Page 232 of At the Edge of Surrender

Cash stretched out his thick arms. “I am sitting right here.”

Loved it that even Cash had come out tonight. He’d met Emery the day everything had gone down and I’d been taken to Dr. Reynolds’ office. Everyone had come to make sure I was okay.

Needing to see it with their own eyes because it was just the way we were.

It meant more that he’d shown up now. When things were good.

“By the grace of God,” Raven interjected as she shook her head, the biggest grin on her face. “And it’s a good thing since I have a toast to make.”

She wiggled around on the booth, placing a knee on the cushion and the other on the floor so she could awkwardly stand.

From where he was sitting next to her, Otto wrapped himself around her waist, all smirks and smiles and fucking obsessed as hell.

I finally understood the affliction.

Raven lifted her drink. “When I was nine years old, I found myself living with this group of four strangers. These guys who were little more than boys. They took me and River in as if we were blood. Protected us. Watched over us and taught us how to survive when our circumstances were so messed up.”

Her voice shook a little, moisture blearing her eyes that were as dark as midnight.

“You’re the only family I’ve ever known,” she murmured, emotion thick in her words. “The only one I’ve ever needed. The only one I want. I just wanted to say how happy it makes me to see it growing.”

A soft smile kissed her red-stained lips. “Nolan was a shock when he came into our lives, and then Charleigh found us. Charleigh who needed us just as badly as we needed her.”

She inhaled an affected breath, joy prancing all over her pretty face that she then turned toward Emery. “And now Emery and Maci.Honestly, my heart feels like it could explode. It’s the most beautiful thing watching it happen.”

Emotion flooded from Emery, and she shifted so she fully faced Raven, placing her hands over her chest in her own show of affection for Raven.

The one who’d become her friend. Her sister. Someone I doubted Emery very much expected. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Emery said.

“Well, that is a very good thing because if you even tried to leave, I would hunt you down.” Raven’s words shifted into a tease.

“I would bring the rope and tape.” Giggling, Charleigh lifted her glass.

“Good lord, what have we turned you into?” River’s voice was soft with amusement, and he looped an arm around his fiancée’s shoulders. “Apparently, we really are terrible influences.”

Charleigh shrugged. “I kind of like what you’ve done to me.”

“That’s right,” Raven agreed. “I needed a partner in crime, and now I have two.”

She gave Emery an unhinged smile.

Emery laughed and lifted her own glass. “I’m ready for whatever antics and adventures you have in store for me.”

Fuck, I loved the way that sounded. The permanence of it.

“That’s what I like to hear,” Raven continued, “because Otto and I have a brand-new adventure in store for you all.”

The look she sent him spilled over with adoration, the same as what was coming from him.

Anticipation filled the air when she looked back at us.

“Because we’re adding another cutie pie to this family, and I know it’s going to be the most amazing sort of adventure.” The last word cracked with the joy that locked in her throat.

“We’re having a little one!” Otto shouted it with a fist pump over his head.

Pride streaming out.

And every single one of us were feeling that joy, too.

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