Chapter 41

CHAPTER

FORTY-ONE

B ryce’s heartbeat pounded and hammered, speeding the closer he got to Rising Sun Ranch. He loved his acreage in Wyoming with his whole soul, especially now that Codi lived there and ran the ranch with him. He didn’t have to carry so much pressure with her at his side; his mistakes were easily forgiven. And she had a keen mind that helped him see through problems and come up with solutions.

It was just nice to not be alone.

He glanced over to his daddy, who drove toward the T-junction where he’d turn and continue up to Dog Valley. Abby rode in the passenger seat in front of him, but all of Bryce’s siblings were already at the farm.

Codi had recruited everyone ages five to twenty-five, to come help her decorate their house for the party they were hosting that night. Harry wasn’t finished with his online concert tour yet, but when he was, they would have a big party at his house too.

Bryce had deliberately left Harry, Belle, Kassie, and Reggie off the decorating crew. His stomach buzzed with live wasps because he wasn’t sure how they would take this news.

“Oh, they’re going to be fine,” he grumbled to himself. This was good news.

He and Codi were going to be parents, and he was going to get to keep this baby, love it, and raise it. But he was incredibly close with Kassie still, despite them both being married for the past year or so. He and Harry were best friends. Bryce had been playing every show with him, and it had been incredibly difficult to keep this secret from him in the past several weeks.

Luckily, Harry had a master planner in Adam, and Bryce and Codi had met with him and asked for his help in planning this party and keeping it secret from those they didn’t want to know until they arrived. Bryce cleared his throat and said, “Dad, if Uncle Morris wants to quit managing the band, I know who you can hire.”

His daddy looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Oh yeah? Who’s that?”

“Adam,” Bryce said instantly.

“Harry’s Adam?” Dad asked.

“Yeah,” Bryce said.

“I suppose he won’t need to work for Harry for very much longer,” Daddy mused.

“What’s he going to do for him? Buy his milk here in Coral Canyon?” He grinned and shook his head because he knew his cousin hated having an assistant, though it had definitely been helpful for him, and he loved Adam like a brother. Everyone in the Young family did.

“I’m sure he’s going to be looking for another job,” Bryce said.

“That is not a bad idea,” Abby said.

Uncle Morris and Aunt Leigh had five children now, and they’d been building their new house for over a year. They still hadn’t moved in, because they’d encountered some water problems after they’d poured the foundation, and the whole thing had to be ripped out and started over.

“There shouldn’t be too much,” Dad said. “We’re retired.”

“There’s still a ton and you know it,” Abby said. “Morris still works a full-time job while the rest of you sleep in and enjoy your families full-time.”

He scoffed as he looked over to Abby. “I don’t know about that.”

“Ask Leigh,” Abby shot back.

Bryce grinned at their banter, though he knew they absolutely loved each other too.

Dad reached the T-junction and made the right turn that would take them further north and a little bit further west to Dog Valley. They’d be at Rising Sun Ranch in ten minutes, and Bryce pulled his phone out and texted his wife as much.

We’re ready , she said .

Do you want me to get an ETA on everyone else? Bryce texted her.

I’ll put it on the family text , she said. A few seconds later, he navigated over to that and found that she had just messaged, We’re ready for everyone! Let us know how far out you are.

Messages came in, and most people were five to fifteen minutes out. That only fueled Bryce’s nerves. In no more than fifteen minutes, everyone would know that he was going to be a father again. He still couldn’t believe it most nights when he knelt down to pray and thank God for His blessings, for the opportunity to have OJ in his life, and for the trust God had given him to try again.

You’ll need to tell the Whittakers , he thought. And Bailey. Bryce’s mind and world slowed enough for him to think of her. She still lived in Butte, but she’d been in consistent contact with OJ and her parents since his wedding last year.

“What are we having for dinner?” Daddy asked.

“Oh, Codi asked how far out we are,” Abby said. “I’m going to tell her we’re about five minutes.”

“It’s a pizza party,” Bryce said. “That’s the easiest way to feed a million people.”

