us happy,” Daniel said while Shannon nodded.
“Should we sing first?” Shannon asked. “Then I have your favorite paninis ready to go on the grill.”
“Bacon and egg?” Hailey asked, her eyebrows flying sky high.
Shannon laughed and hugged her granddaughter. “What else?”
August grinned at Shannon and Hailey, another part of his heart that had been mortally wounded suddenly healing in a way he hadn’t anticipated.
Chapter 19
Etta shrugged into her robe as she hurried out of her suite and through the living room. Ace had texted only thirty seconds ago, and she’d needed to use the restroom. Her bladder was why she was awake at this hour at all.
She didn’t want him to knock or ring the doorbell, not that he would. She also didn’t want to cause him and Holly Ann to be delayed in getting down to the hospital in any way, so she jogged under the arch and into the foyer, the nightlights stuck into the wall lighting up with her movement.
After yanking open the front door, Etta continued out onto the porch just as her brother reached the top step. His two-year-old son lay folded over his shoulder, clearly snoozing.
“I’ve got him,” Etta whispered, taking Gunnison from his father. “Go.”
“I obviously have no idea how long we’ll be.”
“I’m sure I can find someone to take him while I run to the high school today.” She smiled at Ace, already rocking back and forth so Gun would settle back to sleep. She patted his back gently. “I won’t say anything until you do via text.”
“Thanks, Etta.”
She lifted her hand, hoping Holly Ann could see her through the windshield. Ace ran back down the steps and to his truck, and Etta stayed on the porch as their headlights cut through the middle-of-the-night darkness and headed down the hill.
She drew in a deep breath and gazed out toward the cemetery. Gun bore his grandfather’s name as his middle name, and he was a lovable, happy little boy who loved his cousins. He’d love his new sister too.
“Come on, baby,” she murmured to the sleeping child. “Let’s go back to bed.”
Hours later, with Gun safe at Sammy’s and Etta’s presentation done at the high school, she drove toward the hospital. Ace had texted the family to let them know that Holly Ann had gone into labor, but that it was going very, very slow and they should all stay up at the ranch until they heard from him again.
It had been five hours since his last message, and Etta wasn’t buying it. Holly Ann had already birthed one baby, and that one had come very, very quickly. If she hadn’t had the little girl yet, there was a problem. Etta suspected that she had, and Ace and Holly Ann wanted a few hours to themselves.
She supposed she didn’t fault them for that, but she was already in town, and she figured she could just stop by. The moment she parked, her phone rang, and she glanced at the screen in her truck.
August’s name sat there, and she smiled. She tapped the screen to answer the call and gave it a moment to connect. “Howdy, baby,” she said, plenty of flirtatiousness in her voice. “Where are you right now?”
“My parents’,” he said. “They wanted to take Hailey bowling for her birthday, and I begged out of going.”
“You don’t like bowling?”
“I don’t like sleeping in hard beds and then driving for a couple of hours and then going bowling,” he said.
“I think someone is an old man,” Etta teased.
August laughed, and she leaned her head back against the rest in the driver’s seat and basked in the sound of it playing through her speakers. “I am going to be thirty-eight this summer.”
“Ooh, that’s so old,” she said.
“Where are you? Sounds like I’m on speaker.”
“I’m in the car,” she said. “I just finished my presentation in the animal health and safety class, and I decided to stop by the hospital and see what’s going on with Ace and Holly Ann.” She looked out the window to the three-story hospital. “I think they’ve had the baby and haven’t told anyone.”
“Oh, my stars and stripes,” August said, plenty of teasing in his voice too. “How dare they want a moment to themselves?”
Etta burst out laughing, her voice mingling with August’s over the line. They quieted, and Etta said, “I miss you, August. I hope you’re truly having fun.”
“I am,” he said, and he sounded sincere. “It’s been different than I anticipated, and I’m not sure why I was