Page 108 of Sweet on You
37
Ronnie
Two Months Later…
I wasn’t a dainty pregnant woman. Hell, I wasn’t even a daintynon-pregnant woman. The simple white summer dress was tight around my breasts, but hung loose from my ribcage to my shins, hiding the small baby bump I was sporting.
Callie handed me a bouquet of freshly picked wildflowers from Mom’s backyard that was tied with blue ribbon. She smiled at me, wiggling her eyebrows. “And here I’d always thought I’d be the Tripp sibling getting hitched while I was four months pregnant.”
I rolled my eyes and smacked her in the butt. As much as I wanted all my girlfriends to be in my wedding party, we didn’t invite that many people to the wedding in the first place—there would have been no one left to watch the ceremony if I’d had them all up front with me. So, Callie was my maid of honor, and my future sisters-in-law, Yvonne and Lydia, were my bridesmaids. Cam and Steve were Lex’s groomsmen. And Tony was his best man. And my baby brother, Noah, was marrying us after getting ordained online.
My mom poked her head into the master bedroom—her bedroom. She grinned, biting her lip. “They’re here,” she whispered. “Kyra just got back from picking them up at the airport.”
Butterflies swarmed my stomach. “I’ll be down in a second,” I said. Then, I turned to face Callie, Lydia, and Yvonne. “How do I look?”
Lydia sniffed and Yvonne swiped at her eyes. “You look perfect,” Lydia said.
“I still can’t believe you’ve been engaged the shortest amount of time and yet you’re the first to get married of the three of us,” Yvonne laughed.
Well,” I ran my hand over my growing bump. “Some of us don’t have the gift of time on our hands.” I exhaled. “Okay. Here goes nothing.”
“Are you sure about doing this before the ceremony?” Callie cut in, and all eyes snapped to her. She shrugged. “What? Isn’t it bad luck to see the groom before the wedding?”
I rolled my eyes and waved off her concern. “I’ve never believed in luck, anyway.”
I walked down the hall and knocked on the door where the boys were getting ready. “Lex?” I called through the door. “Can I see you a moment?”
He cracked open the door, grinning at me and looking deliciously handsome in his stone-colored linen suit. Neither of us were fancy people… I saw no reason to dress up in tuxes and uncomfortable gowns on our wedding day. A cute summer dress from Macy’s for me and a linen summer suit for Lex suited us perfectly.
“What’s up, sugarplum?”
I grinned, loving the term of endearment he had for me. “I thought we could get some pictures of us and Olivia before the ceremony. That way if Olivia gets fussy, we can put her to bed early without worrying about the photos.”
“Sure,” he said, slipping out of the room. “Is she still downstairs with the Murphys?”
I nodded, and we walked downstairs, hand in hand, to where Olivia was waiting with my mom and Mr. and Mrs. Murphy.
“There’s my girl,” Lex said, reaching out to take her from Mrs. Murphy. She giggled and leapt into his arms, and we walked outside and around to the opposite side of the house.
“So… I know we said no gifts since we’re spending most of our money to fix up the loft in the apartment…” I said.
Lex glared at me, a slow smile playfully tipping the corners of his mouth. He tugged a small box from his pocket and handed it to me. “I cheated, too,” he whispered and brushed his lips against mine.
I opened the box, and inside was a set of small topaz earrings. “December’s birthstone,” he said with a wink, bouncing Olivia on his hip.
I laughed. “What if they come early?”Twins.It still felt utterly surreal that we were having twins. Then again, they did run inbothour families. “What if they decide to come out in November? Twins often make an early appearance.”
Lex laughed. “You worry too much, you know that?” He stopped walking and kissed me again, whispering, “Just say thank you.”
I tilted my head, biting my bottom lip. “Thank you.”
“So… for your gift, it’s a little different. But I know it’s what you wanted—more than anything—today.”
We turned the corner to where Kyra stood off to the side, blocking the few guests we had in attendance from interrupting our moment. There, standing in front of us, was Lex’s sister and grandmother. A slight, older woman with a cane and sleek, silvery hair. And a younger woman, with the same tousled, russet-brown hair and turquoise eyes as Lex. Even though they were fraternal twins, she looked nearly exactly like Lex.
“Grandma?” Lex said, his chest heaving.
Tears already streaked her wrinkled cheeks, and she stepped slowly toward him, whispering his name. “Alexander. You look so… healthy.”
