Page 91 of By the Letter

My nose tingled. I bit down on my bottom lip to stop from crying yet another time today.

“You like it?” I squeaked hopefully.

He turned his head to grin at me when the baby kicked the hell out of us right on cue. My sweet boy liked his daddy’s voice already.

“I do. More importantly, it seems he does too. Jonah Wells.” He took his place beside me, planting a hard kiss on my lips. “I fucking love it, baby. Giving him a piece of his grandma will be really meaningful. And not for nothing, but Jonah Lomu’s one of the best rugby players of all time.”

“Then it’s perfect.” Serendipitous, almost. “You can pick his middle name if you want. I haven’t thought of that yet.”

“Yeah?” He touched his lips to my cheek. “That’s a big responsibility. I’m probably going to have to consult my council.”

“Your brothers?”

“Absolutely.”

I laughed. “I love the way you are with them.”

“We’re a mess.” He rolled his forehead along mine. “Just wait. In a year or two, you’ll be consulting the council for all your decisions too. You can be a mess with us.”

My lonely, only-child heart fluttered at the idea, trying to lasso around it to keep it as my own.

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” I murmured.

The thing about being lonely most of my life was it was difficult to believe that would ever change—even with this big, lovely man in my bed and a beautiful offer in front of me.

“Just wait, Shira. You’ll see.”

I closed my eyes, hearing Terry’s voice. “You need to make the most of this life you’ve got, Shira. Grab it with both hands.” Instead of dismissing Roman, I spread my fingers on his ribs and snuggled closer, taking what I had for now.

“We’ll see.”

Chapter Thirty-one

Roman

Adrian scanned the pilesof wood on the ground, scratching his head. “Can’t you hire someone to put this together?”

I frowned at the instruction manual. “I can, but I won’t. Doesn’t sit right with me to hire out the construction of my son’s crib.”

“Oh, I see.” My brother nodded. “This is some misguided display of caveman masculinity.”

I chuffed. “How is it misguided to want to build my baby’s crib? I’ve built other furniture. I’m capable.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t doubt that, but this is probably the most important piece of furniture you’ll ever have. Seems hiring a professional would be the way to go.”

I put the manual down and picked up a rail. “Ade, think about it. No one’s going to care more than me that it’s put together right.” I nodded toward the other box in the room. “Put yourself to good use and get started on that changing table.”

With a groan, Adrian discarded his jacket on the floor, took the Swiss Army knife he always carried out of his pocket, and sliced through the tape, keeping the box closed.

The last couple weeks since Shira’s shower, we’d put together a few baby things at her house and had washed piles of impossibly small baby clothes. She hadn’t bought a crib yet, since she planned to use a bassinet, but I needed the nursery at my place finished and ready, and I’d called Adrian over to help. Not because I needed it but because we’d been off for a while and I wanted it nipped in the bud.

My brothers and I weren’t distant. That wasn’t how we did things. My life was changing, and putting myself in Ade’s shoes, I could see how that would be difficult to swallow. My plan was to bring him inside the change—to make him a part of it so it wasn’t so jarring.

“We picked a name,” I said.

His head jerked up. “Yeah?”

“Mmmhmm. He’s going to be called Jonah after Shira’s mom, Joanne.”

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