Page 185 of Make Us Yours
Two hours later, it’s finally time for the big reveal. Everyone is seated or standing around the room while Morgan and Clay stand in the center, surrounded by their guests.
“We wanted to take the time to thank you all for being here today, to celebrate with us something we’ve all waited patiently—” Morgan giggles when the girls clear their throats the moment she says the word. “Or not so patiently for.”
Clay rubs up and down her back, his other hand resting on her belly as her eyes tear up with emotions. “We decided the best way to do our reveal today was to have you all participate in it,” he says with a smile as his mother, Johanne, and Aubrey come into the circle, carrying large platters filled with cupcakes with blue and pink swirled icing.
“You’ll all be given a cupcake—please wait until we tell you before biting into them!” He glares at some of our teammates who were just about to devour theirs. “Amongst all of them, two contain colored icing inside the treat. Either pink or blue, determining the gender of each baby. When you find it, please let us know.”
Aubrey comes over with her tray, letting us pick out the ones we want. They’reall identical on the outside, but it’s fun to get to choose the one that’s calling to you, in hopes that it will be the right one.
Gabe, Veronica, and I are all seated at one end of a couch, with little Gracie in my lap. She walked up to me thirty minutes ago and stretched out her arms in the air, clearly letting me know she wanted to sit on me. I didn’t hesitate to pick up the little princess, placing her back against my chest, and she hasn’t tried to leave since.
Every few minutes she turns her body to the side and pats my cheek with a warm and tender smile. It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, and I swear Veronica melts in her seat a little more with each time it happens.
Gabe groans beside Veronica as he looks down at the sugary treat in his hand. “Do I have to eat it?”
She smacks him in the arm with a glare. “Yes, you do. It’s one cupcake, Pretty Boy. You aren’t going to die.” She rolls her eyes at him as I chuckle, then she refocuses her attention on the couple in front of us, waiting for everyone to have their baked goods in hand.
“Okay, is everyone ready?” We all nod, a chorus of‘yes’tumbling around the room. “All right then, dig in!” Morgan clasps her hands together over her chest as she waits for someone to say something. Clay’s eyes bounce around the room, looking at everyone’s reaction.
“OH MY GOD! I got a blue!” Cecilia shouts from the opposite side of the room, bouncing in her seat.
Morgan and Clay hug each other, happy to find out one of the babies’ gender. I look to my left, finding Veronica and Gabe already taking a bite of their cupcake and looking disappointed when it comes up empty.
I quickly peel back the paper cup from mine while trying to keep it away from the toddler in my lap, then bite into the moist cake. Instantly, I feel my teeth sink into something gooey in the center of the small cup, and I pull it away. A big pink blotch of icing right in the center catches my eye.
“Pink,” I say out loud without even realizing it as I continue to stare at the soft color.
Morgan gasps as tears roll down her cheeks; her hands are now covering her mouth as she tries to control her emotions. Her eyes bore into mine when I look up at her, something flickering through them, but I can’t tell what it is.
“Oh! I’m so happy!” Johanne reaches the happy couple and hugs them both. “I can’t believe I get one of each.” She sighs happily. “Now I know you’ve talked about boy names, but you haven’t mentioned any girl ones. Did you have any in mind?”
Morgan beams widely at her. “Yes, actually we had one.”
She then turns her gaze to me, and without her even needing to say it, I know the words that are about to leave her mouth. “We agreed that if we had a daughter, we’d like to name her Trinity… for you. If that’s okay?”
I drop my head into the little girl’s hair that sits before me, emotions quickly taking over as I try to swallow them down. I take deep breaths as my eyes fill with tears, and I squeeze them shut, not wanting to cry in front of all my friends and teammates once more.
I feel Veronica’s hand gliding up and down my back soothingly as she sniffles a few times, just as many emotions coursing through her as well.
Suddenly hands press on my knees and when I lift my head, I find Morgan kneeling at my feet. “I know we didn’t get to personally know her, but I wish we had. And I wanted to do something in memory of her, for you. To show you just how much you mean to us, Noah.” She cups my cheek, stroking my cheekbone tenderly. “Your family is our family. When you miss them, we miss them too.”
“Thank you,” I croak out, then tilt my head up, pressing the thumb and finger of my free hand into my eye sockets as the tears slip out. I use the hand that still holds my half-eaten cupcake to tighten my hold around Gracie’s body as Morgan stands and returns to her husband.
“Little Tulip, no!” Emma shrieks, hands fisting her own hair, while Greyson drops his head back and groans loudly.
“Oh, no…” Veronica giggles at my side when I finally look down at the sweet little girl. I find her face buried in my cupcake, icing all over her nose and cheeks; hell, she even has some on her eyelashes.
I quickly try to pull it away, but her grabby hands latch onto it, refusing to let go. “No, princess. You’re gonna get all dirty. Damn it, I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking.” I look up to her parents.
Greyson finally laughs with a shrug. “It’s fine. We expected this to happen.”
“Clearly, she knows what’s good for her.” Cecilia giggles.
Veronica snorts. “And she’s not the only one apparently,” she says, nodding her head toward Dante, who just finished a small cupcake that was made especially for him and is now licking away at his father’s cupcake, who isn’t paying attention.
“Oh God! Dante!” Cecilia quickly grabs him.
Silas bursts with laughter. “Damn, you sneaky kid.”