Daddy chuckled. While there weren’t quite a million people in the Young family, it sure felt like it sometimes. They’d invited everyone tonight—Wade and Cheryl, all of the Averys, Denzel and Michelle, Sunny’s brother and sister and their spouses, Georgia’s parents, and of course, Grams and Gramps. Dad made the turn that took them off the highway and down the lane that led to the ranch, but he stopped much sooner than Bryce expected.

“They’re lined up here,” Daddy said.

Bryce leaned over and looked out the windshield between his parents. “I see,” he said. “Let me go see what’s going on.”

He got out of the truck before his dad could protest, though he already knew exactly why Codi had staged a traffic jam. He jogged past Uncle Luke in his giant SUV, because he refused to drive a minivan, then Morris in exactly that vehicle, Trace and Ev in their truck, and to Gramps and Grams, who had arrived first.

Someone had put up some sawhorses to block the driveway, probably OJ, and Bryce’s heart pumped double-time.

Bryce gazed at the farmhouse he’d fallen in love with the moment he’d stepped inside. Maybe from the moment he’d seen it from the curb. Either way, he’d known this was his home from the beginning.

From here, he couldn’t see any of the balloons or streamers or signs proclaiming that Codi was going to have a baby. But he could only imagine what it would look like inside. He’d seen all the decorations; they’d been sitting on his kitchen table for two weeks now, and he and Codi had barely been able to cram themselves there to eat.

Grams rolled down her window and said, “Codi says she wants everyone to come around to the back deck before she’ll let us into the house.”

“Sure,” Bryce said .

“She said when you got here, you’d move the sawhorses so we could park,” Gramps said.

Bryce nodded and said, “Okay,” in the most cheerful voice he could muster. He pulled out his phone and checked the family text as well, not that he thought Grams would be lying. He saw Codi’s message, and he hastened to move the sawhorses.

Then he started motioning people into the driveway and along the dirt road that led past the house and further back onto the farm so they could park. He’d hosted everyone at his house before for spooky Halloween walks, OJ’s birthday last year, and other events, and he had plenty of parking. They’d celebrated the Fourth of July last week, and he didn’t want his grandparents to be out in the heat for long, but the temperatures weren’t too bad today.

When his dad pulled in to where Bryce indicated, he motioned for him to roll down the window. “Can you please go ahead and make sure that no one goes into the house until Codi says it’s okay?”

“What’s going on?” Daddy asked.

“She said she wants us to stay on the back deck,” Abby said.

“She’s probably doing something with the kids,” Bryce said, which wasn’t exactly a lie.

Daddy parked and said, “I’ll handle it.” As he got out, Bryce heard him yelling to his brothers as he continued to direct the parking. He had to actually count on his fingers to make sure everyone had arrived, and when they had, Bryce pulled out his phone and texted Codi .

We’re all here. I’m coming in the front door.

He did that quickly, pulling it closed behind him and locking it so no one could follow him. The living room held balloons in a variety of pastel colors—pink, blue, yellow, green, violet, pale peach, and white. They’d been blown up with a helium tank, with matching strings hanging down from them.

“Wow,” Bryce said as he dodged through all the strings and into the kitchen. He didn’t see Codi or any of the kids, and he had no idea where they could possibly be. Plenty of people stood on the back deck, and he knew they wouldn’t have patience for very long. These were the Youngs, after all.

To his right, down the hall, he heard, “Are you ready?” and then a huge cheer lifted through the house. Codi had staged them all back there. He got out of the way as she came toward him.

“This place looks great,” he said. “I had Boston go outside and look into the windows to make sure we couldn’t see the banner.”

She’d hung a huge Congratulations! banner from the ceiling between the living room and the kitchen, with baby rattles, cartoon babies, and rocking horses on it.

“Do you think they’ll get the message when they walk in?”

“One hundred percent,” Bryce said, grinning at her. He put his arm around her and brought her to his side, because they’d planned to stand beneath the banner.

“Congratulations, Bryce,” Rosie said as she led the cousins down the hallway. “I’m so excited we’re getting so many new babies in the family.”

He held out his fist for her to bump. “You’ll babysit for us before anyone else, right?”

Rosie glowed under the praise, and Bryce couldn’t stop smiling.

