Page 138 of Samuel

“Jesus. John was talking about a honeymoon baby earlier. Thought maybe you two celebrated early and I was going to have to beat the shit out of him for turning this into a shotgun wedding.”

“Stop,” she laughed. “I’m already a mom because I adopted Katy.”

Warmth spread through his chest. “It went through?”

“Last week. I’m officially on her birth certificate and everything. We’re going to announce it tonight at the reception.”

“That’s amazing, Abby. Holy shit. You’re about to be a wife, and you’re a mom. I’m officially an uncle!”

“You are. And soon you’ll be a dad. Do you think he’d be proud of us?”

Their dad. Fuck, what he wouldn’t give for him to be there again. To see Abby so happy with John and Katy. To have him meet Evie and Jellybean. But there was no doubt in his mind about how his father would feel about both of his children.

“Yeah, Dove. I think he would be.”

Sitting was doing her no favors as Evie swiped the tears from her eyes at how beautiful everything was in front of her. Seeing Sam walk his sister towards John, being next to Sylvie as she watched her baby girl walk to the man she loved, it had every single one of her emotions running in overdrive. One day, Sam would walk Jellybean down the aisle towards her own partner. The baby wasn’t even in Evie’s arms yet and she could tell how fast time was going to fly by once she was.

A cramp had her wiggling in her seat, praying for the officiant to find his words faster so that she could get up and walkaround. She needed a distraction. The pain was just uncomfortable enough to give her an unsettled feeling in her belly, but nothing she felt like calling attention to. So, distraction was her only hope. Her eyes drifted off her swollen stomach and up to Sam, who she expected to find watching John and Abby as they exchanged their vows.

But his eyes were solely focused on her, a worry line creasing between his eyes.

Are you okay?he mouthed.

She smiled and nodded, but she didn’t miss the way his eyes drifted down to where her hand absentmindedly rubbed against the tension in her muscles.

The rest of the ceremony went by in a flash, and before she knew it, Evie was being swept up in the commotion of cocktail hour and pictures with the wedding party. Abby insisted she join them for a few. The hustle and bustle had the pains she was starting to feel quite regularly fade into the background of her mind.

Sam wrapped one arm around his sister’s shoulders, the other grasping her hand as they took off, dancing around as all eyes were on them.

“I know I’m not dad, but I’m honored that I got to walk you down the aisle, and that I get to have this dance with you now.”

“I’m thankful we’ll always have these memories together. Thank you for stepping up in his place.” Abby laid her head on his shoulder. “I saw Evie rubbing her back a few minutes ago. Is she still feeling okay?”

“I think so. She hasn’t said anything to me. Although, I did catch her rubbing her belly during the ceremony.” Worry started that all too familiar ache in his chest.

“I’m sure she’s fine, but we’ll all just keep an eye on her the rest of the night.”

They took a few more turns before Sam felt a hand land on his shoulder. He stopped, looking down at his mom.

“I’d like to have the rest of this dance with my baby girl, if that’s okay.”

“She’s all yours.” He pressed a kiss to his sister’s cheek before doing the same with his mom. Once they were holding onto each other, tears flowing down both of their faces, Sam turned away from the dance floor. His duties for the wedding and the night were over. Now, he could finally be where he wanted. With his girls.

Evie felt restless. She stood and watched as Sam danced with Abby, tears springing to her eyes at how sweet the moment was. Selfishly, she knew she could get away with taking a much needed walk around the barn without his worried gaze following her.

It was starting to take real effort to hide the pains, and no matter how much she tried to tell herself they were just from the heat, or the long day, something in the back of her mind had started sounding the warning bells.

Her back ached as a small cramp started low in her belly. She placed one palm on the table in front of her, the other hand resting on her tight muscles.

Distraction… She desperately needed a distraction.

Her eyes bounced across all the desserts in front of her, and her mouth watered at the chocolate cupcakes. Yup, she’d definitely need to try one of those. Emma really had done an amazing job with the sweet treats. Everything looked beautiful.

“Hey, Evie. How are you feeling?”

Her body flinched as an arm landed on her shoulder.

“Oh, Jake! You scared me. I thought I could sneak away from the dance floor for a minute to get some air without anyone noticing.”

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