Chapter 7 #2
“Rae and I have some news,” he started, his smile stretching wide. I’d only seen him look this happy twice before. The first time was when he proposed and Rae said yes, and the second was the moment the officiant pronounced them husband and wife.
“Oh my god.” Mom gasped, dropping her fork with a clatter and slapping her hands over her mouth as her eyes welled up. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
Rae let out a giddy giggle and nodded her head. “Yes.”
“We’re having a baby!” Zach crowed proudly.
The entire table erupted at that. Chairs scraped across the floor as people pushed up.
My mom rushed around the table and scooped Rae into a tight hug as my father did the same to Zach.
The sounds of celebration filled the air but as it came at me, it was muffled, like my head was stuck under water.
That pang from earlier returned, making my chest tight as envy sank its claws deep and tried hard to take root.
“Lenni.” I blinked, Raylan’s rough, low voice in my ear pulling me back from the ledge. I pulled in a breath and met his gaze, surprised to see concern swimming in his eyes. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. I shook my head, ridding it of the last of that ugly jealousy that had tried getting the best of me.
“Yeah. I’m okay,” I repeated, the words coming out stronger as the happiness and joy of the moment finally penetrated.
“I’m great,” I said loudly as I rose from my chair and rounded the table.
“I’m going to be an aunt!” I cried, practically shoving my mom out of the way in order to get to my sister-in-law.
It took me a second to get back to myself and remember that all I wanted for the people I loved most in the world was for them to be happy. It was clear from the looks on their faces that this baby was going to bring so much joy to my brother and Rae, and that was all that mattered.
“You’re going to be the best aunt in the whole world,” Rae said into my ear as she returned my tight embrace.
Her voice held a watery quality, and when I pulled back, I found her eyes swimming with happy tears. The sight of them brought on my own.
“I really am, aren’t I?” I joked on a sniffle. Both of us started giggling. “I’m going to spoil that kid rotten.”
“Ah, hell.” Zach grumped, but there was no real annoyance in his tone as he pulled me to him. “I swear to God, if you teach our kid to do even half the shit you did when you were younger, I’ll shave your head in your sleep.”
I pulled back and scowled, but it lacked any anger. “I wasn’t that bad.”
A shotgun blast of laughter erupted from my mom. “Not that bad? Are you forgetting about the time you tried sneaking out your bedroom window to attend that party I said you couldn’t go to?”
“That was one time,” I defended.
Mom’s eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms. “Yeah, because you got stuck halfway down and had to yell for me and your dad to pull you back in.”
Zach arched a brow, humor curving his lips upward. “What about the time you tried to give yourself a haircut?”
“I was three! I didn’t know any better, and I really wanted bangs.”
To this day, my mom loved pulling out photos from those months and showing people the hack job I’d done on my hair.
“True, but you weren’t three when you tried riding a horse bareback after being told not to and ended up breaking your arm.”
“I would have been fine if Serendipity hadn’t gotten spooked.”
Zach’s gaze turned challenging. “Or when Grandpa told you to stay out of that old, dilapidated pole barn ’cause there were rattlesnakes?”
“I heard it was haunted and wanted to see a ghost.”
“What about when you climbed that half rotted tree and nearly killed yourself fallin’ out of it?”
I lifted my chin and folded my arms over my chest. “Billy Gibbons bet me five dollars I couldn’t get to the top. Proved that little shit wrong, didn’t I?”
“Is that the same Billy Gibbons I caught you makin’ out with in the hay loft?”
At Zach’s question, my father proceeded to choke on the swig of beer he’d just taken. “What?” her sputtered hoarsely.
“I was sixteen!” I jabbed an accusing finger in my brother’s direction. “And don’t act like you didn’t do the same damn thing. At least we were just kissing. More than one ranch hand has been unfortunate enough to have seen your naked ass when they caught you up there.”
Rae tried to stifle her giggle just then, but failed. “Connor busted us up there just last week. Ran off screaming about going blind.”
“See?” I waved my hand in her direction. “I wasn’t the only one who caused trouble around here.”
Mom came over to me and squished my cheeks together again. “True. But you’re the only one who made an art out of it.”
I wanted to argue, but she wasn’t exactly wrong. As much as I wanted to deny it, I came by the nickname Raylan gave me honestly. I caused more than a little chaos growing up.
Grandpa started laughing then. Big, boisterous belly laughs exploded through the room and silenced the rest of us. After a handful of seconds, Grandma joined him, the two of them cracking up while the rest of us stared on in confusion.
Mom slammed her hands down on her hips as her eyes darted between the two of them. “What’s so funny?”
Grandma gave her a loving smile. “Just the pot calling the kettle black, honey bunch.”
“All the wild in our girl here came straight from you,” Grandpa said on a chuckle. “You forget the time you beat those preppy assholes at the bar to hell with nothin’ more than a broom handle? Bent that sucker clean in half.”
Zach and I both laughed. We’d heard that story more than once, and never got tired of it. My mom was a badass.
“Just how the women in this family are. Wild mustangs,” Grandpa continued. “And just like what happened with you, she’ll find herself a man one day who’ll see all that wild as the beauty it is.”
I didn’t miss the wink my father gave my mom. He never once hid the fact that he loved her particular brand of crazy.
There was a part of me that was moved by my grandfather’s words, that wanted so badly for them to be true. But the other part was worried that I might not turn out as lucky as my grandmother and mother had.