Page 72 of Embers in Our Past

“We do this all the time. I’m not going through the Scrabble rules again. It’s not in the dictionary,” Clay says, rubbing his temples.

“It’s a fucking word!” Ash says again.

“But it’s not a word, goddamnit! Kennedy back me up!” He looks at her, and she throws her arms up.

“Oh, so now you’re quiet, Skip?” he protests. “You weren’t last night when?—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Riv!” she yells.

Clay covers his mother’s ears while River says, “Sorry, Ma!”

Kennedy buries her face in her hands, and I can see her ears turning red. I don’t know why I thought this would go any differently. It’s hard not to laugh.

“Okay, can I go yet?” I ask.

Clay removes his hands from his mother’s ears, and she pats them in appreciation while glaring in River’s direction.

I get a nod from Clay for me to go ahead, and I begin laying my square pieces on the board, spelling my word out. I get a few pieces out, and, as expected, River starts to pipe up.

“How many pieces do you have, Abby?” He throws his hands up. He is so damn competitive.

“What are you even spelling?” Ash chimes in.

I don’t even acknowledge either of them and keep going. Once done, everyone stands from their spot, and it takes them a second to figure it out. Sam is the first to scream, which only sets off the twins to start wailing.

“Oh my god, no shit, what? Really?” Mary says, looking over at Clay, then at me, then at River.

River is looking at the game board, then at me. “Can you play a phrase like that?” He looks at Clay. “I think she can only play a word, not a phrase.” He looks back at the board. “Kennedy, baby, check the rules because ‘It’s a girl’ is a phrase and not a word.”

Kennedy is ignoring him, and she’s running over to hug me, and Mary is crying as she makes her way to her son. It takes River another second to realize what the fuck is going on, and then he belts out, “I’m going to have a niece!?”

Everyone breaks out in cheers, and we are laughing and crying all around. Clay and I couldn’t think of a fun way to tell our family and friends, so we thought this was a cute yet competitive way to break the news. This gathering was already arranged so we worked it in. We had this game at home, so we snuck the pieces in my jacket and viola! The suggestion of the game was an easy sell because everyone loves to play.

“When did you find out?” Kennedy asks.

“Last night. We found out together with a cake. We wanted it to be just us.” Clay comes up behind me and kisses my cheek.

“What about your parents? Do they know?” Mary asks.

“We FaceTimed them right before we drove here. We didn’t have a fun way to tell them, so we just saved a piece of the cake and showed them the color on the call. Did the same for my brother and sister-in-law.” I smile.

“A little girl.” Mary nearly has hearts in her eyes. “I always wanted a girl, and then I got these hooligans.”

“Hey!” River and Clay protest. “We were angels!” That comes from River.

Ashton laughs hard, and Mary joins him.

“Sure you were. I nearly had a heart attack on a weekly basis. You two gave me a run for my money,” she says, and I believe her.

These two are a handful now. I don’t know how their sergeant handles them at the firehouse on shift. They’re exhausting just for a few hours at a time together.

The game is forgotten, and the guys go off to the kitchen to have a celebratory drink while we take the twins to the living room and talk about plans for my daughter, which still feels surreal to think about. I still can’t believe I’m going to be holding a little girl in my arms in the months to come.

CHAPTER 26

Clay

“Hold on,you proposed with a penis purse?” Malloy asks as he places the final touches on the peel-and-stick wallpaper in my daughter’s nursery.

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