“You can just call him Grandpa,” Lucas said, though even he had to admit calling a forty-four-year-old grandpa was weird. But Thomas also seemed far too young to have as many grandchildren as he did. Especially with his own newborn upstairs.
“But Uncle Adam said that Aiden’s his brother and granddad’s husband so that makes him Uncle-Grandpa Aiden, right, Adam?” Arabella said.
Aiden took a few menacing steps towards Adam, who ducked behind Noah, using him as a shield. He pinched Noah’s face in one large hand. “You can’t beat me up. You wouldn’t want to accidentally hurt Noah, right? Look at this sweet face.”
“You’re deranged,” Lucas muttered. “All of you.”
August took the girl’s hands. “You’re not in trouble.” He cleared his throat, giving Lucas and Jericho a look that said I can’t believe this is my life. “If your Cabbage Patch Doll?—”
“Beatrice,” Jett supplied helpfully.
“Beatrice,” August said. “Indeed beheaded Ken and left his head in the oven for Barbie, then she did have it coming, but you know you can’t punish people for a crime if you can’t prove they did it beyond a reasonable doubt. Did you have that proof?”
Arabella, Adelyn and Jagger all nodded.
“We sawed her do it,” Jett said.
“Saw,” Atticus corrected absently.
Jett narrowed his eyes at his father. “Dat’s what I say. We saw’d him.”
“I mean, hey if they sawed Beatrice do it, she had to go,” Adam said. “She met the code.”
Thomas sighed, standing to throw an arm around Aiden’s shoulders. “Adam’s right. If you know in your heart it was the right thing to do, then that’s the end of it, right, Lucas?”
Lucas sighed. They had followed the code. What else could they do but teach them the real Mulvaney family legacy? He looked to August, who nodded.
August made eye contact with each of his daughters. “But you cannot do anything like this in front of outsiders. Ever. Do you understand?”
“Not even Ever?” Jagger asked. “Or Levi?”
Jericho picked his son up and settled him between him and Atticus. “They’re not outsiders. They’re family. But everyone else. Nobody outside of the family. Got it?” Jagger and Jett both nodded solemnly, Jett crawling into Atticus’s lap and making himself at home.
Atticus cuddled him against his chest like it was the most natural thing in the world. Who would have thought Atticuswould take so well to being a dad? Of course, he’d gotten to skip the colic and the dirty diapers.
August looked at the girls. “Do you understand?”
They both nodded as well.
“What’s our motto?” August asked.
“We only hurt people who hurt others,” the four recited back.
“And?”
“Never animals or children,” they finished.
“What the hell did I miss?” Lola asked, taking West from Zane and kissing his soft baby cheek.
Lola didn’t take on any kind of motherly role with Oscar or West, that was most definitely reserved for Zane and Felix. She said she was perfectly content to mother Dimitri and Arlo with Calliope. But that didn’t stop her from lavishing affection on all the Mulvaney babies.
“Where’s Calliope?” Zane asked.
“Nursing Theo,” Lola said absently. Calliope had not felt the same way. While she wasn’t actively raising the babies, she did play wet nurse for them. She’d said it was just practical, but Lucas was sure she liked having that bond with Theo even if he wasn’t biologically hers.
“Where’s Dimitri and Arlo?” Felix asked. “Why didn’t they come?”
“They’re with the other murder muppets. They said something about grilling hot dogs and setting off fireworks on the roof of Jericho’s shop,” Lola said. “I figured you knew?”
