Chapter 32
Bolo
“You sure you’re okay with this?” I asked, looking down at Devyn.
She smiled at me and nodded. “Honestly? Joining the dinners together means one less night out. That’s more than okay with me.”
I frowned, but bit my tongue. She was getting more and more tired as the pregnancy went on. She’d just hit nineteen weeks and most days she couldn’t make it to dinnertime without a nap. I didn’t know jack shit about pregnancy, but just judging by what Dev was going through it was tough.
Which was why when my mom called and asked if she could maybe talk to Hope, Devyn’s mom, about combining the dinners I’d been all for it. I wasn’t a stupid man though, and I’d run it by Devyn first.
There was some risk, of course. A family of seven, with all daughters, meeting a family of five with all sons was potentially a disaster waiting to happen.
The sisters meeting all my MC brothers would be more than a disaster—it would be a wave of potential pregnancies—so I was glad we were holding off on that for now.
But I suspected our two moms were going to keep everyone in line tonight.
There was one more surprise waiting for Devyn inside, but this one I didn’t ruin. I opened the door to my parents’ house and let her go in first.
There was a soft chorus of ‘surprise!’ called out, mostly in female voices because my brothers were grumpy as fuck to be at a baby shower. It was obvious my parents hadn’t told them that they’d made this dinner into a shower as well.
At every doctor’s appointment, which was happening fairly frequently to keep an eye on Dev’s blood pressure, Dr. Natalie kept moving the goal post for the birth.
When we first saw her, it was ‘we’re hoping to have this baby anywhere from thirty-eight to forty weeks’.
Then it was ‘I’m hoping to get you to thirty-six weeks’.
The last appointment had been a slightly strained smile as she said, “I’m still hoping for thirty-six but I’ll take thirty-four. ”
I’d asked her why she kept saying that and she’d explained that with Dev’s blood pressure still going higher, and needing higher dosages of the medication to bring it down, we could be looking at pre-eclampsia later in the pregnancy.
I’d made the mistake of looking that up later, even after Dr. Natalie had explained that it was hypertension with signs of damage in other organs, like the liver and kidneys.
She had us watching for pain on Dev’s right side, especially in the upper abdomen, severe headaches, blurry vision, and swelling.
Devyn had shown her the swelling that had shown up in her feet over the last week.
Dr. Natalie had smiled and assured us that some swelling was normal.
And that there was no guarantee that pre-eclampsia was going to take us out, but that it was a risk.
An increasing risk.
Once Devyn had told her mom that, she’d called my mom and they started planning. Since they didn’t know when we were really going to have this baby, we all figured it was better to do a party now.
“Oh, wow,” Devyn said, voice breathy as she tried to hold back tears.
They’d decorated in blues, greens, and browns. Mom had mentioned it was an into-the-woods baby theme and there were pictures of baby animals all over the decorations and even on the cake.
I let go of Devyn’s hand as she stepped forward to start the hugging debacle. I eyed Relay, who was standing next to me. “I’m not hugging you, asshole.”
He glowered at me. “Good. Don’t fucking touch me.”
“Can we maybe not have a bunch of cussing at your baby shower?” my mother muttered at me, arching a brow. “Behave yourselves. I want to make a good impression. Something I haven’t been able to do very often since having the three of you. In fact, this might be the first time it’s been possible.”
“Hey!” Isaac said, sounding affronted. “What did I do?”
She eyed him. “Don’t even try to act like you’re the innocent one here.” Then she went over for her turn at hugging my girl.
Dad chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s going to make your lives miserable if you ruin this party. So I suggest you paste some smiles on your faces before she comes back.”
Isaac bared his teeth in a completely fake grin, making Dad laugh again.
Relay huffed out a breath, but managed to erase the scowl from his face. It really was an improvement.
“Congrats,” Relay said.
“You better have gotten me a damn good gift,” I told him.
He was fighting the glower that wanted to return to his expression. “The gift’s not for you, dickhead. It’s for the baby. Or maybe your old lady, but definitely not for you.”
“Bolo.”
Glancing over, I found Devyn watching me with an expectant look. She was standing there with her entire family and there were a lot of curious eyes on me. That was fine. I wasn’t shy. Smiling, I walked up. “Wow. Devyn never mentioned she had five sisters.”
