The Dance

Chapter 74 Godfather

Lila didn't want to leave the comfort of the bed she shared with Bam the next morning. After their night of lovemaking and the joy of telling him the news of his impending fatherhood, Lila wanted nothing more than to keep him all to herself. That was the difficulty of a large family but also the joy. Their time as a couple would fast come to an end as parenthood approached.

Their secret would no longer be private and the couple steadied themselves to break the news at breakfast. They purposefully were late to breakfast so they could tell the family all at once.

The breakfast conversation centered around the usual topics of hauling jobs and hunting. Bam and Lila fixed their plates and took their respective places at the table. Lila was in her usual spot between Matt and Bam. As she slid next to Matt, she whispered in his ear thank you for his help. Matt gave her a side hug as Bam cleared his throat and began speaking.

"Lila just gave me a gift yesterday that I wanted to share with all of you this morning." Everyone fell silent as their eyes fell to where Lila sat. "We are going to be...."

Before Bam could finish his sentence, his mom yelled "parents." The family practically flipped over the dining table as they all clamored to congratulate the couple. Ami asked how far along Lila was and the siblings were already lining up bets as to the sex of the baby. Once Bam had everyone calmed back down, he and Lila answered all their questions.

"How many weeks along are you Lila?" Ami radiated joy about the news of a grandbaby.

Lila answered, "Almost nine weeks."

Rainy asked if would be a boy or a girl. Lila indicated that they didn't know and she needed to see the doctor in Juneau to begin her prenatal care.

Noah inquired as to changes to the floor plan of the new home to accommodate a nursery. Bam agreed that they would need to expand the floor plan just slightly to get more square footage.

Bam's siblings were ecstatic about the idea of being aunts and uncles. Bear was already rambling about teaching them to run and climb trees while his sisters hoped for a little princess.

"Do you have names picked out already?" Bird asked in hopes they were open for suggestions.

Bam stroked his beard and Lila nodded in his direction giving him approval to share their other little secret. "Lila had names picked out even before we were married. Jace for a boy and Lily for a girl."

The girls squealed with excitement. They loved the names and felt their names paid homage to their future parents.

Billy asked, "Are you going to have godparents?" Lila and Bam had discussed that and had come to an agreement that Kay should be the godmother. "And we want Matt to be the godfather, if he accepts the responsibility?"

Matt was a little overcome with emotion as he couldn't believe Bam would ask him to assume such an important responsibility. "You're Lila's best friend and you're my eldest brother. I trust you above all others to care and protect my future son or daughter if anything happened to Lila and me."

"Please say yes, Mattie." Matt took one look into Lila's eyes and said yes. Now he knew what Bam meant when he said he could refuse her nothing when she flashed those dark eyes his way.

Choking back tears, Matt replied, "It would be my honor."