Chapter 5 #2
“No problem,” Link said easily as Caroline gave him a light hug and quick kiss on his cheek. “You can send him my way any day. That man knows how to work.” He grinned and moved out of the way as Zona wheeled in a massive cooler, Misty right behind her.
“Drinks,” Zona said needlessly. “I put Dawson’s favorite root beer in the fridge just for him.”
“Thank you, Zona.” Caroline beamed at everyone who’d come to support her husband. She’d never had such a robust circle of people she could count on, trust, and care for. Yes, her life had truly become something she hadn’t even dreamed it could be.
“Hey, there,” a woman said, and Caroline turned to find Brielle Marshall leading in her husband, as well as Alex, Nikki, and their twins. “We brought mac-salad.”
“Bless you,” Caroline said. “I love that stuff.” Her mouth watered at the thought of it, as she’d had Brielle’s macaroni salad before, and it tasted like perfection and a side of mayo. She did a quick check around, trying to figure out who they were missing.
“Libby,” she said.
“She’s around back,” Edith said. “But I don’t see Mitch and Lacy. Or Brandon.”
“Brandon better be with Dawson,” Caroline said. “Or we’re in trouble.”
“The two of them are trouble all right,” Link said with a laugh. He didn’t ever get more than two feet from Misty, who was even more pregnant than Caroline. In fact, Misty should’ve delivered her third baby last week, but the infant hadn’t come yet.
She looked utterly exhausted, and Caroline counted her blessings that she wouldn’t be that miserable for a few more months yet.
Someone clapped, loud, booming sounds that made Caroline cringe. All eyes turned toward the front hallway again, where Mitchell Glover stood beaming. He started signing, and while Caroline had picked up a little sign language over the years of knowing Mitch, she certainly couldn’t speak it.
Link could, though, and he laughed right out loud, his hands moving as he spoke. “Yeah, the party’s arrived all right.” He moved to hug Mitch and Lacy, quickly returning to Misty’s side.
“Hey,” Caroline said, signing hello. “Thanks for coming.”
Lacy signed everything she said, and then said, “Of course. We wouldn’t miss it.”
Mitch signed, and Lacy asked, “Where should we put the gifts?”
“Oh, I have a table in the backyard for them,” Caroline said. “You didn’t have to bring anything.”
Lacy’s hands flew as she translated for Mitch, and then they made the same signs at the same time, as if they’d rehearsed it. “Of course we did,” Lacy said, and she picked up the bright blue gift she’d set on the cooler.
Pure chaos reigned around her, and Caroline wouldn’t be anywhere else. She couldn’t stop smiling, and then the doorbell rang. And then rang again, and then again.
That was Brandon’s cue, and adrenaline spiked through Caroline, sending her heartbeat into a frenzy. “He’s here,” she said loudly. Not that it mattered. There was no way to hide thirty people, not in her and Dawson’s small farmhouse.
“He’s here. Everyone come say happy birthday!”
Somehow the word got passed, and Brandon’s loud voice from the front porch said, “Look at that, Daws. What’s goin’ on with your vines?”
“There’s nothin’ wrong with the vines, Brandon,” Dawson growled. “Go inside the house.”
Brandon did not come inside the house, and Caroline giggled to herself as the house flooded with people from the backyard. Panic hit her hard, because she might not have enough food.
It’s fine , she told herself. No one would go hungry, she knew that.
“I think it might have a disease,” Brandon yelled, still steadfastly blocking the entrance.
“I’m gonna give you a disease if you don’t go inside,” Dawson said.
Shushing started going around the room, and Caroline moved to the wall that led down the hall to the bedrooms, effectively concealing herself out of the way. Dawson would walk right past her and into the kitchen, and she’d be able to see everyone as they wished him happy birthday.
Finally, she heard footsteps, and Brandon moved past her first, Dawson hot on his heels and still grumbling under his breath. He lifted his head and said, “Something smells good in?—”
“Surprise!” The word bounced around the room as people said it at all different times. Caroline laughed, because nothing had ever been so perfect.
“Happy birthday!” she called, and that set off a round of voices crying out that greeting too.
Dawson took an actual step back, his hands hanging limply at his sides. Colt bounced on the couch—something Caroline would normally never let him do—and called, “Happy birthday, Daddy! We bringed your friends for a party!”
Joy shrieked, and somehow, by some miracle, Edith lifted her hand and everyone started singing. Tears filled Caroline’s eyes, and she couldn’t get her voice to sing Happy Birthday to her husband.
She stepped away from the wall and to his side, and he looked at her with wonder and awe in his expression. “I didn’t forget.”
He took her hand in his, squeezed it, and then lifted it to his lips. Then he grinned and grinned as the song finished. “Wow,” he said. “Thank you.”
“There’s so much food,” Caroline called. “You can eat anywhere there’s a seat, and most of them are outside.”
She stepped back, pulling her husband with her so others could get to the island and the food.
He didn’t go so far that he couldn’t talk to people and accept their congratulations.
She simply stood at his side, taking in the lights, the food, the kids, and the friends who had gathered just to celebrate him.
He looked at her, and his face softened. “You’re incredible,” he said. “This is incredible.”
“There are gifts outside.”
He chuckled. “Oh, boy. Can’t wait for that.”
The house got quieter as people got their food and went outside, and finally Dawson and Caroline joined the line to get something to eat. Caroline’s eyes were always bigger than her stomach at this point in her pregnancy, so she only took salads to start—green, potato, and macaroni.
She followed Dawson outside to the deck, hoping for a seat at the picnic table, when a shout filled the air. She couldn’t find the source of it, and then a couple of people swarmed around someone else.
They sent kids away, and Caroline finally realized—“It’s Misty.”
Then Henry whistled and shouted, “All right, everyone! Back up and clear a path for Misty. She and Link have to get to the hospital!”
Everyone sprang into motion, moving their children and holding them out of the way, then grabbing a chair and repositioning it.
Link already had his arm around Misty, and she moved with all the speed of a sloth, each step seeming to cause pain. Mitch went in front of them, waving his arms, and once they cleared the corner of the house, the whole world seemed to release its breath.
“I’ll go make sure they get off okay,” Dawson said, setting his plate down at an empty spot on the picnic table. “Sit, my love. You’ve been working too hard today.”
She did what he said, and she managed to eat a few chunks of potato before he returned. “They’re good.” Dawson looped his arm around her shoulders, and gazed out at everyone on the deck and around the fire pit. “You throw an amazing party, sweetheart.”
Caroline laughed, even as her heart raced. “Yeah, and now you’ll share a birthday with Link’s precious baby.”
Dawson grinned and grinned. “Maybe,” he said with a light laugh. “Their kids are more stubborn than ours, and maybe he’ll hold on until after midnight.”