Perfect Enough

Chapter Twenty-Eight – Sophia

Chapter Twenty-Eight

SOPHIA

The chaos was glorious. Everyone talked over everyone. Kids ran around like little madmen, their antics making me laugh. The feel was very different from the last time I was in a room with all of the Shaw family. Dirk and Merit Littlewood were also there, with their adult kids and their families. They weren’t blood-related to the Shaws, but no one would ever know that if not told.

“Okay, quiet down!” Stella called out as she tapped the side of a glass. “We have a guest with us this evening.”

Josh squeezed my hand lightly as all eyes landed on me.

“What’s happening?” I whispered to Josh, who stood, pulling me up with him.

“You’re about to be formally introduced to the family.”

My eyes darted around the room. Even the kids sat down for the first time all evening and were focused on me.

Stella cleared her throat. “Josh, I know Sophia has been around the family the last couple of weeks, but she wasn’t properly introduced with everything going on.”

“Right,” Josh stated. “Um, let’s see…heads of family and down?”

“That works,” Josh’s father said.

Josh cleared his throat, much like Stella had. “You’ve met my parents, of course.”

Kaylee beamed as she waved.

“And you’ve met my sister Rose and her husband, Bryson, and their son, Greg.”

Greg jumped up and held up four fingers. “I’m four!”

“You know Uncle Brock and Aunt Lincoln,” Josh went on. “Their kids are Blayze, Morgan, and Hunter.” Josh drew in a deep breath. “Okay, Blayze is married to Georgiana, and they have twins, Rhett and Ryder. Morgan is married to Ryan.”

Each person raised their hand and smiled at me as Josh went along with the introductions.

“They have Blakley, who’s six.”

“You gave me a piggyback ride the other day, ’member?” Blakley asked me.

“I do remember! And we played with your baby doll; Penny is her name, right?”

Blakley smiled wide. “Yes! You ’membered her name!”

Everyone laughed.

“Next is Hunter and his wife, Kipton. Their daughter is Callie.”

Callie stood and waved. “I’m free!”

“You’re three?” I asked as I flashed her a wide smile.

Nodding her head, she replied, “Yep!”

“Honey, you’re four now,” Kipton said softly.

Callie looked up. “That’s wight. I am!”

“Okay,” Josh said, clapping his hands together. “You know Uncle Tanner and Aunt Timberlynn. Their kids are Lily, whom you’ve met, and Nate, of course. Lily is married to Maverick, and they have Maggie Ray, who’s also four.”

Little Maggie was sound asleep on a bed made of pillows on the floor. How she was able to nap during all the noise was beyond me.

“Last but not least is Uncle Dirk and Aunt Merit.”

Merit waved to me, and I waved back. We had a lovely talk at the memorial, and I was instantly taken by how kind she was.

“Their kids are Avery, who’s married to Beck, and Bradly, who’s married to Mackenzie.”

Josh looked around. “I think that’s it.”

I waved to everyone. “It’s lovely to formally meet everyone.”

“Josh must really like you to bring you to family game night,” Rose said with a massive grin.

“I do really like her, so please don’t scare her away with your competitiveness.”

Rose was about to say something, but one of the twins cut her off.

“Can we start now?” Rhett asked. Or wait, was that Ryder? It was hard to tell.

A table had been set up with all the cups taped so the tops of them lined up perfectly with the surface.

“Who goes first?” someone asked, but I couldn’t tell who it was.

“How about we do youngest to oldest?” Josh suggested.

Callie declared she’d go first, since one of the littlest ones was still asleep.

“You only get one roll, Cal,” Rhett said. “Then you have to go to the back of the line.”

Callie looked confused. “What line?”

Kipton picked up Callie and held her. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Just try to roll your Oreo down the table and sink it into one of the cups.”

Callie rolled her cookie, and it quickly went off the table. Each of the kids took turns, with most of them rolling their Oreos off onto the floor. That didn’t stop any of them from eating their cookie, though. Rhett, however, got his in the lemon juice—and was not happy.

The game was hilarious, with everyone getting every cup except the money cup. When it was Josh’s turn, he was so serious, I couldn’t help but start laughing. His Oreo went into the ketchup, and I nearly gagged watching him eat it.

When I glanced around the room at everyone laughing and talking, I was so glad they’d decided to have their family game night. Ty Sr. was missed and was brought up often, but I had a feeling he would have loved this. Though, my heart hurt as I caught a glimpse of Stella. She was smiling, but I saw the sadness in her eyes, and I wanted to hug her. But her strength for her family was inspiring. No wonder Josh came and spoke with her today. She was a true family matriarch. She caught me watching her and motioned for me to come sit by her.

As I sat down, she took my hand in hers and smiled at me. Her eyes held so much sadness, but there was also happiness in them as well. She leaned over and said, “Thank you for not giving up on him. I’m afraid he has that stubborn Shaw blood in him.”

Glancing at Josh who was talking to Lily, I let out a small breath. “He is truly the most amazing man I’ve ever met.”

She let out a soft laugh. “If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that phrase. They all get that from their grandfather Ty.”

Turning to look at her, I took her hand in mine and gave it a light squeeze. “They all have a bit of both of you in them.”

She quickly wiped a tear away and then laughed when Lily rolled her Oreo.

