Half an hour later, a doctor came out and spoke to Cam, who pulled the doctor into a hug and was then enveloped by the entire Muir clan. Enthusiastic nodding went around the room, but Cam looked over the crowd and nodded our direction. Katherine silently stood up and took the bags in each hand.

“Love you, H.” She smiled down at me.

“I’ll be right here, baby. Can’t wait to meet her.”

Eventually, Cam’s mom explained everything to Dee, and Dee told everyone else that Tori had gone into premature labor, something about the placenta. I tuned out a little after that. An emergency C-section was performed when they determined the baby was in distress. Not only that, Tori was bleeding internally. But all had ended well. Baby Lana was perfect, early, but perfect. Tori, had lost a lot of blood, but she was going to be just fine and go on to have more children…but in the words of Dee, she’d be “watched like a hawk.”

Frodo sat down next to me as Dee left the hospital. “Your Katherine…she did well under pressure,” he commented.

“She did.” I smiled proudly. I knew Frodo was struggling. Regardless of his recent affection toward a new woman, that woman was not Dee. “And how are you?” I asked.

“Friend…” He smiled warmly. “I pray my dove will one day return. But today is not that day.”

And with a wave of two fingers like a salute at his brow, I was alone in the waiting room and waited for Katherine.

FEBRUARY

Katherine

“Katherine…”

Holst loomed over the bed. I was dressed. I even had my shoes on. But I refused to go.

“Not going.”

“Get out of that bed before I drag you out.”

“Make me!” I snapped. But I had to admit, it was getting harder to breathe under the layers.

The covers were yanked off, not just me, but the bed, so I couldn’t grab them back. Holst knew me; he knew my tricks.

He also knew my weaknesses.

Mainly his tongue.

His hands were at my waist, then at the button of my jeans, and…

“Fine!” I threw my fists on the bed. I knew, if we got started now, I’d be late, and I hated to be late.

“You haven’t seen them since Christmas.”

“What is it with moms? You know…” I plonked my feet down. “This happened to Tori. One minute, her mom is working for—in Tori’s words—‘the Dark Lord.’ The next minute, she’s mother-of-the-year and buying baby furniture with Cam’s mom. Your mom and my mom meet and it’s BFF’s forever. Jesus!” I yelled.

Holst smirked at me and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You know they’ve taken over everything, right? Like, I might as well not be involved at all!”

“Baby.” He opened his arms, feet spread apart, and motioned with his hands. “Come here.”

“Fuck you! You’re in cahoots with them!” I accused.

He smiled wide, cocked his brow, and said, “I can make you come here.”

I needed to keep some of my energy for my next battles with the mothers. But I couldn’t just relent. I had to remind him that I was a woman not to be fucked with. “I just want to sucker punch you and run away.”

“How about you stick your tongue in my mouth, put your hand in my jeans, and feel how hard my dick is right now. Then get this over with so you can come home and let me eat that fantastic pussy of yours.”

I hadn’t realized my mouth was open until I replied, “That works, too.”

I walked up to Beachy Bride, and even though Holst had dampened the fire, he hadn’t quite put it out. So when I walked in and was greeted with two fifty-year-old women, clucking and cooing at baby Lana, that fire started to rage, and I let everyone in my path know.

“Back the fuck off!” I leaned down and gently took my Lana-girl into my arms and smiled down at her. “Auntie K is here to rescue you, baby girl.”

My mother turned to Holst’s mom, Becky, her co-conspirator. “When she hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in three months, that’s when we’ll get our turn.”

“No.” I practically sung the word like a lullaby. “When we have a baby, he’s going to come to work with us. Holst and I will take turns with him in the carrier. He’ll be able to sleep through a thunderstorm or a rock concert, and I’ll get him on a napping schedule right from the start.”

And I couldn’t fucking believe it, but not only did my mom and Becky burst out laughing, Tori joined them. “Sorry,” she said, her shoulders shrugging with her apology.

“I’ll show them, baby girl. They will rue the day they ever doubted me. I’m the ‘baby-whisperer.’”

Dee appeared with her hands on her hips. Her hair was slicked back, her lip gloss was on super-shine, and her toe was tapping with impatience. “Quit stalling!”

“Baby girl, I have to go be pretty for these party-poopers.”

Tori stretched out her arms and smiled. “Give me my child and put on the damn dress.”

I rolled my eyes and made a big production of walking…more like harrumphing…to the dressing room. “Fine!” I squinted my eyes and pointed my finger around the room at my audience. “Just so you know, you say one bad thing—one—and you are out of the wedding festivities! Got it?”

They all laughed again, but now the curtain was pulled, and Dee stood back and studied me. Her eyes searched my own, her brows were knitted, and her beautiful lips sucked in on one side.

“What?” I asked.

She took a giant step back and asked, “Are you…having second thoughts?”

“What’s wrong with you? Are you sniffing glue?” I demanded.

“Well…” She hesitated.

“Spit it out!”

“You’re kind of being a bitch.”

“Oh.” I waved my hand like my behavior was completely and totally warranted…which it was. “Do you know what they did?” I asked.

Dee gave me a careful, tentative smile. “How about you talk and I’ll listen while I get your dress ready. K?” She moved past me and instructed, “Start getting undressed.”

I watched while she fluffed out the layers of tulle beneath its satiny overlay and began to unzip and unhook the top. “They went to Ruby’s, and the three of them picked everything. And paid for it! I haven’t had a single say in anything, and it’s my damn wedding!”

Dee turned around and placed a pair of gold, strappy heels at the foot of the dais.

“You have nothing to say about that?” I asked.

She kept her face pointed at the shoes. “Nope. Get it all out of your system.”

“You’re on their side?”

I was now standing in a balconette bra and panties called French Knickers. They were pricey, but super comfortable, pretty, and silk. Perfect bridal lingerie…but I had to try them out first, so I bought a simple baby pink pair to match the bra, because, well, like I said, they were super comfortable, pretty, and silk.

Dee looked me up and down. “You have such a good body.”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“And you told Frodo you were gonna have a gold wedding and make babies with Holst. Isn’t that right?”

Damn.

“Yeah, I might have said that.”

“He might have shared that information with me, and I might have shared it with Ruby, who told Tori, who told Holst, who told his mom, who told your mom, and here we are, and all you have to worry about is standing next to the man you love and saying ‘I do,’ you lucky bitch. So, stop being a jerk and embrace this moment. Because some people will never, ever have this, Kath. Some people will never find ‘the guy,’ or something will screw it up, and I don’t mean me. I mean most of the world. You’ve got the guy, you’ve got the dress, and you have two women out there who want to make it perfect for you because they didn’t get that. They both married men who didn’t take care of them. One was lucky enough to get a second chance, but those memories…you can see it on their faces.”