Emma was still focused on the sweet tableau when Gage laid a hand on her shoulder. “Dad, I’d like you to meet Josh’s mother, Emma Green.”

Quinn glanced up and smiled. “I’m happy to meet you, Emma Green.” Shifting Josh to his left side, he held out his hand. “And grateful.” His grip was warm and strong.

“I’m happy to meet you, too, Mr. Sawyer.” Judging from the kindness in his eyes, if he hadn’t been holding Josh he would have hugged her.

“Just Quinn, ma’am.”

“It’s a pleasure, Quinn.” No wonder Gage thought so highly of his dad. He exuded positive energy.

“And this is my sister Roxanne.”

Emma held out her hand. “I’m glad to—”

“I’m thrilled that you came down.” Roxanne’s dark eyes sparkled as she grasped Emma’s hand in both of hers. “And Josh is absolutely adorable.”

“Thank you.” Roxanne’s gaze was familiar, so like her son’s…and his daddy’s.

Roxanne turned to the broad-shouldered man at her side. “This is my fiancé, Michael, and I think you’ve already met Wes and Ingrid.”

“Not officially, though.” Emma shook hands with everyone. “Wes, you were a lifesaver yesterday.”

“Glad I could help.”

“And last, but not least,” Gage said, “there’s my big brother Pete.”

“Who’s also known as Uncle Pete, now.” He gave her a broad smile. “Pleased to meet you, Emma.” His large hand engulfed hers. “I plan to study up, find out what this uncle thing is all about, make sure I get it right.”

She laughed. “No worries. I’m sure you’ll be great at it.”

“Hey, yeah,” Wes said. “I’m an uncle, too. I forgot that part.”

“Personally, I think Auntie Roxanne has a musical lilt to it.” Gage’s sister glanced up at her fiancé. “Uncle Michael sounds good, too.”

“But should I be Uncle Michael or Uncle Mike?”

“Or Uncle Mikey,” Pete said with a grin. “That has a certain ring to it.”

“Okay, okay, you uncles, aunties and grandpapas.” Wes turned to survey the group. “Now that Emma’s been introduced to all the usual suspects, are we ready to play some football?”

“Normally I’d be rarin’ to go,” Quinn said. “But as I seem to have my hands full, I’m hoping Emma will agree to take my place for a bit.”

“I’d love to.”

“Excellent. Thank you.”

“Here’s the baby backpack, Dad.” Gage set it down beside him. “In case you need anything.”

“You know what?” Kendra gazed at Quinn and Josh. “I think I’ll sit out for a while, too. I’ll go tell Ryker.”

Emma looked at Gage. “Who’s Ryker?”

“Her oldest son. He’s team captain and center for the Rowdy Reds. Big guy, ex-military.”

“Who’s our team captain? Oh, wait, I’ll bet it’s Wes since he’s handing out the flag belts.” She moved into a lunge position to stretch her leg muscles.

“Well, now.” Gage folded his arms. “Something tells me you’ve done this before.”

She gave him a quick smile as she continued with her stretching routine. “Some.”

“Am I about to be really glad I asked for you to be on the team?”

“We’ll see, won’t we?” She strapped on the belt Wes handed her. “Let’s go play some football.” Energized by the prospect, she jogged out to the field.

The game turned out to be even more fun than she’d anticipated. She stole flags left and right, carried the ball several times and scored once. Being out there with Gage and working in tandem with him on some of the plays was a blast.

Eventually she managed to ID three McGavin brothers—Ryker, Cody and Zane. About the time she needed water and a break, Wes brought subs in for both Gage and her.

Breathing hard, Gage headed for the blue cooler, opened it and handed her a water bottle. Then he took one for himself. “Great job out there.”

“You, too.” She gulped some water. “That last spiral you threw was a beauty.”

“Thanks. You have good hands. I should have guessed you’d be excellent at this.” He wiped his face with the hem of his t-shirt, exposing his taut abs.

Oh, baby. She allowed herself one quick ogle before glancing away. “My brother taught me all I know.”

“Oh, yeah? I don’t think you ever mentioned his name.”

“It’s Connor.”

“Does he live in Wisconsin?”

“No, he’s off doing his thing down in Texas. He’s even picking up an accent. It’s very cute.” She finished off her water. “Speaking of cute, we need to check on Josh and your folks. They might be ready to play, now.”

“I don’t know about that.” He laughed as they walked toward the group of chairs. “They look mighty happy holding court with Prince Josh as the star attraction.”

“And Josh is soaking up the attention.” Currently Kendra had him in her lap while Deidre, also wearing a red shirt, was making faces at him. The rest of the Whine and Cheese Club had gathered, too. A woman she hadn’t met who looked to be six or seven months pregnant sat next to Quinn.

“Hey,” Quinn called out as they approached. “You two covered yourselves with glory. I have a hunch Emma’s played this game a time or two.”

“I have, and football’s my favorite sport to watch.”

