Page 72 of 40 and (So Over) Fixing It
But when she lifted the lid and looked inside, it wasn’t a bracelet waiting for her. Not even close.
Thad was bouncing up and down in front of her, his excitement barely contained. “What do you think, Erin?”
“Yeah, Erin,” Carter asked, reaching for the box. He pulled the ring from its velvet interior, the square-cut diamond shining like a Christmas light in the glow from the tree. “What do you think?”
That was it, there was no holding back the tears she’d been on the verge of for the past few minutes.
Carter chuckled and pulled her close to kiss away her tears.
“Why is she crying, Dad?”
Erin gave a watery laugh. Reaching out blindly, she found Thad’s wrist, grasped it, and pulled him into her lap. “I’m crying because I’m happy,” she said, hugging him tight. “It’s a girl thing.”
“Oh.” Thad still looked confused. “But you like it?”
“I love it.” Turning to Carter, she had to ask, “Are you sure?”
Carter set his coffee on the side table, slipped off the couch, and knelt at her feet. “I want you to marry me, Erin. I want us to be a family.” His quick glance at her stomach told her he meant all ofus,not just the ones here now. “Will you marry me?”
Thad looked back at her from his position on her lap, his lanky body putting his head even with hers. “Will you marry us, Erin?”
There was no hesitation in her heart. “Yes.”
Thad kissed her cheek as Carter slid the ring onto her finger. Then Thad hopped up to investigate the presents under the tree, and it was Carter’s turn to kiss her.
“I love you,” he whispered against her mouth.
“You’d better.”
He grinned. “You too.”
Half an hour later the living room floor was covered in torn wrapping paper and packaging. Toys and gifts littered the rug. Thad was about to crank up his new video game when Carter called him over. “We have one more gift for you, bud.”
Nerves began rattling in Erin’s belly. They weren’t quite at the three-month mark, the traditional time to tell others about a pregnancy if there was any risk involved. But her pregnancy, though considered risky, had been textbook from day one, and an early ultrasound to confirm that fact had been done just the day before. She and Carter had discussed it, and she knew in her heart it was time to tell Thad.
“What is it?” Thad asked, bouncing up from the floor.
Carter pulled an envelope from his robe pocket. “This.”
Thad frowned. An envelope usually didn’t signal an exciting gift, but a gift was a gift, so… He tore the flap open. Inside waited a small photo on slick white paper, maybe three inches by four. He squinted down at it.
Carter took one edge of the image and pointed at the middle. “Do you know what this is?”
Thad shook his head.
“This”—he traced his finger over a white shape inside a black circle—“is the very first picture of your baby sister or brother.”
“What?”
Erin swallowed hard, fighting the surge nausea rising inside her. Surely her morning sickness wouldn’t return right at this moment.
“We’re going to have a baby, son. Me and Erin. And that baby will be your brother or sister.”
Thad’s eyes went wide. He stared down at the ultrasound image, his finger coming up to trace the edges of the baby’s shape just as Carter had. “Really?”
“Really.”
Erin cleared her throat. “What do you think, Thad?” she asked hoarsely.
