“Before we discuss our itinerary, let’s eat first,” Max suggested. Taking my hand, he led me to the buffet that was set up just for our room. “Birthday mommy needs to eat. I already told Connor and Christopher to eat lunch. My mom helped them with their serving.”

“Did I tell you how much I love you?” I asked, taking a plate that he offered out of his hand.

“As many times as I tell you that you’re beautiful.”

“That many?”

“I still don’t think it’s enough.” Max winked; the one that sent all sorts of shivers through me.

“You’re too good to me, you know that?”

“I have to make sure Mrs. Knight is happy.” Max scooped a spoonful of vegetables and placed it on my plate.

“Balloon, Mommy,” Christopher whined, tugging my dress.

“You can have it after lunch,” Connor said. “I told him to stay with Grandma, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Would you like to sit with Mommy and Daddy?” I asked Christopher.

With his head tilted back, his brown eyes were wide open. Christopher nodded with the most adorable pouty face.

“Can I sit with Addison and Shawn?” Connor asked. “We want to play super heroes. I’m Superman. Addison is Supergirl. And since Shawn is younger than me, he’s Superboy.” Conner lifted both of his arms to show us his muscles.

Max chuckled lightly. “Yes, you may, but we need to see how much you ate before you throw your plate away.”

“Okay, Dad.” Connor took off with his hands in the air.

As I watched him dash off, I gazed upon my mom and Ellen doting on Cassie while they ate. And the dads were talking about golf. It was such a sweet sight. I’d heard horror stories about in-laws unable to get along, but not in our case. Thank God!

“Mason is so cute,” Kate said, taking a bite of her fish.

“He’s such a lucky boy to finally have parents who will love him,” Nicole added. “How old is he again?”

“He’s almost two,” Matthew replied, spoon-feeding Mason, who was sitting next to him. “He’s still getting used to us speaking English. We hired a nanny that speaks Chinese to help us through the transition. It’s only been two weeks, but he’s adjusted pretty well. It took us longer to adopt than we had planned. We were still deciding which country to adopt our child from, but we finally decided on China.”

“Did you name him after a family member in your family?” Keith asked, placing his cup down after taking a sip.

“Actually,” Matthew started to say, chuckling. “He’s named after a paranormal young adult character Becky likes to read about.”

That got everyone’s attention. “Really? That’s awesome.” Keith grinned.

Matthew’s tone rose with excitement. “He’s named after a descendant of God. He can shoot lightning bolts out of his fingertips. He’s bad ass, I tell you.”

We all burst out in laughter. “Seems like someone read that book. What’s it called?” Max teased.

Matthew shrugged his shoulders. “From Gods. But just the part where he did things with his bolt of energy to make Skylar go crazy for him. You know...I have to make Becca happy.”

“Oh God! Matthew!” Becky lightly punched him. I totally understood the reason for that slap. Becky was not the shy type, but she certainly was around her in-laws. Sex was one topic that was off limits with parents for the both of us. Becky looked at me and cringed.

Kate glanced at her husband. “What are you laughing about? You should read that book.”

Everyone started laughing again. “Let’s change the subject. We have kids here,” Max murmured, gazing at Addison and Connor. They were staring at us with wide, curious eyes.

“Wow. Mason can shoot lightning?” Connor admired.

“No, no, no,” I said quickly while we continued to laugh, but now it was from Connor’s question. We had to start being careful of what we said. Connor was more observant about what we discussed these days. “Uncle Matthew was joking.”

“Oh,” he chuckled. And just like that he picked up his fork to eat again and turned his attention to Addison and Shawn.

“Excuse us for a moment,” Becky said out of the blue. “Jenna, Kate, Nicole, I need to talk to you.”

We followed Becky to the back. It was the first time I’d seen my birthday cake. Max had it made from my favorite bakery. It was decorated Louisiana-style to match the atmosphere of the restaurant. It even had a beautiful mask on the top.

Becky placed a box in front of us. “I was originally going to get it for Jenna as her birthday gift, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to get it for all of us.”

“Becky, you didn’t have to do that,” Kate scolded playfully.

“Open it.” Becky looked so excited. She was practically holding her breath. “I can’t wait for you to see it.”

“It’s beautiful. Oh, Becky.” I hugged her tightly with tears in my eyes.

“I love this,” Nicole added. “It has my baby’s names. Shawn and Sarah.”

“Mine, too.” Kate held hers up. “Kristen and Kelly.”

Becky reached into her shirt and pulled something out. “See. I was trying to hide it. I got one, too. It’s sterling silver, so make sure to take good care of it.” The names of her children were imprinted on the bottom of the circular pendants that were layered from small to big, Addison and Mason.