Amanda and I jumped up at the same time. Amanda went and took Larissa from Cage’s hands. Once the little girl was free, Cage took another step toward Tawny until he was towering over her. I reached between them and pushed him back before he could explode.

Once I positioned myself between them, I got in her face. “Listen, bitch, the only white trash in this room is the one who slept with a married man. An old married man at that. You call my man one more name and I will knock those ridiculously high heels out from under you. So back the hell off before you end up on your ass.”

I heard someone smother a laugh from behind me and I didn’t have to look to know it was Preston. Then someone started to clap. I glanced over to see Dewayne stand up from where he’d been reclining with his feet propped up. He was clapping with a pleased grin on his face. Then someone else started clapping. Rock had stood up to join him. Slowly, one by one, everyone in the waiting room was on their feet and clapping.

Tawny’s face was redder than her hair. She snarled then spun around and stormed out of the room, leaving her daughter behind with Amanda, who had taken her to the restroom to get her away from the scene she’d been afraid Tawny was about to cause.

Once she was gone, Cage wrapped his arm around me and handed me my bottle of water. “Here you go, mama bear. You need to rehydrate yourself after that performance,” he informed me.

“Damn, I was hoping she would stay. I wanted to see Eva take her down. That’d have been hilarious,” Preston said, reaching over to give me a high five. I slapped his hand and laughed.

Amanda slowly walked back into the room holding Larissa. “Is everything okay? I heard clapping.”

Instead of answering her, everyone started laughing.

CAGE

After Low was in labor for ten hours, Marcus came to announce that she had given birth to a healthy, five-pound-seven-ounce boy. His name was Eli Cooper Hardy and, according to his father, he looked just like Low.

Marcus’s eyes were red like he’d been crying, and I wondered if he had. The grin on his face was huge as he answered questions about Low and the baby. I watched Eva as she listened to everything he said. She was soaking it all up.

“You gonna let your baby be born without your last name?” Preston asked me in a low whisper as we stood at the window of the nursery, waiting for Marcus to bring the baby so we could all see him. I glanced over at Eva, who was talking to Trisha. Her hand was protectively on her stomach as her eyes kept looking over at the other babies in their bassinets in the nursery. I wondered what she was thinking.

“No. I’m working on that,” I replied.

Preston nodded. “Good. I’ll let you go first since you have a pressing matter to attend to,” he replied, pointing at Eva’s swollen stomach.

“What do you mean you’ll let me go first? Are you gonna propose to Amanda?” I asked.

He smirked and tucked some of his hair behind his ear. “Yeah, I gotta talk to Marcus about it first. He needs time to warm to the idea or he’ll blow his shit again if I just spring it on him.”

I chuckled, remembering the night behind Live Bay when Marcus had beat the hell outta Preston when he found out Amanda and Preston were seeing each other. “Yeah, he’ll need a heads-up.”

The door to the nursery opened, and Marcus stepped inside holding a small bundle. Literally. It looked like a rolled up blue blanket. It wasn’t big enough to be real.

Eva stepped back and grabbed my arm, squeezing it tightly as she looked at the baby that was in fact in that blanket. Its small face peeked out of it, although his eyes were closed. I couldn’t tell that he looked like either Marcus or Low. He was all squishy.

“He’s beautiful.” Eva sighed, leaning into me.

I wouldn’t call him beautiful, but I wasn’t going to argue with a pregnant woman. I wrapped my arms around Eva’s stomach and held her close to my chest. Everyone prattled on about the baby and who he looked like while Marcus held him up. Obvious pride on his face.

Low finally had a family. One that would love her and cherish her. It was something she always wanted. She didn’t need my french fry Fridays anymore to make her happy. She also didn’t lose her shit if I didn’t have Jarritos in my fridge when she came over. I didn’t supply her favorite drink anymore. Marcus did.

And I was happy about that.

*

Convincing Marcus to let Low come over to the house and entertain Eva with Eli today had been hard. Eli was two weeks old, and this was Low’s first official outing. Not because she didn’t want to get out, but because Marcus was too damn protective. After explaining to Low why I needed Eva to be distracted, she’d packed up the baby and informed Marcus they were coming over with or without him. Luckily, he’d come with them, because I needed his help if I was going to pull this off.

“I still can’t believe you’ve got us over here on Christmas Eve. Could you not have picked another time to do this?” Marcus grumbled as we set the piano down inside the barn.

“Shut up. You’ll have Low and Eli home in plenty time for Santa Claus,” I replied. Then I threw the blanket we’d used to protect the piano off the instrument, and Jeremy helped me fold it up.

“How you gonna get this thing tuned in time?” Marcus asked.

“My mom’s on her way over,” Jeremy answered for me. That had been one of the biggest surprises. When I’d told Jeremy what I wanted to do, he’d offered his mom’s help. I hadn’t expected her to help me, but she had. And she’d worked a miracle.

Marcus just chuckled and shook his head. “You’re crazy, you know that, right?”

I just smiled. Because he just might have been right.

“I need to go on. Eva will notice my truck down here if she looks out the window. Mom will have it working like a charm in no time. Just leave the door unlocked and she’ll get everything ready for you.”

I thanked Jeremy before he left. Then I turned to look at Marcus. “Well, guess we’re done. You can take your crew home and get ready for Santa to come.”

“I got four more weeks before Santa brings me my present,” he said, following me to the door.

I glanced back at him. “Why four more weeks?”

Marcus smirked. “You don’t know, do you?”

I didn’t know what? “Not following you, man.”

Marcus slapped me on the back and let out a loud laugh. “And I get to be the one to break the news. Cage, after Eva has the baby, you can’t have sex for six weeks.”

What? I stopped walking. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Marcus laughed even louder and headed out the door of the barn.

Six weeks? For real?

Chapter Twenty-Four

EVA

I hadn’t seen much of Cage today, and I was missing him. Low had convinced Marcus to stay for dinner, and I had enjoyed the company and holding Eli, but I wanted alone time with Cage. Now that they were gone and I had cleaned up the kitchen, Cage was still not back from going to get his phone that he thought he’d left in the barn.

His presents were wrapped already and tucked under the tree, so I didn’t have anything else to do. The bedroom in the barn’s light came on. What was he doing in there? I waited a minute and when the light didn’t go off, I decided I was going after him. I grabbed my wool coat from the hook behind the door and put it on. Then I slipped on my boots before I headed across the frosty grass.

I heard music. Piano music. I stopped and listened, looking around. Where was that coming from? Someone was playing a piano. Thinking about a piano caused my heart to hurt. Cage hadn’t asked about the piano yet. But he would. I didn’t want to tell him I’d given it away. But I wouldn’t be able to lie to him either.

The music started playing again. I’d heard that song before. I wasn’t sure what it was just yet because the person playing it wasn’t exactly a pianist. They did have the tune down though. I started toward the barn again, and the music got louder. Was that coming from the barn? Surely not. Why would someone be playing a piano in the barn? I glanced around again and saw nothing.