Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
C assidy tried to get to Warrick alone to find out what had happened and why he was in the trough with Dylan. However, as he entered the house and swept Cricket into his arms, the reason Cassidy couldn’t get to Warrick was because her brothers and her cousins were smiling, laughing, and chatting with him. That had to be a good sign. That and the fact that Warrick even came back into the house instead of running away.
“We’ve made a terrible mistake,” Sophie whispered to her as she came to help Cassidy bring the food out.
“What?”
“Now that you’re married off, our fathers are starting the biggest badass grandchild competition. My dad is already talking strategy with Nash, which is a mistake to begin with. Everyone knows it’s my mom you go to for that kind of thing,” Sophie said with a roll of her eyes, making Cassidy laugh.
“Hey.” Cassidy felt Warrick’s warmth before he placed his lips on her neck and his hand on her hips. “Do we have anything planned for tomorrow? The guys invited me to the training center.”
Cassidy smiled to herself. He sounded so excited and that meant everything went well. “We don’t have anything planned. You’ll have a lot of fun. I take it the interrogation went well.”
“Two draws, but I ended the last tie with a win and I won all the rest. However, it was hard. Your cousins are really talented. I didn’t expect a chef to be able to do what he did with a spoon.”
Cassidy laughed as her grandmother rang the dinner bell. Chairs were pulled out as people rushed to their spots. A kids’ table was set up in the corner of the living room and three folding tables had been brought out to extend the dining room table all the way through the living room. There was a lot of passing of plates, water pitchers, wine, and bourbon.
Cassidy loved having Warrick by her side, talking to her family, but they were interrupted by her grandmother tapping her wooden spoon on the table.
“Stop wasting the wine and Cady’s bourbon,” Grandma Marcy said with impatience. “Just give it up. We all know there’re four of you pregnant here.”
“Sienna and Greer,” Gemma said, turning to look down the table. “Who are the other two?”
“No, there’re four more people besides Sienna and Greer who are pregnant,” her grandma said and Cassidy looked at Warrick.
Warrick cleared his throat and Cassidy’s mother’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Not, four, but five additional women, ma’am.”
“Warrick,” Cassidy’s father said, with a deadly calm that told Cassidy he was about to freak out.
“No! Not us,” Cassidy quickly said, clarifying the situation.
“Yet,” Warrick responded.
“Marrying my daughter, wanting babies, and he can cook! In your face, ladies!” Cassidy shook her head as her mom did a little dance in her chair.
“You’re kind of getting ahead of yourself, Mom. We’re not engaged.”
“Again, yet.” Warrick winked at her mother and Cassidy about melted in her chair.
“You’re good, young man. But not as good as I am. There’s not four, there’s not five, there’s six who haven’t shared their good news with us,” Grandpa Jake said as everyone began to look around the room as Grandma Marcy began to cry happy tears.
“At this point, it might be easier to say who isn’t pregnant,” Miles muttered as he began to eye his daughter, Layne.
“Well, who is it?” Aunt Katelyn shouted as she kept looking at her children, Sophie and Wyatt.
“Matt and I are going to have a second baby,” Riley said into the silence.
Cassidy looked up at the table as Riley and Reagan, Cy and Gemma’s twin girls, stood up with their husbands, Matt and Carter.
“Twins, you know?” Reagan said, smiling. “We do everything together, including having our children. We’re also both pregnant with baby number two.”
Aunt Gemma and Uncle Cy both looked ready to cry as everyone congratulated the twins.
“Two down, four more to go,” Aunt Katelyn said, causing everyone to start looking at each other suspiciously again.
“I confess!” Sophie called out with a big smile on her face. “Nash and I are having our second baby too.” Aunt Annie screamed and cried. Uncle Cade shook Nash’s hand before hugging him.
“Since I’m a doctor, I should have figured this out sooner,” Jace said to the table holding up his glass of bourbon. “But my beautiful wife and I will be having a baby next year too.” Jace leaned down and kissed Stella before Tammy could push him aside to hug Stella.
“I’m going to be an aunt again!” Cassidy squealed, hugging her brother and then her sister-in-law. “Okay, that’s all I got. What about you, Grandma?”
“That’s all I knew about too. I must say, it’s bugging me that I was off by one,” Grandma Marcy said.