“She’s a Packers fan,” Gage said. “She’s from Green Bay.”

“Well, have a seat, Packers fan.” He stood and waved her into his chair.

“I don’t need to take your—”

“No, no, I insist. Faith has been hoping to talk to you about baby stuff. Have you two met?”

“We have now.” Emma sat down and held out her hand. “Emma Green.”

“Faith McGavin.” She had a no-nonsense handshake.

“She’s Cody’s wife,” Quinn said.

“Cody! That guy’s one heck of a football player. He got my flag twice.”

“Yeah, he loves these games.” Faith tossed her blond braid over her shoulder. “I played, too, until running wasn’t so much fun anymore.”

“I can imagine.”

“Okay, Grandpapa Quinn,” Kendra said. “I’m handing Josh over to Deidre so you and I can go play some football.”

“Hallelujah! Come to Auntie Deidre, my little cutie patootie.”

“Da-da!”

Emma rolled her eyes. “It should be interesting next week when he doesn’t have his crowd of adoring fans.”

“He sure is social, though,” Faith said. “I hope I end up with one like that.”

“What’s your due date?”

“December seventeenth,” Faith said. “And I can’t wait.”

“Are you having a boy or girl?”

“We want that to be a surprise. We’ll be happy with either, but I’m pretty sure Kendra’s hoping for a girl after raising five boys.”

“I get that, although she’s been awesome with Josh.”

“Good point. She’ll fall in love with our little whozit no matter which we have. Our family is large and boisterous, though, so I’d love for our baby to be as easygoing as Josh. Is that something you’ve worked on?”

“He’s always been good-natured, but I’ve also established a routine and I think that helps. This weekend’s not so structured, but at home he’s on a regular schedule.”

Faith nodded. “That probably helps prepare him for something like this, where everybody wants to get acquainted with the little squirt.”

“Includin’ me.” A muscular guy in a red shirt approached the group. “Greetings, ladies, Gage. Miss Emma, Badger Calhoun at your service.” He sketched a quick bow.

She glanced up at him. “Nice to meet you, Badger. I’ll bet you hail from south of the Mason-Dixon line.”

“I’m a Georgia boy, ma’am. I can see by your perplexed expression you’re wonderin’ how I fit into this crowd.”

“Actually, I was wondering how you got the name Badger.”

“Explainin’ that would take longer than a Southern preacher’s sermon, so it’ll have to wait for another time. But I sure would love to meet this little bundle of joy y’all made.”

“I’ve got possession, Badger, sweetie,” Deidre said. “You can hunker down and say hello, but you’ll have to wait your turn if you want to hold him.”

“Badger!” Ryker shouted from the field. “You’re in for Pete!”

“Aye, aye, Cowboy!” He glanced at Josh. “Catch you later, little dude. My team captain calls.” He trotted onto the field.

Pete arrived, breathing hard, water bottle in hand.

Gage left his chair and clapped a hand on Pete’s shoulder. “You okay, bro? Saw you take a tumble a few plays ago, but I didn’t think—”

“That was nothing.” Pete grinned and shoved his fingers through his sweat-darkened blond hair. “Noticed Badger poaching the nephew I have yet to hold.” He took a swig of water. “Asked Ryker to switch us.”

Deidre sighed. “I suppose you have dibs, then, Pete. But please give him back when you’re done.”

“I can do that, ma’am.” He put down the bottle and wiped his hand on his shirt before holding out his arms. “How about it, big guy? Want to soak up some honest sweat from your Uncle Pete?”

“Pa-pa!”

“Whoops, got some confusion going on there,” Deidre said. “Here you go, Uncle Pa-pa.”

“Deidre!” Ryker’s commanding voice rang out. “You’re in for Roxanne!”

Deidre stood with another resigned sigh. “Guess I should have seen that coming. Auntie Roxanne doesn’t want to be left out.” She gave Josh a quick kiss on the cheek. “Don’t have too much fun without me, snookums.”

Roxanne arrived, snatched up a water bottle and handed Deidre her flag belt. “Thanks for going in for me.”

“I get it, Auntie Roxanne. I was just warming him up for you two.” She hurried toward the field.

Roxanne put down her water bottle and smiled at Pete. “A nice brother shares with his sister.”

“But I just got him.”

“Okay. Timed possession.” She looked at her sports watch. “You get ten minutes and I get ten minutes.”

“Deal.”

A whistle blew. “Halftime!” Wes called out and the entire field of players started in their direction.

Emma got up and stood beside Gage. “I wonder if anyone’s coming this way hoping to hold Josh.”

“If so, they’re out of luck.” He seemed amused as he watched Pete making faces at Josh and Roxanne consulting her watch. “You don’t mess with timed possession.”

“Sawyer family tradition?”

“Yeah.” He laughed. “I’d forgotten about it. Mom taught us that. Usually put an end to our arguments.”

“Great idea.”

“She had a lot of them.” His smile faded. With a quick swallow, he glanced away.