Miranda
We’re heading to Sky and Logan’s for Thanksgiving dinner today and I’m really excited to see their new home. Sky has been really busy setting up and decorating the place for the holiday. The great thing is, because they’re hosting Thanksgiving I offered to host Monday night dinner here at our place. That meant we needed furniture, because the small table Stone and I had at the old place we donated. We picked a new dining room set the other day and it’s being delivered tomorrow, which is perfect, because I have no desire to go shopping on Black Friday. I’m more of a Cyber Monday shopper.
Stone walks up behind me, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me on the temple. “You look beautiful.” I’m wearing a maroon dress decorated with a floral pattern and brown calf high boots. I curled my long hair, pinning a few small pieces up but leaving the rest to sit nicely around my face.
I smile at him through the mirror. “You’re looking pretty good yourself, stud.”
He laughs. “Stud?” His voice is questioning.
“Yeah, you look hot when you wear a dress shirt with your hair pulled back. Especially when your sleeves are rolled.” I turn to face him. “Showing off these sexy, strong forearms of yours.”
“You keep talking like this and we’re not going to make it to dinner.” He presses his lips to mine in a chaste kiss.
“We need to go. I want to see the house, and look how cute we are, matching for our first Thanksgiving together.” I rub my hands up his muscular arms. “Thank you for agreeing to dress up with me.”
“Baby, if this makes you happy, then it’s no problem. This is simple.”
“We should take a selfie together and then get out of here. I want to capture a lot of pictures this holiday. It’s our first real holiday together since we had just started seeing each other this time last year.”
“Can you believe we’ve been seeing each other for a year now?” He pulls me close.
“No. It went so fast, and now we’re getting married and having a baby.” I pull my phone from my back pocket. We pull apart slightly, Stone places his hand on my little baby bump, and I snap a few pictures.
“Let’s get going so we’re not late.”
He pulls out his phone to text Slade and Cole. “I feel bad that these guys are working on Thanksgiving.”
“I know, me too, but really they only have to get us to and from Sky and Logan’s place. They told me they arranged for their families to do dinner around us, so they could work and still enjoy dinner. Cole ate with his family already, and Slade is having dinner with his family after he drops us off.”
“Good. That makes me feel a little better.”
Our team knocks on the door to let us know they’re here. Stone looks and then opens the door. The guys are dressed in their usual pants and polo attire. I walk up to Slade first and then Cole. I hug them both and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. “Thank you both so much for taking time out of your day for us.”
“It’s our pleasure.” Cole gives me a warm smile.
“You look great. How are you feeling?” Slade points to my baby bump.
“So much better now, thanks. We need to roll. Are you guys good?”
“Let’s go.” We walk down to their SUV. They’re driving us so Stone can enjoy a beer or two with the guys and not have to worry about driving. I could drive my new car, but why bother when the guys have to go there anyway?
It takes us about forty-five minutes to get to their new place. When we pull up, I swear my jaw drops. Their new house is huge. There’s one long driveway that runs up the side of the house and a second U shape that pulls up to the front door. Slade pulls up to drop us off at the door and jumps out to open my door. Sky opens the door before I’m even fully out of the car. Stone climbs out behind me and we thank the guys for dropping us off. “We’ll be back to pick you up in a few hours.” Slade climbs back into the vehicle and they take off. The entryway to their home is open and huge with cathedral ceilings. I didn’t get a good look, but I noticed the lawn was decorated with pumpkins and other gourds. She not only took the time to update the house before they moved in, but she decorated the interior with a fall decor as well. It’s gorgeous.
“Welcome.” Sky hugs us both with baby Stephan hugging onto her leg. He’s walking now and I’m in awe. He’s getting so big.
Logan joins us in the entryway wearing an apron, showing off that he’s doing the cooking. “Hey, guys.” He kisses me on the cheek and shakes Stone’s hand.
“Logan, I’m going to show them the house. Are you okay in the kitchen?”
“I’m fine, but please keep Stephan with you so I don’t trip on him.”
She bends over, picking him up. His face lights up and we follow her through the house. The first floor has a full bath that sits next to a guest bedroom. The guest room is set up as Stephan’s play room for now. They also have a huge kitchen, a dining room that can seat an army, a small formal living room, and a huge family room. The setup is gorgeous. The upstairs has three more bedrooms and two more full baths. Their master bedroom is huge. It has a huge nook attached that has a chair and hassock set up in one corner and a desk in the other.
“Sky, your home is beautiful.” I’m in awe of the place. Stone stands on the side of me with his hand at the small of my back nodding his agreement.
When we get back downstairs, the rest of the gang is here. Sadie and Jonah have already seen the place, but Sky needs to do one more tour since Katie and Shane haven’t seen it. “I’ll take Stephan if you want,” I offer, holding my hands out to him. He happily leans toward me. I wander into the kitchen with him and take a seat in one of the stools at the island. He happily sits on my lap and plays with me. Logan turns around and pulls a camera out of nowhere.
“Stephan, look at Daddy.” Stephan looks up at his father with a huge grin on his face. Logan snaps a few pictures. “Stone, stand with Miranda.” Stone comes up behind me, puts his arm around me, and smiles. Logan gets Stephan’s attention to take another shot. “Thanks.” Logan puts the camera on the island countertop and goes back to cooking.
“Miranda, you look awesome.” Jonah comes over to give me a hug.
“Thanks, big guy.” I sit back down with Stephan. If I stand too long, my feet ache.
“Jonah, can you grab some beers from the fridge?” Logan nods at the fridge with his head as he stirs the gravy.
