Mac drives the car around an ornate fountain and parks right in front of the dark wooden double doors that have oval stained-glass windows. They open before anyone can open their doors and an elderly woman comes out.Wearing an apron with smart trousers and a pretty blouse underneath, she looks like your typical grandma.
My guess is she’s around seventy, but I’m shit at guessing old people’s ages. Her smile shows a life well lived in every line it creates in her round face, and her dark eyes shine with love when she looks at Rory, then they seem to actually sparkle when Duffy steps out.
“There’s my sweet boy,” she coos as she reaches up to cup his cheeks. I realize then, she can’t even be five feet tall.
“Hi Celly, I missed you.”
“Oh,” she says, so much emotion brimming from her eyes that she has to close them as she pulls him down for a fierce hug. “I missed you too, mi niño.”
“Come on, they’ll be a while,” Mac says, with more than a little humor in his expression.
I get Maggie out of her tiny prison of safety, and do my very best not to wake her as I transfer her to my arms and then out of the car.
“Eian promised me a baby was coming with you,” Celly says with wonder, and if possible, even more emotion in her eyes. She walks closer and leans in just a little to look at her.
I don’t blame her, but I’m grateful when she doesn’t touch her or ask to carry her. Sometimes strangers do that and italways baffles me as much as enrages me. Because then I’m the asshole for saying no. How does that make sense?
“This is Maggie,” Mac says, tenderness in his voice, and it reminds me that they might not be your typical “good people,” but they’ve been sufficiently enchanted by my daughter that I at least know they have good taste. “And her father, Colby.”
“Hello, Maggie,” she coos just like she did with Duffy, then she looks up at me and her smile turns more normal and approachable. “And Colby, welcome to our home.”
“Thank you,” I say, not knowing what else Icouldsay in this situation.
Do you know how to climb that wall with a baby strapped to your back?Seems like it wouldn’t go down well.
“Come on in, all of you.”
My stupid, really embarrassingly sensitive body shivers at that voice. I refuse to acknowledge it’s an effect only he has on me.
“Hey, Boss,” Duffy says, and I realize he’s doing something to annoy Eian when even from a distance I can see his jaw bunch.
“I’m fucking hungry. Let’s eat.”
Celly sighs, as if terribly bothered, then grips my free arm and leads me into the house.
“Now, don’t you worry a bit about him, okay? He’s always so grumpy, but he does have a lot of people to take care of, so we give him the space to have his sulks.”
I nod along, pretending I understand why she’s telling me anything.
“I put a chair for her by the table, but there’s a pack-n-play in there too. I didn’t want you to have to take her upstairs and leave her there while you ate.
So I guess I’m going to have dinner with them?
There goes the adjusting alone time I thought I’d have. I feel like I haven’t been alone in a year—and of course I haven’t since Maggie came into my life, but she doesn’t count as people when I talk about people not leaving me the fuck alone.
“I really appreciate it.” I remember it’s my turn to speak just as we cross the threshold. I can barely make out a kind of sitting room to the side while she pulls me deeper into the house.
“Don’t even mention it, Colby. Anything you need at all you come talk to me, all right?” She stops when we walk into a big dining room with a table that could sit twenty, but there are only seven places set. The highchair that’s meant for Maggie is right between the head of the table and the seat on its left, and I don’t know why, but that snags my attention. Behind it is the pack-n-play, and that’s right where Celly leads me.
I carefully put Maggie down, and curse myself for leaving the diaper bag with all her stuff in the car, but before I can turn to go get it, it appears right next to me. Duffy’s holding it out to me, all smiles and a twinkle in his eyes I know means trouble. I grab it quickly before I say anything I might regret and find the soft blanket—that I didn’t buy—and cover her carefully.
Once I’m satisfied she’s going to be warm enough for the next half hour, I stand and find everyone just staring at me.
It’s fucking weird.
“Dinner?” I ask, my voice betraying my nerves.
“Yes, dinner,” Celly says and once more takes my arm and leads me to that chair next to the head of the table. I want to object because I have a sneaking suspicion I know who sits in that one, but it’s the closest place to Maggie, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to object, right?
