Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Uh, oh,” Marty muttered. She looked down at Peaches, who was perched on what the cat clearly now considered her spot: the top of Marty’s rounded stomach. “Peaches, it’s time to go. We have to get up.”
Marty was on the couch with one pillow behind her back, and another under her knees, one of the few positions she found truly comfortable anymore.
Peaches looked at her indignantly for a long moment, as if offended that Marty would dare to ask her to move, before nimbly climbing to the back of the couch to resume her snooze. Before she settled her eyes closed again, she gave Marty a look that said, See? I can get up easily. How about you?
Marty didn’t love that she could get scolded so effectively by a cat, but after a minute of shifting around, trying to find her balance in her new shape, she had to admit defeat.
“Wyatt?” she called.
He poked his head into the living room. “Hey, sweetheart, what’s up?”
“I’m stuck again,” she said grumpily, giving him a little glare as he stifled his laugh. “Don’t laugh at me, Wyatt Jameson! That’s your gigantic baby that’s messing up my balance.”
He reached and gave her a hand, supporting her as she got to her feet. Then he followed her as she waddled into the front hall. Everywhere she went these days, she felt like she was waddling, and putting on her shoes by herself was all but impossible. She tried not to be too grouchy about it as he helped her into her boots, then laced them up for her.
“This pregnancy thing is for the birds,” she grumbled. “I wish we were penguins. Then I could have laid the egg and just been hanging out, eating fish, while you were in charge of the egg.”
“I’m sorry I can’t make this part easier for you,” Wyatt said sympathetically, rubbing a hand over her belly. As if chiming in with agreement, the baby kicked against his hand.
Marty’s grumpiness faded in an instant. She wasn’t the biggest fan of baby kicks when they happened in the middle of the night, but daytime ones still felt like special greetings from her baby, especially when Wyatt was nearby.
“Baby says, ‘hi, Daddy,’” she reported with a smile.
Wyatt was looking down at her belly with an expression of awe, and her heart swelled. It was a lot easier to recognize the magical parts of pregnancy when he looked at her like that.
“Hi, Baby,” he said back, pressing a kiss to Marty’s bump where it was covered in her favorite maternity dress. Wyatt stood back to his full height. “And bye, baby’s mama.” He gave her a kiss too.
“I’ll probably be back in an hour or two,” Marty told him as she put her purse over her shoulder. “Hudson was kind of hush-hush about why he wanted to meet with Darla and me.”
Wyatt shrugged. “Probably wants to ask about a present for your mom’s birthday that’s coming up pretty soon. Call me if you need anything, okay?”
She agreed and headed to her car, moving as fast as she could without risking her balance. She didn’t want to be late, but she was far more concerned about taking a spill than she was about a few minutes’ tardiness.
Strangely, Hudson had asked them to meet on the far side of Blueberry Bay, at a small restaurant that was similar to many others in the area, a seafood place that catered to tourists in the summer. Marty knew there were at least four such places between her house and the location Hudson had chosen, not the least of which was her beloved Clown Fish Eatery, where she’d waited tables for many years.
She tried not to hold this snub against the Clown Fish against Hudson, even if the pregnancy hormones were making her a little less rational than usual…
When she entered the tiny restaurant just a few minutes before the scheduled time, she was surprised to see a familiar face that was neither Hudson’s nor Darla’s.
“Claire? What are you doing here?”
Claire Boone looked up in surprise, setting aside the paperback she’d had in her hand.
“Marty, hey! What a coincidence. I’m here to meet my dad.”
Marty chuckled and returned Claire’s offered embrace. “ I’m here to meet your dad. He asked Darla and me to both come. I had assumed he wanted to talk about a gift for my mom’s birthday or something.”
“Huh.” Claire frowned. “I like your mom a lot, but I don’t know that I know her well enough to give that kind of advice.”
“Weird, right?”
They sat back at the little table, Marty with a little more difficulty than Claire. When Darla came into the restaurant a minute or two later, she expressed similar surprise and confusion.
“It’s pretty unexpected,” she said as she bent to hug Marty so her pregnant sister didn’t have to try to get up and back down again. As she pulled back, a flicker of surprise crossed her face. “Wait a minute. You don’t think he?—”
“Hi, girls!” Hudson’s arrival interrupted Darla’s thought. He hurried into the restaurant, giving Claire a quick peck on the cheek and offering hugs to Marty and Darla. “I’m sorry I’m late. I had the darndest time giving Lori the slip without her suspecting that something was up.”
Marty watched him curiously. He was acting a little strange, speaking a little too quickly. He seemed nervous, which didn’t make sense. Claire was his daughter, and he knew Lori’s daughters well by this point. The whole thing was just so bizarre…
Claire seemed to think so too, although she got straight to the heart of the matter. “Dad. You’re being weird. What on earth is going on?”
Hudson fidgeted a little, then took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said slowly. “So the thing is, I want to ask Lori to marry me?—”
Anything he had been going to say next was drowned out by the excited, happy exclamations from all three women at the table. When they quieted down, Hudson gave them a sheepish grin.
“So you’re all… okay with it?”
