“You try so hard to pretend,” Dom said as he took the kid and immediately threw him up so high in the air that even I had to pretend I didn’t see it. Donovan let out a loud yell of pleasure as he was caught and sent flying a second time.
“My God, Dominic, how many times do I have to tell you not to do that where I can see it?” Kaylee asked as she approached,her dress loose, flowing, beautiful, and not covering the growing bump in her stomach. “I know you won’t drop him, but Jesus.”
Will was close behind, laying a hand on her lower back and smiling. “Let them have their fun. Do what the rest of us do and look the other way.”
I grimaced. “It’s what I do.”
Kaylee sighed, her hand coming to rest on her stomach. “I hope this one has a little more sense.”
“Then you had better hope he or she takes after you, because we know they won’t be if another one takes after me,” Will said good-naturedly, chuckling when she gave him a dry look.
“Get your son before Dom sends him into the atmosphere,” Kaylee said, taking our advice and not looking over her shoulder. She waited until Will had walked off before flashing her hand at me, and my eyes went wide at the sight of the large, sparkling ring on her finger.
“About time,” I muttered, looking it over. “Damned if it isn’t a nice one though.”
“He might not have his family’s money anymore, but he’s still got taste,” she said with a laugh, beaming. “I don’t mind, though. I knew he wasn’t going anywhere. This is just a formality.”
“An expensive one,” I said with a laugh.
Itwaslong past time, since they were only about five months away from their second kid, but that was Will. He had found the courage to turn his back on The Family and what was left of his actual family because they wanted nothing to do with him. He had found the strength to live in a world he had been shielded from, and had figured out how to thrive. Yet it had taken him almost six months to ask the pretty girl at the coffee shop out, and now it had taken him this long to ask her to marry him.
People.
“Look, there’s Milo,” Will said as he came back with his son and Dom in tow, though Donovan was still insisting on beingcarried by Dom—no doubt hoping that when his parents weren’t looking, Dom would throw him again.
“Give me that,” Moira hissed at Milo, who grinned sheepishly as she took the flask from his hand. “Honestly. Of all times.”
“It’s a celebration,” he complained as he stared forlornly at his flask now being tucked away in her purse. Moira was wearing a dress that fit up top but flowed from her waist, one of the rare times I remembered she even owned one. Milo and Eli were in suits as well, and while Eli looked prim and proper, Milo had already gotten his shirt untucked, his tie was crooked, and his hair was already sticking up.
“You can celebrate like this after,” she told him. “God, when are you going to learn to behave? You’re going to be thirty in a couple of years.”
“Man,” Milo complained as Moira stomped off.
“If you’re good and don’t draw attention to us, I’ll share,” Eli said with a smirk, tapping his jacket, and I could hear the thunk of what was probably a second flask.
“Have I told you I love you?” Milo asked with widening eyes.
“Yeah, but you could do it more often.”
“Deal.”
Ward and Arlo appeared, and I was sure Ward’s suit cost more than everyone’s here save for mine. Ward eyed the duo and rolled his eyes. “Amateurs.”
I looked him over and then glanced at the umbrella, perfectly acceptable in our rainy city, especially with the cloud cover, but the handle looked...odd. “You too?”
He followed my gaze and grinned, giving it a wiggle. “Enough for both of us.”
Arlo shrugged when I glanced at him. “I’m allowed to celebrate how I want...and he always buys good liquor.”
“Ugh, I might be slumming it by being married to you, but like hell am I buying bottom-shelf liquor,” Ward said, looping his arm through Arlo’s.
“Mm,” Arlo said, clearly amused. “I like how anything less than two hundred dollars is bottom-shelf to you.”
“Man,” Milo said. “We should have taken you to a frat house party when we had the chance.”
“Let’s not kill the man,” I warned. “He might be able to tolerate the poor liquor we use at the hotel, but anythingthatlow might make his blue blood burst into flame.”
“Indeed,” Ward said amiably. “Like holy water to a vampire. You don’t want to be responsible for widowing your brother, do you?”
