She nodded, but her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “I wish my mother was here.”
Hearing her say that raised Ryan’s blood pressure all over again. Donna Sullivan had a new boyfriend, it seemed, and they’d already made plans they couldn’t cancel on such short notice. Ryan had been in the room when Mitch had called Donna and offered not only to buy two first-class plane tickets, but to foot the bill for any cancellation fees for the plans, which couldn’t possibly be as important as her daughter’s wedding. But her boyfriend hadn’t wanted to come, so she hadn’t either.
“You’ll be a Kowalski now,” he told Paige. “And we always show up.”
“I’m going to love being a part of your family.” She took a deep breath and blinked away the wetness in her eyes. “Okay, let’s go out and say hi.”
Rosie, Josh and Mitch were already on the porch when he and Paige stepped out, so they all went down the steps to the driveway together.
Uncle Leo and Aunt Mary were first in line for hugs, but when his aunt got a little weepy, Ryan passed her off to Rosie and moved to Terry and Evan’s car. His cousin and her husband looked relaxed and happy, which made him smile. They’d had a rough patch a while back and the family hadn’t been sure the marriage would survive. Now it seemed stronger than ever. Their fourteen-year-old daughter, Stephanie, squealed and threw her arms around his neck and it blew his mind how tall she’d gotten. He needed to get over to New Hampshire more often.
His cousin Kevin arrived in a minivan, which made Ryan chuckle, with his brother Joe riding shotgun. When Beth got two-year-old Lily out of her car seat, she was off like a rocket, mom at her heels. Keri handed Brianna—who’d had her first birthday late in the summer—to Joe, but she squirmed, wanting to get down and go with her cousin.
Then the doors to Mike and Lisa’s minivan opened and their kids spilled out, grumbling and throwing elbows. He shook his cousin’s hand, trying to remember how old Rosie had said their boys were. The youngest, Bobby, was eight, so working backward he figured out Brian was ten, Danny was thirteen and Joey was sixteen. Damn, they grew up fast.
Pulling up the rear was a pickup that said Landscaping by Emma down the side, and his brother Sean—aka the middle child—was standing in front of it, stretching his back.
His wife, Emma, had her hands on her hips. “If you’d let me drive part of the way, your back wouldn’t be so stiff.”
Sean just shook his head, then grinned when he saw Ryan approaching. Ryan shook his hand, pulling him in for a shoulder slapping, then kissed his sister-in-law’s cheek. “Glad you guys made it.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it. You haven’t lived until you’ve been in a McDonald’s with seven kids who will do anything to not get back in a vehicle.”
“Better you than me.” Ryan took Emma’s bag from her. “Although I get the privilege of making the six-hour round-trip to pick up Liz at the airport. Josh pulled the whole healing-broken-leg card.”
“The bastard.” Sean didn’t seem to be in any hurry to wade into the throng of loud Kowalskis blocking the porch. “How’s the work going?”
They chatted a few minutes about the renovations on the lodge, and Ryan wasn’t surprised when Emma wandered off to join the rest of the family. He stood and watched them while he talked to his brother, and he was surprised when he saw Emma press a hand to her lower belly before shoving both hands in her pockets. He looked at Sean, one eyebrow raised.
Sean grinned and nodded. “Yeah. But she doesn’t want to tell anybody yet.”
“Between Rose and Aunt Mary, there’s no way it’s going stay a secret.”
“If they suspect, they suspect. But she doesn’t want to tell anybody until Thanksgiving. It’s still early, plus you know all the women are going to flip out. Especially Rosie, since it’s the first baby for our side of the family, but Emma doesn’t want to take any of the focus off Paige.”
“Holy shit, you’re going to be a daddy.” The grin and the glow that lit up his brother’s face warmed Ryan’s heart. It had taken Sean a long time to settle and he could see, without a doubt, his younger brother was ridiculously happy. “Congratulations, man.”
“Thanks. I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep the secret until Thanksgiving or not, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything until after the wedding.”