Floored - Karla Sorensen Page 0,83

not to think about when I'd see him next, probably waddling around like a giant, puffy-ankled mess.

And as we watched movie after movie after movie, took more naps than I thought capable of in one long day of travel, I tried not to think about how long it would take me not to miss him.

When the plane touched down at Sea-Tac, and I powered my phone back up, I felt my heart skip a beat at the sight of his name.

Jude: Let me know when you've made it home safely. Precious cargo and all.

"What an ass," I whispered as my eyes welled up. He was not going to make any of it easy, and he couldn't even help it. He was sweet and thoughtful and stupid and sorta damaged, and I wanted to hug him as I waited to get out of my seat. I liked it better when I was trying not to think about it. When I was thinking about the army of people about to greet us with screams and tears, and oh, my word, they were going to be so obnoxious, and I couldn't wait.

But there I was, staring at his text, feeling my eighty-fourth emotion for the day. And a long day it had been.

Isabel helped me stand and kept a tight grip on my hand as we got off the plane and made our way down to where they'd be waiting.

I saw the balloons first. Isabel shot me a grin.

"It's gonna be so bad," she said with utter and obvious glee.

Everything I'd worried about, everything I'd been sad about, everything I'd been trying to hold in poured out of my stupid, pregnant eyeballs as I saw the Welcome Home Lia and Baby sign next. The screams and squeals started as soon as Claire and I made eye contact, and by that point, I was openly weeping.

She broke away from the group and reached me in a few long strides, about knocking me over when she flung her arms around me.

"You're home. Oh, you're home," she cried into my shoulder. My heart felt complete like it hadn't since the day I left. "We're having a baby!"

I couldn't even talk. I made no sense. Whatever words tried to come out of my mouth for the next few minutes were incoherent babbling and snot.

But they passed me around all the same. First Molly, who cupped my face and told me I was gorgeous. Emmett clung to my waist and informed me he'd grown two inches since I left.

Paige came next, tears coursing down her face (which did not go splotchy when she cried). "I hope you're okay with me hugging you a thousand times for the next two days."

"Y-Yes, please," I hiccupped, holding her so tight that my arms ached. "I missed you guys so much."

"Oh, sweetheart," she whispered. "We missed you too."

Paige pulled back and slid a motherly hand over my hair. "I think your brother has waited patiently enough, huh?"

I nodded, wiping super attractive ugly-cry snot off my face with the back of my hand and saw Logan behind us, his hands jammed tight in the pockets of his dark jeans, and his eyes suspiciously bright.

When Paige let me go, he looked at my stomach, and his jaw clenched. Then he held his arms open. "Come 'ere, kid," he said in a rough, uneven voice.

He folded me into his arms, and I left about a gallon of everything in that hug. All the fear, the disappointment, and heartache went onto my brother's shoulders. Someone rubbed my back, but I wasn't sure who. I didn't care.

"It'll be okay," he whispered into my ear, tightening his hold on me. My big brother could hold up the entire world with those arms, and if I'd ever doubted it, I didn't doubt it now. "You're going to be the best mom, Lia, and that kid is already so loved."

I heard sniffling from behind me.

Or maybe that was just me.

I was home. And that was all that mattered.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lia

"But it doesn't make sense," Emmett said, staring at the fruit basket.

I grinned at Paige, then finished my bite of oatmeal. "What doesn't?"

"The whole fruit thing." He held up an apple and a banana. "How can the baby be compared to these two incredibly different fruits and still have it make sense. One is a sphere, and one is oblong."

My eyebrows popped up. "Mighty big word for a nine-year-old."

"We do have to learn 3D shapes, Lia. I'm almost ten."

Paige snorted, holding out