“All right, guys,” the fourteen-year-old said, starting to boss everyone around—one of her superpowers. “Remember what we rehearsed?”

“Yes,” came from the group of Young children, their voices not quite lining up.

“What day is Codi due?” Rosie yelled.

“November twenty-sixth!” they chorused back to them.

“The day before Thanksgiving,” Bryce whispered to himself, another swell of gratitude, love, and joy filling him.

Rosie looked over to OJ, who looked at her very seriously.

“I think they’re ready,” he said as he turned back to the group. “Everyone pile in closer. We want our mommas and daddies to see all of us.”

Once all the kids surrounded them, Codi said, “All right, OJ. You can let them in.”

OJ half-walked, half-skipped to the sliding glass door and pulled it open. “All right, now everyone settle down.” It took a few seconds for that to actually happen, as he still had a little boy voice that didn’t carry very far.

“Everyone is going to come in,” he yelled to the adults. “And you’re going to line up and face us all. We have something to tell you.” He held up both hands. “Do I need to repeat that for those of you in the back?”

Bryce burst out laughing because it was so OJ and so his family to have to have things repeated for those in the back. “You’re gonna come in!” OJ yelled. “And line up facing us!” He spoke slower this time, and he was so stinking cute. “We have something to tell you!”

Codi giggled against his chest as Bryce quieted. OJ turned around and said, “I did my best with this family.”

“You killed it, bud,” Bryce said as OJ hurried to his spot on the end.

Daddy came in first, as he’d been holding everyone back. He’d only taken one step before he came to a complete stop, blocking everyone else’s entrance to the house. His eyes fixated on the banner above Bryce and Codi and all the kids. “Dear God,” he said in a tone filled with reverence and awe.

“Don’t just stop right there,” Abby griped at him, and she squeezed past him. She, too, came to a complete stop as she took in the scene before her, then sucked in a breath and covered her mouth with both of her hands.

Half a squeal made it out of her mouth before OJ said, “Aunt Abby, you’re supposed to come in and face us.”

“You’re blocking everyone, Momma,” Bryce said.

Her eyes came to his, wide and dark and filled with hope. He’d been kidding himself if he thought he’d be able to do this with dry eyes, because he was a sympathy crier. If someone else started to tear up, he did too.

And right now, Abby had tears streaming down her face. She moved out of the way, and more people came in. Their voices grew louder and louder, because the surprise was out of the bag.

OJ once again stepped forward and said, “Everyone quiet down now,” as he held up both hands.

Once the family had listened to him, he turned around and said, “Ready? Three, two, one.” He even held up three fingers and lowered them one by one.

Then he swept his arm toward the kids, the go-signal he’d come up with while Bryce had gathered the eggs OJ should’ve gotten.

It took a couple of seconds to get all of the kids’ voices to work as one, but when they did, they said, “Bryce and Codi are going to welcome our baby to their family,” in a near-chant.

OJ turned around and waved as if he was trying to get the crowd pumped up. That got everybody to whoop and holler. They could do all the shrieking they wanted now. OJ cut them off as if he was a grand maestro and turned back around and said, “When are they going to have the baby?”

And all of the kids yelled, “Nov-em-ber twent-y-sixth!”

OJ turned around and called, “It’s a Thanksgiving babyyyyyyy! ” holding on to the last sound in the word “baby” for too long. Classic OJ.

The cheers and applause started again. This time, the kids broke ranks and gathered around Bryce and Codi, making them the nucleus of the celebration. Their parents did the same, coming forward to congratulate them on the addition that would soon come to their family.

Bryce hugged his cousins, aunts, and uncles, smiling big as his tears mostly stayed dormant until he came face to face with Uncle Otis.

Uncle Otis grinned and said, “I guess you’re not going to be giving me this one.”

Bryce shook his head as Uncle Otis pulled him into a hug and held on tight. “I sure do love you, son,” Otis said. “You’re going to be the best daddy in the whole world.”

He stepped back and then to the side, and Bryce came face to face with his momma and daddy. He opened his arms for both of them. They stepped in to hug him, and all he could think was, God is a God of miracles. He is so kind. He is so good. He is so forgiving.

God is a God of miracles.