A/N Happy National Ice Cream Sandwich Day! That sounds really good right about now. It's also Friendship Day, which yay! I like to think you're my friends, so I can gift you with a chapter in honor of the day. It's also American Family Day (do the other counties get their own family day? I certainly hope so!) which fits this chapter methinks.

I keep forgetting to mention that I'm a judge in the Meet the Mate Contest which is going on until the 18th or so! There are a lot of entries to go read already, and I'm hoping that several of them expand (I will resort to begging). I hope some of you are entered or considering entering. It's a truly great way to get started. I may (okay I do) have my own entry that will post after the voting is done and whatnot, since I can't enter. So, read, enter, get ready to vote. It's already a great contest, but I want more, more, more. Don't forget, Sideline was supposed to be a one-shot contest entry. And here we are lots and lots of chapters later with the same characters. Awesome :)

Also don't forget that the compilation for Fandom4LLS is getting ready. I'm about to send in my outtake, which not only contains Danny, but also gives a glimpse of little Dani and her daddy right after birth through her mother's eyes. My dad had lymphoma several years back, and beat it, thank God, so it's a charity that I am happy to support. It's at fandom4lls at blogspot dot com.

Let's see, the sporting world, what's going on? Oh, yeah, training camps are open! My fantasy draft dates are set! Happiness is mine!

It's about time that Dani met a few people who will be a big part of her life, don't you think? Enjoy, and have a fantastic week. I'll see you next Sunday :)

Getting Blitzed Chapter 47

I wasn't sure who in the hell thought they could call me at six AM, but I was going to yell at their asses as soon as I got my phone out of the bedroom. We'd just gotten Dani back down to sleep a couple of hours ago, and I didn't want her or Reed Girl to wake back up. I booked out of the bedroom and answered.

"What the fuck do you want?"

"Edward Anthony Cullen! How dare you speak to me that way?"

Fuck. Me. I was a dead man. "Mom?"

"Who else would it be? Now why are you cursing at your one and only mother?"

"I didn't know it was you. I just grabbed the phone and ran out of the room before it woke Bella and the baby up. What are you doing calling so early?"

"Well, I figured it'd be quieter to call than to ring the bell, which was my next move."

Ring the bell? "You're here? Now?"

"Of course I'm here now! My first granddaughter was born over forty-eight hours ago! You don't even want to know the lengths I had to go to get here, but I can tell you that part of it involved a donkey. A donkey, Edward! Now, are you going to leave me outside all day, or am I going to have to break in? It's been a while since I picked a lock, but I could give it a go."

Donkeys? Lock picking? What the fuck was going on here? I knew better than to make her wait any longer, so I hurried downstairs, Rainbow at my side. I threw open the door and was immediately engulfed in my mother's arms.

"My baby has his own baby! I can't believe it. Where is she?"

I managed a laugh as I pulled out of her embrace. "She's sleeping, Mom. We all were. Why are you here so damn early?"

"I've already missed out on the first two days of her life! I wasn't wasting another minute waiting for the sun to come up, Edward. Now, I'll be quiet and I won't wake her, but I want to see my gorgeous grandbaby in person. And you should probably put some clothes on."

Fuck. I glanced down at myself. At least I had boxers on. Before the baby came, I slept naked all the time, usually because Reed Girl and I fucked right before bed. Now? Obviously not. And I felt weird about being naked around my daughter. That was just fucked up.

"I'll go put a shirt on and check on the baby. She's in our room, so I'm not bringing you in. She'll be up in an hour or so anyway, more than likely."

I loved my daughter more than life itself, but she really needed to work on her sleep schedule. Even though Reed Girl said that babies were usually up every few hours and it was normal, it didn't work for me. Our kid had our genes, which meant she was smart as hell, so she should be able to master the concept of time pretty quickly. I needed to look up genius baby development when I got a chance.

I steered my mom into the living room and made my way back upstairs. Reed Girl was still out like a light. I grabbed a T-shirt from my drawer and yanked it on before peering down at Dani. I didn't know if she heard me, or if it was just time, but her eyes opened and a little fist shook in the air. I scooped her up and hurried her out of the room before she could start crying. She'd just eaten a little bit ago, so hopefully she'd be content for a bit.

We went downstairs and walked into the living room, where Mom was sitting with Rainbow. I walked toward her, and my mom lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw that I had Dani with me.

"Hand her over!"

I figured I'd better before she snatched her from me and ran for the hills. I gently transferred Dani to my mom's arms and sat next to her.

