“Can you say da-da?”
“Ba-ba!”
I watch the woman I love with my baby girl, and I know I made the right decision to keep them both. I will not let anyone take either one of them away from me. I will fight to the bitter end for my girls.
Adele launches herself at me and I catch her. I will always catch her. Whatever she wants, she can have. Including a nursery.
“Can you watch her while I deal with these boxes?”
“Why don’t you call your brothers? You’ll have the boxes emptied and the contents squared away in no time with their help.”
“It’s New Year’s Day. I don’t want to disturb them.”
She checks the time. “It’s only nine. The Salty Dip doesn’t start until noon.”
“And last night was New Year’s Eve. My brothers were probably at the Smugglers’ Blaze until it closed down.”
“Wrong. Eli and Rhett left when you did. They wanted to get their families home. Jaxon used the excuse to sneak away since the activity was no longer a Raider brother activity. Whatever that means. Miles snuck off about an hour after they did. No idea where he went.”
“Did you notice Hazel around? If she’s around, you’ll find Miles mooning over her.”
She rolls her eyes. “Only Kai and Harper stayed until the end because they were helping me at the booth.”
I frown. “I hate that you had to work all night and I wasn’t there.”
Her brow wrinkles. “This is what I do. I’m a bartender. I usually work all night.”
“Harper gave you the night off.”
“She needed help. I wasn’t letting her and Kai work the booth on their own. Truth be told.” She pauses to yawn. “We could have used at least two more bartenders. The lines were obnoxious. Kai had to run toRumrunnerfor another case of moonshine at one point.”
I can’t argue with her. Sloane is loyal. She’d never abandon anyone who needed help. Thus, her becoming my nanny even when she didn’t trust me.
“Go ahead and ring your brothers. I’ll deal with Adele.”
Deal with Adele? I glance down and notice how her face is straining. Uh oh. This is her poop face. I don’t hesitate to hand her off to Sloane.
“You still hate changing poopy diapers.”
“I’ll get used to it by the time we have our third child.”
She gasps. “Third child?”
I’m not about to tell her I want to give her the family she’s always longed for. She’s still getting used to the idea of us and wants to take things slow.
I do the only thing I can think of. I hurry out of the room.
Eli, Jaxon, and Rhett arrive within thirty minutes. Kai begged off since Harper’s dad is having a bad day. He had a stroke some years ago and struggles with mobility. And I couldn’t reach Miles. I hope he’s not somewhere making bad decisions.
“What’s happening? What do you need?” Eli asks when we gather in the living room.
“The nursery. It’s a bit of a mess.”
Rhett grins. “Dakota has been dying to get her hands on your nursery for weeks. I’ll phone her.”
“I can watch Pearl and Mira,” Sloane offers.
“Thanks, sis.” Rhett strolls out of the room with his phone to his ear.
