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 f**king kidding me?”
Marcus laughed even louder and headed out the door of the barn.
Six weeks? For real?
Chapter Twenty-Five
EVA