Page 107 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

She would next time... once she had that conversation with Luca.

“Grace is doing well. Baby Wesley seems to be up and wanting to eat nonstop,” her mother said.

“If I had Grace cooking for me all the time, I’d never sleep,” she said around a mouthful.

“Now you’re being silly,” her father said.

“Always. What about Natalie?” she asked. “She had the baby after my last day. Did I hear what they named him?”

Natalie Bond, a distant cousin of hers.

“Graham,” her mother said.

“Nope, didn’t hear that. I would have remembered that.”

“Natalie is complaining that she doesn’t get to hold her son as much. Arik won’t give him up.”

She laughed. “That’s very sweet.”

And made her think of Luca. He’d be the same way. She had no doubt.

“Any word on their wedding?” Justine asked. “Or staying engaged for a bit?”

“I think I heard in the spring. Maybe May? It will be at The Retreat.”

“Not surprising,” she said. Since Natalie worked there, she’d have access to available dates of her choosing.

“May is good,” Justine said.

There was that smirk again. What the hell?

She wasn’t going to let them off the hook. “You’ll just need to buy a bigger dress, huh?” she asked.

Justine’s jaw dropped. “How did you know?”

“Yes,” she said, putting her fist in the air, standing up and doing a little dance, then spinning in a circle. “I called it.”

“Are you pregnant?” her mother asked, moving closer and ready to grab her daughter-in-law in for a tight squeeze.

“I am,” Justine said. “Due July fifteenth, so a little over four months.”

Her mother pulled Justine close, giving her a huge hug, then Gabriela nudged her mother out of the way and did the same. “I can’t believe you kept this a secret the whole time.”

Garrett’s smile dropped and she felt her heart pound more than it should be. “We weren’t sure. Or we were, but then...”

“Then I started to bleed a few weeks after I tested positive. They said it was normal and fine, everything still looked good, but I bled a few more times up until two months ago. I think wewere just kind of skittish. It wasn’t like I was getting my period, but any signs at all raised the flags.”

“Understandable. But it’s all good now?”

“It stopped around nine weeks. Then once we got out of the first trimester, we wanted to wait until my next appointment a few weeks ago and decided to tell you all tonight.”

“On my birthday,” Garrett said proudly. “And to give you the last piece of the news. It’s a girl. We found out two days ago.”

She screamed loud enough to have everyone covering their ears. “I’m going to have a niece. I can spoil her rotten. Buy her all the pink dresses and teach her cuss words.”

“Gabriela,” her father said sternly. “Enough.”

“She’s going to do it,” Garrett said, the smile still not leaving his face. “The more you tell her no, the faster she’ll do it.”