Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“Humor him,” Brooks says, his voice low only for me. “He’s really excited.”
“I know. I am, too, but hijacking the family party?”
“Kills two birds with one stone. We’d all be at both, regardless.” He hugs me and calls out his goodbye to Maverick and Ada.
“Are you mad?” Maverick asks from where he’s sitting on the floor, pretending to eat a plastic banana that Ada handed him.
How can I ever be mad at this man? “No. I’m not mad. I just feel bad we’re taking over the New Year’s celebration.”
Maverick shrugs. “They’d all be at both, regardless.”
I smile when he recites Brooks’s earlier words to me. “Yeah,” I agree. Looks like I have an engagement party to get ready for.
“Wow,” I say, walking into Kincaid Central. The entire place is decorated. There are enlarged pictures of Maverick, Ada, and me, some with his family and some just the three of us. There are also a few from our first trip to Sunflower Park. There are fairy lights strung overhead and so many other decorations I can’t take them all in at once.
“When did you get these pictures blown up?”
“Oh, that was Sterling. He did something similar with Alyssa, and they thought it would be a nice touch.”
“It’s perfect.” He leads me to a table with desserts. There’s a cake decorated in black and gold with a topper that reads, Kiss me at midnight. There are cupcakes decorated in gold and black as well. Some have plastic wedding rings; some have miniature black top hats that say Happy New Year. There are some with our initials M&S on a stick and others that read, She said yes! It’s over the top and perfect. I couldn’t have done it better myself.
“When did you have time to do all of this in the last week?”
“About that.” Maverick grins as he scratches the back of his neck.
“There’s my niece.” Archer takes Ada into his arms and rushes off with her.
“Well?” I ask Maverick.
“I started planning a while ago.”
“What’s a while ago?”
“After our pre-proposal. I knew you were going to say yes. You’d already said yes, so I kind of started putting things into motion.”
“How did you pull this off without me knowing?”
“My sisters-in-law, my mom, your grandma. All the ladies were onboard. I told them the things I wanted, and they told me it was too much, and I told them I wanted it anyway, and they made it happen.” He doesn’t look even a little bit sorry for it either.
“It’s great, Mav. Thank you.”
“Oh, there’s more. This is just the basics.”
“There is so much attention to detail to incorporate both parties. How can this only be the basics?”
“You’ll see,” he says cryptically. He kisses me quickly, but I’m being pulled away by Alyssa and Jordyn.
“Should you ladies be tugging on me like that? It might send you both into labor,” I tease.
“Stop.” Alyssa giggles, holding her belly. She’s only got a few more weeks to go before we get to meet her little one. She and Sterling decided to be surprised. Jordyn and Ryder did, too, so we’re all on pins and needles, waiting on the arrival of their little ones.
“Do you love it?” Jordyn asks.
“I do. It’s a little much.” I chuckle.
“We tried to tell him,” Ramsey says, joining us. “He was insistent.”
“He’s too much.” I’m smiling so big my face hurts.
“We knew he would be like this. We told him when he falls, he’s going to fall hard.”
“He’s definitely over the top.”
Ramsey waves me off. “Let him. That’s Maverick’s love language. He’s always been a little extra in… well, everything,” she says, and we all laugh at her reasoning. She’s not wrong.
The conversation turns to their pregnancies, and Ramsey tells us that she and Deacon are trying for another baby. Eventually, the other ladies join us. We’re all sitting at the long kitchen table chatting. The men are off doing who knows what. I’ve learned that the brothers are a pack. It doesn’t matter what one is doing, the others are all in. From moving to putting together baby furniture to New Year’s and engagement parties. They’re by each other’s sides, no matter what.
At a few minutes before midnight, Maverick announces that there’s about to be a show. Not sure what he’s talking about, we bundle up the kids that aren’t already fast asleep, and step outside on the back patio where the grill and firepit are.
We’re all huddled together when Maverick comes to stand by us and wraps me in his arms. “Bug, Daddy is so glad you’re still awake.”
“She took a power nap and is ready to party again,” I tell him. I know it’s all the excitement and noise that’s keeping her up. The only two that are crashed are Caden and Beckham. I think those boys could sleep through anything.