it.”
Aria pointed at Matilda’s stomach and nodded with her eyes shining. “I want it to be a girl!”
Shane and Drew joined them, and Shane draped his arm over Matilda’s shoulder.
“Hey, there. I’m excited to hear about the next Radford tonight,” Chad beamed at his brother.
“Yeah, we’re going to tell y’all the old-fashioned way. No gender reveal party or anything.”
Drew stopped eating his caramel apple and looked up at the grown-ups surrounding him. “I don’t know why my Dad bought a little pink cowboy hat. Everyone knows real cowgirls don’t wear pink!”
“Drew!” Shane and Matilda scolded him in shocked unison.
“What?” he asked with a frown. “You’re the one who told me that, Daddy. You said only the rodeo queens wear pink hats. The tough girls don’t.”
“Wait … is that a girl baby?” Aria asked Drew as she pointed over her shoulder at Matilda. “Is the pink hat for a girl baby?”
Drew lifted his chin and gave Aria a smug look. “It’s a secret.”
Matilda snorted and shook her head.
“Not anymore,” Chad said, slapping his brother on the back. “Congrats!”
“Thank you,” Shane answered, dipping his head sheepishly. “Now listen, don’t tell your Auntie Noelle or Uncle Jett, okay?” Shane leveled his gaze on Aria. “Or your mom, got it?”
“Yeah, where is Hannah anyway?” Matilda asked. “I haven’t seen her all morning.”
Chad scanned the crowd as he answered, hoping to spot her in the sea of volunteers. “No clue. Last time I saw her, she was by the food trucks. A few of them hired her to do their PR, so she’s splitting her time with them and Kenny Horton’s campaign folks.”
“I can’t believe how busy she is,” Matilda said in an awed voice. “She just opened her business, and she’s already got a full roster of clients.”
“You know what that’s like,” Shane said as he bumped his shoulder into Matilda’s.
“Yeah, folks heard about how well Harlan’s campaign is going so they were banging down her door before she even officially opened her PR agency.”
“I know Noelle was happy to hand off the bakery’s promotional stuff. Lucy is keeping her so busy these days,” Matilda said. “And who knows, there might be another egg in the Magpie nest soon enough.” She smiled and raised an eyebrow mysteriously. “Lots of announcements in these parts lately.”
Chad choked and tried to play it off as a cough. “Damn, we Radford boys sure are busy.”
If they only knew.
Jett strolled over to the group. “What is this, an official meeting or something? Why wasn’t I included?”
Shane held his finger to his lips and gave Drew and Aria a playful warning look. “No, we’re just plotting our game plan for the day. I’m taking these two to the pumpkin carving station, and I’m sure our committee chair has some important business to take care of.”
Chad’s stomach fizzed and he tapped his back pocket absentmindedly. “Actually, I do. Very important business. Excuse me, folks.”
He walked away and tried to focus on the task ahead of him as people stopped him to ask questions. He’d always been good at multitasking on the ranch, but doing so with humans instead of cattle was a little different.
Especially trying to juggle his daily responsibilities with the huge endeavor before him.
Chad finally spotted Hannah chatting with Kenny Horton and one of his mayoral campaign assistants. He smiled to himself. As always, Hannah looked polished but still breathtakingly pretty in a jean jacket over a red floral dress. He glanced down and smiled when he spotted the cowboy boots he’d given her. He’d had them custom made for her, and the shaft was embroidered with colorful flowers dotted with bumblebees. Hannah glanced over as he approached them and broke into a smile.
“We were just talking about you,” Kenny said as he spotted Chad. “I’m so impressed with how you ran your campaign, Mr. Chairman.”
“It’s all thanks to her,” Chad said, pointing to Hannah with a smile.
“Stop.” She blushed. “I did for you exactly what I’m doing for our future mayor. Helping Kingsley get to know the man behind the name.”
“And she’s doing an amazing job at it,” the young man standing by Kenny said without looking up from his phone. “His numbers are incredible today.”
“But they won’t be if you two don’t get back to your booth,” Hannah chastised gently. “People want to talk to you, Kenny. Go shake some hands and kiss some babies.”
“Aye aye, captain,” Kenny said with a laugh as he walked away with his assistant still staring at his phone.
“Whew.” Hannah exhaled once