Chapter 20

TWENTY

Stella

“What do you mean, it’s our engagement party? We’ve only been officially engaged for a week.” My hands are on my hips as I process what my fiancé just told me. We’re headed to Kincaid Central later tonight to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the family, but apparently, it’s also doubling as our engagement party.

Maverick shrugs. “I knew you were going to say yes. We did a pre-proposal, remember? It’s just low-key, Stel, nothing to worry about.” He’s acting as if this is no big deal, but it’s a big deal. He planned a party for us.

I love the way he loves me. The way he loves us.

Nothing this man does is low-key. “I remember, Mav, but an engagement party? Really? We already live together. Is this really necessary?” I already know he’s going to say that it’s absolutely necessary.

I try to hide my grin. This is what life is going to be like with Maverick, and I’m here for it. All of it. Every over-the-top thing he wants to toss my way, I’m all in.

“It’s absolutely necessary.” He’s nodding, a look of sheer determination on his face. He thinks he has to convince me, but I’m already convinced. If Maverick is there, so am I. It’s as simple as that.

Brooks sits in the recliner, his body shaking with quiet laughter.

“What? Don’t tell me you agree with him?” I ask my future brother-in-law. He stopped by to help Maverick move some shelving from the old house to this one. We’re pretty much fully moved. The garage shelving was the last missing piece. It’s been a busy week, but I admit it’s nice to have so much family that’s more than willing to jump in and help us. They’re better than any moving company. Hands-down.

The day after Christmas, the family arrived with boxes, rolls of tape, and, as Blakely reminded me, arm porn to do the heavy lifting. We were packed and moved out the same day. All hands on deck. We had beds put together and rooms roughly set up by the time we went to bed that night.

“This guy—” Brooks points at Maverick, trying to compose himself through his laughter, “—once said he wasn’t ever going to have an engagement party.” He smiles at his little brother. “Changes things, doesn’t it?” he says to Maverick.

Maverick nods, a serious expression on his face. “I didn’t understand it then.”

“Understand what?”

Maverick turns toward me, and his eyes soften. “Love, angel. I didn’t understand that when you find your forever, you do anything you can think of to put a smile on her face.” He looks like he wants to say more, but a rambunctious little girl interrupts him.

“Daddy!” Ada comes running toward Maverick, carrying her beloved ladybug.

He lifts her into his arms. “Have you been good for Mommy?” he asks.

She nods. “Good.” She offers the ladybug to him, and he kisses it just like he always does.

“Ada, come see Uncle Brooks before I have to leave.” Maverick hands her over, and Brooks tickles her sides as she squirms on his lap. “Are you ready for the party tonight? All your aunts, uncles, and cousins will be there, and Grandma and Grandpa.”

His family has not only accepted me, but Ada too. They treat her just like all the other Kincaid grandkids. To them, and to us, she’s Maverick’s daughter. That’s enough for them. If anything, they might love on her a little harder than the others just to show me and Maverick that she’s one of them. That we both are. I’ve never felt so loved.

There was a time in my life when I felt like it would just be Ada and me. My parents want nothing to do with me. To them, I ruined my life. To me, I enhanced it. Being her mom is the greatest thing I’ve ever done.

“Par-tay.” Ada nods, mimicking Brooks. She’s been doing a lot more of that lately.

“That’s right.” Brooks hugs her tightly. “I’ll see you later, kiddo.” He puts her on her feet, and she scurries to the corner of the living room where her play kitchen set is, which Santa brought her. By Santa, I mean her daddy, who didn’t even tell me he was getting it for her. I woke up on Christmas morning, and it was just there, sitting next to the tree.

This man, he goes out of his way to spoil us, to see the smiles on our faces. I’ll never be able to love him enough for everything he’s given us, but I’m going to try for every day of forever.

“You better put on your par-tay shoes, Momma,” Brooks tells me, saying party like Ada did. He’s smirking.

All I can do is shake my head and smile. “We’ll be there,” I tell him. Even if it wasn’t also my engagement party, we would be there. Family is everything. I know what it’s like to be a part of one that never wanted you, so you can bet your ass I’m going to be present in the one that chose me.

“Humor him,” Brooks says, his voice low only for me. “He’s really excited.”

“I know. I am, too, but hijacking the family party?”

“Kills two birds with one stone. We’d all be at both, regardless.” He hugs me and calls out his goodbye to Maverick and Ada.

“Are you mad?” Maverick asks from where he’s sitting on the floor, pretending to eat a plastic banana that Ada handed him.

How can I ever be mad at this man? “No. I’m not mad. I just feel bad we’re taking over the New Year’s celebration.”