“Okay with it?” Darla echoed, shaking her head. “Hudson, we’re thrilled.”
“Seriously, we’re so happy for you,” Marty agreed.
“Yeah, duh,” Claire said, giving her father a playful nudge.
The tension collapsed from Hudson’s shoulders. “Okay, good. That’s good. I mean, I thought you would probably be okay with it, but I didn’t want to assume. You’re all grown up now, all three of you, but that doesn’t mean you still didn’t lose parents when Stella and Craig passed… or that Lori and I aren’t still your parents who care about you more than anything. You’ve all been supportive of our relationship, but I was a little concerned that marriage might feel different. Like you might worry that we were erasing our past marriages somehow, even though neither of us feel that way.”
“None of us feel that way either,” Marty said, reaching out to squeeze Hudson’s hand, which was still clenched into an anxious fist. She felt confident enough on this matter to speak for the other two women, and they quickly nodded along. “My dad will always be my dad, and Stella will always be Claire’s mom. But you can’t listen to what those pesky fairy tales say. Having a stepmom or a stepdad will be pretty awesome for us too.”
Hudson’s eyes got a little teary and he flipped his hand around to give Marty a quick return squeeze.
“Plus,” Darla added, “we want our mom to be happy. And you. So if this is what’s going to make you happy, we’re all on board.”
“Lori’s awesome too,” Claire chimed in.
“You say that now,” Marty teased, “but as soon as you’re officially one of her daughters, she’s going to start bugging you about giving her grandbabies. Just a heads up.”
Hudson’s sheepish look returned. “She might have already mentioned that she would give, I quote, ‘one million bazillion kisses’ to any babies Claire had.”
“At least you’ll know she’ll say yes when you ask her to marry you, then.” Darla laughed.
Hudson, however, took the words seriously. “You think so?” he asked, hope and excitement making him look charmingly boyish despite his age.
“Of course she will, you doofus!” Claire said. “The only question is how you’re going to ask her.”
Hudson rubbed his hands together, starting to look excited. “Well, I do have an idea, but that’s the second part of why I asked the three of you here today. I’m recruiting you all as my help.”
“We’d be happy to help!” Darla exclaimed. “What do you have in mind?”
“Well, Lori has this place in the park she really likes.”
“Oh, the secret ‘quiet place’ bench she thinks we don’t know about?” Marty asked. “Yeah, that’s a really pretty spot. But doesn’t she go there when she’s sad?”
“I think it’s more whenever she needs a moment of peace, which is sometimes happy, sometimes sad,” Hudson clarified. “But more to the point, she was sitting there when I ran into her and offered to help sell the Burrows house. You remember that big first project we worked on?” The women all nodded. Lori had been losing her mind trying to keep up with the ever-changing commands of her wealthy and eccentric client.
“Well,” Hudson continued, “that’s where it all began for us, when we started moving from rivals to?—”
“Being adorable and in love?” Claire offered.
Marty thought that beneath his beard, Hudson might be blushing.
“Um, yes. That. Anyway, do you think it’s a good idea?”
Marty thought Claire might have teased her father a little more, but Darla took pity on him.
“It’s an amazing idea,” she reassured him. “Mom is a total firecracker, full of life, but I think a kind of quiet proposal will be perfect for her. It will let the moment shine, instead of the scenery.”
Hudson was looking happier and happier. “You don’t think she’ll want it to be too private though, do you? Because I was hoping that you all would be there… and Rick, Liam, and Wyatt, of course. I wanted to make it a family event, since we’ll be formally merging our families together.”
“Of course! We wouldn’t miss it,” Claire said at once, while Darla nodded along.
“Not to be the boring logistics one,” Marty said, “but do you know when you’re going to do it? Because I can’t make any promises about when Baby Jameson decides it’s time for the grand entrance.” She pointed down at her belly.
“Well, not to sound overeager,” Hudson said with a quiet chuckle, “but I’m hoping for sooner rather than later. Now that I have your blessing, I don’t want to wait any longer. So hopefully Baby Jameson will attend the event while still warm and cozy inside their mama.”
“I’ll have Liam check his schedule at the firehouse. Worst case, he might be able to ask someone to swap shifts with him,” Claire said, already sending a text.
“We’re flexible too,” Darla confirmed. “Rick has a smooth schedule this time of year, since he’s not going out to whale watch, and I can move around when I’m at the museum as needed.”
“Same,” Marty confirmed. “I already have my replacement trained to cover Sand ‘n’ Things while I’m on maternity leave.”
Hudson beamed at their acceptance. “You’re all amazing. I have to bolt before your mom realizes that my ‘quick errand’ was a total sham and the surprise is ruined, but thank you, thank you all. We’ll be in touch, okay?”
He hastened out the door, leaving the three women in slightly shocked silence.
“Can you believe it?” Darla asked. “Getting married!”
“I can and I can’t, if that makes sense,” Marty said. “I mean, they’re obviously in love, but also wow! It’s a big step.”
To Marty’s surprise, even-keeled Claire suddenly burst into tears.
“Oh my goodness, guys,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I just realized. We’re going to be sisters .”