She smiled sweetly at Evan. “Don’t worry, Mr. Cavanaugh. Lots of men feel that way, but it’s actually very natural and beautiful. That’s where your baby will make her entrance into the world. And your wife’s vagina will soon return to the same lovely condition that you know and love.” Evan nodded and gave her a fake smile as he held tightly onto my hand.

After the examination, she said, “Wow, Blaire. You’re actually progressing quite nicely. You’re already dilated to a five. How are the contractions?”

“I feel them, but they’re not really painful yet,” I said.

A few minutes after Julia left, she stuck her head back in the door. I heard a ruckus in the hallway and knew with certainty that my brother and his friends had arrived. Heaven, help us. No one could cause a ruckus quite like those six rowdy, overgrown boys. “You have more visitors,” she whisper-yelled, her eyes wide with disbelief and probably a little bit of awe. “They say they’re your brothers?”

“It’s fine, Julia. Thank you.”

I heard voices and what sounded like a scuffle as Julia held the door open for them.

“Stop pushing me.”

“I’m not going in first. What if the baby pops out when we walk in?”

“Yeah, I don’t wanna see Blaire’s hoo-ha… OW! Whatchu punch me for?”

“Don’t talk about my sister’s hoo-ha, you man-bunned perv.”

“Well, everyone knows she has one. OWWWW! Stop hitting!”

Evan was pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, but I was laughing uncontrollably. “Oh my God, you dumbasses,” I called out. “Get in here. I swear I’m decent.”

My brother’s green eyes peeked hesitantly around the corner, and I heard a sigh of relief and, “It’s okay, guys.” Then Beau and his five SEAL buddies piled in and filled the entire damn room. Thank God Evan had arranged for the largest suite in the hospital because it seemed like every inch of available space was now taken up by giant male bodies and testosterone.

Some people may have thought it was weird for my brother to bring his military buddies to his laboring sister’s hospital room, but all these guys had been adorably excited about Carrie’s arrival for months. They considered themselves her de facto uncles, and they loved to feel her moving around in my belly when my brother wasn’t barking at them to “get your fucking hands off my sister.” My heart filled with love and gratitude when I looked around at my “brothers,” who had dropped everything to be here when Carrie was born. We were a couple of very lucky girls.

Beau rushed immediately to me and kissed my forehead, a rare show of physical affection from him. He usually showed me affection by threatening to murder anyone who looked at me sideways, but this was nice too.