Charming Alex: Book 4 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews

Author:Emily Matthews [Matthews, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-25T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

It was Thanksgiving Day, and Alex had just arrived at his mother’s place uptown. His brothers and their wives were already there. That seemed funny to say. Last year, Mitch had been the only one married. But this summer, two more MacDonald brothers fell. In love, that is. Sam and Annie tied the knot in June, and Jake and Hannah, three months later in September. It had been a bumper crop year for his mom, who was dying to marry them all off and get some grandkids coming.

So far, Mitch and Maggie were the only ones to have borne fruit in that regard, but Annie was three months along, cooking up some twins—a boy and a girl due in May of next year.

His mom, Maggie, Annie, and Hannah stood together in the kitchen, supposedly making dinner, but when Alex entered, he saw more wine drinking than baking.

“I didn’t realize cooking dinner was a euphemism for drinking wine and watching TV,” he said with a teasing smile.

“Mine’s juice,” Annie said, rubbing her stomach.

“Mine too.” Maggie clinked glasses with Annie. “Still nursing.”

“Ah. Well, need any help in here?” It was a courtesy offer he prayed they wouldn’t take him up on, but he didn’t want to seem rude.

“Shh, we’re watching a video on how to make a healthy pumpkin pie,” his mom said.

Alex looked at the iPad propped up on the counter and saw Julia staring back at him. “Hey, that’s Julia Knight. I know her. She’s my neighbor.”

“Get out,” Hannah said. “I watch her stuff all the time. She’s great.”

“What’s her channel about?” Annie asked.

“It’s like healthy recipes, exercise videos, meal plans, and stuff like that,” Hannah said.

“Word of warning. Don’t try her cookies,” Alex said. “I’ve tasted them, and I’m not sure you three cookie monsters would approve.” All his sisters-in-law were cookie connoisseurs, and he was certain Julia’s low-sugar version wouldn’t hit like they were used to.

“Alex is right about that,” Hannah said. “Some of the baked goods miss the mark, but the other stuff’s good.”

“In fairness, how do you make a cookie taste good without sugar?” Annie said. Maggie nodded in agreement.

“Isn’t she single?” Hannah asked Alex. “I thought I caught that in one of her videos.”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “A widow actually.”

“So young? That’s terrible. You thought about, maybe—” his mother said.

Alex held up a hand. “And she has a kid.”

“Oh,” all the women said at once, knowing he’d sworn off women with children after his last debacle dating Amber. He grabbed a beer and went to find the men.

His brothers were in the front room watching football and a baby. His mother had gone completely insane after becoming a grandma. The once magazine-ready living room looked like a toy store bomb had exploded. Toys, books, a playpen, a baby swing, a poofy C-shaped pillow, and a hundred other gadgets Alex didn’t know anything about covered the antique Persian rug. Some of it appeared to be things the baby wouldn’t be able to use for months. Mitch sat on the floor with the little one sitting between his legs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.