Maverick shrugs. “They’d all be at both, regardless.”

I smile when he recites Brooks’s earlier words to me. “Yeah,” I agree. Looks like I have an engagement party to get ready for.

“Wow,” I say, walking into Kincaid Central. The entire place is decorated. There are enlarged pictures of Maverick, Ada, and me, some with his family and some just the three of us. There are also a few from our first trip to Sunflower Park. There are fairy lights strung overhead and so many other decorations I can’t take them all in at once.

“When did you get these pictures blown up?”

“Oh, that was Sterling. He did something similar with Alyssa, and they thought it would be a nice touch.”

“It’s perfect.” He leads me to a table with desserts. There’s a cake decorated in black and gold with a topper that reads, Kiss me at midnight. There are cupcakes decorated in gold and black as well. Some have plastic wedding rings; some have miniature black top hats that say Happy New Year. There are some with our initials MS on a stick and others that read, She said yes! It’s over the top and perfect. I couldn’t have done it better myself.

“When did you have time to do all of this in the last week?”

“About that.” Maverick grins as he scratches the back of his neck.

“There’s my niece.” Archer takes Ada into his arms and rushes off with her.

“Well?” I ask Maverick.

“I started planning a while ago.”

“What’s a while ago?”

“After our pre-proposal. I knew you were going to say yes. You’d already said yes, so I kind of started putting things into motion.”

“How did you pull this off without me knowing?”

“My sisters-in-law, my mom, your grandma. All the ladies were onboard. I told them the things I wanted, and they told me it was too much, and I told them I wanted it anyway, and they made it happen.” He doesn’t look even a little bit sorry for it either.

“It’s great, Mav. Thank you.”

“Oh, there’s more. This is just the basics.”

“There is so much attention to detail to incorporate both parties. How can this only be the basics?”

“You’ll see,” he says cryptically. He kisses me quickly, but I’m being pulled away by Alyssa and Jordyn.

“Should you ladies be tugging on me like that? It might send you both into labor,” I tease.

“Stop.” Alyssa giggles, holding her belly. She’s only got a few more weeks to go before we get to meet her little one. She and Sterling decided to be surprised. Jordyn and Ryder did, too, so we’re all on pins and needles, waiting on the arrival of their little ones.

“Do you love it?” Jordyn asks.

“I do. It’s a little much.” I chuckle.

“We tried to tell him,” Ramsey says, joining us. “He was insistent.”

“He’s too much.” I’m smiling so big my face hurts.

“We knew he would be like this. We told him when he falls, he’s going to fall hard.”

“He’s definitely over the top.”

Ramsey waves me off. “Let him. That’s Maverick’s love language. He’s always been a little extra in… well, everything,” she says, and we all laugh at her reasoning. She’s not wrong.

The conversation turns to their pregnancies, and Ramsey tells us that she and Deacon are trying for another baby. Eventually, the other ladies join us. We’re all sitting at the long kitchen table chatting. The men are off doing who knows what. I’ve learned that the brothers are a pack. It doesn’t matter what one is doing, the others are all in. From moving to putting together baby furniture to New Year’s and engagement parties. They’re by each other’s sides, no matter what.

At a few minutes before midnight, Maverick announces that there’s about to be a show. Not sure what he’s talking about, we bundle up the kids that aren’t already fast asleep, and step outside on the back patio where the grill and firepit are.

We’re all huddled together when Maverick comes to stand by us and wraps me in his arms. “Bug, Daddy is so glad you’re still awake.”

“She took a power nap and is ready to party again,” I tell him. I know it’s all the excitement and noise that’s keeping her up. The only two that are crashed are Caden and Beckham. I think those boys could sleep through anything.

“Ready for the show?” he asks.

“What is it?”

“You’ll see.”

“Count it down!” Declan calls out.

Together, we call back. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.” Fireworks explode into the sky.

Merrick, Declan, Sterling, Rushton, and Archer whoop and cheer as they light more. Maverick has Ada in his arms. She’s not sure about the noise, but he holds her close and points to the sky.

“See, Bug, so pretty,” he tells her.

I’m looking up at the sky when a firework explodes into a heart, and the next, an engagement ring. “What?” I whip my head around to look at Maverick. “How did you pull this off? It must have cost a fortune.”

“No. Ramsey and Jordyn were already planning this. I just hijacked with a few specialized fireworks that we added to the mix. It wasn’t that much, angel.”

I stare back up at the night sky in time to see a firework explode into an angel halo. Tears spring to my eyes, and I don’t fight them. I move to stand on the other side of Maverick so that I can curl into his chest.

I love this man.

I love the life we’re building.

Forever won’t be long enough.