"Mom, meet Dani. Dani, this is your grandma." Was that right? "Is that what you want to be called?"

"That's what I am, aren't I, precious? I'm your Grandma Esme, and I'm going to be your favorite person in the whole wide world."

Fuck that noise. I was. But I knew better than to say that out loud.

"Edward, she's beautiful. Truly." Mom looked at me with tears in her eyes.

Fuck. More tears. I'd hoped that there'd be less of them post-baby, but of course, all Dani could do at this point was cry and eat, and Reed Girl was still hormonal, so yeah. Not so much.

I looked at my daughter. She was beautiful. "Bella says she looks like me, but I can't tell."

Mom couldn't tear her eyes off of Dani. "She looks like both of you. She's got Bella's nose and her angel face, your hair, and I'd bet she's going to have your eyes. Our eyes."

I didn't know how she could tell, but Reed Girl swore the same thing, so I'd go with it.

"She's the most beautiful girl ever born, that's for sure." Mom cooed and touched Dani's cheek. "What a good baby you are. Awake and not crying or hungry? What a good girl."

"She just ate a couple hours ago." I fought not to yawn but failed. "I'm sure she'll want more soon."

"That's fine, then. Why don't you leave me to get acquainted with my granddaughter and head up and get a little more sleep? I'll come up and get you when she gets hungry."

I was torn between wanting to listen to her and wanting to stay with my daughter. "Yeah? You're not going to take her and run to Canada or something, are you?"

Mom laughed. "Your daddy is funny, isn't he, Dani? And not very bright, but you probably already figured that out."

I shot my mom a glare. "Don't tell her that."

She shook her head. "I'm not going to take off with your daughter, Edward. I've done my time raising a baby, and while I intend to treasure every moment of being a grandmother, I'm not crazy enough to want to be a mother all over again. As the most awesome grandma that ever lived, I get to spoil her rotten and leave all the hard stuff to you. Isn't that right, Dani? We're going to have the best time."

Mom raised Dani up and kissed her forehead lightly. "Pretty girl. Tell your daddy to go get some sleep while he can. Take advantage of the break."

That was a good point. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure. Go. We'll be waking you up before long."

I stood, stroking Dani's soft hair lightly. "Okay. You know where her room is, if she needs to be changed or whatever. There's diapers and all her clothes and…" I trailed off at the smirk on my mom's face. "And you can handle it. Okay, I'm going. Do you need me to get your bags?"

"I don't have any bags. I left everything in Tennessee because I didn't have time to go back for it. Your father sent me a package with necessities. It should be here later today."

I stared at her for a few moments before shaking my head. "I don't want to know."

"Probably not." Mom smiled. "Sleep, son. While you can."

I didn't need to be told again. I headed upstairs and climbed back into bed. Rainbow leapt up behind me and curled into my neck. Reed Girl snuggled closer to me.

"Everything okay? Is Dani up?" she murmured. I was pretty sure she was still sleeping.

"She's with my mom. Go back to bed, baby."

"Mmmkay."

Reed Girl curled into me, and I closed my eyes. I was glad Mom was here. Something told me we could use the help before the invasion came. Chaos was coming in the form of Charlie, my teammates, my brother and co. It was going to be a crazy few weeks. God help us all.

Xoxoxoxox

I woke up a couple of hours later, and neither my wife nor my child was with me. At least Rainbow was. We padded downstairs, and I couldn't help but smile when I saw Reed Girl with Dani attached to her breast, feeding her as she and my mom talked quietly. I didn't know what it was, but I fucking loved watching Dani eat. I mean, yeah, there was boob involved, so obviously that was cool, but the way her little lips latched on and her hand rested on Reed Girl…I don't know. It was just beautiful. And having a kid was turning me into a total girl.

"And I swear, it was a sweat lodge or something! No phones, no technology… We were in tents. It was the worst vacation I've ever taken."

"That's because it was fat camp, which you had no reason to go to anyway," I told her, bending to give Reed Girl a kiss on top of her head and stroking Dani's soft cheek. "Good morning. You should have gotten me up."

Reed Girl smiled up at me. "I thought you could use some extra sleep." She turned to my mother. "He's been amazing about getting up with me, even though we're not attempting the bottle for a while yet."

Mom stood and put her arms around me. "I raised a good man."

I smirked at her. "You weren't saying that a few years ago."

"Because you weren't one then." She laughed. "But I planted the seeds, and then Bella came along and watered and grew you." She kissed my cheek. "I'm glad that you're helping, baby."

