Special Delivery by April Wilson

Chapter 6 - Liam

Liam McIntyre

It looks like I’m the first to arrive, besides the guests of honor. I spot Shane’s Escalade parked in the spacious circular drive in front of the house, along with the Mercedes. I imagine Sam and Cooper are here too. But I don’t see any others yet. I know my folks are on their way—and they’re bringing Beth’s mom. They’ll be here any minute.

The sun is just starting to set, and the horizon is turning shades of orange and pink. I grab my overnight bag from my truck and jog up the front steps. I’m looking forward to hanging with my entire family under one roof for a couple of days. Even Hannah will be here.

George Peterson is just coming out of the house as I open the front door. As usual, he’s dressed in dusty overalls, a plaid shirt, and well-worn work boots. His silver hair is buzzed military short.

“Hello, young man,” he says in his gruff voice as he clamps a hand on my shoulder. “Shane and Beth are up in their room with their kids. That baby girl sure is a cutie.”

Just as I walk inside, I spot Elly scurrying through the wide-open foyer as she heads toward the kitchen. When I get a whiff of what’s cooking, my stomach growls in anticipation.

“Hello, Liam!” she calls, sounding a bit winded. “Sorry, dear, but I need to get the rolls out of the oven. Dinner’s at seven-thirty.”

I wave in her direction. “No problem.” And then I climb the stairs to the second floor and head down the hallway to my room, where I dump my duffle bag beside the bed.

First things first… I need to pay my respects to the newest member of the family. Just as Shane predicted, they had a girl. I’m sure he’s happy, but it looks like I’m out a hundred bucks. Some of the guys at work bet on whether or not Shane was right about the baby’s gender. I should have known better than to bet against my big bro.

After dumping my gear off in my room, I head down the hall to theirs. Their door is open, and I hear voices inside—Sam’s and Cooper’s.

I knock. “Can I come in?”

“Liam! Come on in,” Shane calls from the adjoining room.

I’d heard he was having the room next to theirs connected so they could use it for a nursery.

I can’t believe how quickly our family has grown in the past couple of years, going from zero grandkids to now five of them, what with Jake’s three kids and now Shane’s two. And my sister Sophie is due sometime early next year, and that will bring the count to six. That’s crazy. Although I guess it’s to be expected from a family with seven kids. Our parents sure are happy about all these grandkids.

I pass through the bedroom and into the nursery, where I find Shane, Sam, and Cooper seated on the floor with Luke, playing with a little wooden train set. That looks like my old Thomas the Train, if I’m not mistaken. When I was young, I was determined to grow up to be a train conductor. Didn’t happen. Instead, I followed a more grown-up dream to go into mixed martial arts, which is what I love. There’s nothing I’d rather do than compete and teach martial arts. I empower people to strive for their physical best. To protect themselves.

Beth is seated in a rocking chair, and presumably their new baby is in her arms. I can’t exactly tell as she has a thin blanket slung over her chest and shoulder, probably because she’s nursing the baby.

Shane waves me over. “Perfect timing, Liam. You’re the family train expert. Come join us.”

“No, it goes like this,” Cooper says as he rearranges two pieces. “See? Now it fits.”

As soon as he spots me, my nephew Luke shoots to his feet and runs over to me before wrapping his arms around my shins. He grabs my hand and pulls me toward the train set, motioning for me to sit down and join them.

“Is this my old train set?” I ask, pretty sure it is. I scan the toy cars and the wooden accessories, the track pieces, a little bridge, wooden pine trees, and railroad crossing signs.

Shane nods as he connects two pieces of track. “Mom found it in the attic and gave it to us.” He gives me a look. “Unless you want it back?”

I shake my head and laugh. “No, Luke can have it. Nice shiner, by the way.” Shane is sporting a bit of a black eye.

He gives me an annoyed look. “Gee, thanks. If I’m not mistaken, I have you to thank for it.”

He’s not wrong. He ducked just as I executed a roundhouse kick when we were hanging out at the penthouse Thursday evening. My foot caught the edge of his cheek, just beneath his eye. He’s lucky I didn’t crack the socket. Once I realized what was happening, I pulled my punch; otherwise, it would have been much worse. I guess he’s slowing down a bit in his old age, now that he’s married and the father of two.

Speaking of two kids… I glance behind me at Beth, who’s still nursing. I guess I’ll have to wait a bit before I can greet my new niece.

“So, three girls now and two boys,” I say.

“Maybe Sophie will have a boy and even up the count,” Beth says.

My oldest sister, Sophie, who recently married Dominic Zaretti, is around four months pregnant. The pregnancy occurred well before they eloped, but I’m not judging. My sister seems really happy, and that’s all that matters. And it’s obvious how Dominic feels. He dotes on her.

Beth lowers the baby blanket and buttons up her top. Then she props the baby against her shoulder and pats her back. We hear a little burp.

