Free Rolling in the Deep: Hawaiian Heroes, Book 2 by Cathryn Cade Page B

the three of them whooped.
    Grace chuckled too. “David does manifest certain social graces that Daniel, er, chooses not to,” she said dryly.
    “Well said, Madame Author.” Claire snickered.
    They had sandwiches at one of the waterfront cafes on the esplanade. Claire whipped her phone out of her bag and had the waiter take their picture. They smiled politely for the first, and then the three girls mugged for a second photo for Grace, striking dramatic poses with their hats.
    “Oh, I’ve missed you two.” Melia hugged first Bella and then Claire. “Friends forever, right?” she asked, grasping both of their hands in hers. “No matter what, no matter where.”
    “You’d better believe it.” Claire squeezed her friend’s hand. Emotion swelled in her breast, and she had to hold on to her smile. Because really, their friendship would never be the same now that Melia was getting married. David would always come first. That was the way it should be, but it still hurt a little.
    “Always.” Bella reached for Claire’s hand as well. Grace snapped another photo.
    Melia let out a funny little sob and held tighter to their hands. “Um—I have something else to tell you,” she said, her green eyes once again brimming with tears.
    “What?” Bella looked worried. Claire stared at her friend, mystified. Was it something horrible?
    “David and I—we’re going to have a baby. I’m pregnant.”
    The two of them gaped at her. Grace slowly lowered the camera. “Oh, my.”
    Melia looked from Bella to Claire. Her mouth quivered up into a lopsided grin. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
    “Um…wow.” Claire struggled to wrap her mind around this new concept. Melia, a mother?
    “I guess…I’m just so shocked.” Bella brushed back a strand of shiny hair from her face, her eyes round.
    Claire nodded. “Are you okay? I mean, this must have been one heck of a surprise to you too, huh?”
    “Oh, yeah,” Melia said in heartfelt tones. “I cried for hours. And I was so mad, I punched David.”
    “Is he okay with it?”
    Melia rolled her eyes. “He’s over the moon. The Ho’omalus love keikis. He can’t wait to be a daddy.”
    “And you aren’t getting married just because of the baby,” Bella said. “I mean, you’re obviously in love, both of you. We could see that when he came back with you last month.”
    Melia blushed. “No, it’s not because of the baby. We would have waited a few more months to be married, but he’s the one for me—the only one.”
    “Then I’m happy for you,” Claire said fiercely, squeezing her hand. What it must be like to have such bedrock assurance that she was loved like that.
    “Good, because you’re both going to be aunties,” Melia said, smiling through her tears. “And you too, Grace.”
    Grace smiled at her and reached over to lay her hand over Melia’s and Bella’s. “I’m very happy for you, my dear.”
    “This explains why you cry over everything,” Claire realized. “Hormones.” They all laughed.
    The rest of their lunch was calmer, unaccompanied by any more revelations, until Melia looked at the clock on her phone. “Oh, my gosh, the afternoon is flying by. Are you ready to go? David should be picking Mom and Dad up from the airport in an hour. They’re meeting us up at the house. I want to show you David’s— our house before they get there, and give my parents time to relax before the luau.”
    Back at the hotel, Claire slipped on the new dress and shell jewelry and let Bella, slender and lovely in a cocoa silk shift, curl her hair.
    “It won’t last,” she warned, sitting on the toilet while Bella carefully wound a long blonde lock around the hot curling iron.
    “Yes, it will,” Bella promised, shaking back her own glossy waves. “I brought styling products.”
    Claire made a face at Melia, watching from the bathroom doorway. “Miss Curlylocks. Your hair looks fabulous, even in this humidity.”
    “I love your hair,” Melia said