I wasn't sure how to feel about her plant analogy, but I knew better than to argue. "It's the least I can do, since I can't feed her yet." I was really looking forward to that, but apparently we had to wait several weeks so there wasn't nipple confusion. Yes, that was a real thing. It made me laugh every time I read those words.

"After I'm done, he takes her and burps her, letting me rest while he spends some alone time with her." Reed Girl looked at me through slightly glazed eyes. "It's beautiful."

I felt a little weird about the moony looks they were giving me. "What?"

Mom laughed. "Men don't get how attractive they are when they're holding and loving their baby. I never let Carlisle take the boys to the park alone when they were little."

Reed Girl giggled as she handed Dani to me, shifting to put her boob away. "Yeah, that's not happening. It's probably a good thing I'm out of commission for the next six weeks, or grandchild number two would probably be on the way."

What? I stared at her as I picked up the burp-cloth thing and tossed it on my shoulder. "Seriously? Me holding her gets you hor-" I broke off when I remembered that my mom was in the room. "In the mood?"

"Oh, yeah. There's nothing sexier than a father with his child, especially when he clearly adores her." Reed Girl beamed at me. "Throw in the fact that you look like you do? I'd have to beat women off with a stick."

I didn't know what to do with this information. Well, I did, but the fact was I couldn't do anything about it because sex was off the table for way too fucking long and my mother was in the room laughing at us. I shifted Dani to my shoulder and patted her back while I processed what my wife had said. I smirked when the idea came to me.

"Speaking of that, Sports Illustrated is going an issue on sports dads, and they contacted my agent about using Dani and me for a picture-you know, me shirtless with her on my chest. What do you think about that?" They'd done no such thing, but it seemed like something they might do. Well, them or People or something. It could happen.

Reed Girl narrowed her eyes at me. "Really? This is the first I'm hearing of it."

"I could hardly tell you when you were hormonal and calling yourself a cow every five minutes."

She looked at me for a few moments, so I sent her an innocent smile and kept patting Dani. I had to admit, I fucking loved burping her, despite the little drooly spit-up stuff that came with it. She fit perfectly in my arms, with her head resting against my neck, much in the same way Rainbow did. Thank God Rainbow was cool with the baby. She liked to watch her but thankfully didn't try to play with her or anything.

"I'd like to see that, actually."

"What?" I jerked in surprise, making Dani let out a little cry. I went back to rubbing and patting her back as I stared in my wife. "Since when?"

"It's not like half the world hasn't seen your abs," Reed Girl replied drily.

I smiled a little at the memory of her reaction the first time my Nike commercial came on. She'd glared at me for a minute, yelled about all the women out there seeing what was hers, and then she'd jumped my ass. Hottest thing ever.

"I think it'd be adorable!" Mom clapped her hands. "She looks so much like you. When's the shoot? Can they do it while I'm here?"

Christ. "I was just kidding. There's no shoot."

"We'll see about that," Reed Girl said, smiling and picking up her phone.

"What are you doing?" She sent out a text while I was unable to stop her. Dani finally let out a little burp, and I wiped her mouth and settled her back into my arms.

"I just sent a text to Alec," my wife murmured, smiling sweetly.

"What? Why? You don't want me shirtless in a magazine." Did she? What was happening here? Hormones were still making her crazy.

"Yes, I do." Reed Girl stood and slipped her arms around me. "I want the whole world to see how much you love her and how gorgeous the two of you are together."

Well, hell. I couldn't say no to that. Hopefully Alec would laugh that shit off. Or the magazine people would.

"It'll sell way better than the body issue, which, by the way, you won't ever be posing for." Reed Girl grinned at me.

Now that was the Reed Girl I knew and loved: possessive and commanding. Six weeks was way too far away.

"Yes, there are some things a mother doesn't need to see."

Crap. I kept forgetting my mom was here. Oh well, not like I could do anything now anyway. Six weeks was a long damn time.

"Right, well, when is Dad getting here?" We could use some testosterone in the house besides mine.

Mom smiled. "He's coming next week as scheduled. He can only push so many appointments. The kids will be here the following week, after graduation. Charlie's coming out in a few days. And I don't know about Renee."

Christ. Renee. We'd left her a message about Dani and gotten a squealy voicemail about how cute she was, but I had no idea when or if she was visiting. I shot a look at my wife, who shrugged.

"She'll be here when she gets here." Reed Girl yawned and stretched. "I'm going to get a shower before today's round of visitors arrives."

