Chapter thirty-four #3
“What!?” My eyes widen with alarm.
“I’m not sure exactly what happened. She just said it was nothing major to be worried about.
It has to do with her disease, and they are keeping her under observation at the hospital.
You might want to call her later to check in,” he reassures me.
I know Tavie’s mom struggles with Alzheimer’s disease, and last I heard, it’s been getting worse.
Shane sits me down in the center of the room near all my friends and our families, making it easy for people to come around and say hi without me having to get up every two seconds. He’s so thoughtful about these things, always looking for a way to make my life easier, and I adore him for it.
The entire room is decorated in pink and purple. There are tables along the walls with food and snacks, little guessing games with prizes for the size of my belly, when I’ll give birth, if our daughter will look like me or Shane.
Drinks are flowing and all staff seem to be on deck today because I see them passing around, cleaning up and handing out more drinks. There even seems to be a bar with a menu on top, and from what I can read from here, all the drinks have baby-themed names.
“This is so beautiful. How did you get all of this done in only a few hours?” I look at Shane as he sits down beside me.
“I had a lot of help from our friends. They were just waiting for you to leave the house to get started.” He laughs.
“Well, thank you all. This means the world to me.” My eyes grow misty as I look at every one of them.
“Of course, sweetie. You didn’t think we’d let you go without a proper baby shower or bachelorette party.” Cecilia smiles and takes my hand to squeeze it.
“Seriously, what kind of friends would we be if we did,” Emma says, grinning.
It’s then I notice she has her arm looped in with a young girl I don’t recognize.
Emma must catch my curious gaze because she feeds my curiosity immediately.
“Oh! Right, you weren’t here for introductions.
Baby Brey, I’d like you to meet my new sister, Sophie.
” She then looks at the ginger-haired girl and smiles.
“Sophie, this is another one of my friends, A.K.A. another sister to you.” She winks.
“Wait, I’m confused.” I frown, not understanding what she’s saying.
“You remember last year my father and Amanda talked about wanting to adopt? Well, Sophie here is the new addition to our family. She managed to worm her way into their hearts, and they just couldn’t let her go.” She squeezes her arm tighter around her new sister. “And I don’t blame them.”
The girl blushes madly at the attention and compliment. She must not be older than fifteen or sixteen years old, but I love that they chose an older child rather than a baby like most do. Even teenagers want a loving family, not just newborns.
“Wow, that’s amazing. Well, welcome to the family, Sophie.” I stretch out my hand to shake hers. “Run while you still can,” I whisper as she giggles and blushes again.
“Too late, I already got my claws in her.” Emma pulls her back to her side.
“Well, if she can handle Em, she can easily handle all of us combined,” Morgan says, laughing.
“Facts,” Ronnie agrees with Morg. “Emma’s the crazy one in our group.”
“Why does everyone keep saying I’m crazy!?” Emma frowns at us all, folding her arms across her chest.
“Because you are, Bunny. But we all love you for it.” My brother comes to her side and kisses her cheek.
She pushes his chest but leans into him immediately after. “You better.”
“Where are all the kids?” I look at everyone, then at Shane. “I didn’t see your sisters’ either.” All of them together should make fourteen kids running around, and that’s not including the guests that came with their own.
“All the older kids are in the pool room with two hired lifeguards,” Shane says.
“Sam and Josephine are in there as well with Dante and Gracie,” Cecilia adds on.
“Natalia, their nanny,” Em points to Morgan and Clay. “And Vivian, our new nanny, are with the babies in the living room.”
“And the dogs? Where are my babies?” I look around, expecting Cupcake to pop up any second.
“They’re in the gym. They were out before, but they started getting too excited when everyone was showing up, so we put them in there with food, water, and their beds and toys. They’re fine,” Shane reassures me. “Marianne has been checking up on them every half hour.”
“Okay.” I smile, relieved that my babies are okay. Shane is right, we are a lot of people—I’d say about a hundred.
“But seriously, Coach. What were you thinking getting five big dogs?” Silas laughs as we all join in.
