And she was having his baby.
He honestly didn’t care if she only visited the kid on the weekends. He was looking forward to being a dad. And, caveman-ish or not, he was loving the idea of having something that tied Jill to him.
He didn’t think Jill was really going anywhere with her penguins here. It wasn’t like relocating Galápagos penguins would be an easy task. But now with the baby in the picture, she would be next door for at least the next eighteen years.
He could definitely think of worse things.
He knew that his family would be expecting and asking if he’d proposed. And with any other woman, he would have by now. But this was Jill. She was special. Unique. She definitely looked at the world differently than anyone else he knew. She was also incredibly independent and upfront. He truly thought that if she believed getting married was the right step, she would’ve brought it up.
Because she hadn’t, he was keeping that to himself. It wasn’t that he thought he would never bring it up, but they were working through a lot of other things first. Hell, getting her to come to Ellie’s and see his whole family had been a big step.
He flexed his left hand. But she had put cream on his hand. Cora had been partially teasing about having it applied by someone who loved you. Well, maybe ten percent kidding. Cora really did believe that not only did nature’s remedies work better than anything from a pharmacy, but she also definitely believed that positive energy and emotions had a lot to do with healing.
But even if Jill had thought Cora was kidding, she’d still taken that jar of cream and treated his hand. That had to mean something.
Zeke knew Jill liked him. She definitely enjoyed spending time with him. And not just naked time. That was something. They seemed to have very little in common on the surface, but the more time they spent together, the more alike they clearly were.
They both liked things simple, neither of them got worked up about things like separating laundry, and they both would’ve been fine with that grilled cheese for dinner.
“Get over here and tell us your news!” Kennedy, another of his cousins, called. “I have a meeting in a little bit.”
But she had a twinkle in her eyes. It was clear that she was expecting big news, and was mostly teasing him.
“Yeah, I’ve got to remake a pan of brownies for Fletcher’s class tomorrow,” Jordan said.
The pan of brownies she was replacing was the pan he and Jill had eaten out of last night.
He gave her a grin. Jordan would absolutely forgive him when she found out what kind of news he had.
“Okay, okay,” he said, lifting his hands.
“What happened to your hand?” His mother was suddenly in front of them.
Zeke sighed. “It’s nothing.”
Elizabeth looked at Jill. “What happened?”
“He burned it.”
She left out how he’d burned it and he wanted to kiss her.
“How bad is it?”
“It looks pretty ugly, but he doesn’t seem to be in a lot of pain.”
Elizabeth looked at the ceiling. “Maybe I robbed a bank or something,”
Zeke shook his head. “There you are stealing stuff again. And this is nothing. I’m fine.”
“You have to learn to be more careful, Ezekiel. I worry enough with Alexander out there as a cop.”
“Zander was a detective in New Orleans and basically retired down here. He goes fishing more than he does anything else. He’s writing traffic tickets and dealing with kids drinking underage down by the bayou.”
“Ironic that, isn’t it?” his mother asked. “How many times did you all talk your way out of tickets?”
“It was training. Now he knows what to expect.”
“And if you think I didn’t lose years off my life while he was a detective in New Orleans, you are craz—”
“We’re having a baby.”
Elizabeth snapped her mouth shut and she and Zeke both turned to look at Jill.
Zeke couldn’t believe that she had blurted that out.
Jill gave his mother a small smile. “Sorry. Turns out, I can’t work up to it. That’s what we came here to tell everyone. Zeke’s going to be a dad.”
Zeke squeezed her hand again, but quickly looked at his mother. Was this going to make her think she’d burned down a small village or something in a past life?
Elizabeth’s face slowly brightened as the news sunk in. Her hand came up to cover her heart. “Maybe I started a huge children’s charity that helped millions out of poverty.”
Zeke stared at her. “Wait, what?”
Elizabeth gave him a huge, beaming smile. “I must’ve done something really good in one of my lives.”
“So you’re happy about this?”
“Of course I’m happy about this.”
“And you think this makes up for all the bad things I’ve done? You think maybe you were a really good person in a past life?”
“I’m sure I’ve had more than one past life. A couple where I was rotten, certainly.” Then she reached to pull Jill into a hug. “But I must’ve done something good as well,” she said to him over Jill’s shoulder.
Zeke shook his head. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
Elizabeth winked at him. “It’s what attracted me to your dad. I needed someone with a high tolerance for crazy. Growing up Landry meant he was the guy for me.” Elizabeth let Jill go. Then she turned to the room, put her fingers to her mouth, and gave a shrill, loud whistle.
It shut the room up and had everyone turning to face her immediately.
“Zeke and Jill are having a baby!” she announced to the group.
Well so much for telling them the news himself.
There was a beat, while the news sunk in, then the room seemed to explode.
There were cheers, there were a few “no shits!” Leo yelled, “Way to go, boy!” and there was lots of laughing and talking.
Suddenly the crowd surrounded him and Jill. Zeke immediately wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against his side under his arm.
“Okay, back off a little bit,” he told his family and friends. “Give the girl some space.”
He looked down at her. Jill did seem overwhelmed, but she offered him a small smile.
He kept her tucked against his side as he pushed his way through the crowd, making his way to the table. He deposited her in a chair with her back to the wall and took the chair right next to her where he could spread out and protect the space around her a bit. Everyone else filed back to their chairs, dropping into their seats.
Conversation continued for the next fifteen or twenty minutes with lots of jokes about how Zeke had welcomed the newcomer to town, how you could come to Autre and get all kinds of permanent souvenirs, and some sincere questions about how Jill was feeling, how far along she was, and if she’d told her family yet or not.
She hadn’t yet, and Zeke wasn’t sure what her plans were there.
After the initial wave of jokes and questions had quieted, Zeke sat back and took a deep, contented breath.
God, he loved these people. Every single one of them.
He took inventory of the room. The Landrys were gathered around their usual tables at the back of the bar. Leo and his friends were occupying the mismatched stools along the bar. The tables at the front of the restaurant were mostly filled with people from Autre, with only two seating tourists, while the tables in the middle of the room had been pulled together and were surrounded by the New Orleans crew.