Yeah, my teammates were stopping by, as were Kim and Emily. They'd all popped into the hospital briefly the day Dani was born, but nobody had stayed for long.

"You go. I got this," I told her, sitting with my daughter. She looked up at me with big blue eyes, and her little lips twitched. I was pretty sure that was a smile, even though the books said it was reflex action at this point. Whatever. My daughter was a genius and she loved me, so she was smiling. She knew it, and I knew it.

A flash went off in my periphery. I glanced up at my mother, who was beaming and taking pictures like a madwoman.

"You're so cute together! Oh, I hope they do that photo shoot. It'll be incredible! My baby with his own baby." Her eyes teared up. Fuck. "I'm so proud of you."

"Okay. Great. Good. Don't cry. Please, Mom. There's enough crying in this house without you joining in."

Mom laughed at my panicked pleas. "I can't help it. It's a momentous day for me. My self-absorbed son has become a loving husband and father. I've seen it coming the past few years, but now the transformation is complete. It's a very big thing, Edward."

I shrugged and looked back down at Dani. Her eyes were fluttering as she fought sleep. I fucking loved watching her. I just couldn't get enough.

"She's amazing."

Mom smiled softy. "She is. And speaking of big things, I think she needs a diaper change."

How did she know? But then the smell hit me and I knew myself. I tried to hold her out to my mom, but she just laughed and shook her head.

"Oh no, she's your daughter, Edward. You change her."

Okay, so far I'd managed to avoid changing any poopy diapers. It hadn't been on purpose, per se, but I'd lucked out. I'd changed a wet one at the hospital and once at home, and they'd stayed on reasonably well, even if Reed Girl had re-fastened them both. I was contributing. I didn't think that meant I had to deal with a shitty one, though. It didn't seem right.

"You wanted to be a grandma, so be a grandma." I tried to pass her to my mom, but she just laughed and shook her head again.

"I am being a grandma. Grandmas get to play with the baby and spoil her, but then, when she's crying or poopy, pass her back to her parents. It's the right you'll have one day when Dani has kids."

I didn't like the idea of my baby having babies of her own, so I clutched her a little tighter to me. "Don't say that."

Mom laughed again. "The time flies, Edward. So you keep on enjoying every minute of it, even the smelly times. Now, go change her."

I gave Mom the pouty look that usually worked wonders, but I could tell she wasn't budging. Sighing, I stood, looking down at my daughter, who was happily asleep, despite the fact that she had shit in her shorts. Kids. They were complicated.

I took her to her room and got everything situated on the changing table before setting her down. Rainbow hopped up on the changing table, watching with interest.

"Solidarity. That's my girl. You won't leave me to deal with poopy diapers alone, will you, Rainbow? You've got my back."

I took a deep breath and steeled myself before opening the diaper. Holy fucking shit. Literally, which sucked ass. That was the grossest shit I'd ever seen. It looked like peanut butter and smelled a billion times worse. Rainbow took one look and hopped off the changing table like it was on fire.

"Nice, Rainbow. Not cool!"

She swished her tail and hightailed it out of the room.

"Deserter." I sighed and looked at the mess again. Dani started to fuss. "Looks like it's just you and me, kid."

I lifted her legs and got the diaper off. "I'd ask what you've been eating, but we both know the answer to that. Still, I don't see how a little milk can make all this. You've got your uncle's bowels, Dani."

I glanced over at the laugh behind me. There was Mom, camera poised, taking pictures again. "Seriously? You're taking pictures of me changing a diaper?"

"Of course! I never thought I'd see the day. I have to capture it for posterity."

I thought about tossing the diaper at her and her camera, but the hell I'd have to pay for that move wouldn't be worth it. I threw it in the diaper genie thing, which really should be a diaper incinerator. It was that fucking foul that it needed to be burned immediately.

I got a shit-ton of wipes and took the first couple of swipes, throwing those out immediately. It wasn't so bad after the initial stuff had been disposed of. I wiped the little crevices and such like the instructor had told us to do at the boot camp. I powdered and patted and slipped the new diaper on. Dani was watching me, the fussing over, as I taped it back into place.

"There. All done." Thank fuck. I was going to avoid doing that whenever possible. I handed Dani over to my mom and hurried into the bathroom to wash my hands. That shit was gross. Definitely the worst part of having a baby, I was pretty sure.

I came out to find Dani dressed in a little white dress that said Daddy's girl in pink. Mom handed her back to me, and she gave me that little lip twitch. Yep. She was smiling at me. Nobody could tell me different. Totally worth a little poop-okay, a lot of it.

