“Kyle, let me take that.” I reached for the bucket of ice that my fiancé was lugging. Fiancé. That was my new favorite word. I could only think of one word that would possibly be better, but that one would be coming soon enough.

After he’d passed me the ice, Kyle turned back toward the house and disappeared through the sliding door while I set the ice out on the picnic table and began shoving bottles of water, soda, and beer into the ice.

My brothers were coming over for what they thought was a family barbecue today—but Kyle and I were planning to share our big news.

When the door slid open, I turned to ask Kyle if he knew where my tongs were but I saw Beau walking out instead, with my niece on his hip. I stretched my arms out for her as he came close.

“There’s my Annie girl. Get over here and give Uncle Dallas a kiss.”

She shook her head so hard that her shiny, brown curls bounced against the side of her head. “No. Annie say no.” With that, she giggled and wrapped her arms around her daddy’s neck.

Beau rolled his eyes. “We’ve decided that everything in her world obviously gets a no this week. Doesn’t matter how much she loves it, or maybe wants it—she’s apparently required to say no.”

I reached out and tickled her tummy as I laughed. “That’s okay, Annie. You can say no to anybody you want to. Just remember that, pretty girl.”

The door slid open halfway through my comment and Lukas stepped outside with my twin nephews, Tony and Sandy, at his heels. He glared up at me with his hand on his hip.

“Did you seriously just give that little brat permission to say no? I’m considering making it a bad word in our house.”

I shrugged. “Isn’t it a girl’s right to say no?”

Lukas huffed. “Not when it involves taking a bath or going to the bathroom before you piss yourself. We’re trying to potty train, you know? I’ll have you know that your precious little flower there will stand in front of her potty and pee herself, just to be stubborn.”

Annie looked over her shoulder at her dad. “No, no, no.”

The boys tried to run past me but I scooped them up in each arm, hoisting them over my shoulders as I spun around in a circle while they squealed with laughter.

“What about you guys? Are you telling your dads no, no, no too?” I lowered them down and we all busted a gut laughing as they weaved around the grass like they’d had a few too many at happy hour.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves.” Gideon laughed as he came out and wrapped his arm around Lukas. “Are you guys seriously amusing each other by making our sons dizzy?”

Lukas shook his head. “No, that was all Uncle Dallas. We were just enjoying the show.”

“If you didn’t stop it from happening or you laughed along with it, you were part of it,” Gideon said in a playfully severe tone. Too bad the twinkle in his eye gave him away.

“Yada, yada, yada.” Houston gave a fake yawn as he came striding out and plucked Annie from Beau’s hip.

“No,” she shrieked with a peal of laughter.

Uncle Houston just shook his head. “Not gonna work with me, little missy. You can tell me no all day long but I’m still bigger than you. Now come on, let’s go play with your brothers, hmm?”

We all shook our heads as Houston worked his magic. He had all three little ones busily playing with a ball he’d found in the bushes while the rest of the guys lounged on the patio furniture and caught up as I got the grill ready. Kyle came out a few minutes later, bringing the platter of meat with him.

As he passed it to me, I stole a kiss. I chuckled when I heard Houston call out, “Oh, my. You guys must have moved things up a step or two. Bringing on the PDA already? I smell an announcement in the works.” Houston left the kids playing in the grass while he came over to join us.

Kyle and I shared a private smile as I asked with my eyes and tipped my head toward my brothers for permission to share our big news. He gave a subtle nod and slipped his arm around my waist while we turned to face them.

“Here we go,” Houston groaned. “Another brother bites the dust.”

“Shut up, brat,” I said when he correctly called us out. “But as you guys can probably tell, Houston isn’t wrong. Kyle and I have exciting news to share with all of you, that’s why we invited you over today.”

Before I said another word, Gideon was flying across the patio with his arms held out for Kyle. I barely stepped out of the way in time for Kyle to catch and lift him for a spinning hug.

“Easy, angel. Don’t forget that Kyle is pregnant,” Beau called out with an affectionate chuckle.

Gideon quickly dropped to his feet after giving Kyle one last hug. “That’s right, I got so excited that I forgot about my niece for a moment. Let me see your ring!”

“We haven’t even made our announcement yet,” I tried to argue, but Houston just rolled his eyes.

“Bitch, please. Like we didn’t already know. Now let your boy show off his hardware and hush up.”

Kyle blushed as he stuck his hand out and displayed the ring we’d picked out this morning. Lukas came over to admire it and give Kyle a hug. “How did he propose, Kyle? Knowing Dallas, I bet it was all mushy and shit, right?”

I started telling them about the candlelight dinner and the centerpiece I’d pulled together from items I’d found around the house, but Kyle held up a hand to stop me halfway through.

“Yes, he set up a fantastically romantic dinner while I was taking a shower. But he failed to tell me that he had it planned. So I showed up in my bathrobe to a beautifully set table.”

Houston looked enthralled as he sucked in a dramatic breath. “No, please tell me he didn’t…”

Kyle grinned broadly as he nodded. “He sure did. And to top it off, he even called me a doofus during the proposal.”

