“A babymoon?” Lori looked at the other women. “Is that something people actually do?”
Chloe nodded. “Chase planned a special getaway for us a couple of months before Emma was born.” Lori followed Chloe’s gaze across the room to where Chase was pressing a kiss to their oldest daughter’s cheek and drying her tears after a game with her cousins in the backyard had likely gone a bit off the rails, as backyard games tended to do. A few moments later, Emma was smiling again and dashing off to play with her cousins.
“Jake and I could only get away for a short babymoon before we had Smith and Jackie,” Sophie put in, “but it was wonderful.”
For years and years, Sophie and her Irish-pub-owning husband, Jake, had been secretly in love with each other. Unfortunately, Jake hadn’t thought he was good enough for Sophie, so their love had been unrequited. That is, until the night of Chase and Chloe’s wedding, when neither of them could continue to ignore the attraction between them…and their one-night stand resulted in Sophie’s pregnancy with their own set of twins. Now, Sophie and Jake were one of the happiest couples on the planet, and their kids were an adorable handful.
“Obviously,” Grace said when Lori looked at her in question, “I didn’t have a babymoon with Mason.”
Grace’s ex had been the scum of the earth, so this wasn’t a surprise to anyone. “But before Dylan and I had Aaron, we made sure to plan a long weekend for just the two of us before the sleepless nights with a newborn began.” Grace and Dylan had met when Grace had been tasked with writing a major magazine story about Lori’s boat-building cousin. Mason had been only a year old when Dylan met Grace—and he had instantly fallen in love with both of them.
“I didn’t have a babymoon before I had Summer either,” Megan said. Her toddler son, Logan, who was the spitting image of Lori’s firefighting brother, Gabe, was currently fast asleep on Megan’s shoulder. “But we definitely had one before Logan made his appearance. It’s a really good idea to fill the well a bit before being awash in spit-up and diapers and—” She laughed at the look on Lori’s face. “Don’t worry, all the hard, stinky parts are totally worth it.”
“I can deal just fine with stinky pigs, so I’m not worried about diapers or spit-up.” Lori came from tough stock. If her mother could wrangle eight kids, she and Grayson could surely deal with one. “But back to this whole babymoon thing. I’m still not sure why it’s such a big deal.”
It wasn’t until Chloe and Grace both blushed that Lori finally had her answer.
“Ahhh…so a babymoon is code for a few days of hot sex with your husband in a fancy hotel with no interruptions.” She glanced over at Grayson again. No one wore a pair of jeans and cowboy boots better. “In that case, sign me up. After all, there are few things I love more than hot sex with my cowboy.”
Lori’s brothers Zach and Ryan had been heading toward the group of women, but after hearing the words hot sex, they promptly changed course for a table that was groaning with food.
“Excuse me while I go have a word with your husband to make sure this plan doesn’t fall through the cracks,” Mia said. “You don’t mind if I drool on him while I’m over there, do you?”
Lori laughed. Few people were more outrageous than she was, but Mia came pretty darn close. “I’m pretty sure I drooled all over Ford when he pulled out his guitar and played his new song for us at our last family get-together, so this will make us even.” Though Lori would never want anyone but Grayson, that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate the appeal of her cousin’s rock-star husband like any other red-blooded woman.
But before Mia could get to Grayson, he rang the bell that they normally used at home to round up the farm animals at feeding time to get everyone’s attention. Though she didn’t know what he was planning, when he held out his hand to her, she wound her way through the crowd to join him at his side.
“Where the heck were you keeping that cowbell?” she asked in a low voice. Her hands had been all over every inch of him before the party, so he couldn’t have been storing it in his back pocket. Rather than answer, he simply kissed her, which was a more than good enough reply.
Though the adults had all come to attention, the kids were still running wild together under the watchful eyes of their close-knit family. Lori couldn’t wait for her daughter to be part of the play-pack with her cousins, getting dirt in her hair and scrapes on her knees, just like Lori had while she was growing up.
“Thank you for coming here today to celebrate with us,” Grayson said, his tone deep and strong as he addressed their family and friends. “And thank you, Mary, for throwing us this wonderful baby shower.” His voice sent a ripple of awareness up Lori’s spine, as did the hand he used to stroke the top of her hip as he pulled her close. “Lori and I know how lucky we are to have such a great family.”
While she knew that he loved spending time with her family, she also understood how overwhelming being surrounded by this many Sullivans could be. Everyone in her family had a rather strong personality, with movie stars, rock stars, pro athletes, brilliant artists, and CEOs among them. No one felt the need to brag, or lord their success over their family members. Nonetheless, a Sullivan get-together could be a lot to handle for one of their partners, and she was extremely glad that he felt so comfortable with everyone.
What’s more, Grayson’s parents, Gina and Brent Tyler, had flown in from New York to attend the party. The early years after he had left the East Coast to start over in California had been difficult for the three of them—not only had he left his home behind after his late wife’s car accident, he’d also tried to leave everyone associated with his old home. Fortunately, when Grayson was finally ready to mend fences, his parents had welcomed him back into their lives with open arms.
Lori honestly wasn’t sure they knew quite what to think of her, given that she was the polar opposite of his late wife and the society women his mother and father normally socialized with. Fortunately, as soon as they’d seen how good Lori was for their son, they had gone out of their way to be kind to her, making sure she knew how grateful they were to her for bringing their son back to them.
Grayson turned to face Lori, his heart in his eyes. “You’re going to be an amazing mother.” Gently, he laid his hand over her belly, and she immediately covered it with hers. “Our daughter is already so lucky to have you.”
She threw her arms around him. He might be a man of few words most of the time, especially when they were in a big group, but when he did make a speech, he always brought her to tears. “I love you.”
He drew her as close as he could with her belly between them. “I love you too.” When they finally drew apart—to more than one teasing call to get a room—there was mischief in his eyes.
After everyone had clinked glasses of bubbly and called out their congratulations, Lori turned back to Grayson. “You look like you’re going to burst. You haven’t cooked up another surprise for me, have you?”
The first time Grayson had stunned her speechless had been on their wedding day. She’d thought they were hosting a family reunion—while everyone else was in on Grayson’s real plan to marry her right then and there in the middle of their farm. Lori had said her vows to Grayson wearing her mother’s wedding dress with her own cowboy boots underneath. It had been the perfect surprise. Just as the dance studio, which he’d built on their property while she’d been away with a production, had been a wonderful, unexpected gift.