Page 60 of 7+Us Makes Nine

“Who do I give my check to?” I asked.

“Just write it and hand it to me. I’m making a delivery after the party to the Wounded Warrior installation downtown,” he said.

“Perfect. I’ll make sure to get it to you.”

“Help yourself to anything. Drinks. Food. Enjoy your time away from Jace’s brood. I can only imagine how tense things have been around there.”

“I know he would’ve enjoyed something like this, but right now we’re wary about taking the kids in public.”

“No explanations necessary,” Carter said. “He owes me a drink anyway. Tell him we’ll all get together soon. The four of us.”

“Sounds good. I’ll make sure to let him know,” I said with a smile.

“Okay. Now that that’s over,” Natasha said, “come on. The girls are over here talking.”

“Ah, so we’ve already separated. It’s like all the parties my parents threw. Only this one doesn’t suck.”

“Good. I paid a lot of money so it wouldn’t suck,” she said with a smile. “Girls! This is my very good friend, Catherine.”

“Oh, is this the one working for Jace Logan?”

“Catherine, this is Joanna, Emma’s cousin. And this is Libby. She used to work with Joanna.”

“Is Emma coming?” I asked.

“Cat!”

I whipped around and held my arms out as Emma came barreling into them.

“Oh, I’m so excited you could come! Are Jace and the kids here?”

“Nope. Just me. Sorry to disappoint.”

“Not disappointing at all. I didn’t know if they were coming or not. Natasha said it was a coin toss as to whether everyone would show up,” she said.

“Yeah. Jace is staying behind with the kids,” I said. “So you’re stuck with me.”

“And being stuck with you is the best kind of stuck,” Emma said with a smile.

The small laughers of children were everywhere. Throngs of them were running around the property, playing tag and running around with puppies other families had brought with them. And the sound made me smile. I loved being around children. The more, the merrier in my opinion. They ran underneath our legs and constantly came up to their mothers asking for things. I watched Libby and Joanna talk softly with their daughters and I watched Natasha try to wrangle her twin boys.

I was glad I came out.

“So, Catherine. Do you have any children?” Libby asked.

“Hopefully one day. But right now, I don’t even have a man,” I said.

“You?! But you’re gorgeous,” Joanna said.

“I’m also busy being a full-time nanny,” I said. “But when it happens, it’ll happen. And I’ll embrace it. How many do you have?”

“Three in total, but my husband and I are trying for another one. We’re really excited. Though we hope my pregnancy gets better and not worse.”

“Why? What happened?” I asked.

“Her last pregnancy put her in the hospital a lot,” Libby said. “She wouldn’t stop throwing up. It eroded away her esophagus. It was pretty bad.”

“Holy crap,” I said. “Are you okay?”

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