While everybody was busy laughing, Austin quietly stepped out onto the patio with a troubled look on his face. He passed Beau his phone and said something quietly into his ear before walking out to the grass and playing with the little ones.

Before I had a chance to wonder what was going on, Beau ended his call by throwing Austin’s phone against the side of my house. It broke into several pieces on impact before scattering to the ground. He still didn’t say a word, instead he quietly got up and walked around the side of the house as if he needed a moment to himself.

Houston was the first to speak. “Austin, what the actual fuck? First you hand Beau some phone call that he obviously wasn’t ready to hear, and then you don’t even react when he breaks your damn phone?”

Austin shook his head and answered in a monotone while rolling a ball toward Sandy. “The phone’s replaceable. A couple of Beau’s friends have gone MIA. A chopper went down and no bodies have been recovered. I got the call as I was turning onto the street here. My friend Tammy over at the base was giving me a heads-up because a couple of the guys who went missing have pregnant spouses nearby with no support system.”

Lukas disappeared around the corner of the house in the direction that Beau had gone while Gideon hugged himself and shook his head sadly as he walked over to where Houston played with the children. He and Houston played with the kids while I focused on cooking the meat. Everything was almost done and Kyle had gone inside to start bringing out the side salads we’d made to go along with our meal when Beau and Lukas resurfaced.

“Are you okay?” I asked my twin softly as I stretched an arm out for a hug. He gave me a quick, one-armed hug with a pat on the back before pulling back and walking over to sit down at the patio table. He shook his head.

“My friends Cody and Daniel were both on the chopper that went down. They are listed as MIA because no bodies have been recovered. But from what I heard, the explosion was pretty bad when the fuel tank ruptured, so it’s going to be a while before they can start combing the wreckage.” Beau shook his head. “Damn, Daniel was just here on leave a couple months ago for his dad’s funeral, and Cody flew in the week after that when he had a weekend of R&R.”

Houston stood and paced back and forth on the patio. He jerked a hand through his hair. “I need a drink after hearing fucked-up news like that, dammit.”

“So have one, idiot. You don’t need to be a fucking diva about it. Your brother is hurting right now, can’t you see that?” Lukas shook his head at Houston as he went and curled up in the chair beside Beau while Houston continued to pace. Lukas huffed out an impatient breath. “Houston, why are you so upset? You only met those guys one time at a party, and that was like four months ago. You need to chill, honey. I know it’s sad, but you need to let Beau process this instead of making it about you.”

Houston burst into tears. “I can’t drink, okay?” He spun on his heel and ran into the house, slamming the sliding door so hard that it bounced against the frame and came back open a few inches.

I held a clean platter with meat and carried it over to the table while Kyle rushed in after Houston. I waved a hand toward the food. “There’s another bowl of salad in the refrigerator that we were about to bring out. If you guys don’t mind grabbing it, help yourselves. I’m gonna go see what the hell is going on with Houston.”

Lukas stood and followed me into the house. He looked troubled as he headed toward the refrigerator. “I didn’t mean to be too hard on him and make him cry. I just didn’t want him making it worse for Beau, you know?”

“Don’t worry about it, Lukas. I have a feeling that there’s more going on there. Even Houston isn’t that much of a diva. If you guys don’t mind holding down the fort, we’ll be out soon.” He answered me with a silent nod and reached into the fridge for the bowl of macaroni salad while I wandered through the house to find Houston and Kyle.

I found them in our bedroom, sitting on the foot of the bed with Kyle’s arms tightly wrapped around Houston while my brother sobbed. I knelt down in front of them, and brushed the tears from his face with the back of my hand.

“What’s going on, brat? This is a little dramatic, even for you. Is there something that you want to share with us?” I waited patiently for several long moments before my brother gave any sign of having heard me.

Houston shook his head, but Kyle pressed when I started to back off. “Your brother asked you a question. Tell us, Houston. What’s going on?”

“Fine.” He sat up and wiped his tears with his shirt sleeve. “I guess I’m just a little emotional because I found out a couple weeks ago that I’m pregnant.”

I was floored, but Kyle didn’t seem at all surprised as he nodded. “I thought it might be something like that. How far along are you?”

“I’m in my first trimester, so a few months behind you,” Houston answered without narrowing it down any further than that.

“And am I correct in assuming that one of those two missing soldiers is the father?” Kyle continued to push, obviously trying to help my brother get it all out there. But Houston was more stubborn then Kyle realized.

“No, I’m the father,” he said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Obviously. But who’s the other father? Somebody sired your child; even someone as self-sufficient as you couldn’t have done that on your own. At least, not outside of a lab, and I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t be this upset if you’d bought sperm and planned for a pregnancy.”

Houston made a strangled sound that was half sob, half giggle. “Fair enough. But it doesn’t really matter now, does it? Besides, I can do this on my own. People far weaker than me manage to handle being single parents every day. I’m pretty sure that I’ve got it under control.”

I leaned forward and pulled my brother into my arms, hugging him close as I rubbed his back. “Sure, you could do it on your own, brat—but you won’t need to. You have an entire family that will be at your side every step of the way.”