Mason walked over to him. He leaned down and gave him a hug. “I meant every word.”
They did that thing where they slapped each other on the back.
Bee and I smiled at each other.
“Where’s the present you got him?” Mason asked.
“By the door. Could someone go grab it for me?” Rob asked. “I’ve been told I’m not allowed to get up any more.”
Mason laughed. “The Hunter men have suddenly rendered themselves useless.” He walked over to the door and grabbed the box. “Shit, this actually is pretty heavy. What the hell is in here? Bricks?” He put the present down on the floor in front of James.
“It’s a surprise,” Rob said. “Actually, it’s kind of a surprise for all of you. Open it.”
James tore the paper and slowly opened the box.
“So, I was doing some research, and these are all the best books,” Rob said. “About what to expect and everything. Things you should and shouldn’t do. And there’s some vitamins in there that Penny needs to start taking immediately.”
James laughed as he lifted up the bottle of prenatal vitamins.
“Vitamins?” Matt asked. “Why did you buy Penny a present?”
James smiled at me. “Well, we weren’t going to say anything yet. But Penny and I have some news too. She’s pregnant.”
“What?!” Melissa screamed. “Ah!” She attacked me in a huge hug. “You’re going to be a mom? This is crazy.” She hugged me again. “You’re going to be such a great mom, Penny. Are you so excited?”
“We’re very excited,” James said and rubbed my back.
“I’m so happy for both of you.” She gave James a hug. “You two didn’t wait very long at all. I didn’t realize that you wanted kids right away. But I’m so, so happy for you.”
“We didn’t really plan it. But I couldn’t be more excited. It was the best possible surprise. I’m sorry Mason and Bee, we didn’t want to steal your thunder. We weren’t going to say anything…”
“Are you kidding?” Mason said. “I’m going to be an uncle!”
“No,” Rob said. “Technically I’m going to be the only uncle.”
“Congratulations,” Mason said, ignoring Rob. “You really can’t tell at all. Are you sure?”
“We’re sure,” James said. “It’s this tiny little dot, but it’s there. Here, let me show you.” He pulled out his wallet and handed the picture of the sonogram to Mason.
I hadn’t realized that he had put the picture in his wallet. Everything he did just warmed my heart so completely.
“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” Jen said. “This is so crazy exciting!”
“It’s definitely a boy,” Rob said.
I laughed. “No, we don’t know.”
“When do you get to find out?”
“Actually, we want that to be a surprise too.”
“You seriously don’t want to know ahead of time?”
“It’s more fun this way.” James rubbed my back again.
He was saying everything I felt. I didn’t need to say anything at all. Instead I looked through the box that Rob had given James. There was everything from naming books to actual books for the baby. So that we could read him bedtime stories.
“How does it feel to be knocked up?” Matt asked.
Melissa punched his arm.
“I’m just so happy. And hungry. We haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”
“Oh, we’ll go get the cake,” Bee said and quickly stood up. “You know this means we have to hop on the kid train soon too, Mason. We want our kids to grow up and be friends.”
“We have a little time,” said Mason. “Matt and Rob are three years younger than James and me. And we all get along great. But yeah. I’d like our kids to grow up together. Which means all of you have to speed things up too,” Mason said to Matt and Rob.
“Well, Daphne and I are moving in together,” Rob said. “Babies are next after that, right?” he said with a laugh.
“You’re moving out of your place in Newark?” I asked.
“Well, yeah. James asked me to run Hunter Tech. I kind of need to be here. And I want to be here.” He put his arm around Daphne.
“You asked him to run Hunter Tech?”
Rob laughed. “I think you two have a few things you need to talk about. Let’s all go help with the cake.”
Daphne helped Rob to his feet and everyone went into the kitchen.
“You asked him to take over?” I asked. I couldn’t hide my excitement. This had to mean that he was going to teach again. That he finally realized what truly made him happy.
“Yeah. He wants to settle down. I think he was looking for an excuse to move here so that it wouldn’t seem so crazy fast with Daphne. And he needs a little structure in his life. Besides, he was handling all my emails and stuff while I was in the hospital and he really took care of things for me. Thanks for having him handle that, by the way.”
“I never asked him to handle it.”
“You didn’t?”
“No. I guess he just… did it.”
James smiled. “Even more reason why he’ll be a great fit. And he has a lot of great ideas for the company.”
“And what about you?”
“The doctor said less stress. And I want to be there for you and the baby. I don’t want to be working all the time.”
I smiled. “Won’t you be bored?”
“I may have applied for a few local teaching jobs,” he said with a smile.
“Yeah?”
“You sound surprised. I told you I’d think about it before the wedding. I thought about it… and that’s what I want.”
“You’re going to be a professor again?”
“Well, we’ll see. I haven’t heard back yet or anything. And I don’t want to start anytime soon. I think I need some time off.”
“James, you don’t even understand how happy that makes me.”