Page 128 of The Anatomy of Matchmaking

She smiles. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Then she starts setting up her black pieces on her side of the board.

I do the same with the reds on my side. “I’m thinking yellow… maybe a pale, buttery yellow. With a border up near the ceiling. Little animals. Giraffes, hippos, elephants. Something whimsical.”

“Why so keen on the decorating fantasies now?” She gives me a playful look. “That room’s been unpainted for months.”

“I think you know why I’m dreaming about finishing it up.” The hopeful feeling is now bursting through me.

She points to the box. “Are the directions in there?”

“We both know how to play.”

“Sure…wedo. But in a few years—four or five—when we have to teach a little one the rules, it’s going to be easier to read the rules instead of trying to remember every single one.”

My gaze flies up to meet hers. I raise my eyebrows. “You’re?—”

“Pregnant,” she finishes. Her big, green eyes shimmer with happiness. “I’m pregnant, Nick. I took five tests this morning, to be sure. Scheduled a doctor’s appointment for tomorrow, too. They’ll confirm, but there’s no mistaking how nauseous I was when you left for work…. We’re going to have a baby.”

A little Landry.

I feel my eyes grow wide. Every inch of my body wants to spring up out of this booth and sweep Maddison up into my arms, so I can hold her close to me. But she reaches for my arm to stop me.

“Wait.” Her eyes dart over to the counter.

I follow her gaze and see her parents over there, busily serving up platefuls of steaming pie. “Don’t. If they see us hugging and jumping up and down, that’s it. Everyone will know.”

“Right. We have to keep it quiet…?”

She nods and leans forward. “For a little while, at least. I mean, we probably won’t make it too long. My family has a track record of knowing things before we do.”

I can’t stop smiling.

Even if I wanted to keep this goofy grin off my face, I wouldn’t be able to.

I try to concentrate on the game. It’s impossible. While I move checkers around the board, all I can think about is what it’s going to be like to bring a baby into this world with Maddison. To stand in that upstairs room, with Maddison at my side, and look down at a baby. Maybe our child will have green eyes, like Maddie. A sharp sense of humor, a quick smile, dark hair, and a big heart.

When Roxie approaches with a plate of pie in each hand, I pinch my lips closed. She narrows her eyes at me as she sets a plate down on my side of the table.

Then she swivels to face Maddie. She props her hands on her chest. “Okay—what’s up with you two?”

Maddison bows her head. I face the window, like I’m suddenly intensely interested in the row of cars parked out front.

Roxie ditches the second plate of pie. It clatters onto the table. The next minute, she’s gone. I hear her voice over by the counter.

“Mom, Dad… guess what I just figured out? Maddison and Nick are going to have a baby!”

Epilogue

Maddison

Twoyears later

“There you are!”I bend down to clip the leash to Outlaw’s collar.

He’s seated on Pansy’s back porch facing west, watching the sun go down.

“Come on, big guy.” I usher him down the steps, then across Pansy’s yard and into mine and Nick’s. “Remember? You go to beddy-bye over here while Pansy’s out of town, you goof.”

When we pass by the driveway, I get a happy feeling at the sight of my Jetta, Myrtle. It was a great feeling, buying her back from the used car dealership. It happened a couple years back. I’d just been paid big bucks for my movie, and I could’ve purchased a much nicer vehicle… but I wanted Myrtle, moonroof and all.

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