Xoxoxoxox

"She sure is cute." Sammy grinned down at my daughter, who had a grip on his finger. "What do you say, sweetheart? Do you want to marry me in about twenty years?"

I would have hit him had he not been holding my kid. As he was, I gave him my best death glare. "Don't even try it."

"Yeah, Paul has dibs anyway," Brady said.

"I do," Paul murmured through a mouthful of hot dog.

My fucking teammates had decided to come over en masse and have a barbeque to welcome Dani to the world, which made no sense, since she couldn't eat. Really, they just wanted food. But since they'd brought the stuff and were doing the grilling, I really couldn't bitch about it. I was enjoying the nice spring day, and Dani seemed to like being outside. She wasn't screaming, anyway, which was pure win in my book.

What was not pure win? My teammates taking dibs on my daughter. She was mine, damn it. And they'd be dirty old men by the time she was about to date, so that was never happening.

"You sick fucks better back off," I warned.

"Edward!" My mom smacked the back of my head. "Language."

Shit. "Sorry, Mom. But none of them is ever dating her."

"Well, of course not. That would make them perverts, wouldn't it?" My mom had a smile on her face, but her eyes were steely as she looked at my teammates.

"We're just kidding," Paul hurried to say.

Sammy nodded. Brady looked like he was about to shit himself. It was awesome.

"I thought so. Good boys. Now, who wants some potato salad?"

"Damn, your mom is scary when she wants to be," Sammy said, laughing as he passed Dani to Emily.

"I know. She had to be to keep us in line, such as it was."

"This shit is good," Colin said, coming up with a plate full of pasta salad and other crap. He looked over to where Emily and Kim sat, cooing over Dani. Kim had a good-sized baby belly going these days.

"Are you talking about the food or the women?" Sammy asked, following his gaze.

"Both, I think." Colin pulled up a chair next to us on the deck. "How did you do it?" he asked me.

"Do what?" I had my eyes on Reed Girl, who was finally sitting down. I didn't want her overdoing it just a couple of days after giving birth.

"You know, get Bella?"

"You mean you haven't hit that?" Brady asked. "How hard could it be? She's already knocked-"

"Say another word, and I'll kick the shit out of you right here, women and children be damned," Colin warned, his face going dark in his rage.

Brady held up his hands. "I didn't mean she was easy or anything. It's just, you've been talking for four months. And nothing?"

Even though Brady was a dumbass, I had to admit I was a little surprised myself. "Don't you guys hang out and shit?"

"Only now and then, and I mostly just stop by to help her with baby stuff. I picked up her crib and put it together," he mumbled. "She sees me as a friend. I don't know how to ask her for more." He looked to me. "What did you do?"

Shit. "It was different for me, man. Bella wasn't pregnant. And she came gunning for me. Before her, I just hooked up."

Sammy put his burger aside. "Seems to me that you're friends, so you should be able to talk to her." He smiled. "She's a mom, or about to officially be, and that's what's on her mind. She probably has no idea you're even into her in that way."

Now that I could speak about. "That's true. Right now, she thinks she's fat and unattractive. I guarantee she doesn't think anyone could want her. Bella couldn't fathom me wanting her as she got bigger." I'd enjoyed showing her that wasn't the case, too.

"But what if she's not into me? I don't want to lose her, even if it's just as a friend."

Damn. Dude was gone over her. "You have to decide if it's worth the risk, I guess, but it would suck to be stuck in the friend zone and watch someone else move in, wouldn't it?"

Colin looked sick at just the thought. "I don't want that."

"Well, then-" I started, but broke off as an all-too familiar voice was heard.

"Hello? Bella? Edward? I'm here!"

Holy shit. I pushed to my feet even as Renee rounded the corner of the house. What the fuck was she doing here? And what the fuck was she wearing? Whatever it was, it was black and tight and showed far too much fucking skin.

"Renee?"

"Mom?"

"Well, of course it's me! I'm here to meet our precious little Dani." She hugged Reed Girl and then threw her arms around me. "Congratulations! Now, where's my angel?"

Reed Girl shot me a look as she took Dani from Emily and held her out to her mother. "Mom, this is Dani. Dani, this is your grand-"

"Now, Bella! We're not using that word. I'm far too young to be anybody's grand anything, unless it's a grand old time! Hi, sweet baby. You can call me Renee-well, once you're old enough to call me anything."

