Page 70 of My Horrible Arranged Marriage (Bancroft Billionaire Brothers #20)

ISAAC

I wasn’t nervous. Not really. I was a little worried for Mina. The sheer chaos that came with putting my entire family in one place with a grill and an open bar was intimidating.

I should have been nervous. My entire, sprawling, occasionally unhinged family was descending upon my dad and Kathy’s estate.

It was the barbecue that had been put on hold.

Suddenly, Kathy’s schedule had cleared. She was available to host. I didn’t have to guess why she was no longer busy.

I had pulled my head out of my ass and now she was ready to welcome Mina into the family.

I had no doubt my dad had been sleeping in the doghouse.

Granted, the doghouse was the guest house that was really a nice two-bedroom at the back of the property.

But they clearly worked through the drama.

All was right with the world once again. My brothers, their wives, the assorted offspring that now outnumbered the adults, along with my cousins would all be there. It was a lot. A glorious, noisy, loving lot, but a lot, nonetheless.

Mina, bless her, had taken it all in stride.

She’d even seemed excited, which either meant she was incredibly brave or hadn’t fully grasped the sheer force of nature that was a Bancroft family gathering.

She’d seen a good bulk of them at the rehearsal dinner, but that was not the same.

At one of our casual family get-togethers, things were wild.

Feral. We didn’t have to put on airs for anyone.

We could all just be ourselves and some of us really shouldn’t be given a free pass.

Mina had spent the past week mostly nesting in my penthouse, radiating a calm that I desperately tried to absorb.

We’d fallen into an easy rhythm, filled with lazy mornings, quiet evenings, and a lot of talk about the baby.

It was all so fucking perfect. And the thought of subjecting that perfection to the well-meaning but often overwhelming energy of my clan made my stomach clench.

Still, watching Mina pick out an outfit that morning, a soft, flowy sundress that hinted at the tiny bump only I could really discern, I knew we could handle anything. Even my family.

She stood by the bedroom window in a dress the color of champagne, her hair twisted up with those loose little strands falling in a way that made my brain short circuit. She was biting her bottom lip as she put in one earring and then the other.

“You okay?” I asked as I came up behind her, my reflection joining hers in the glass.

She gave me a look. “Do I look okay?”

“You look perfect,” I said honestly.

“Too perfect?” she asked. “Like I’m trying too hard to impress the Bancrofts?”

“You don’t need to impress anyone,” I assured her. “Trust me, we all get to show up in shorts and tees. The kids are going to be covered in whatever chocolate desserts are left out for them. Grass stains. Band-aids. Baby shit and throw-up covering the new parents. It’s very chill.”

She laughed under her breath. “I guess that helps.”

I reached around her and unclasped the dainty gold necklace she’d laid out earlier, brushing my fingers across her collarbone as I did. “Let me put this on.”

She lifted her hair without a word. I fastened the chain slowly, my hands lingering just a second longer than necessary. I kissed the base of her neck, then pulled a small black velvet box from my pocket and held it out in front of her.

Her brows lifted. “What’s this?”

“A surprise,” I said, watching her reaction in the mirror.

“You know I love surprises,” she said, grinning as she turned to face me. She popped the box open without hesitation.

Inside was a ring. A new one. An engagement ring but a real one.

The first hadn’t been real, not really. And she had been wearing it since we got home from Jamaica.

This new ring was larger and more beautiful.

The diamond was cut in a different shape, mounted on a platinum band with delicate vintage filigree.

She blinked. Then blinked again.

“Is this an engagement ring?” she asked slowly.

“Yeah,” I said, suddenly unsure of myself for the first time in a week. “I mean yes. It’s for you. I wanted to get you something better. That ring is tainted. You needed a new one.”

She looked down at the new ring again. “Better?”

I swallowed, fighting the sudden anxiety clawing at my throat. “I thought you should have something that felt more like you. Something shiny to match your smile.”

She didn’t smile. She didn’t frown either. She just stared at the ring like it would turn into a frog and leap out of the box.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said.

My heart dropped somewhere around my knees. “I did something wrong.”

“No,” she said quickly, looking up at me. “No, you didn’t. I mean, it’s beautiful. It’s just…”

I waited, feeling like a jackass holding a ring she didn’t want.

“It doesn’t feel like us,” she said gently. “This feels like a thing you give someone at a gala in front of flashbulbs. I liked the first ring because we picked it together. Because it was ours.”

“Oh.” I exhaled, processing that.

She stepped closer, slipping her hands around my waist. “You thought I’d want something bigger. But I don’t need bigger. I just need you.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “I just didn’t want you looking at that old ring for the next fifty years and remembering all the bad stuff that led up to the good stuff.”

She looked up at me. “When we’re old and gray and looking back on our lives, I want this ring triggering memories. Not all of it will be the good stuff, but that’s okay. I want to remember the mess. Because it brought us here. We’ve been forged in fire.”