I guess since she’s decent now, I can take a closer look. When I reach the side of the rocking chair, Beth lifts the baby up, offering her to me. “Want to hold her?”

“Sure.” Before I might have been leery of holding a newborn baby, but after Jake and Annie had their twins, I got over my reservations pretty quick. The key is, just don’t drop them. I’ve held their kids plenty of times since, even changed diapers. “Mom told me her name is Ava.”

As Beth nods, Shane says, “Ava Elizabeth.”

“I picked Ava,” Beth says. “Shane insisted on Elizabeth, after me.”

“Ava McIntyre,” I say. “It’s got a nice ring to it.” As I cradle the little bundle of joy in my arms, I gaze down at a cute little face with big blue eyes. I notice the brown peach fuzz on her head. “She looks like Shane.”

My brother groans. “God, I hope not.”

Cooper laughs. “I think he means she’s got your coloring.”

Luke jumps to his feet and runs over to me, wrapping his arms around one of my legs, trying to climb me like a little monkey. “Baby.”

I reach down and pat his blond hair, which is short and spikey. “Yep. This is your baby sister. What do you think about that?”

Luke raises his hands. “Baby.”

“You want to hold her?”

He jumps. “Baby.”

“All right. Sit down.”

Luke drops onto his butt on the carpet, and I lower myself beside him, careful not to lose my grip on Ava. I lay the baby across his lap and support her head and butt while Luke does his best to hold her.

“Careful,” I tell him as he fidgets. “Be gentle.”

Luke pulls her close to his chest and leans down to kiss her forehead.

“Can you say Ava?” I ask him.

“Baby.”

“Close enough.”

* * *

After quickly losing interest in holding his new sister, Luke gives her back to me so he can return to the train action. He climbs into Shane’s lap. The kid has his thumb in his mouth as his other hand grips Shane’s T-shirt like it’s his blankie. As Luke leans back against his dad’s chest, Shane drops a kiss on the top of his head.

I’m stoked for my brother. He has a wife he adores—literally, the girl can do no wrong as far as Shane’s concerned. But that’s fine, because my sister-in-law is pretty cool. And now he has two awesome little kids. I’ve never seen him so content.

Most of my siblings have found their soul mates—Shane, Sophie, Jamie, Jake, even my twin, Lia. And here’s the shocker: Lia’s engaged to her boyfriend. He once told me that getting the ring on her finger was the easy part. Getting her to agree to a wedding date was turning out to be much harder.

Only Hannah and I are still solidly single. I’m not surprised that Hannah is. She’s a bit of a loner. She spends most of her time traipsing the mountains surrounding the small Colorado town where she lives. She seems happy, though, which is what matters. To each his own, or in this case her own. As for me, I’m a pretty social guy. I do a fair bit of dating; I just haven’t found the right girl. Sometimes I don’t think I ever will.

Most of the girls I meet, at least the ones close to my own age, just don’t seem very serious. A lot of them are still in college, still searching for their path in life. They’re mostly interested in partying, which isn’t really my thing. I’d be more interested in a girl who knows what she wants out of life and is driven to accomplish her goals, whatever they are.

“When does Hannah’s flight get in?” I ask.

Shane consults his watch. “Her plane touches down at O’Hare in about thirty minutes.”

“Who’s picking her up from the airport?” I’d offer to do it, but there’s no way I could get there in time.

“Killian.”

“Killian?” That sly dog.

“He offered, and I gratefully took him up on it.”

I don’t think it’s any secret in this family that Killian Devereaux, one of Shane’s security employees, has a thing for my middle sister. Everyone seems to know this except Hannah. “Are you by any chance playing matchmaker?”

Shane gives me one of his enigmatic grins. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I hear some commotion coming from downstairs, so I figure the others are starting to arrive. I head down to see who’s here and find a packed foyer. My parents have just arrived, along with Beth’s mom.  Jake and Annie are here with their three kids, and Jamie and Molly are just pulling in. Lia and Jonah are right behind him. Almost the whole family.

Aiden is clutching his stuffed stegosaurus, Stevie, which goes everywhere with him. “Hi, Uncle Liam.” He smiles, flashing a pair of dimples. “Do you want to play cars with me?”

The guys are bringing in luggage while the girls take the kids into the great room.

“Sure, but after dinner, okay?” I glance at my brother Jamie, who’s juggling a suitcase and two smaller bags. “Need any help, Jamie?” The guy’s blind, but you’d never guess it. I don’t think anything holds him back.

“Nah, I’m fine,” he says as he carries the luggage up the stairs. “But thanks.”

He’s not even holding the railings. Show-off.

“When’s Hannah getting in?” My brother Jake asks as he collects his family’s bags, clearly intending to haul all of it upstairs in one trip. It looks like they packed for a month-long getaway.

“Pretty soon,” I answer. “Killian’s meeting her at the airport.”

Jake laughs. “That should be fun.”