A few hours later, everyone is handing over gifts, and I feel like I’ve been unwrapping for hours. Our daughter will have an ungodly amount of clothes and toys, that’s for sure. We finally reach the last gift, which is from Pamela and Adam.
Pamela hands me a white box with a light pink bow on top.
She smiles at me tenderly, then returns to her husband’s side as they hold each other lovingly.
I pull the ends of the bow, letting it unfold onto my lap, then lift the lid off and set it aside.
There’s tissue paper all over, hiding the gift beneath.
I gently peel it back and gasp when I see the beauty within.
A gold hexagon-shaped, vintage-looking music box, with little diamonds around it.
I carefully lift it out of the box and notice the little feet underneath to support it.
On the top is a small heart-shaped charm with Stellina’s name engraved into it, and on the front of the music box is another engraved message.
“My beautiful granddaughter, I love you today, tomorrow, always,” I say softly for everyone to hear as tears rise to my eyes.
“Open it,” Pamela coaxes me.
I do as she says, pulling the top back as a soft lullaby begins to play.
Inside is a small jewelry box with the Andromeda Jewels logo above it.
I pull it out, lifting the lid up, and am greeted by a gold necklace with a little gold cupcake pendant covered in diamonds.
It’s identical to the one Shane got me for Christmas, just a little smaller.
Lifting the pendant, I turn it over to glide my finger over the braille writing I was expecting on the back, but the bumps are differently placed than mine. “What does it say?” I look up at Adam and Pamela.
“Little Star,” Adam says softly.
I swallow past the emotions in my throat, my cheeks heating as well as my nose. “Thank you, this is… I don’t even have words.” I sniffle as Shane leans in and presses his lips to my temple.
“That’s not all, darling,” Shane’s mother says, nodding toward the box again.
I hand the necklace to Shane and look back into the jewelry box, finding pictures of places I don’t recognize and a bullet-point list. I retrieve them from the bottom of the box and flip through the images, finishing on a photo of the Eiffel Tower.
I look over at Shane, hoping for an explanation, but he seems just as confused as I am.
We both look up to his parents, waiting for some sort of clue as to what we are looking at.
Pamela finally speaks up. “Although the jewelry box and necklace is for Stellina, we wanted to give you a gift as well for everything you’ve done for our son and granddaughter.”
Adam places his hands on his wife’s shoulders as he continues for her.
“We know all about your love for baking and how much it means to you, so we would like to send you and Shane away for a week to France, while we watch over Stellina for you two. Of course, only when you are ready. We understand how hard it can be to be away from your child for a week. It can be next year like it can be in five. It is up to you.” He gives me an understanding grin.
“The list in there is of all the best bakeries in France. When you’re ready to take your trip, we’ll organize a whole itinerary for you both with special access to certain chefs and owners we’ve met through our visits over there,” Pamela finishes.
“Oh my God…” The tears begin to fall because this is a dream come true for me. I’ve always wanted to go but could never afford it.
“Shane, help me up,” I urgently tell him, needing to go to my in-laws and thank them properly.
Once I’m on my feet and Shane holds the gift securely in his hands, I wobble over to them and hug them both as tears streak down my face. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“You’re part of the family now, Aubrey. We only want your happiness, just like any of our other children,” Adam says, rubbing his hand up and down my arm.
Pamela hands me a tissue as we pull apart and I quickly wipe my tears, smiling at them both before reclaiming my seat on the couch.
Everyone begins to move out, going off to chitchat now that the gifts are all opened, and it’s then I spot Julian coming up in front of me with a present box in hand and seeming extremely anxious. Which is NOT like him at all.
He sets the gift down on my lap, making sure not to hit my stomach with it, then lets go once I hold it securely in place. It’s quite heavy despite it being the size of a shoebox.
“Julian? I don’t understand, you already got us a gift,” I say while lifting the top to look inside.
“Yes, well, I was informed that books are an item many forget to purchase for a child. I was simply making sure my niece did not go without. Books are knowledge and I refuse to have you raise an illiterate child.” He pulls on the sleeves of his suit, then adjusts his cufflinks that really didn’t need to be fixed, while refusing to look at me.