The ballroom was a sea of pink and blue, with dashes of black and white, which were the colors on the cover of Succumb to Me. At the door, Glen stood beside Trent, they both wore blue shirts. They turned around to show her their personal graphic: Baby Daddy and Mama’s Personal Pilot.
Mary pulled her past Glen and avoided the man’s gaze.
Dakota noticed a smirk on Glen’s face before she took in the room.
There were balloons, flowers, and rows of women who were slowly noticing that she stepped into the room.
The pink-and-blue theme went throughout the family. Dr. Baby Daddy’s Mom, Baby Mama’s Sister, Baby Mama’s Agent. If the person in the room knew Dakota or Walt personally, they were wearing a shirt describing their relationship.
It was funny, personal, and so thoughtful Dakota was grinning to the point of pain.
“Whose idea were the shirts?” she asked.
“That would be Walt’s,” Dakota’s mom told her. “I thought it was silly, but your fans seem to love them.”
“You’re a sport for wearing it,” she told her mom with a half hug.
Elaine smiled when JoAnne approached.
“If you need to rest, you just let us know,” JoAnne said.
“I think I’ll be fine.”
Dakota smiled at her new in-laws, winked at Walter II. “How are you feeling?”
“Never better.” He’d taken the past couple months away from his practice, didn’t plan on going back full-time. He looked damn good, and Dakota hoped that expecting his first grandchild was fueling his quick recovery.
With Walt’s hand in hers, she turned to the sea of pink and blue. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you all being here.”
Carol Ann stood beside Brenda, the two of them having hit it off from the day of the wedding. “I’ve been telling Mom for years how she was missing out. Now she knows.”
Dakota’s mother caught her gaze and held it.
For a brief moment, there was silence in their group.
“I’ve been less than supportive. I want to change that.”
Tears tickled the backs of Dakota’s eyes.
Walt’s arm came around her, her anchor, her support.
“I love you, too,” she said, brushing away a fallen tear.
Mary sighed, patted her on the back. “You ready?”
“Yeah.”
Mary took to the podium to introduce her. Her BFF did her justice, repeating her accolades and achievements.
Dakota let her belly lead the way, accepted the audience’s enthusiastic applause.
When they settled, she glanced over the crowd, saw her family and her husband, smiling from the eaves.
Before she uttered a word, Junior gave a solid kick, making her hand grasp her belly. “Oh,” she said. “This baby thing . . . I’m sure some of you will understand if I suddenly run off to the loo.” Using the English term for bathroom always captured the American audience by surprise.
Laughter rose and several hands clapped.
“How about these shirts?” she asked, accepted more applause. “We’ve purposely waited to find out if Junior here is a boy or a girl, but my husband is a doctor.” She winked across the room. “He’s looked at those ultrasounds a little too much for someone who says he doesn’t know the gender of our child.”
She waved a finger Walt’s way, made sure several heads turned to look at him.
Walt shrugged, looked at the ceiling, but didn’t say a word.
“I know this day is about celebrating the next chapter . . . the next book. None of that has been more true to me personally that being here with my family.”
She waited for the applause to die. “Imagine an author . . . one who makes her living writing happily-ever-afters, never having found everlasting love. Then one day, the love of her world walks into her life and redefines everything.”
Walt tilted his head, listening to her words.
“Imagine what that author will be able to bring into her next book, her next chapter?”
She took a long breath and pushed the air out in a sigh.
“I believe you’ll all love Mathew and Cassidy’s happily-ever-after. God knows I do. They brought me face-to-face with the love of my life.” She raised her hand to Walt, waited for more than half the audience to turn. “He’s mine, ladies. The inspiration to my every chapter thirteen . . . or chapter fifteen, eighteen . . . or maybe even chapter two.”
The audience laughed, Dakota pulled herself back.
“Give it up for Dr. Baby Daddy, the inspiration to my chapter thirteens and all my happily-ever-afters.”
As complete as she might have felt the last time she addressed a gaggle of fans, none were like this.
Dakota captured Walt’s gaze, mouthed the words, I love you.
He blew her a kiss, told her he loved her, and Dakota began the next chapter in her life.