimitri leans over the seat, squeezes my shoulders, and presses a kiss to my ear. Connor, who is sitting next to him, reaches through the seats and mimes, placing a kiss from his lips to my cheek with his fingers.

“Oh my god, you guys!” I say, bouncing excitedly on the seat. “Oh my gosh, what a great surprise.”

“This is cool, Mamma,” Alexei says to me from across the aisle.

I look at the men all around me, my expression stern. “Tell me that you thought about entertaining those two for such a long flight,” I say to them threateningly.

Connor holds up their two little backpacks which are clearly overflowing with toys and things to do.

I sag against the seat in relief. “Thank god,” I say.

“Relax,” Aiden tells me, passing me a mimosa that a flight attendant brought over. “We’ve got this.”

“I am really tired of being told not to look where I’m going,” I say the next day.

My mother is tugging me along behind her, reminding me over and over not to peek. We have slept in a little to recover from our jetlag, and the littles have been spending the morning with their grandfather in the cute little Scottish town that’s right down the road from their house.

My mother woke me up, took me out for breakfast, and then drove in the other direction of the little town near their home. When we got into the city, she told me to close my eyes and she’s been dragging me with her ever since we parked.

“Okay, now you can open your eyes,” she says as the sound of a tinkling bell sounds out.

I realize that the sound of the bell was because she was opening and closing the door of a shop. I look around, confused for a moment, then realize it’s a bridal store.

“Mom, is this?” I ask, feeling a bit lost.

She nods excitedly. “We have everything all planned out. We just need you to find the right dress for you.”

“You guys planned me a surprise wedding?” I manage to say around the lump in my throat.

She nods again.

I lean forward and hug my mother, who is a lot shorter than me, the first tears of gratitude slipping down my cheeks.

“Come on, let’s find the right dress for you to wear tomorrow,” she says.

I smooth down the sleek, shiny skirt of the minimalistic wedding dress that I selected for my special day. The bridal store owner had praised me over and over again for being such a natural fit for her gowns. She kept asking if I wanted to model dresses for her someday, and I had been tempted to say yes.

“You look gorgeous, baby,” my mother says to me, reaching up to gently touch my cheek.

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