Page 33 of Nave (Henchmen MC: Next Generation #14)

For his observation skills.

For his bone-deep goodness.

For that one reckless promise he’d made all those years before. And his willingness to keep it when I showed up in his life unexpectedly.

“I can’t wait to meet her,” Luna said of Blanche. “Book club is at your place this month, right?”

My place.

I loved that more than any of them could know.

“Yep. Don’t worry. Nave is cooking.”

My horrible soup became a thing of legend around the club.

“Tell me it’s going to be pasta.”

“Would I serve anything else?”

Nave - 5 months

“This isn’t the way to the store,” Lolly said, brows pinching as I turned off the highway.

“Taking the scenic route,” I said. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth, either.

I figured she would forgive me once we got to the event venue.

It was honestly a miracle that the secret had been able to be kept this long. With so many people involved, it was shocking that the word hadn’t slipped out somewhere along the line.

Honestly, we could thank Gracie and her dogged reminders for everyone not to talk about it or in any way discourage Lolly from shopping for baby supplies herself, even though we were getting really close.

My job had been the hardest, leaving me to constantly have to claim the items were ordered but had fallen on backorder, but that I was assured they would all come in time.

She’d forgive me too.

Because as much as she would never say so, I was sure she was sad that she wasn’t having a baby shower. I’d caught her watching videos of them online when she thought I wasn’t around once. And when she saw me, she quickly wiped away a stray tear.

I was glad the event was finally here. It was breaking my heart to watch her think such a big event wasn’t being planned for her.

“Where are you going?” Lolly asked, watching me as I turned into a driveway.

“I just have to make a quick stop first,” I told her, reaching over to give her thigh a squeeze.

Every single minute detail of this day had been planned out.

Up to and including Ariah and Ariah’s mom Kenzi making a show of gifting Lolly a beautiful floral maternity dress that they’d designed and made the day before when Lolly had been at the homestead for her usual weekly visit, knowing she would want to wear it the next day.

So that was what she had on. And she was fucking glowing. Even if she claimed she felt like her belly weighed a million pounds these days.

“This is a pretty place,” she declared, watching out the window as we drove past the perfectly manicured lawns and gardens—maintained with the idea of wedding photography in mind.

“A barn?” Lolly asked, face scrunching. Then, “Oh. Oh, is this a, you know, work thing?”

“Not quite,” I said, cutting the engine then climbing out and going around to her side. “This is more personal.”

Maybe she would have been suspicious. If Gracie’s plan for me hadn’t included several surprise trips to do fun, unexpected things. Which, of course, made it so Lolly wouldn’t immediately guess what this trip was about.

So she was completely in the dark until I slid open the barn door.

And everyone yelled Surprise!

It was worth every single careful plot point Gracie had planned to see the shock turn to genuine joy on Lolly’s face.

Excited by the noise, Edith and Blanche rushed forward toward their mom, both wearing matching Big Sis shirts.

“You were in on it too, huh?” she asked, petting their heads as they jumped on her, knowing she could no longer lean over to do so with her belly.

It was mostly the girls gathered. The men hadn’t been excluded, but most had decided to let the women have their day.

Dezi, of course, appeared, lured by the promise of several courses of food.

Otherwise, it was the princesses, their moms, and other local friends. Including two women Lolly had befriended at her computer classes.

The place was packed.

And I could see the wonder on Lolly’s face as she looked around, as she was met and embraced by everyone.

She’d had no one. For her whole life.

She’d been born into a family who barely gave a shit that she existed. Then she’d lived alone temporarily. Before, finally, being taken away from the world, locked up, and controlled.

Now, now there was a whole community who loved her, who were glad to know her, who were happy to celebrate this giant milestone with her.

She was swept away into the crowd.

It was Gracie who moved in at my side.

“We did good,” she decided, nodding.

She’d been working on setting the place up for days. Tables were draped in pastel pink tablecloths with big floral arrangements on each, along with a set of crocheted booties—courtesy of all the women who’d gotten together to learn to crochet just for the occasion.

Flowers were strung in rows to make curtains all down the walls, working as a perfect backdrop for pictures.

There were tables lining the sides, some with food warmers, others where gifts were piled high.

On a smaller table was a book and several leftover instant cameras for everyone to snap candid pictures.

A Sweet Little Wildflower is on the Way the front of the picture book said.

On another table was a sign Books for Baby . Luna’s idea, clearly. And it was towering with stories for us to read to our baby when she came.

