Page 32 of Stay for Forever

“I think Ellery’s about to have her baby and the pot is up to five thousand dollars.”

What am I doing? I shouldn’t be fighting with Mav – no matter how big of a jerk he is – in a hospital parking lot. I should be inside the hospital waiting on the birth of my niece or nephew.

“Go,” Mav says, and I focus my concentration on him. He reaches forward and squeezes my hand before I can shake him off. “We’ll talk more later.”

“Okay,” I mumble, although I don’t know what more there is to talk about.

I watch him saunter to his car and peel out of the parking lot. How he thought he was hiding in Winter Falls while driving a Maserati is beyond me.

Ashlyn threads her arm through my elbow. “When I left, Ellery was screaming up a storm at Cole. The baby’s arrival should be imminent.” Her smile dims, and I pat her hand.

“It’s your turn next.”

She frowns. “Project Get Ashlyn Pregnant has been a bust thus far.”

“You have time. You only got married a few months ago after a courtship of barely a month.”

She clears her throat before skipping toward the elevators. “Today is about Ellery.”

A few minutes after we return to the waiting room, Cole wanders into the room carrying a squirming bundle. He appears shell-shocked, but happiness is beaming from him.

“I’d like to introduce you to Willow Amy Hawkins.” Before the words are out of his mouth, he’s surrounded by everyone.

“West-Hawkins,” Ellery shouts from her hospital bed.

“Let me hold my grandchild,” Mom insists, but she doesn’t wait for Cole to relinquish his baby girl. She takes him. “Hi, Willow. I’m your grandma.”

She sniffles and Dad wraps an arm around her. “And I’m your grandad.”

“Here’s your winnings.” Sage holds out a wad of cash.

I blink at the money. “You brought the pot to the hospital?”

She waves the money and I grab it. “I don’t know how you knew the baby would be named Willow.”

I smirk as I stash the cash in my pocket. “I know my sister,” is all I say.

I don’t mention how Aspen was named after the tree in the yard of the apartment building Mom and Dad were living in when Aspen was born and how there’s a willow tree on the lawn of Ellery’s bed and breakfast. It’s better to keep information flow to the gossip gals limited.

“Are you ready to meet your Aunt Juniper?” Mom coos at the baby before laying Willow into my waiting arms.

I sniff and new baby smell fills my nostrils. Nothing can compare to it. It’s even better than puppy breath, which says it all in my opinion. I want this. I want a baby. One who has Mav’s blue eyes and high cheekbones.

I clear my throat before I can start to blubber like a baby. It’s not healthy to want things you can’t have. And I can’t have Maverick Langston no matter how much he begs. The man is not to be trusted.

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