Before he could reply, their mothers came over. Lori took each of their hands in hers. “It’s been a fantastic baby shower, Mom. And I’m so glad you were able to be here, Gina.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it,” Grayson’s mother said, folding Lori into a hug. “And I wouldn’t have believed a woman in her eighth month could look so good if I hadn’t seen it for myself. I’m still marveling at how you were dancing in the backyard with the kids a short while ago, despite the fact that you’ve already been standing in those impossibly high heels for hours.”
Now that the party had gone on long into the afternoon, Lori’s feet were starting to hurt a little, along with her lower back. But it was nothing compared to the pain she’d often experienced while rehearsing for twelve hours at a stretch for a show. “Thank you for the compliment, but I’ve never been good at being still.”
“That’s for sure,” Mary and Grayson said at the same moment, making all of them laugh.
“Your brothers have already helped pack away the shower gifts in the back of your SUV for you to open at home, but we have one more gift that we’d like you to open now.” Gina reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. The words Lori and Grayson’s Babymoon were written across the front.
Lori looked up, stunned. “You’re giving us a babymoon?” How was it that everyone but her was in on this fabulous idea?
“Your mother, Grayson, and I thought a few nights by the beach in Carmel would be the perfect way for you to relax before you have the baby. I know how busy you’ve been, not only with your choreography, but also taking care of your farm chores, when any other woman would have seized the opportunity to put her feet up. I know I did my fair share of resting when I was pregnant with Grayson.” Gina’s smile widened as she added, “Brent and I are going to head back to the farm after the party to take care of the animals, so you two don’t have to worry about a thing while you’re in Carmel. I’ll even make sure to call the pigs by name when it’s feeding time.” Grayson’s parents had been out to visit the farm in Pescadero enough times—and inevitably been put to work, as did anyone with idle hands—that they knew the ropes quite well by now.
“I love it!” Lori hugged all three of them at once. Her pregnancy had been great so far, and she had no doubt that this surprise babymoon was going to be the icing on the cake.
A few minutes later, Grayson went to say his thank-yous to her family, and his mother moved away to rejoin her husband by the barbecue, where Brent was doing a darned good job of grilling hot dogs and hamburgers just the way her picky little nieces and nephews wanted them. He was particularly good at slathering them in ketchup and mustard before handing them into the adorable little devils’ mud-smeared hands.
Lori put her arms around her mother. “I know I say it all the time, but you really are the best mom in the whole wide world.”
“You make it easy.”
“I most definitely do not,” Lori said on a laugh, “but I appreciate the fib. And I also appreciate that while I had never heard of a babymoon until today, I’m suddenly the lucky recipient of one! How long have you and Gina and Grayson had your heads together on this?”
“He called us a while back saying he wanted to do something special for you before the baby came—something where you would be sure to get some rest and relaxation—and hoped we might have ideas.”
“Nailed it.” They were going to have an amazing time at the cottage in Carmel. “I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with something special for him too. Got any ideas for me?”
“All he wants is for you and the baby to be safe and sound.”
Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a strange thing for her mother to say. And if Mary had been speaking about someone else, Lori wouldn’t have stopped to chew on it. But this was Grayson they were talking about. A man who had lost his wife in a horrible car crash three years before Lori had met him. He’d healed, but that didn’t mean the scars—and the fears—from that tragedy wouldn’t always be with him.
“We are safe and sound. Better than that, we’re both thriving. I feel it with every tap dance this kid does inside of me.”
“I know that,” Mary said in a soft voice, “and you know that. We women have the advantage of knowing exactly how we’re feeling from moment to moment during our pregnancies. But our partners have to guess from a look, or something we do or don’t say.”
“Do you think I need to reassure him more often that everything is okay?” Lori didn’t often ask people for advice. Her mother was the rare exception. Mary Sullivan had lived such a full and amazing life. Though she never pushed her opinion on others, her hard-won wisdom was undeniable. “I know that even though he’s in a much better place now than when we met,” Lori continued, “sometimes his past history with his late wife comes back to haunt him and causes him to worry. But I thought, with how easy my pregnancy has been and how good I feel, that he would know everything was perfect. Have I been wrong this whole time?”
“Honey—” Her mother put her hand on her arm. “The last thing Grayson would want is for you to worry about him worrying about you. Trust me on this. What he needs most from you are your smiles and laughter and love. All the things you’ve always given him. All the things he’s going to get twice over once your daughter is born.”
Mary Sullivan was rarely—try never—wrong when it came to giving advice. How could she be when she’d been through it all with eight kids and a growing horde of grandkids? But Lori suddenly couldn’t shake the fear that while she’d been skipping through her pregnancy, Grayson had been having a different experience entirely.
One colored by a past that she worried he might never fully be able to put to rest.
CHAPTER FOUR
During the party, Grayson had been keeping an eye on Lori, making sure she didn’t wear herself out, or overdo it playing with the kids, or not get enough to eat and drink. Of course, he had to be stealthy about looking after her, or risk her coming after him with a spike heel in hand.
Lori had always been adamant about taking care of herself—and she was damned good at it. But that didn’t mean he could push away his own instincts to take care of her and their baby.
Life with his wife these past years had been one adventure after another, but no adventure was bigger than having a child. He had known Lori only a week when he’d started to dream of a little girl who looked just like her, a mini-spitfire with a sparkling laugh and an indomitable spirit. Given his dark past, he’d thought they were just crazy dreams at the time, but Lori had done the impossible by making his wildest dreams an incredible—and terrifying—reality.
More than one person had told Grayson that he was the calmest, steadiest man they knew. But that was only because they didn’t know that inside, the thought of Lori being pregnant, of having their child, made his heart beat a million miles a minute while he barely managed to keep his breathing even. He’d thought Lori’s perceptive mother might say something to him about this during the party, but thankfully Mary had held her own counsel.