Page 65 of The Lucky Heart (Jamison Valley 3)
We shuffled up the ramp and then turned to the nearly full stand of bleachers.
“Felicity! Emmeline!” Up several rows, Gigi and Maisy were waving wildly at us to join them.
“Hey! Where’s Jess and the kids?” I asked Gigi when I settled onto the cold metal bench next to her.
“Jess is down there checking in with Milo and Bryant.” Gigi pointed to the arena floor, where my brother was visiting with his uniformed deputies. “And the kids are all at the Holts’ house. Maisy’s mom volunteered to watch them all so we could have some fun.”
“Nice. I’m so excited. I cannot wait to see this.”
She smiled. “Me either.”
“Do you guys want drinks? I was thinking of braving the line at the beer gardens before the guys have their turn.”
“Water for me,” Emmeline said, rubbing her protruding belly.
“I want beer,” Maisy said, standing. “I’ll go with you to help carry drinks.”
“Gigi?” I winked, curious how she’d play this. As far as I knew, no one but me, Jess and Mom knew she was expecting.
“Water for me. I’m pregnant,” she blurted.
Maisy and Emmeline started screaming and giving her hugs while I stood back with a wide smile. Gigi and Jess deserved every minute of their happiness.
Thinking of my brother, I glanced over my shoulder to see him looking back up at us with a grin on his face. No doubt he’d heard the joyous shouts and knew that his wife had spilled their secret.
“How was Christmas?” I asked Maisy as we walked down the stairs to get our beers.
“So good. Coby was too little to understand it last year but he was all about it this time around. He got spoiled.”
“Wait for us!” I stopped on the bottom step and turned to see Gigi and Emmeline carefully descending. “We decided to come with you too. The pregnant women are hungry, go figure.”
Standing in line at the snack stand, we
chatted and laughed. I was amazed at how much more at ease I felt today than I had during the party at Slater’s Station. I didn’t feel like an outsider with these women because I wasn’t married or didn’t have my own children. Instead, I felt lucky that I was getting to know them and they had pulled me into their tight circle without reserve.
Today was going to be—what had Nick said?—epic.
After we’d loaded up on food, we all meandered to the beer garden.
“Felicity!” Andrea was rushing toward our spot in line.
Now less epic.
“Hi.” I was suspicious of the smile on her face.
Behind me, Gigi muttered, “Eff.”
“I was hoping to run into you today.” Andrea wrapped me up in an awkward-for-me hug.
“Uh, okay.” I hadn’t seen her since the night she’d met Tyson, and at any moment, I was expecting her to slap me in the face because I’d set her up with a cheating bastard.
“I am just so grateful that you introduced me to Tyson,” she said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but we’re engaged!” She shoved her enormous diamond ring in my face.
“Congratulations?” I was so shocked that it came out as a question.
“Can you believe it?” She started bouncing up and down. “It’s all happening so fast but we both feel like we shouldn’t waste any time. I’m moving to Seattle in a couple of weeks so we can plan the wedding. We’re thinking of doing something exclusive in Mexico or Belize.”
“Well . . . great, I guess. I’m happy for you, Andrea.” If she and Tyson really loved one another, then I sincerely wished them all the best, though I did feel a smidgeon of guilt for not being up front with her about his womanizing ways.
