Embracing Today, a firefighter romance: (The Trading Yesterday Series, #3), Kahlen Aymes [essential reading txt] 📗

“No, this is perfect.” She leaned her head on his shoulder briefly, then took his other hand in hers.

We were all looking on with bated breath.

“Come on, Mom! Spit it out, already!” Dylan commanded, continuing to shovel food into his mouth.

“Well…” she paused dramatically. “We’re going to have a baby!” Missy’s face was radiant.

Jensen was somewhat stunned for a minute. “Really?” he asked his face broke into a brilliant smile. “Are you serious?”

When Missy nodded, Jensen jumped up and pulled her into his arms and off the ground, holding on for dear life. Their happiness brought a tear to my eyes.

There was a chorus of congratulatory cheers and shouts from the rest of us. Teagan was smiling from ear to ear, and Chase bent to whisper something in her ear before she turned to kiss his lips, gently cupping his jaw.

“This is amazing!” Jensen said, finally setting her on her feet to hold her face with both hands and place a big kiss on her mouth. “How long?” He asked breathlessly.

Missy started to giggle. “Seven weeks. We have a long time to wait.”

Jensen laughed and lifted her in his arms again. “I’m so happy!”

“Ugh, more slobbering,” Dylan muttered.

“Yay! Now my baby sister will have someone to play with, too!” Remi said.

“I bet you and Dylan will love those babies a lot. You will play with them, too, I think.” I winked at Remi.

My heart was warmed by the love radiating among the group. The adults got up and went to congratulate the happy couple. Ben gave his sister a huge hug. “I’m happy for you guys.”

“I hope I get a brother,” Dylan spouted, still sitting down with his food.

“I don’t. I hope it’s a girl. Then she can be Jace’s damsel.” Remi’s tone was very matter of fact.

“Gross,” Dylan lamented. “Who said he wants one, Remi?”

“You better be quite Dylan Jeffers, or I won’t let you be my prince, anymore.”

It was an amusing exchange between the two kids.

“Good,” he answered, with a wry twist to his expression. “Who wants to be a dumb ole’ prince anyway?”

“You’ll be jealous when I’m some other prince’s damsel! It’s a good thing boys grow up, cuz boys are dumb!”

Dylan rolled his eyes. “Yeah? Well, girls are goofy!”

The adults all chuckled at the exchange, though Jensen stepped in. “That’s enough, kids.”

I laughed out loud at Remi’s boys are dumb narrative.

Remi went to sit on the end of Jensen and Missy’s log, so she was positioned between Jensen and Chase.

I watched her chatter away to them both when Ben’s phone vibrated in his back pocket and he took it out and glanced at the screen. Then shut it off and shoved it back inside. He looked to the west at the mountain range, so my eyes followed his. There was smoke billowing up from behind them, showing up in the remnants of the sunset, the sky a bit hazy.

“Ben, what is it?”

“It’s just… you know, it’s uh…” he continued to look at the mountains.

The others were happily chatting and eating their food, and many compliments came in but my concern for what Ben was thinking reduced them to the background.

“It’s a fire,” I guessed correctly.

“Yes. Davis texted earlier that they were going, but now it’s a lot more out of control. The wind has taken it wild. I have notifications on the police scanner. It’s bad.”

My stomach clenched. I knew in my heart he wanted to go help. “Ben, they haven’t called you in so can’t you just enjoy the evening with us? You haven’t even had dinner and you’ve been drinking.”

I was suddenly terrified. I could see the stress in his expression, but he nodded and picked up his fork again. I noticed how tense he was. He set his beer down and reached for a water bottle and downed almost all of the contents in one pull. It was a tell.

I inhaled deeply. He was preparing to join the fight. Suddenly the delicious meal I’d prepared tasted like dust in my mouth. I leaned my shoulder against his and lowered my voice so only he could hear me. “I know what you’re thinking, but please don’t go.” I was being selfish but after the nightmares, I didn’t care.

His brow furrowed as I implored him. I reached out and wrapped my hand around the inside of his elbow and squeezed. “Please. They haven’t called you, so it isn’t that bad, is it?”

“It’s bad enough to turn the night sky orange, Marin. There are a couple of towns over there. The longer it burns without containing it, the worse it gets.”

I sighed and though I understood, I was still scared to death. I could see he was shutting down emotionally. “Your family is here, and we promised to sing campfire songs.” I felt the panic rise up and knew it showed in my voice as I gripped his forearm tightly. “The kids have been looking forward to sharing the evening with Chase and Jensen all day.”

Ben glanced around the fire to view the scene of all three kids staying close to the two men and Dylan educating Jensen on how to load marshmallows on one of the new sticks Ben had sharpened for this evening’s event.

Remi was excitedly retelling about this morning when Dark had basically laid on my lap. She was laughing and Chase was playing along. It was clear that this was a close family.

Ben’s jaw was tight as he poked at the chunks of vegetables and hamburger on his plate. “I know, but this is what I do. The rest of you can sing songs and camp out.”

I glanced around uneasily, hoping that no one would notice the tension between us, but Missy’s eyes were on us. I swallowed hard against the emotion building in my throat. I needed to take a break from the group before I started crying in front of everyone.

“Ben, you’re injured. You have this week off.”

“I know,” he sighed. “My side is healed enough. I should