Page 41 of Serenity

ChapterEighteen

Dillon

“You’re right.Weddingsareabout family, which is why we should head over to my parents’ house and share the newswiththem.”

She jerked back and stared at me with wide eyes. “What? Really? Is that what you wanttodo?”

“Yeah, baby. It’s exactly whatIwant.”

Her smile was all I needed to see to confirm it was the right thing to do for both of us. “Are they even homerightnow?”

“There’s only one way to find out.” I turned on the engine and hit the button on the in-dash screen to pull up the phone app. “CallDad.”

I confirmed that’s what I wanted it to do, and then the phone was ringing through the speaker system. He picked up on the second one. “Dillon?”

"Hey,Dad.”

“It’s good to hear yourvoice,son.”

“I’ve got Faithwithme.”

“Hey, Faith. Youguysokay?”

“Yeah, Dad. It’s better than okay.” Faith and I shared a secret smile. “We’re in the car, and we were calling to see if you and Mom were at home. We wanted to stop by if you guys wereavailable.”

“Yeah, we’re home.” He cleared his throat roughly. “And we’re always available to you and Faith. Any time. Day ornight.”

“Can we come over now?” Faithasked.

“Now definitely worksforus.”

“Tell Mom to break open a bottle of champagne,willyou?”

I knew he’d catch the hint and realize we were coming over for a good reason. Just like my mom used hot chocolate for bad times, champagne was for celebrating. She’d even let Declan and me have it during the bigger occasions, but she mixed it with juice when we wereteenagers.

“I’ll dothat,son.”

When we pulled up in front of their house, my parents were already waiting for us at the door. After I parked the car, I led Faith up the steps. Then I dropped my hand from her back and moved to my mom, wrapping my arms around her. “Hey,Mom.”

“Oh, Dillon,” she cried. She hugged me back, her hands gripping metightly.

When she finally let go and stepped back, there were tears on her cheeks but she was smiling. I turned and found Faith standing with my dad’s arm around her shoulders, but she quickly moved forward to give my mom a hug too. My dad did the samewithme.

“It’s great to see you two,” he said as he ushered us into thehouse.

“And your dad said something about needing bubbly?” my mom asked, her eyes filled with excitement as they darted between Faith and me. When she glanced at Faith’s belly, Igroaned.

“Yeah, Mom. But not forthatreason.”

“That reason?” Faith echoed. “What’dImiss?”

“If I had to guess, Mom thought maybe we wanted to celebrate me knocking you up,” I murmured inherear.

“I’m not pregnant!” she gasped, her cheeks fillingwithpink.

“I know, but my mom is baby crazy,” I whispered. “So now that we’re engaged, be prepared for her to repeatedly ask when we’re going to give her agrandbaby.”

“She’s going to have to wait for that,” Faith whispered back. “I have a master’s degree to earn first, and with my health issues getting pregnant probably won’tbeeasy.”

---