Nate clapped when Lily got her Oreo in the mustard. The last thing I expected was for her to shove it into his mouth. There was no mistaking the two of them were brother and sister.

“It’s Sophia’s turn!” Kaylee called out. “We saved the best for last.”

I walked up to the table, cracked my fingers, rolled my neck, and then got down and studied the table to find the best route to the money cup.

“Holy shit,” Nate said. “It’s like she’s one of us already.”

The room fell silent as I took my Oreo and positioned it.

“You only get one roll,” Josh taunted from the other side of the table.

I glanced up and narrowed my eyes at him. “Yes, I have been following the game.”

“I love her,” someone said from behind me. I think it was Lily, or maybe Rose.

Nate stood beside Josh and said, “Dude, if you don’t marry her, I will.”

“Hush!” Kaylee shouted. “The girl is concentrating.”

“Mom!” Josh admonished, staring at his mother. “Are you rooting for her or me?”

She waved her hand to quiet him.

I focused back on the table, put my finger on the Oreo, and did a few little practice pushes before I let it go.

Then I straightened—and watched as it rolled directly to the money cup.

When it landed in the cup, I jumped up and down as I cried out and pointed around the room. “Yes! Take that! I won! I won!”

Lily came running over and hugged me, along with Lincoln, Rose, Avery, Kaylee, and Timberlynn. Taking my hands in hers, Kaylee and I jumped around in a circle, laughing.

“I won!”

“You won!” Kaylee shouted.

“Okay, okay,” Josh said as he pushed through the women to get to me. Leaning over, I rested my hands on my knees to catch my breath. I needed to do more cardio if that small celebration wore me out.

Josh looked at me with a smirk on his handsome face. “You never told me how much you liked to win.”

I shrugged. “You never asked.”

He laughed and pulled me to him, hugging me. Cheers erupted around the room, and soon there was talk of another game.

Nate walked up to us, laughing. “Sophia, you will have no problem fitting into this family.”

I felt my cheeks heat. “Thank you, Nate.”

Turning to Josh, Nate hit his chest. “You better put a ring on that finger, and fast.”

Josh looked at me and winked.

“Next up! Pictionary!” Lincoln called out.

“Oh, I love Pictionary!”

At least four people called out that they wanted me on their team. Josh held up his hands. “No! No, you are not stealing her from me. That’s where I draw the line.” Then he whispered to me, “Are you good at Pictionary?”

“Well,” I said with a smug look. “I hate to brag, but I am pretty darn good at it.”

He nodded. “Yep, you’re on my team.”

And an hour later, Josh and I were crowned the winners of Pictionary.

I kicked off my shoes and fell back onto the sofa. “I am so tired.”

Josh laughed and sat next to me. “Now, imagine doing that once a week.”

Turning to look at him, my mouth fell open. “No way.”

“Yeah, before all the great grandbabies started appearing, we had family game night once a week. Now it’s once a month.”

I chuckled. “I bet there are some amazing memories.”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding his head. “There are. It sucks Granddad isn’t here, but he would have loved tonight. And you …”

Laughing again, I pulled my legs up and sat on them as I turned to face him. “What about me?”

“He would have loved you so much, Soph. When you dropped down and studied the table, I nearly died laughing.”

“I wanted to see if there were any bumps or imperfections, and there were! That’s why so many Oreos were heading to the mustard and mayo.”

“You sat there and watched everyone play, and the whole time, you were learning the table?”

“I was, and I freely admit it. I love games, and I love winning more than anything.”

He took my hand in his. “Thank you for coming tonight.”

“Thank you for asking me to come. I love your family, Josh.”

“They love you, too. Especially my mother.”

My cheeks heated. “That’s a good thing, right?”

He reached for me and pulled me onto his lap so I was straddling him. “That’s a very good thing. However, I did hear her and Lincoln talking about how lovely a spring wedding on the ranch would be.”

I was pretty sure my eyes went wide as saucers. “A spring wedding? I’ve always pictured myself getting married in the fall, actually…with all the beautiful colors and the crisp fresh air.”

“Fall, huh?”

“Yeah. Do guys think about stuff like that?” I asked, leaning down and kissing him softly on the lips.

“No. But have I ever told you fall is my favorite season?”

“You have not. That’s one thing we’ve never talked about.”

Reaching up, Josh tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “Maybe we should.”

“Talk about our favorite seasons?”

He chuckled. “Talk about a fall wedding.”

The expression on my face must have said everything, because he quickly added, “Next fall.”

Relaxing, I kissed him again. And before I knew it, I was lying on the sofa, naked, with Josh inside of me, bringing me to yet another mind-blowing orgasm, Josh falling right along with me.

We lay wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa, spooning as we stared out the window into the darkness of the night.

“Sophia?” Josh asked.

“Yes?”

“I want a do-over.”

Rolling to face him, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“That wasn’t a very romantic proposal, and I didn’t have a ring, and we just moved in together and…yeah. I want a do-over.”

I placed my hand on his cheek and said, “I don’t need a do-over, Josh. The only thing I need…the only thing I want…is to be with you like this every day for the rest of our lives.”

He smiled and rubbed his nose against mine. “That sounds perfect enough for me.”

Snuggled into his chest as he held me close, the sound of his heartbeat quickly lulling me to sleep, I dreamed of pumpkins, falling leaves, and the most beautiful wedding dress ever.