My dad had been with us when Will had said it, and he’d nodded furiously beside him. Then, he just couldn’t help himself. “Personally, his mom and I are just shocked he’s got a woman, Will.”
“Really? I’ve just been shot, Dad, and you’re saying that?”
He shrugged and apologized, but I don’t think he meant it. Well, at least until he leaned forward and held out a ring in his hand. “It was your great-grandmother’s engagement ring. She married an Earl who died after three years, but they were lucky to have your grandad before he did. He had a title, but he wasn’t a rich man, so she worked hard to support her son after losing her husband. My dad was at war when her house was bombed during World War II, and when he came home, this was what he found in the rubble.”
I knew the story, and looking at the ring, I knew it was perfect for Tamsin. Small diamonds made a spiral at the top of it with about a half-carat of diamond in the middle, nestled on a gold band—unique, with history, and perfect.
Will whistled when he saw it. “Man, that is beautiful. When I asked Lea to marry me, all I could afford was a diamond the size of a mouse fart.”
“My grandad bartered pretty much half of what he had to get it for her, but he knew my grandmother would love it.”
Wrapping it up in my fist, I almost jumped up to give it to her then and there, but I knew I had to do it properly.
What I didn’t expect was to not get the chance until after I’d been wrangled onto a boat to re-enact Jaws and had spent a day at sea puking over the edge with only one arm to balance myself when waves hit us because of my shoulder.
In the end, I did it by sticking my hand through the model of a huge shark’s jaws, which was hanging in the bar we ended up in, begging her to take it and marry me. Granted, I’d drunk a lot of whisky to recover from the boat trip, which had a lot to do with it, but the videos and photos that went viral on the internet made it unforgettable.
According to the Townsend women, that’s what every bride wanted, an unforgettable proposal and wedding. I just wished it hadn’t been like that. I was never getting away from it for the rest of my life. There were even memes made out of it.
And four years later, she’d graduated from college, was now a guidance counselor at the high school, and loved every second of it.
Until she got pregnant six months into it. My bad!
We were days away from welcoming our kid into the world, and neither of us knew what we were having, except that he or she was a great white shark sized baby. She’d gone for a scan last week to check on the little guy, and even the technicians and doctor had winced when they’d seen him or her. I felt for my poor wife’s vagina.
Because she was due any day, she was now off work so that she didn’t scare a high school full of impressionable teenagers by giving birth in front of them. That meant that I got to cuddle into her and enjoy these last days with just the two of us.
So, rolling over, I threw my arm around her waist and buried my face in the back of her neck. It used to be that I could get my arm all the way around her, but now I was lucky if my fingers touched the mattress thanks to her bump. And I loved every inch of her.
Except she really needed to wash her hair.
Even after she’d had the cast taken off I loved washing it for her, so it was no chore if she said yes. “Pretty girl, do you want me to wash your hair for you?”
There was a low growl from her, which made me smile.
This time when I nuzzled my nose into her, her hair felt weird. Short, prickly, and not at all like the long raven strands I knew so well.
That’s when it all made sense—I was spooning my fucking dog. Again!
Clyde had a habit of jumping up on the bed when there was just one of us in it, and I was trying to break him out of it. It was like with the baby on the way, he was worried about being left out of things and forgotten. Like we could. He’d saved our lives, plus he was an integral part of our family.
Still.
“Clyde, if you don’t get your ass off this bed in the next two seconds, I’m gonna—”
“Don’t you dare threaten my baby again,” Tamsin clipped, appearing behind me. “I’ve got to go into work for an hour to talk to one of the seniors. Get some sleep and apologize to him when you get up.” Then, flashing me a sweet smile, she gave me a quick kiss, not minding my morning breath at all. “Love you!”
And then she was gone. That was life with Tamsin Evans, though. It was an adventure with highs and lows, but the lows were absorbed into the highs, and you never doubted how much she loved you.
It didn’t mean I wasn’t going to do as I was told, though…
Two hours later…
I hadn’t set the alarm, but the fucking thing kept going off. I was just leaning up to throw my phone across the room when I saw Tamsin’s name on the screen.
“’Lo?”
I could hear her panting slightly, and it woke me up immediately. Even though Gjorka wasn’t a part of this world anymore—thanks to someone who had an issue with him in the prison he’d eventually been sent to after a lengthy trial—going through that had stuck with me, so it was instinct to panic whenever there was something wrong.
“Honey, I’ve got a problem.”
The sleep fog dropped instantly, and I was on my feet the second she stopped talking. “What is it, baby?”
Putting the phone on speaker, I grabbed a pair of dark grey sweats out of my drawer and a t-shirt and yanked them on, thanking all that was holy that I’d had a shower when I got in this morning. I never went to bed with the dirt from work on me.
“Um, you see, I stopped in to congratulate one of the classes on getting good grades in their exams—they went from all getting C’s to B’s, Garrett. Isn’t that great?”
“Yeah, baby, that’s great,” I murmured, quickly brushing my teeth and then grabbing my keys on the way to the door. “Now, what’s the problem?”
“Well, I walked into the room and jumped when they started calling my name and clapping…” she trailed off, leaving me staring at the wheel of my new Expedition.
“And then?”
“I just wasn’t expecting it. I’ve spent a lot of time with them, I know, but they were so excited.”
Fuck it. I’d start driving to the school while she got to the point.
“And then?”
“I jumped, and it felt like the baby bounced inside me, but I know they’re okay.”
“Uh-huh, so you bounced, and the baby did it as well. And then?” Christ, I felt like the woman out of Dude, Where’s My Car?
Huffing out a breath, she sniffed, “Well, either I peed my pants in front of the class, or my water broke.”
Ah, shit.
Seeing as how she needed me to stay calm according to the classes we’d gone to, I cracked my neck and kept my voice as level as I could. “I’ll be with you in ten minutes. Do you think you can hold on that long?”
“Tabby’s with me, and I’m not feeling any pain, so I think I’ll be okay.” I could hear whispering from Tabby, and then Tamsin came back on the line. “So, how was your day? Did you manage to watch Downton Abbey like I told you to? It suits my ring, doesn’t it?”