“I’m so excited everyone is here.” Sky comes walking back into the room with Katie and Shane. Sadie is walking around with Laney, who is also quite the big girl. She looks so cute in a fall colored dress and her little headband. “Jonah, can you take a picture of all us girls?” Sky hands him the camera.
“Um, I’m a bouncer, not a photographer.” Jonah has a look of fear on his face.
Logan shakes his head. “Give me the camera.”
“Good idea. If you screw it up, you have to live with her. I don’t want her mad at me because the picture came out crappy.” Jonah laughs.
“It’s a top of the line Nikon camera. There isn’t much to screw up.” Logan then tells us girls to squeeze together. Sadie is on one end holding Laney, then Sky. I’m next, holding Stephan, and Katie is next to me. We all huddle in, holding smiles while the guys try to get Laney and Stephan to smile. It takes a few shots, but Logan finally gets a picture he’s happy with.
Sky insists the guys take a similar picture, and from the grunts and groans, they’re not too happy about it. She finally gets the four of them lined up to take their picture. She takes three shots of them, and tells them they can go back to enjoying their beer. Stone comes over and presses a kiss to my head. He’s about to say something when his phone vibrates. He pulls it out to see a text.
“That was Cooper.” I didn’t think he said it that loud, but when the word Cooper came out, the entire room froze. “They have a solid lead and believe Benny and his buddy will be arrested this weekend. He’ll keep us posted.”
“What about Higgins?” Sky takes the seat next to me.
“They have nothing on him. We’ve been in close communication with Cooper, trying to find something to tie him to everything. He’s insisting that this was all Benny. Higgins says it was Benny’s idea to hire Miranda, and that Benny has the hots for her.” He shakes his head. “The only way Higgins will be arrested is if Benny flips on him and gives Cooper the proof he needs that this was Higgins’ doing.”
I turn in my chair to face Sky. “Personally, I think Benny fears Higgins. There’s no way he’s going to flip, but I’m holding out hope that Cooper can convince him.”
Sky rubs my arm gently. “We all are.”
“Okay, enough of this depressing talk. I’m sure that’s not what Miranda wants to be discussing on a day we’re supposed to be giving thanks.” Logan pulls out a bottle of champagne and begins to pour some into glasses. “Miranda, I know you can’t drink, but I hope you will have one little sip to toast with us.” He hands me a glass with literally a sip’s worth of champagne in it. “Dinner is just about done, and I hope you’re all hungry, because Sky made me cook for an army.” We all laugh. “Before we head into the dining room, I just wanted to thank you all for being here with us in our new home to celebrate our first Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for, including some amazing friends that we now call our family.” We all start to cheer. “One of the things I’m most thankful for this season is…” His voice trails off as he looks at Sky. “My lovely wife, who is carrying our second baby.” We all begin to clap and shout as we drink our champagne. Stephan doesn’t like the noise…he begins to fuss as he runs to Sky, who scoops him up and tells him everything is all right.
“When are you due?” I’m so excited to have someone pregnant with me.
“In July. Not too long after you.” She hugs me, excited our children will be born about the same time.
Logan wasn’t kidding when he said he made enough to feed an army. We walk into the dining room to find food spread out everywhere. There are two huge platters of meat, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, stuffing, carrots, green bean casserole, corn, homemade cranberry sauce, and rolls. Once we’re all seated, Sky asks me, “Are you sure you’ll be all set to do dinner on Monday?”
“Yes, I’m excited. The dining room furniture is being delivered tomorrow. While we’re home relaxing and waiting for it, we’ll be writing up the invitations for the wedding. I want to get them mailed on Monday.”
“Oh good. Have you decided on the menu?” Logan asks.
Stone smiles at me. “No, we’ll finalize that for you guys tomorrow too.” He’s saying it to Logan, but staring into my eyes.
The room goes quiet as we all enjoy the delicious feast that Logan has provided. The food is delicious and I’m so stuffed. As with every Thanksgiving, I overdid it. Once we’re done eating, the guys go to the family room to watch football and watch the kids while we clean and pack up the leftovers. With all of us pitching in, we’re finished in no time. The guys come into the kitchen. “Is it time for pie?” Jonah asks, holding Laney on his hip.
“I guess it’s time for pie.” Sky turns to pull the pies off the counter and place them on the island. She has apple pie, blueberry pie, chocolate cream pie, and pumpkin pie.”
“You realize there are only ten of us counting the kids.” Katie’s eyes are wide, taking in the four huge pies.
“I bet Jonah and Stone can each eat half a pie.” Sky has the biggest grin on her face. The two guys look at each other, rubbing their bellies.
Jonah turns back to her. “If I hadn’t just eaten a huge dinner, you’re probably right, for now I’ll stick with a hearty slice.” We all burst into laughter.
“I’m with him, besides I have a wedding to look good for. If I keep this up, I’ll have to spend all my extra time burning calories in the gym.” Stone grabs a plate.
“Don’t worry, babe, I’ll help you burn some calories later.” I wiggle my brows and he gives me a dirty grin that tells me he can’t wait. As we’re eating our pie, Sky walks around snapping pictures of everyone. She even has us pose in couples. She tells us she’s going to start scrapbooking and she wants this to be the first album she does.
When we’re done cleaning up from dessert, I grab Stone’s hand. “Are the guys back?” He nods at me and tells Sky we’re going to call it a night. We make our rounds to say goodbye and head out. I’m tired and I haven’t stopped thinking about how I’m going to help Stone burn those calories.