wrap my head around the fact that my youngest brother was married and about to be a dad.
“Couple days later,” he confirmed. “Gavin and Faith were there, and that’s it. We were gonna tell everyone the next morning at breakfast, but then you showed up, pissed off at everyone. And when Hunter was still outside trying to calm you down, Avalee announced to the rest of us that Hunter and Madison had just gotten engaged, like, the night before.” He lifted his hands as if to say there wasn’t much they could’ve done after that, and it was only then I noticed the dark wedding band on his left hand.
Not that I usually noticed that shit anyway, but surely someone would’ve.
I looked over to the living room, searching out Rae, and saw the diamond flashing on her hand.
“And no one’s noticed?”
“Well, no one did at that breakfast. And after that all went down, we decided to hold off telling everyone until things calmed down with y’all. So, we don’t wear our rings outside the house anymore . . . for now. But Rae forgot one day, and Mom saw. I thought she was gonna kill me when she realized we’d done everything without telling her.”
“Fuck, Savannah might.”
“Savannah?” he asked with a huff. “What about Em?”
“Emberly doesn’t know?” I asked, amusement building in my chest. “You’re screwed.”
“Well, if we’d invited her, then we would’ve had to invite Cayson. If we were inviting Cayson, we might as well have invited all y’all.”
My head bobbed in a slow nod. “And you’re good with how that went down?”
“Yeah.” Genuine happiness poured from him. After a second, he shrugged. “Rae’s impulsive and still shuts down when she gets overwhelmed. And there are times when it scares the shit out of me because I like stability and need to know what’s going on with the people I love—that they’re okay—her most of all. But I know she needs to do things at a different pace. And when she’s ready for something, she doesn’t ease into it. She dives headfirst in this way that’s a perfect mixture of us, and I love it.”
I nodded for a while before a huff of disbelief left me. “You’re married.”
His answering smile was damn near contagious.
Grabbing his shoulder, I pulled him in for a hug. “I’m happy for you, Saw.”
“Did you tell him?” Rae asked as she appeared beside us.
“About the puppy?” Sawyer asked. “Babe, he saw her.”
Rae smacked him in the stomach and looked pointedly at me, waiting for my reaction.
I just dipped my head as I reached for the door behind me. “Mrs. Dixon.”
Excitement burst from her in an instant, her eyes darting back to my brother as she said, “That’s my favorite.”
Sawyer pulled her close, tone dripping with meaning as he focused on her mouth. “Want me to remind you of my favorite?”
“I’m leaving,” I muttered as I opened the door, looking to Rae as I stepped out of it. “Welcome to the family.”
My head shook as I hurried down the walkway to my truck, still trying to come to grips with the fact that Sawyer had gotten married. Without telling anyone. Especially Emberly, the girl who had been his best friend since they were getting out of diapers, and who was Rae’s sister.
But they’d have to deal with her and Cayson later. They’d have to let Hunter know he’d now missed two weddings.
And I’d have to tell my wife . . . after.
First, I had a hell of a lot of making up to do for making her wait. And even more frustrations and needs that we had to take out on each other.
But by the time I made it home, Savannah’s car wasn’t there. And when I called her, I followed the ringing of her phone to the kitchen . . . that was empty.
I moved through the house, needing to check even though I knew she wasn’t there. But with the way she’d just collapsed the night before, and with her being pregnant, I couldn’t stop from searching every room as I pulled up the first of two numbers I thought to try.
“Hey,” Hunter answered, sounding confused.
I stopped walking and leaned up against a doorway. “What?”
“What do you mean what, you called me.”
A harsh breath burst from me. “You answered like you don’t know why I would call you.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever called me before,” he explained dryly.
My eyes rolled. “Just wondering if you’ve heard from Savannah at all today.”