Page 186 of Make Us Yours
Laughter erupts around the room as we decide to just let the kids be. Eventually when it dies down, Cecilia leans into her husband, bumping him with her shoulder. “See, honey. This is how you properly do a gender-reveal party. Take notes!”
He frowns at her. “Hey! It’s easy to not spill the beans if you don’t even knowthe sex yourself! No one knew, so how did you expect someone to find out before time?”
“I knew,” Aubrey says from her seat near Gabe.
“You did?” Emma asks her.
“Yeah, I was in charge of the cupcakes. They gave me an envelope that revealed the gender of each baby.” She nods, slightly flushing now that the focus is on her.
“Wow… your parents were right, you really can keep a secret. Damn, I wonder what else you know and haven’t told anyone.” Emma narrows her eyes as if she could magically see inside Aubrey’s mind.
“Here’s a trick for the future, Cece. Next time you get pregnant, don’t tell him the gender. Like that, you’re sure he won’t spill it to anyone until you’re ready,” Greyson tells Cecilia with a chuckle.
“Or better yet, don’t find out the sex at all and wait until the birth.” Em shrugs.
Greyson turns to her. “That’s a good idea. We should do that, Bunny.”
“Absolutely not! It’s a good idea for them, but not for me. I want to know what’s hiding in there so I can plan in advance.” She shakes her head.
“Would you want to wait until the birth to know?” I ask Veronica when everyone goes back to their own conversations and congratulates the couple on their new discovery.
She puckers her lips as she considers the idea before a heart-stopping grin transforms her features. “No, I don’t think I could wait the whole nine months. I’d want to know what we’re having. I think I’d be too excited.”
She then looks over at Gabe, who’s now holding Dante’s spare hockey stick and playing the goalie as he pretends to stop the puck from sliding between his legs. “And I know someone who’s going to go crazy with shopping once we know what we’re having.”
I chuckle, passing Gracie over to her mother to get her cleaned up. “You have no idea. Our house will be filled with kids’ toys and clothes. We might even go bankrupt.”
“Well, we can’t have that, can we? Who’s going to fund my hair dyes every month?” She giggles. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” She takes my hand and laces our fingers. “But I have been thinking about what we talked about not too long ago.”
I frown in confusion. “What’s that?”
“About starting my own organizing business. Once we buy a house, I’d like to look more into it seriously.” She smiles.
“Then we’d better get moving on finding our forever home.” I lean in, capturing her lips with mine.
Chapter forty-one
Gabriel
In love with a nutjob.
~ One Week Later ~
I finish adjusting all my equipment then rest back against my bench, waiting for the call to hit the ice. Music plays on a Bluetooth speaker to get us into the zone, but there’s really no need; we’re all ready. We have so much to prove this year. Prove that we are the best of the best, and that we will bring that cup home once more.
With one minute left, Silas gets up in the center of the room and begins delivering his speech as captain. “All right, boys, this is it! Let’s go out there and make our fans proud!”
“Yeah!”everyone in the room yells.
“Let’s remind them exactly why we took that cup home last season!”
“FUCK YEAH!”
“And exactly why we’re gonna take it home again this year!”
“WOO-HOO!”we all shout as we jump up and head down the players’ tunnel to the rink.
Fog billows through the tunnel and onto the ice, screams and shouts vibrate down the hall as fans cheer us on, excited to get the game started. Blue, yellow, and white lights flick around the arena, the music dying down as the announcer comes on and begins naming every player and jersey number as they hit the ice.
