“I honestly believe she meant it,” Wade said.
“I do, too. And it meant a lot to me. I don’t think we’ll be best friends overnight, but I think we’ll get there.”
He smiled. “That’s what she said.” He touched a strand of hair that the damp air had turned into a corkscrew curl. Just as she’d said earlier in reference to his niece’s curly hair, he loved running Gabi’s curls through his fingers. “Now, what are your plans for the rest of the evening?”
“I haven’t made any. I just started out for a walk and impulse brought me here.”
“Have you had dinner?”
“Of course, but I’m always starving.”
“Any strong opinions about ice cream?”
“Absolutely,” she said, her expression brightening. “Cover it with hot fudge sauce and I’m in.” Just as the words left her mouth, her eyes widened in surprise and she put a hand on her belly. “If that kick is anything to go by, the baby agrees. She’s going to be a girl after my own heart.”
Which meant, for Wade, that she’d be irresistible, too.
As they walked to the closest ice cream shop, Wade noted that though Gabi seemed at peace with her decision, there was something still troubling her.
“You said something before about being uncertain how you’d manage as a single mom,” he reminded her. “Is that really bothering you? I know I kind of dismissed it, but maybe it’s something we should talk about.”
She glanced over at him. “Do you really want to listen to me weighing all these pros and cons and tossing my insecurities out there for you to dissect?”
“If it’s weighing on you, absolutely.”
She nodded at the conviction in his voice. “Okay, I know I’m a competent human being,” she began.
He merely smiled at the understatement.
“But just as you said a minute ago, I set goals. I go after what I want. I have long-range plans and strategies.”
“Okay,” he said, not entirely seeing the problem yet.
“I haven’t even bought the first bootie for this baby,” she lamented. “I have no idea where I’m going to live, so I can hardly set up a nursery. I’m playing at this whole wind-chime thing, which is not exactly a surefire career path.”
“And none of that seemed as terrifying when you were convinced you were going to give your child up for adoption,” he guessed.
“Bingo! Suddenly I’m feeling completely overwhelmed.” She wrinkled her nose. “I have to say, I don’t much like it.”
Wade laughed, even though he knew it was the wrong reaction. At her immediate frown, he said, “Sorry. It’s just that no one is ever entirely ready to have a baby, especially a first baby. You know Louise. She’s probably every bit as compulsive as you’ve even dreamed of being, and she was absolutely freaked out before Bryce got here, even with Zack completely on board and me dancing attendance whenever he couldn’t be around.”
Gabi looked intrigued by his revelation. “Louise was freaked out?”
“You have no idea. She spent one entire week visiting private day-care centers and preschools. This in an area that doesn’t have competitive waiting lists for these things. And, let me add, she was about as far along as you are now.”
Gabi was smiling now. “I wonder if she still has the lists she made?” she murmured.
“I can just about guarantee it. Now, do you think you can let this go for the rest of the evening and enjoy your ice cream?”
“In a minute,” she said. “Do you have your cell phone with you?”
He pulled it out of his pocket. “Here you go.”
“Is Louise’s number programmed in?”
Wade pulled it up and dialed, then handed her the phone. “I’ll go inside and get the sundaes,” he told her, but she was already hitting his sister with a barrage of questions.
Heaven help him! He’d wanted those two to get along. He hadn’t realized that the bond they were likely to forge might exclude him, even for a half hour at a time, which seemed likely right now.
* * *
Gabi slept late on Saturday morning. When she finally wandered into the kitchen, she was startled to find both Emily and Samantha sitting there with big glasses of sweet tea.
“Where’d you two come from?” she asked. “And are you here to double-team me about something?”
“Not everything is about you,” Emily said, then gestured toward two huge boxes sitting across the room. “Bridesmaid dresses. I found the perfect choices, so I had the store pack them up, ship them over and called Samantha to meet me here.”
“Oooh, let’s see,” Gabi said, reversing directions to head toward the boxes.
“Not yet,” Emily said. “I promised Grandmother she could be here when you try them on. I had my wedding dress sent over, too. I had the final fitting last week and unless something dramatic happens, like too many pieces of Grandmother’s pie or bowls of Jerry’s crab soup, I am ready to walk down the aisle.” She frowned. “Well, except for the veil and the shoes and the bouquet, anyway.”
“Are you sure we have to wait?” Gabi said, eyeing the boxes impatiently.
“Yes,” Samantha said in her firmest big-sister voice. “You know how disappointed Cora Jane will be if we don’t wait for her. She wants to make an occasion of this.”
“Besides,” Emily added, “I understand we have other news to discuss that could take some time.”
“You heard that I’ve decided to keep the baby,” Gabi said. “And that it’s a girl.”
“All of that,” Emily agreed, giving her a fierce hug. “I’m so thrilled for you.”
“And for us,” Samantha said, giving Gabi a hug, as well. “We’re going to be aunts!”
“Have you started thinking about names?” Emily asked.
“Can we go shopping for baby clothes now?” Samantha wanted to know. “I saw the cutest little outfits the other day. I was dying to buy them.”
Gabi laughed. “Hey, slow down, you two. I just made this decision yesterday. I’m still getting used to it.”
Her sisters exchanged a look.
“Meaning she