“Two, dear,” Grandpa Jake reminded her.
“I might believe one, but I don’t believe two.”
Grandpa Jake sat back down after hugging Jace and Stella. “I bet you two of your apple pies, made just for me, that there are two more great-grandbabies making their arrival next year.”
“And if I’m right?” Grandma Marcy asked as suddenly everyone was looking between the grandparents and not the women around the table.
“I’ll make you two pounds of beef jerky.”
“No deal. If I win, I want you to let me get two Highland cows.”
“You know,” Grandpa Jake said about their argument over fluffy cows. “Deal. Because I know I’m right.”
“What if I’m right? Do I get one apple pie?” Warrick asked, cutting the cow-tension and making people laugh.
“Deal. Warrick? Who do you think it is?” Grandma Marcy asked.
Warrick looked next to him.
“Busted,” Landon said with a laugh as he and Kate stood up. “We have a little one coming next year too.”
“Congrats, coach,” Warrick said before Landon and Kate were swept up in hugs from Annie and Cade, who were crying over the fact both of their children were having babies.
After the congratulations died down, everyone looked at the remaining women.
“It’s not me,” Willa said, chugging her wine to prove her point.
“Not me either,” Tilly said.
“Not me,” Camila added.
Walker cleared his throat. “Layne.”
Layne shook her head. “It’s not me.”
“Yes, it is,” Walker whispered as everyone leaned forward to listen. “The night of Cady’s ‘interrogation’ at family dinner. Remember? You dragged me out of here and we made it as far as the neighbor’s before you made me pull over, flipped my ballcap backward, and I leaned against that tree and then lifted you up and—”
“Hey,” Stella said with a smile. “We got pregnant that night too.”
“Same,” Riley and Reagan said.
Kate blushed but nodded. “Yeah, it was a good night. That’s when we got pregnant too. So, does this mean we’re all due on the same day?”
“Oh, Jake! I need to call the hospital and reserve the entire maternity wing. I need to start baking!”
“Sit down, dear. We’re not done yet.” Grandpa Jake patted her hand as they all went back to staring at Layne.
“Layne, you’re pregnant. I know it and your grandpa knows it. How do you not know it?” Walker asked.
“But I’d just gone off my birth control. It doesn’t happen that fast. You know my periods are irregular. That’s why it took a while to get Carolina,” Layne whispered back.
“I know your body, Layne. Every inch.” Walker said as Miles cringed. “Your breasts are larger. You haven’t been eating breakfast. And you have been complaining about being tired. Does that sound familiar?”
Layne’s eyes went big. “Does anyone have a pregnancy test?”
“No need. I’m telling you, you’re pregnant,” Walker said smugly as Grandpa Jake nodded.
“Oh no. If I owe this old goat two pies, I want two lines,” Grandma Marcy said glancing around until she saw Jace. “You’re a doctor. Don’t you have one?”
“At the office,” Jace told her.
“Well, no one gets dessert until I see a test.”
Chairs were kicked back as everyone raced out the door.
“They do know just one person could get one, right?” Warrick asked when soon just he, Cassidy, Walker, Layne, and the president’s guard members were left at the table.
“It looks as if I at least owe you a pie, young man,” her grandmother said to Warrick with a smile. “So nice having you in the family. Now, when are you going to make an honest woman out of my granddaughter?”
“As soon as I can.”
“Good, because any man who can make mac and cheese this good needs to be my grandson.”
The front door was flung open and Kate slammed a pregnancy test down on the table. “I had one in the car. Does this get me a pie?”
Layne headed to the bathroom as the text went out bringing everyone back to the house. By the time the table was full again, Layne stepped out of the bathroom holding a test. “I can’t believe I’m saying this. Walker is right. I’m pregnant.” She then promptly burst into tears as Walker, Miles, and Morgan wrapped her up in a tight hug.
“It was that wall lean and then the baseball cap. I can’t believe it. We’re having another baby!” Layne jumped up and down as she hugged her family.
“I’d like my first pie tomorrow,” Jake said to his wife who was misty-eyed. “And my second pie on Friday.”
“Oh Jake! We’re having so many more great-grandchildren! There’s no way I can die happy now. I have too much to do to help them get ready.”
“Like baking my pies,” Jake smirked before kissing his wife.