I watched her anxiously as she held Dani up to get a look at her. "Isn't she beautiful? She looks just like you when you were a baby, although her coloring is all Edward. Oh, what a pretty girl you'll be! Just wait until you're old enough! We can go out for a night on the town, all dressed up to the nines. It'll be a blast."

Like fucking hell my daughter would ever go anywhere with Renee. Over my dead body.

Renee smiled as she handed Dani back to Bella. "She's a treasure, truly. I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks, Mom." Reed Girl managed to smile at her. How, I didn't know. "We didn't know you were coming."

"I wanted to surprise you! I can see that Esme made it." Renee shot my mom a tight smile. "How are you doing?"

"I couldn't be happier to meet my granddaughter," Mom said, smirking as she said the word. "Isn't being a grandma just the greatest? All the love, no discipline."

Renee just shrugged. "I was never much on discipline."

"No shit," my mom whispered.

I put a hand on her just in case she was ready to go off.

"And what is all this? Are we having a party for Dani?" Renee glanced around, taking in the grill, the girls, and then her eyes fell on my teammates, and I swear to fuck, she got a predatory gleam in them.

"Well, hello, boys! I haven't seen you in ages!" And she descended like a hungry great white, moving with speed and precision right toward the guys.

Emily, sensing the danger apparently, quickly went over and slid into Sammy's lap. "You must be Bella's mom. I'm her friend, Emily. I help her with her music program."

Renee gave her a tight smile. "Nice to meet you." Her smile softened when she took in Sammy. "And it's really good to see you again, handsome! How are you?"

"I'm great, Renee." He tightened his arms around Emily. "I met Emily through your daughter. She's quite a good matchmaker."

"For everyone but her mother, it seems." Renee let out a laugh. "And how are you doing?" she asked the rest of the group, but her eyes were on Colin.

They all said their hellos. Paul and Brady used cooking as an excuse to get out of the way, and Renee made a beeline for Colin.

"It's been far too long since I've talked to you," Renee purred. "Something was wrong with the number you gave me. I never got a response, and then it was disconnected."

"Oh, uh, yeah. My phone got stolen," he blurted.

Renee laughed and perched on the arm of his chair, her far too short skirt showing off a whole lot of leg.

"I figured it was something like that. I have to admit, I was very disappointed that you didn't call me."

Colin shot me a pleading look, but what the fuck was I supposed to do? He'd been the idiot who thought about hooking up with her, despite my warning.

"You seemed otherwise occupied," he told her drily, no doubt remember the dude she'd blown him off for.

"Oh, you mean John?" She shook her head. "He was just unfinished business." Her fingers danced over his shoulders. "It's finished now."

Christ. My mom snorted next to me. "She's spent more time hitting on a man young enough to be her son than she did with her granddaughter."

"Are you surprised?"

"Sadly, no. Hopefully that means she won't stay long."

If only. Poor Colin looked like he was frozen to his chair. I pondered doing something, but before I could, Kim came over, sort of waddling like pregnant chicks did.

"Hello. I don't believe we've met. I'm Kim." Her eyes were on Colin as she spoke, instead of Renee.

"Oh, how nice. When are you due?" Renee asked.

"July seventeenth. Isn't that right, honey?" Kim asked, still looking at Colin.

He did a double-take before quickly standing and taking the hand she held out for him. "Yeah, that's right."

Renee looked between the two of them, her face comically surprised. "Wait. She's having your baby?"

The smile that crossed Colin's face was as bright as the sun streaming into my backyard. "Yeah, she is." He slipped his arms around Kim, cupping her belly. "I can't wait."

Kim's fingers linked with his. "If you're half as wonderful to him as you've been to me, you're going to be an amazing father."

And then, much to the surprise of everyone, especially Colin, she turned in his arms and gave him a big kiss.

"Let's go home. I'm starting to get a little tired."

Colin nodded, completely dazed after Kim's territorial display. "Okay. Later, Edward. Bella. Thanks."

We watched them walk off. Renee looked like she'd swallowed a lemon, but the rest of us couldn't stop smiling.

"So, that finally happened," Sammy said, throwing an arm around me. "Way to go, Colin."

I hoped for his sake it wasn't just a show on Kim's part, but the way she'd looked and sounded, I didn't think it was.

"Yeah. Good for him."

It would probably only be a few minutes before Renee zeroed in on her next target, but hopefully Brady and Paul would be smarter than that. It wasn't my problem. I headed over to take my wife and daughter into my arms.

Despite Renee's presence, it was a good day. A damn good day.