“No family, no fame, no memories of holidays, or hugs from those who love me to keep me warm at night. I was dust in the universe, floating off farther than I ever wanted, far faster than ever deemed safe. I was alone. In insolation, the darkness, the taste of solitude my only friends. But the gangsters rolled in like they always seem to do in the movies, but my life was no movie.
“I expected the worst, but got the best. Found out I had a family. They were looking for me. I got a Cray Cray, Glam Glam, and a hotel heiress to call my own. I’ve got a hot cop in my pocket who looks after me like I was his own. You think that’s great? That it would be enough? The universe wasn’t done. I’ve got parents, two of a kind. You know him as Hot Judge”—the crowd screams as if the building were on fire—“but I just call him Dad. He makes sure I know I’m special, safe, and best of all wanted. He says he’ll never let go. He won’t let me go back. He won’t let me be forgotten. Those days are through, and when he holds me, I know this much is true. And I’ve got me a mother—no, not the nutburger that pushed me out into this world and locked me in a box—a real mother who wraps her arms around me and tells me how much she loves me.
“She’s as sweet as she is tough. She’s not afraid to tell me how it is. She can kiss me in the morning and tell me to straighten my act in the afternoon. You know her as Hot Baker, but I just call her Mom. She makes the meanest cookies, but her life reads like a thriller. Because when she’s not baking something sweet to eat, she’s out there catching a killer.” The room breaks out into riotous hoots once again as I look breathless to the girl I love so much.
But Evie isn’t done.
“And now my life feels settled,” she continues. “I’m ready for what’s to come. Mom is having a baby, we’re growing this family. And I may not change a dirty diaper, but I’m sure as heck going to protect that kid from this cold-hearted world. I’ll make sure it knows who it is, its name is somebody, it’s special, and that it will never want for friends or be alone. It will never be forgotten, it will never be left to rot in a box. I will celebrate this child each and every day because I know how important it is, how much we need to love one another just to help each other survive. Love is the oxygen I was deprived of for so very long, and now I have it in abundance, and I won’t ever have to hold my breath again. I’ll never stop breathing. Together, we will never stop breathing.”
The room clots up with silence for less than a second, and in an instant every person in the establishment is on their feet, clapping and screaming while Everett, Carlotta, and I clap and howl the loudest. Tears stream down my face, and Everett’s face is tear-streaked, too.
He pulls me in for a monstrously strong embrace as his lips press a kiss next to my ear.
“Thank you for helping me give our sweet girl a family,” he whispers.
“It’s my honor.” My body bucks as I do my best to keep my emotions in check.
Noah comes back and sets a feast down on the table before us with coffee, cookies, brownies, cake and all.
“Did you hear that?” Noah’s dimples dig in as he sheds a wide grin. “That was our kid up there.”
I bite down on a smile. “That’s her. Our girl is gold.”
“She’s the best.” Everett holds out a hand and Noah slaps him five. “You guys are the best, too.”
I watch as Evie gets settled at a table up front with Dash, Conner, and Kyle, along with about a dozen of their other friends from school. I plan on keeping an eye on her for the rest of the night. She’s right, I can be as sweet as I can be tough, but that’s only because I care deeply about her emotional and physical safety.
The baby in my belly offers up a swift kick, and my hand quickly rises to greet it. I certainly care about you, too, Sugar Cookie.
The room breaks out into another spontaneous applause, and this time we see the exact person we were expecting tonight. Bambi Bailey stands tall, clad in black, with a pink scarf around her neck. Her red hair is teased into a beehive, and her lips shine a juicy shade of ruby. The outline of her lantern jaw is highlighted at this angle with the lights shining down over her, and there’s a warmth about her—something that screams this is a person you’d want as a friend.
She motions for the crowd to quiet down while laughing.
“Well, I’m glad to see you, too. I’m Bambi Bailey and I had something else planned to read to you, but our community lost one of our own last week so tonight all my words are for her.”
The room quiets down a notch.
“Gossip, blabber, blather,” she breathes the words into the microphone. “It’s been my bread and butter, it runs through my blood. My eyes and ears pick up what you do, and don’t think for a minute that I won’t share it with the world. But I know how to be a friend. I know where to draw the line. I know how to make you smile. I know how to make you mad. Verity Prescott, you were the
