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One of the dogs in the yard barked at him, and he grinned slightly. The camouflage worked, usually, but he couldn’t escape the nose of a dog. Walking across the yard, he leaned against the chain link fence to let the dogs smell him. He was still actively concealing himself, so anyone looking out the window would probably see something very strange. Hopefully, the women were more distracted by what was going on inside.

* * *

Shannon’s throat tightened with emotion yet again as she removed the tissue paper from the pretty pink bag. Reaching inside, she pulled out a darling little outfit, with tiny flowered bell-bottom pants and a matching shirt. She shook her head as she pulled out more items from the bag.

These women were her heart and soul. She had thought that Ember and Willow had something to talk to her about, so when she’d walked into Willow’s house, she’d been unprepared for the gaggle of women crying out ‘surprise’. She had well and truly been had. Ember gave her a self-satisfied smile and walked her to a recliner at the front of the room. “This is where you will sit, and we’ll bring the presents to you.”

Willow had a broad smile on her face as Shannon tried to take in what was going on. “I thought you needed help with something,” she said weakly, hand on her belly.

“I do,” Willow said, nodding and leaning down to give her a hug. “I need you to sit there and eat some of the luscious food we’ve made, and we’re going to talk babies. Can I get you a sparkling cider?”

Shannon nodded, her eyes filling with tears as she looked around the room. All of the wives were here, and the girlfriends. Any female connected to Lost and Found was here. Marigold looked very self-satisfied, and Shannon had to give her credit. She’d had no idea what was going on, and it had to have been planned for several weeks. Willow’s beautiful house was even more beautiful with crepe streamers in pink and green and yellow. There were themed plates and napkins, bowls of candy, and a cake on the breakfast bar she would have to go look at at some point. She thought it had been fashioned to look like a stack of rolled diapers… It was obvious it had taken them a while to decorate and set this up.

Marigold kneeled down beside her, and Shannon shook her head. “What did you do?”

Marigold’s smile broadened. “I specifically didn’t do much. We all pitched in and pulled things together. Willow volunteered her house, Ember ordered the cake, and I let people know when and where. It was a group effort. But it’s nothing that you haven’t done for us, so just sit back and enjoy it.”

Marigold leaned forward and wrapped Shannon in a hug, which she took gratefully. The younger woman had been such a help in the office recently, even as she juggled work hours with school hours, and her burgeoning relationship with Logan Vance.

Then the other women moved in with hugs, and it was all she could do not to break down in tears. Lora kneeled down beside her, and Shannon’s heart broke. She could see the sadness in Lora’s eyes, because this was something she wanted as well. A few days ago Lora had told Shannon about her problems having a child with Chad, which made Shannon feel like a terrible friend. Here she was about to pop with baby number three, and she’d been so oblivious to Lora’s pain. Lora was busy all the time, now that she’d taken over her ex’s company, and Shannon had thought she’d just been too busy to do things with her. She hadn’t realized that seeing Shannon pregnant had been especially hard for Lora until they’d talked about it.

“It will happen for you,” she promised Lora. The other woman smiled, but didn’t say anything.

Ember brought her a plate of finger foods and set it on the small table beside the chair, then a cup of the sparkling cider. Shannon laughed and ate and chatted all afternoon, and when they started bringing her gifts, she was tired enough to be feeling more emotional than normal. “You guys really didn’t have to do this,” she breathed, pulling a frilly lilac purple dress from a bag. It was too big by at least a year, but it was so cute. She could envision the family doing a holiday family picture, with John holding the baby.

The gifts were every girly thing she could have hoped for. Shannon loved her boys desperately, but she was so looking forward to having a girl. The closet at home was already full of clothes, but some of these were for later ages.

A baby cried in the back bedroom, and Shannon felt her body respond. It hadn’t been that long ago for the boys, and her body was remembering.

Angela stood and walked down the hallway to get baby Fallon. When they returned, Fallon was wiping her eyes tiredly, and half of her face was red. Shannon chuckled at the sleepy sight. She loved the hazy look babies got when they woke.

Angela sat down in the chair and began nursing baby Fallon, but she seemed fractious again. “Is her belly upset?” Shannon asked.

“I just changed her and she seemed fine. She’s been doing this. I think she’s used to being at home and traveling and being in strange places doesn’t agree with her.”

Hm. That was possible.

The party began wrapping up an hour later, and by the time it was all done, Willow’s house was back to rights. Shannon listened to the conversations around them, but as far as she could tell, Ember was still in the dark about the wedding tomorrow night. She’d been fielding text messages from Zeke all day, and letting him know what she thought about the setup. So far, the event space looked amazing.

The plan was that they would all arrive to help set some stuff up for the ‘dinner’ at 6. That was when Ember would realize what was going on, so Shannon wanted to be there early just to see her face. She’d helped Zeke pick out a sampling of dresses in Ember’s size, similar to what she’d dog-eared in a magazine herself. Most of what they’d planned followed notes that Ember had created herself, just hadn’t implemented. Her Pinterest board had been an invaluable help as well.

Shannon hoped Ember appreciated the work Zeke had put into this weekend. It hadn’t been easy wrangling everything together.

Just thinking of the jam-packed weekend, Shannon decided she needed a nap. As soon as she got home…

5

Aiden picked up Haven and his family and drove them back to the house they’d rented for the week, on the north side of Denver. It was only a few miles from John and Shannon’s house, and it had a fantastic view of the mountains. John and Shannon had invited them all to stay at their house, of course, but Aiden had thought it would be too much. Too many people in the house, and Shannon didn’t need the stress of hosting at this late stage of her pregnancy. John hadn’t argued the point, and Aiden thought he was a little relieved. Yes, they would have put them up, but it wasn’t polite to stress the family out.

Besides, the house they’d rented was in a gated community. It was big and beautiful, and had a top-notch security system, the main reason why Aiden had selected it. He didn’t trust it completely but between he and Haven, they would have coverage on the girls at all times. He’d debated bringing one of the other men who were further along in their training, but he hadn’t been able to justify the time or expense. The worry he felt was nebulous, unfocused. And he wasn’t sure how much of it was just first-time father jitters.

“How does John feel about having a little girl,” Angela asked as they pulled into the driveway.

Aiden snorted as he parked and turned off the engine. “On the outside, he’s Mr. Cool, but I can tell he’s worried. I think because it’s a girl. He’s used to the boys.”

Angela snorted as she opened her door, moving to the back seat to unfasten Fallon. Aiden circled the hood to stand at her back, grinning at the little girl over his wife’s shoulder. Haven headed toward the front of the house. He would do a walkthrough, then they would all go in. Aiden was tired, and he knew Angela was too. They’d done a lot of socializing over the past couple of days, and tomorrow would be even busier.

Haven came out of the house, frowning, and Aiden hesitated. What?