Devotion (Club Destiny 5)

“Did you really think I wasn’t going to have it put together in time?” Sam asked, grinning.

“Come on in here, girl!” Ashleigh called from the other room, and Sierra turned to see Ashleigh, McKenna, Lucie, Zoey, V, and another woman whose face she couldn’t place right away, scattered in a semicircle around the living room.

There, on a table that stood in front of the massive stone fireplace were more gifts than Sierra had ever seen in her entire life, all sporting shiny wrapping paper and pretty pink and white bows. Another flood of tears threatened as the women all began to rise, taking turns hugging her as she moved closer into the room.

“I’m so glad the two of you are here,” Sierra said to Zoey and V as she hugged them both. “I can’t believe you drove all this way.”

“Honey, we wouldn’t miss it,” Zoey said with a huge grin.

“Did Kaleb let you drive by yourselves?”

“Are you kidding?” Zoey laughed. “I just barely got him out of here a few minutes ago.”

Sierra smiled. She still couldn’t believe how much trouble her friends had gone through. For her.

“I can’t believe you guys did this,” Sierra laughed, sounding almost hysterical, even to her own ears.

“Oh, girl. You don’t know the half of it. We’ve got games to play so why don’t you sit down and put your feet up,” Ashleigh said, placing her hand on Sierra’s arm and leading her to a chair that looked as though it had been specifically placed so everyone could see her.

Sierra took her seat while Sam disappeared into the kitchen. She listened as her mother introduced Deanna, Logan’s receptionist and close friend of Veronica’s. That’s when she recognized her.

“Thank you for coming,” Sierra smiled back at Deanna.

“Honey, I’ve been begging your mother to let me come for months. Then again, I thought we were going to have to tie Sam up just so she’d quit working so hard.”

“Well, it’s beautiful. I –” Once again, Sierra didn’t know how to say the words. What her friends had done for her was beyond what she expected.

“We’ve got food and drinks, non-alcoholic of course, so ladies, help yourselves,” Sam called from the kitchen.

Ashleigh leaned over, smiling from ear to ear. “So, did we really surprise you?”

“You have no idea.” Sierra still couldn’t believe it. For some reason, she hadn’t expected a large baby shower, maybe something small and intimate, maybe one or two people, but certainly not all of the women who were there.

When everyone was back in the living room, plates in hand, Sam brought one for Sierra, and they sat around chatting for a few minutes about how they’d managed to pull one over on Sierra good. She couldn’t help but laugh at how excited Sam was that she did.

“I take it from all of the pink and white that you’re having a girl,” V stated.

“Well, that’s what the doctor tells us anyway,” Sierra said with awe. She was still a little stunned by the fact that she was going to be a mother. The feeling was so incredible, a beautiful little life growing inside of her.

“You better get your rest while you can,” Lucie chimed in. “Let me tell you, girls are hell on wheels.”

“Are you kidding? Haley is a perfect little angel,” Sam added, grinning.

“I would’ve agreed with you at one point, but her daddy is doing a fantastic job of corrupting her.”

Kane, Haley’s father, hadn’t been a part of Haley’s life for the first few years because he didn’t know he was the child’s father. Back when Sierra was dating Luke and Cole, Lucie was going through a rough time, and she finally decided she needed to break the news to him. None of them had been the same since, and it was a sight to see.

“Well, I could tell you some stories about Sierra from when she was a little girl,” Veronica added with a grin.

“Mom, don’t you dare!” Sierra feigned discomfort with the subject. She didn’t have any problems with her mother telling her stories. She’d heard them more than once, and she was pretty sure Sam probably had too by now.

“I want to know what games we’re gonna play,” Ashleigh added in.

Sierra smiled, taking a sip of her punch and smiling at the handful of women. She couldn’t have asked for anything more than this.

Two hours later, Sierra was nearly dead on her feet, although she wasn’t exactly on her feet. Sitting on the couch, her feet propped up, she closed her eyes and relived everything that had happened over the last couple of hours. There’d been some games, one of them actually involved them trying to guess how big around she was by using ribbon. To her surprise, McKenna had almost been spot on in her estimate. Then there was some sort of diaper game with smashed candy bars that they had to guess. She could’ve lived without that one, but it had been entertaining.