Page 107 of Finding Home

“Oh, I’ll find a way to let you pay me back,” I tease. To Bonham, I mutter, “Come on, Bonzo. Let’s get you allcleaned up.” I can already tell it’s going to be a bad one—a blowout that wenteverywhere. “Bio-hazard coming through!” I call out, as I make my way toward the house, and all our friends part like the Red Sea.

Inside, I find Reed Rivers’ wife, Georgina, changing their infant son’s diaper on the living room floor. So, I grab a nearby changing pad and throw it down next to Georgina. As we’re both chatting and working on our similar tasks, my sister-in-law, Miranda waltzes through the front door of the house and makes a silly “pee-yew” sound at the sight of Georgina and me surrounded by dirty diapers on the floor.

“Howdelightful,” Miranda deadpans. “I’m loving this for you ladies.”

“Yep, we’re living the dream,” I reply, and Georgina chuckles. In Georgie’s case, she really is living the dream, though. I mean, so am I. But I’ve managed to get pregnant easily, every time we’ve tried. From what I understand, Georgina and Reed had to work pretty hard to make their baby dreams a reality, so I’m quite certain she’s savoring every moment of this journey, even changing poopie diapers.

“Can I use a back room to breastfeed him?” Georgina asks. And when I say, of course, yes, she bids a temporary farewell to Miranda and me and heads off.

With my own son’s fresh diaper secured, I stand him up, pat his little bottom, and ask, “You want a snack before you go back out, Bubba?”

Bonham shakes his little head. “Dadda.” He begins toddling toward the front door, but I stop him. “Hold up. I have to watch you go to Dadda to make sure you make it to him safely. Lemme wash my hands first, and then we’ll go.” As Bonham grumbles, I wash my hands, whileMiranda grabs a cold drink from the fridge. Hence, the reason she came inside, apparently. And then, we head out the front door as a trio, at which point, Bonham toddles at full speed toward his beloved father in the lake.

When Caleb sees his drummer boy racing toward him, he eggs him on and scoops him up at the shoreline with a loud whoop. I glance around for Page, our four-year-old, and find her nearby with some other kids, being watched over by my mother. But when I hear a happy squeal in the water, I turn toward Caleb again, just in time to watch him dragging Bonham around by his little hands, exactly like he used to do with Raine back in the day.

“Aw,” I coo. “That makes my heart go pitter pat.”

“He’s so cute with him,” Miranda murmurs.

“He’s cute with all his kids.” I absently touch my belly, even though I’m not showing yet. Caleb doesn’t know this, but the phrase “all his kids” will soon refer tofourof them, rather than the three he knows about.

“Have you seen Raine anywhere?” Miranda asks. “She’s supposed to give me a pedicure.”

“Last I saw her, she was playing horseshoes with Rocco near the guest house.”

We both look over at the shoreline next door, just in time to catch Raine, slack jawed and frozen, with a horseshoe in her hand, staring in awe at Jackson Morgan—the teenage son of Dax and Violet. At the moment, he happens to be striding past Raine and Rocco, on his way to the lake, alongside Paula’s gorgeous, vivacious, teenage daughter, Zelda. Not surprisingly, Zelda is commanding Jackson’s full attention. So much so, he’s not registering ten-year-old Raine’s existence in the slightest.

“Crap,” I say. “I know that look.”

Miranda giggles. “Can’t say I blame her for having acrush on him. Jackson looks exactly like his father, and Dax isn’t a worldwide sex symbol for nothing.”

“I’m not ready for this, Miranda. She’s ten.”

“The perfect age to have her first crush.”

I flap my lips together. “Jackson doesn’t know she exists, right?”

“Not at all. She’s totally invisible to him.”

“Thank god.” I rub my forehead. “Damn. I was hoping my kids would turn out to be late bloomers, like me. I didn’t have a crush till I was fifteen. But it looks like maybe Raine got Claudia’s boy-crazy gene.”

“I’ve got the same gene, unfortunately, so she probably got it from her daddy’s side of the gene pool, too.”

“When did crushes start for you?”

Miranda grimaces. “Around Raine’s age. Sorry.”

“Same as Claudia. In sixth grade, she wanted to marry this boy named James.” Once again, I find myself thinking how much my sister-in-law reminds me of Claudia. I thought that the first time I met Miranda, and the resemblance has only grown and crystallized, since then, the more I’ve gotten to know my sister-in-law over the years.

“I think I’ll let Raine off the hook for that pedicure,” Miranda says. “If she happens to be looking for me later, let her know I’m over there.” She motions toward a group that includes Aloha Carmichael, Aloha’s adorable husband, Zander, and their two closest friends, Keane and Maddy Morgan—Dax’s older brother and his wife. And off Miranda goes, slithering past me in her bikini, smelling of coconuts and confidence.

“A-Bomb!” Caleb shouts from the lake, drawing my attention. “Look at Bonzo! He’s ready for the Olympics!”

Caleb leans down to whisper something to our son, anda moment later, he swims, on his own, about ten yards, from Caleb to Dax’s outstretched hands.

“Woohoo!” I call out. “Go, Bonzo, go!” I race down to the shoreline to cheer from a closer distance, and Bonham repeats the feat by returning to his father.

When Bonham reaches him, Caleb scoops up his son and high-fives him, and our sweet little water-logged boy smiles proudly.

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