Tossing a grin over my shoulder, I saw Dad, Relay, and Isaac all roll their eyes at the same time. They really didn’t understand the art of getting women to like you. At least Dad had managed to land Mom. The other two were going to be alone forever because they were grumpy assholes.
The women all laughed and Devyn’s dad grinned at me. “Devyn mentioned you were a smooth talker.”
“Did she?” I asked, giving her a pleased look.
“No,” she replied, casting a look at her father that clearly said, ‘shut up’. “Because saying something like that would just give you a bigger head than you already have.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible,” one of the sisters said. I was pretty sure it was Audrey, the youngest, just based on age. But they were all pretty close in age so I could be wrong. She slapped her hands over her mouth, her cheeks going pink.
“What Audrey meant,” another sister said, patience and calmness surrounding her like she wore it as armor, “is that you’re already a big man.”
“I’m pretty sure I liked the way Audrey said it,” Devyn said with a teasing grin.
Laughing, I wrapped an arm around her. “Good thing you like my big head.”
“Yeah, for some reason I do.” She shook her head.
“Bolo, this is my father, Mike, my mom, Hope, and my sisters in order of oldest to youngest.” She pointed at the sister who’d tried to explain for the youngest. “Sophie.” Then continued pointing and rattling off names. “Vivian, Shay, and of course, Audrey.”
“It’s nice to meet you all,” I said, leaning forward and shaking their hands. “You’ve met my mother, Shannon. Those three back there are Chad, Relay, and Isaac. I’ll let them explain who’s who. It might be the only time they talk all night.”
“We have plenty of food,” Mom told everyone. “We made some of your favorites,” she told Devyn.
“Thank you so much for this,” Devyn told her, reaching out and squeezing her hand. “I don’t know what to say.”
“It’s our pleasure, sweetheart,” Mom told her.
“I wasn’t sure what some of your favorite foods were, Bolo,” Hope said as we walked into the kitchen.
“He doesn’t have favorites,” Relay told her. “As long as it’s food, he’ll love it. He’s like a dumpster. You can dump anything in him and he’ll be happy.”
“I always thought of him like a feral raccoon,” Dad argued.
“Chad!” Mom snapped, giving her husband and sons a stern look.
Isaac shut his mouth because he’d been about to join in. All three of them fell silent.
I was smart enough to wait until Mom turned around and started talking with Hope before I gave them a condescending look and started silently laughing at them for getting into trouble. All three flipped me off.
Devyn caught the gestures and bit her lips to keep from laughing.
There was a table set up and it was overflowing with gifts.
There was no one here but our family, so I wasn’t sure why there were so many presents on that table.
I’d asked Mom and Hope to spread the word, but also keep it a secret.
I was working on my own gift for Devyn and our son and I didn’t want anyone else to buy those things inadvertently.
We ate dinner and to both Mom and my shock Dad and my brothers were actually semi-charming. I watched Devyn closely to make sure she ate enough and wasn’t getting too tired, but she actually looked more energetic than usual.
I liked her family a lot. They were great. And she seemed to be getting along with mine just fine as well. I wasn’t sure this could go any better. Well, maybe it could. My eyes found Devyn from across the room and I made my way over to her.
They’d already cut the cake and everyone was digging in. I leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I have something else in mind for dessert.”
She looked up at me, her eyes wide, and shook her head. “No way. I-”
“They’ll never miss us,” I told her.
“We’re the guests of honor, Bolo. They’ll absolutely miss us.”
“Not if we hurry.” I took her hand and she set her little paper plate down on a table and followed me up the stairs. I brought her into the bathroom and locked the door. “Alone at last.”
She laughed. “You’re insane.”
I reached out to put my hands on her hips, pulling her closer. “If I am, it’s your fault,” I said, leaning down to press a kiss to her lips.
“Your parents are great,” she said after I broke off the kiss. Her arms came up to wrap around my neck.
I grinned. "They like you."
“They’re all so excited. I am too,” she admitted.
I rubbed my hands over her belly. “We’re almost halfway there. A few more months suddenly feels soon.”
She leaned into me and I held her close, loving the feel of her body against mine. I’d never get tired of it, never get enough of her. “Can we stop talking about our families now?” I asked. Dipping my head to the side, I kissed her neck. “I have plans for you and I don’t want to think about them.”
She laughed. “Okay.”