Page 118 of Sunshine
That puts the headcount at twenty. And I’m not mad about it.
I sink back into the chair, drop my head back, and close my eyes. The hum of conversation, underscored by the easy beats of relaxing music, fills my ears, and I sigh with relief.
We did it. We launched the new business before the babies came.
I crack an eye open when Dylan settles himself on the stool at my feet and hauls my swollen ankles into his lap. And when his magic fingers start to rub away the aches, I close my eyes again with a groan.
“Oh, that feels so good,” I tell him.
“Do you feel okay?” There’s a tone of tightly controlled concern in his words.
“I feel great,” I assure him with a lazy smile of contentment. “A little tired, but really freaking great.”
“I’m so proud of you, Sunshine,” he says as his hands massage up my ankles and over my calves. “You’ve worked so hard these last couple of years. You’ve done so much.”
“We’vedone so much,” I correct him.
And I don’t mean just the two of us. I mean all the Davenports.
Silver Leaf has grown. A lot. The second dining room at Dylan’s restaurant is fully functional now and booked solid seven nights a week. Violet’s studio is up and running, and starting today, so is the spa I’ve been working night and day to build. I’ve spent so many hours poring over every little detail to make sure it’s all perfect, with Charlie overseeing all the business details as well as mentoring me while I studied and everyone cheering from the sidelines.
Everyone, I think with a smile.My family.
I lift my head a little to get a good look around the room. It’s all white walls and glass windows and sleek tiled floors. The scent of soap and cream and nail varnish fills the air-conditioned air, along with so many balloons it’s hard to work out who’s who asour family laughs and talks and picks at the last hors d’oeuvres on trays being cleared away by waitstaff in Silver Leaf black.
And behind the front desk, on the wall in silver frames that Dylan hung himself, are my associate degree in business and three different certifications in cosmetology.
I relax again with a sigh, then wriggle my shirt up over the top of my enormous stomach. Clothes are the enemy these days. Everything in my closet feels too tight and too hot, and tooannoying. If I could, I’d live the next three weeks naked.
I trace the shapes and colors on my skin, now stretched and pulled to make them almost unrecognizable. All the old ones I’ve been looking at for a decade and the ones I’ve added more recently. A chef’s knife for Dylan and a blue butterfly for Izzy to match the one Dylan already has. I got those the same day Dylan added a golden dragonfly to the dandelion on his back. It was the week before we got married in the Davenports’ backyard.
“How are our girls?” Dylan asks as he moves his hands from my feet to my stomach, splaying his fingers out wide to try to catch a kick or a nudge or one of those insane body rolls that make the whole world spin.
“They’re good,” I tell him. “Snug. Happy.”
Dylan grins and drops a kiss on my tummy. “I can’t wait to meet them.”
“I can’t—” I cut off with a gasp.
Dylan’s brows shoot up, then down, and he falls off his low chair to kneel beside me. “What is it? What happened?”
I frown as the pain, low in my abdomen, passes like it was never there. “I’m not sure. Nothing. It’s gone now.”
The dull ache in my lower back, the one I’ve been living with for a week now, is suddenly extra uncomfortable, and I shift in the chair to try and ease the pain.
Dylan’s eyes narrow, and his fingers tighten around mine. “Izzy?” he calls across the room.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Nothing. Just relax.”
“I am relaxed. You’re overreacting.”
I hiss in a breath and hold it as another pang grabs me low in the stomach. I watch Dylan’s throat as it bobs with an anxious swallow, though his eyes remain steady on mine as he waits for me to exhale.
Izzy springs up at our side as I release the breath. “Did you call me, Daddy?”
“Yes, Little Bee.” Dylan keeps hold of my hands with one of his as he scoops Izzy in close with his other arm. “I think it’s time to take Mommy to the hospital so she can have your baby sisters,” he says.
