“Well, yeah,” Jericho admitted. “But like you said, we already have seven other kids. More if you count spouses. Soon they’ll be having kids.”
Atticus made a strangled sound. “Is that going to make us grandparents?”
Jericho snorted. “You should be more worried about Ever having his own kids and no longer wanting to help raise ours.”
“Ever and Arsen’s kids would be so cute,” Atticus mused.
As if summoned, the door flung open and Ever dropped dramatically to his knees. “My babies.”
The kids shrieked in delight and immediately swarmed him, the chaos intensifying instead of calming. Atticus leaned more fully into Jericho, smiling despite himself.
“Have they ever been that excited to see us,” Atticus asked around a smile.
Seven children launched themselves at Ever at once, barreling into him and taking him to the ground. Sharp peals of laughter filled the room as he went down under the combined weight of limbs and sugar highs. Arsen stood in the doorway, watching with open adoration as Ever was smothered in kisses by several frosting-stained children, his protests entirely unconvincing.
“Do you want another one, Freckles?” Jericho asked quietly.
“No,” Atticus said, too quickly, his heart twisting around the word even as it left his mouth.
Jericho hummed. “That didn’t sound very convincing.”
“Everything is perfect as it is,” Atticus said, eyes still on the children. His voice softened, careful. “What if they felt like they were being replaced?”
Jericho reached for his hand, threading their fingers together. “We could just ask them what they think of the idea.”
Atticus let out a slow breath. “I don’t know. I’m not getting any younger.” He hesitated. “Isn’t it irresponsible to have a baby at our age?”
“A baby?” Jericho echoed, sounding like he’d forgotten how to breathe. “You want ababybaby?”
“I don’t want anything,” Atticus said quickly. “We’re just talking. I’m about to deliver my nephew. Of course I’m thinking about babies. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“It doesn’tnotmean anything,” Jericho said gently. “You know we can always talk about it. Besides, look at your Dad and Aiden. They have kids younger than ours and they’re both older than us.”
Atticus nodded, resting his forehead briefly against Jericho’s hair.
“I can’t believe Cricket’s gonna have a Christmas baby,” Jericho murmured.
Arsen crossed the room, to where they sat. Jericho patted the space beside them. “What’s new, kid?”
“Cree is downstairs making heart eyes at our new boy,”Arsen said, unable to hide the amusement in his voice.
Atticus smiled. “Yeah. He asked me what Cree was like.”
“He did?” Arsen perked up. “What’d you say?”
“The truth,” Atticus replied. “That he learned more about Cree in a couple of months than most of us managed in several years.”
“Is Lake here?” Jericho asked. “Has he seen Matty since… you know?”
“Since they hooked up?” Arsen filled in. “No. He’s still at work.” He snorted. “It’s weird not telling them who their mysterious hookup was…but also kind of fun watching them both pretend not to care.”
“Both of them?” Atticus asked.
“You’re becoming quite the gossip, Freckles,” Jericho teased.
“I don’t see you leaving,” he said, then refocused his attention to Arsen. “Both of them?” he repeated.
“Mmm,” Arsen said. “When we asked Lake, he said he barely thinks about it. That it was just a ‘crazy night’. But Cree says Lake brings it upall the time. That he finds reason to mention it—mention him.” He shook his head. “And—According to Cree—who apparently heard it from Jordan—Matty keeps insisting it was just a one-night stand, but he won’t stop ranting about how ‘weird’ Lake was and how he wouldn’t stop being nice to him.”
