“Yeah.”Gillian wiped her eyes on her shoulders.“I promise you, little guy, you’re going to have a great life from here on out.”
“Seconded,” Dewi said.“Oh, want to meet your sister?”She shifted position so he could see the sleeping baby.
He grinned again, letting out a happy coo.
The men brought in another load of bags.
“Holy cow!”Gillian said, laughing.“How much did you buy?”
Ken laughed.“Well, I know Asia’s kids are my niblings, but this little guy’s my first brand-new nephew,” he said.“So… I might have gone a little nuts.”
“He did,” Peyton said, walking in behind him.“We haven’t even unloaded the bigger items yet.”
“Bigger items?”Gillian asked.
“Yeah,” Ken said.“Travel crib, you need another stroller and a two-baby stroller—you know, the basics.”
Gillian arched an eyebrow at Dewi, questioning.
As the men departed again, Dewi smiled.“Hey, he’s happy,” Dewi said.“I’m not about to piss on his parade.I know he honestly doesn’t care what our babies are, just wants them to be healthy and safe, but this is his first baby boy.We all kind of filled the pool with a ton of estrogen this last round.I still can’t believe none of us had boys.”
Gillian giggled.“That’s true.”
Then Badger walked in.“What’s all—” His eyebrows went up, his one eye widening.“Holy heckin’ Goddess, who’s that?”
“Meet Moose Bleacke,” Dewi teased.
“Officially Marcus Godwin Bleacke,” Gillian added.
“Moose, eh?”Badger scratched his chin as he walked closer.“Where’s he from?”
“Peyton came home with him and surprised me,” Gillian said.
“He what?Where’d he—oh.”His smile faded.He reached out, stroking the baby’s hand.“He’s the youngest, aye?”
“Yep,” Gillian said.“And possibly a Prime.”
“Oh, boy.Good luck wi’ that, then.”
“Gee, thanks,” Gillian said.“I think.”
“Well, now ye get firsthand experience raisin’ one from the jump.Almost.”He stuck his tongue out at Dewi.“I did my time, little lady.Now ye get to see why there’s not as much of my hair as there used to be.”
“Oh, come on,” Dewi protested.“I wasn’tthatbad.Besides, Mom raised Peyton all right.”
Badger scratched at his chin.“Well, she had Charley there the whole time, didn’t she?An’ me.At least Moose here will have Peyton.”
“You realize his name might as well be Moose now, right?”Dewi asked.“If Badger’s calling him that, it’s stuck.”
Gillian grinned.“Kind of fits him, though.”She made a funny face at the baby and leaned in to blow a raspberry on his cheek, making him laugh.
“Can I hold him?”Badger asked.
“Hey, I didn’t get to hold him yet,” Dewi protested.
“Ye got to see him first, didn’t ye?”
Gillian handed him over, and Badger made funny faces at him, then went still.
