Page 79 of The P Arrangement

“As you know, Paxton’s nanny has been out of town, helping her mom recover from surgery,” Delaney said.

“Yes, that’s right. How is everything?”

“Good. Madison’s mom is doing really well, and Madison is planning to come back to Minnesota in a week or so.”

Evelyn smiled. “That’s so nice to hear.”

“Anyway, since Madison has been gone, Preston and I didn’t have her to take Paxton back and forth, so we’ve been seeing more of each other. The first night I took Paxton to Preston’s house, he invited me to stay for dinner. I stayed until Paxton’s bedtime, and the two of us had…a nice conversation after putting him to bed.”

Usually, I wasn’t one to get embarrassed easily, but the mere thought of her parents knowing the dirty things I had done to their daughter on my kitchen table had my face heating.

Delaney seemed oblivious to my shame and continued telling her story. “We also found out that we were attending the same law conference in Las Vegas the following weekend. We spent time together all weekend and had fun while we were there.”

Funwasn’t the word I would use to describe being inside her every chance I had gotten, but I understood Delaney couldn’t tell her parents all the naughty things we had done together.

I cleared my throat. “Delaney also did an excellent job on her presentation there. You should be incredibly proud of her.”

She smiled almost bashfully as her father said, “We always have been.”

“Yes, well, besides my presentation, Preston and I—I can’t believe I’m about to admit this because it’s so cliché—got married again.”

Evelyn’s and Henry’s mouths fell open.

And since we had already shocked them, I took Delaney’s hand in mine and said, “And we just found out we’re going to have another baby.”

Evelyn covered her mouth with her hand as her eyes filled with tears. “Oh my God, we’ve been waiting for this for so long.”

It was my and Delaney’s turn for our jaws to drop.

Henry picked up his wife’s hand. “What your mother means is that we know how much you two loved each other, so your divorce never made sense to us. We both understand it’s none of our business, and there are things we don’t know, but I also know that Delaney never talked about any of her boyfriends the way she talked about you, Preston. And, Preston, I could always see the love you had for our daughter in your eyes. You two splitting up seemed to come out of nowhere. Again, there’s a lot we don’t know, but we both just never sensed either of you fell out of love with one another.”

Wrapping my arm around Delaney, I pulled her close. “Your parents are pretty smart,” I whispered to her.

She put her hand on my leg and squeezed. “So, does that mean you’re happy for us?” she teased her parents.

Her mother jumped out of her chair as she said, “Of course we are.” She opened her arms. “Now, give me a hug.” When it was my turn, she said, “Welcome back to the family, Preston.”

“Thank you. You don’t know how much that means to me.”

She patted me on the cheek. “I do. You’re like the son I never had.” She chuckled and made an oops face. “You and Natalie’s husband both,” she corrected.

Henry also gave Delaney and me a hug, and then he turned around. “Paxton, how would you feel if you had a brother or sister?”

“No,” Paxton said without looking up from his toys.

All the adults in the room started laughing.

“Son, do you want to see what I’ve been working on since you’ve been gone?” Henry liked to work with his hands in his free time, and he was talented at building furniture for fun.

“I’d love to.”

As I followed him out of the living room, I heard Evelyn tell Delaney, “You know, I already suspected something was going on when you and your sister said you were staying ‘with a friend’ after your house was broken into. I hoped it was Preston, but I didn’t want to say anything in case it wasn’t.”

I grinned all the way to the garage.

* * *

Later that night, after having dinner with the family—including Delaney’s sister, brother-in-law, and niece and nephew—we came home and decided to make it a movie night.

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