Kendra had the checkbook open and was paying bills when Jim came into her office. She glanced up in surprise. “Hey, there. What’s up?”

“You tell me. Cody sent me a text asking if I’d meet him here. He hasn’t arrived yet?”

“Haven’t seen hide nor hair of that boy. And he didn’t mention wanting to have a meeting this morning. I suppose it could be about the new fencing he’s had his eye on.” She gestured to one of the two chairs in front of her desk. “Have a seat. I’m sure he’ll be along any minute.”

“No doubt.” Jim settled into a chair and laid his hat on his knee.

“Nice haircut.”

“Thank you kindly. Deidre thinks it’s too short, but this is how I like it.”

“And it’s your hair, not hers.”

“Exactly what I said. I don’t tell her not to color hers every shade in the rainbow, now, do I?”

Kendra laughed. “A wise man would never try that and I know you’re a wise man.”

“I told her we didn’t need to be discussing our hair, meaning I wouldn’t discuss hers if she would stop complaining about mine.”

“Did that work?”

“Not really. Doesn’t matter. I love her and that’s that. She makes my life more interesting.”

“She makes everyone’s life more interesting. I can’t imagine what I’d do without her.”

“That makes two of us. Just the other day, she—” He glanced toward the door. “And here’s Cody and Faith. What a nice surprise. How’re you feeling, sweetheart?”

“Much better, Dad. Thanks.”

“That’s good to hear,” Kendra said. “I was wondering if I needed to come up there with a pot of chicken soup.”

“No need, but thank you for thinking of me.” Her cheeks turned pink.

Strange. Chicken soup wasn’t exactly a delicate subject. “Well, come and sit down, at any rate. Sorry, Cody. We’re out of chairs. You’ll have to hold up the wall.”

“No worries.” Instead of leaning against the wall, his usual behavior when the chairs were all taken, he came to stand behind Faith’s chair. He rested his hands on her shoulders. “We won’t be here long.” His eyes sparkled like they did when he had good news to share. “We wanted to tell you this together, since—”

“Oh, my God!” She leaped to her feet as the pieces fit together—Faith’s mysterious ailment that had apparently disappeared, her blush a moment ago and this meeting where Jim had to be present. “You’re pregnant!”

“Yes.” Cody’s smile was a mile wide. “We’re going to have a baby. Which means you two—”

“Are going to be grandparents!” With tears in her eyes, Kendra rounded the desk to start the hugging.

She began with Cody while Faith jumped up and hugged her dad. Then Kendra moved on to Faith and finished up with Jim. She’d never been quite that familiar with Jim before, but it seemed appropriate since they were going to be grandma and grandpa to this baby.

“This is so exciting.” Kendra glanced at Jim, who looked shell-shocked. “Isn’t this exciting, Jim?”

“Sure is. I never imagined…well, of course, since you two are getting married, I figured eventually, but I—”

“We jumped the gun,” Faith said. “Once we set the wedding date, we decided what the heck, why bother with birth control? We want kids but thought it would take a while. Turns out it didn’t.”

“It certainly didn’t.” Cody looked inordinately proud of himself.

Kendra was blindsided by a flashback. Ian’s expression had been exactly like that when she’d discovered she was pregnant with Ryker. Like he deserved a medal or something.

She was torn between laughter and tears. She ended up with a messy combination of both.

Cody gathered her close. “You’re gonna be an awesome grandma.”

“You bet I am.” She sniffed and backed away. “Got a bandanna for grandma?”

He chuckled, pulled one out of his hip pocket and gave it to her.

She blew her nose and handed it back to him with a watery grin. Returning a used bandanna was an old joke they shared.

He laughed and tucked it in his pocket. “I suppose you’ll teach baby whozit that trick.”

“Of course.” She gazed at him. So young, yet so confident. She had been, too. “When can we expect this bundle of joy?”

Faith’s eyes shone with happiness. “Mid-December.”

“A Christmas baby! That’s perfect. You two will be such good parents.”

“I hope so,” Faith said. “But we’re counting on you and Dad as backup. I don’t know anything about babies and Cody doesn’t, either. He was the baby, whereas the other boys remember taking care of him.”

“Don’t worry,” Kendra said. “We’ve got you covered. Right, Jim?”

“Right.” Jim looked a little wobbly. If it hadn’t been eleven in the morning, she would have suggested they have a drink to toast this kid, Faith abstaining, of course. “Are we the first to know?”

“Doc Pulaski is technically the first to know,” Cody said, “but she’s a vault. She won’t squeal until we tell her the word’s out.”

“And when will that be?”

Cody pulled out his phone. “As soon as I text my brothers.”

“You’re going to text them to say they’re going to become uncles?” She was horrified.

“Sure, why not? It’s the most efficient and democratic.”

“You need to tell them in person!”

“Not practical. We could control how we announced it to you two, but it could take me all day to track down my brothers. Besides, I’ll have to start with someone, and I guarantee before I made it over to the next one, word would somehow spread and the rest would already know and be upset because they weren’t my go-to.”

“I see your point.”

“I composed the text first thing this morning.” He hesitated. “But once I send it, all hell will break lose. Faith left her phone up at our place and we’ll head up there, because guaranteed we’ll be on the phone for a while. Is there anything else we need to discuss among ourselves before I pull the trigger?”

“Yes!” Kendra clapped her hands together. “We should celebrate. Let’s do a family dinner. How about tonight?”

“Can’t,” Faith said. “We have the favors to make tonight with my attendants and the Whine and Cheese Club.”

“Oh, right. Then tomorrow night.”

Cody shook his head. “It’ll be Friday night at the GG. Bryce and Nicole usually do a number at intermission. Same on Saturday night.”

“Do you know if Nicole is doing her solo gig on Sunday night?”

“Maybe not. They’ve been trying out some new musical groups to buy her some free time on the weekend. Sunday night could work.”

“I’ll find out.” She glanced at Jim. “I know you’ll want to tell Deidre, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to break the news to her.”

“Yes, ma’am. You have the prior claim, growing up with her and all.”

“Better get prepared with a group text, then, Mom.” Cody winked at her.

“You can text if you want. I plan to call.”

“Are you sure about that? As soon as Zane reads the one I’m about to send, he’ll tell Mandy, who will tell Jo, who will tell—”

“Okay, okay! I’ll text!” She grabbed her phone off the desk. “Do I have time to add a dancing baby?”

“Sure.” Cody lounged against the edge of the desk. “I’ll wait.”

She typed in the message and glanced up from her phone. “I’m all set. Send yours. I’ll wait two minutes and send mine.”

He looked over at her desk. “Anything urgent that you have to finish before lunch? Because I guarantee you won’t get anything more done this morning once we send these texts.”

“Nothing’s critical. Oh! I didn’t even think to ask. Do you know yet if you’re having a boy or girl? I’ve heard you don’t have to wait long these days to find out.”

“We decided we didn’t want to know,” Faith said. “We told Doc Pulaski and she promised not to tell us.”

Jim nodded. “Good decision. Nothing wrong with a little suspense. Makes the outcome more exciting.”

“I agree, Jim. I’m going to add that info to my text.” She typed it in. “Saves people asking.”

“Then are we all good here?” Cody held up his phone. “Once this starts ringing, Faith and I will vamoose. I don’t want to turn the office into a call center.”

“I’m ready.” Kendra met his gaze. “Do you feel like the guy at the race holding the starter pistol?”

“I kinda do. Doc Pulaski said something that’s stuck with me—Your life has changed and it’ll never change back.”

Kendra smiled. “But the best part is, you won’t want it to.”