Page 102 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
“Don’t be embarrassed.” He gave her a final squeeze. “You look amazing.”
She caught his hand before he could go. “Anything yet? Any pings or whatever?”
A shake of his head was the only reply she got.
“Do I have to keep this up?”
She asked because the whole thing was depressing. Of course, they couldn’t get married right now, but that didn’t mean the urgency they both felt had gone away. She wanted to be his wife. Today. Not tomorrow. Not this weekend. Not when the time was right. She wanted it now.
Liam nodded and walked backward to the door. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
He opened the door, slipping out just as Annabeth rushed in with Evie waddling behind her. The girls were holding their mother’s hands, both gasping when they caught sight of Jamison.
Annabeth skidded to a stop. “Oh, wow.”
“Turn me around!” Selah’s voice boomed from the phone in her hand. When Annabeth flipped the screen, his jaw dropped. “Holy crap. I remember the day your mom tried that dress on and stood right in the same spot. Do you remember, Evie?”
Evie didn’t answer. She stood still and stared wide-eyed, with one hand clutching her baby bump while the other covered her mouth. Her cheeks were flushed, the glow from earlier now eclipsed by something else.
“That’s a super sparkly dress,” Harper said from her mother’s side. “Can I have one like it?”
“Yous so so so verys pretty, Auntie!” Theo bounced excitedly, tugging on her mom’s arm. “Isn’t she, Mama?”
Evie promptly burst into tears, and not just a trickle. This was full-blown sobbing, shoulders shaking, breath hitching, kind of crying that left you breathless. She turned her face away, trying to muffle the sound behind her hands, but it only made it worse. “She sure is, baby,” she gasped between sobs. “Auntie is always beautiful, but today she looks extra special.”
“What’s going on up here?” Jamison heard her father’s question seconds before he appeared in the doorway. “Who’s crying? Kid, answer m—”
Jamison froze as her father stared at her, the concern on his face crumbling into shock. “Holy shit.”
Behind him, Simone and Josie hurried in, both women colliding with one another when they came to a full stop. “Girls, come with us. Let’sget some lunch,” Simone said, sounding like the wind had been knocked out of her. “I’ll make your favorite.”
Theo and Harper went with their grandmothers, and Annabeth followed, taking Selah on the phone with her.
And then the room was quiet again, except for the sound of Evie trying to breathe through her tears.
Swiping his hand over his mouth, her father approached slowly as if she were a wild animal. “The resemblance is uncanny.”
Evie’s tears went into full waterfall mode, and Jamison shifted uncomfortably. She didn’t realize how much this would upset them. “I should change.”
“No, I want a picture!” Evie rummaged through her maternity dress pockets but came up empty, which only brought on more crying. “I don’t have my phone!”
Heavy footsteps pounded down the hall, bringing a charging Samuel into the room. “What happened?” He went straight to Evie, placing one hand on her belly, the other smoothing over her lower spine. “Hey. Deep breaths. You’re okay.”
Samuel hadn’t noticed her yet, and when his eye flashed her way, he paled as deeply as their father had. “Holy fucking shit.”
Jamison looked at each of them—her father, her brother, her sister—and tried to make sense of the emotional hurricane stirring around her. “What is wrong with you people?”
“You look like her,” her father began, then let out a small laugh, shaking his head. “Of course, she does.”
Evie sniffled. “We knew that, but seeing you in that dress is like… well, it’s like she’s standing right in front of us.”
Feeling helpless about how to make this easier, Jamison swished the skirt like she had with Liam. “I’m too tall.”
Her father grinned, his two dimples popping out. “Yeah, you are. That’s on me, I’m afraid. Sorry, princess.”
Evie hiccupped and calmed a little. “Mom would have loved how tall you are. She adored comparing you to Ben. She loved you both so much and how alike you two are.”
