“That’s one way to put it.”
He picks up a stick and snaps it between his fingers. “I’m not gonna lie, Bonnie. It’s weird as hell. I leave for a few months and come back to find my baby sister married to Ash and fucking Ghost and Titan on the side.”
“It’s not like that?—”
“I know. I was there when they all claimed you publicly. I saw how they looked at you.” He tosses the broken stick away. “Still weird.”
“Are you pissed?”
“I don’t know what I am.” He leans forward, elbows on his knees. “Part of me wants to beat the shit out of all three of them for touching you. But the other part…” He trails off.
“What?”
“The other part sees how happy you are, how they look at you like you’re the center of their world. How they’d die for you without hesitation.” He turns to look at me. “You are happy, right?”
“Yeah.” The word comes easy. True. “I am.”
“Even with the baby? Even with everything that happened?”
I press my hand to my stomach again. Feel the gentle flutter of movement. “I never thought I’d want this. Never thought I’d be ready. But now that she’s here…” I swallow past the lump in my throat. “I love her already. So much it scares me.”
“She?”
“Ghost thinks it’s a girl. He won’t shut up about it.”
Jackal smiles. “Ghost is going to be a terrifying father.”
“All three of them are going to be terrifying. Can you imagine Titan with a daughter?”
“No. I really can’t.”
We both laugh. The image of my giant, crude, wonderful man trying to handle a tiny baby girl is almost too much.
“For what it’s worth,” Jackal says, “I think you’re going to be an amazing mom.”
My eyes burn. “You think so?”
“I know so. You’re the toughest person I know, Bonnie. You survived Dad selling you off. Survived Marcus. Survived a war. You can handle one baby.”
“One baby with three men who are going to argue about everything.”
“True.” He grins. “But you’ll keep them in line.”
“I’ll try.”
Another comfortable silence. The sun shifts lower in the sky, painting the valley in shades of orange and gold.
“I need to tell you something,” Jackal says.
His tone makes me tense. “What?”
“I’m not sticking around much longer. My chapter out of state needs me. We’re still building, still recruiting. I can’t abandon them just because the war here is over.”
Disappointment crashes through me. “How long?”
“Another week. Maybe two.”
“Jackal—”