I kissed her before I could say something stupid. And as far as kisses went, this one was one for the damn books. She tasted like the minty tea she’d been drinking earlier. I’d never loved her more than I did in that moment.

“Okay,” I said after a breathless pause. “You win. The original ring stays.”

She smiled and kissed me again. “What happened, happened,” she said. “It’s not like we can pretend I didn’t run out on my own wedding. Aren’t we all about embracing our crazy?”

I laughed. “I suppose we are. I just don’t want you to look at that ring and think about the lie.”

“Baby, the lie is over. It’s done. We both learned from it. We know each other better. We’re both committed to being brutally honest with each other. How could I ever think negative about this ring?”

She was right. Of course, she was right. That was one of the things I loved most about her—she saw through the bullshit, even my own well-intentioned bullshit.

“Okay,” I conceded, a slow smile spreading across my face. I took the velvet box from her and set it on the dresser. “Point taken. Brutal honesty. I like it.”

“Good,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “Because you’re stuck with it. And with this ring.” She wiggled the fingers of her left hand, the original diamond catching the light. “It’s perfect because it’s our story. All of it.”

I leaned down and kissed the ring, then her knuckles, then the soft skin of her palm. “Our story,” I agreed, my voice a little rough. “Messy, complicated, and absolutely perfect.”

Mina’s smile softened. “So, are we ready to face the Bancroft horde?”

“Born ready,” I said, though my stomach gave a nervous flutter. I grabbed her hand. “As long as I’ve got you, I can handle anything.”

“Let’s go give them something to talk about then.”

“They always find something,” I muttered, but I was grinning.

We had talked about how we were going to tell the family about the baby. We didn’t want to do a big cheesy reveal. No gender reveal parties for us. But we did want to make it memorable.

I drove the Porsche to the address Mina had found.

The baby boutique on the corner of Lexington was very upscale.

It was the kind of place that A-list celebrities and wannabe influencers liked to shop.

There were teddy bears in glass cases, onesies that cost more than a bottle of Dom, and cribs that looked like they belonged in Buckingham Palace.

It was pretentious, frankly. I was cool with Nordstroms or Bloomingdales for our baby needs. But this place was what Mina had chosen.

“I can’t believe this is real,” Mina murmured as we tried to take it all in.

“Me neither,” I said, scanning the displays. “We’re having a baby.”

Her hand found mine again. “Do we know how we want to tell them?”

“I figured we’d wing it.”

She gave me a flat look.

I smirked. “Kidding. Mostly. I thought we could grab something fun. Like you did for me.”

“Ooh, yes. Something they’ll see and immediately get it.”

We wandered the store for a bit, stopping to coo at baby shoes the size of my thumb and run our hands over blankets that were softer than a fluffy cat.

“Damn, I don’t think we had this kind of fabric when I was a baby,” I complained.

She laughed. “Minky. We’re definitely going to be wrapping our baby in some of these.”

There would be plenty of time to shop for our baby gear. For now, we were focused on one thing—the reveal.

“We need a way to tell the family,” I said, fingering one of the blankets. “Something that says ‘hey, we’re having a baby’ without actually saying it.”

Mina wandered toward a display of tiny booties. “What about baby shoes? We could put them on the table during dinner.”

“Too subtle,” I said, shaking my head. “My brothers are dense. They’ll think we’re donating to charity or something.”

She laughed. “I feel like that’s pretty obvious, but okay.”

“We need bold. Unique. Us.”

We moved through the boutique, past rattles that cost more than a car and mobiles that looked like they belonged in modern art museums. Everything was soft pastels and muted earth tones—not a primary color in sight.

“What about a onesie?” Mina suggested, holding up a ridiculously small garment that said, I Love My Uncle Best .

“Getting warmer,” I said. “But which uncle gets it? I’ve got too many brothers. They’ll fight to the death.”

“Good point.” Mina’s face lit up suddenly. “Wait, I have an idea.” She grabbed my hand and tugged me toward a wall of adult-sized clothing. “What about this?”

She held up a soft gray T-shirt with “DADDY TO BE” printed across the chest in simple block letters. Next to that shirt was a matching one with “MOMMY TO BE.”

I grinned. “Now we’re talking.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a pacifier. It was bright red, obnoxiously oversized, and too tempting not to pick up.

I popped it in my mouth and turned to Mina, hands on hips like a proud idiot.

She stared. Then burst out laughing. “I think we have our plan,” she said.

“We’ll arrange a quick change,” I said. “Let’s see if we can find a big bottle.”

And we did. Clearly, we weren’t the only ones that got the idea to have a creative announcement. We bought our things and then headed out of the city to my dad’s place.

I was so excited to tell my family. I knew they were going to be thrilled. I was going to be one of the cool kids. Next year, I’d be the guy with dark circles under his eyes lugging around a diaper bag that weighed fifty pounds.

I couldn’t wait.