“We?” I asked, looking at Gracie. “This was all you.”

She fought the smile for a second before letting it break free. It lit her up from the inside out.

“It really was. And it was such a labor of love. It’s so great to see so many months of preparation come together like this. She’s glowing.”

“She really is.”

“Are you getting excited? She’s so close?”

“Excited. Nervous. Happy. Terrified. You name it, I’m feeling it.”

“Oh, stop. You’re going to be a great dad.”

That title never failed to make my stomach flip.

I’d had months to wrap my mind around it, but it still felt strange and wonderful.

“I have been practicing,” I agreed, thinking of all the trips to ‘hang out’ at club brothers’ houses who had small kids and babies, so I could get some more experience with them in a practical way, since there was only so much you could learn from books or through the classes Lolly and I had taken together.

“Someday,” Gracie said, giving Lolly a wistful smile as she sat down on the small stage that was overflowing with flowers, “that is going to be me.”

“Absolutely will. But can you imagine how hard the girls will have to work to keep it a secret from your mastermind self?”

“I know, right?” she asked, beaming. “Okay. I’m going to go check on the food. Have fun, Dad.”

There it was again.

The flip.

The feeling of rightness .

As if sensing the thought, Lolly’s head lifted and her gaze found mine.

Her awe-filled smile had my heart feeling like it was gonna break free of my chest.

“Want a lunchmeat skewer?” Dezi asked, moving in at my side with a plate full of them.

“Did you leave some for anyone else?”

“Got these outta the kitchen. They’re extras. You should see the desserts: cake, cupcakes, macarons, cookies, turnovers, little individual pies. Oh, and donuts. There’s a whole cake made outta donuts.”

“Gracie went all out.”

“I’m gonna hire her.”

“For what? A birthday party?”

“Yeah, that. Or, you know, a random Tuesday night…”

“You’re gonna go broke.”

“Broke? I got me a sugar mama,” he said, proudly. You’d think a rough-and-tough guy like Dezi would be too alpha to be a kept man. But he fucking loved it. “Kinda crazy, huh?”

“Your food spending habits? Yeah.”

“Nah. This. Her. The two of you. Lot of little things had to go an exact way to bring us all here today.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, nodding.

“Guess it was good you were an ingrate who walked away from his old man’s banging cooking to go live on the road and eat shitty gas station food for years, huh?”

“How do you know my dad’s food is banging?”

“Laz? Me and Laz have a dinner date every month.”

“You’re fucking unbelievable,” I said with a laugh.

“My wife is a lucky woman,” he agreed.

“She goes too?”

“Well, I bring her leftovers.”

The laugh burst out of me.

“I don’t see your wife,” I said, looking at the crowd.

“She’s doing business lady shit. She’s coming, though.”

“You gonna save any food for her?”

“Depends on how long it takes her to get here,” he said, sauntering away.

It was a day full of gifts, food, and celebrating Lolly, who was so fucking deserving of the love.

The men eventually showed up to drive their tipsy women home, taking some time to load up their trunks with our gifts to drop at our house on their way.

“You should have opened some with me,” Lolly said, walking up to me when we finally had a moment alone.

“Nah. I had my fun watching you.”

“Also, you’re a big, fat liar.”

“I know,” I agreed, turning her back to my chest, then reaching down to lift up her belly, giving her a break from the weight for a moment.

She let out a low moan as she leaned her head back against me.

“But at least you lied for a good reason.”

“And under Gracie’s orders.”

“Oh my God. She had orders for everyone, I heard.”

“She did. Multi-step plans sometimes too. Right down to your dress.”

“She’s a mastermind.”

“She is. They’ve had this planned since that night I dropped you off at Gracie’s house all those months ago.”

“I love our people,” she decided.

“Me too.”

“But I love you a little bit more.”

Lolly - 9 months

“She’s going to be just fine,” Nave assured me, sensing the direction of my thoughts as we drove away from the house.

“I know.”

“Gracie has been babysitting since she was twelve. She is a babysitting guru. She knows tricks even seasoned moms haven’t figured out yet. And she takes an infant and child CPR class every year to ‘stay fresh’ just in case.”

I shot a smile in Nave’s direction. “It sounds like she’s more qualified to take care of our baby than we are.”

“She is,” he said with a laugh. “She’ll probably have her sleeping through the night and, I dunno, reciting her ABCs by the end of the night.”

“She’s like three months old.”

“That’s how good Gracie is.”