“Well?” Ida Jane demanded.
“The suspense is horrible.” Gunnar groaned.
“I need to know, but I can’t bear it if the outcome isn’t a happy ending,” Millie said. Her eyes welled with tears.
Cormac shook out his hands, and Coach cracked his neck.
“Did you want to come back so we can discuss the situation?” Dr. Fortescue asked.
“Don’t you dare leave us hanging,” Cruz growled.
I glanced over at Hana. She squeezed our twined fingers. “Here. Now. In front of ourfamily,” she said.
I smiled at her.
“Right. Well, you’re not related,” Dr. Fortescue said.
The cheer that went up pounded through my mind. Baby Felix woke with a start and began to cry. Adam patted his little butt even as he grinned at me. “Awesome!” he crowed.
“But I thought you might want to know that you are both related to Aiki Sato,” Dr. Fortescue said. “Ms. Sato and Aiki Sato share maternal DNA while Mr. Naese and Aiki Sato share DNA with their?—”
“Paternal parent,” I said, grinning. “Serves my father right, getting a convicted felon for a son instead of a brilliant, beautiful daughter.”
Hana bit her lip. “I should be mad at you for saying that about my brother?—”
“Ourbrother apparently,” I said, grimacing. I didn’t want to be related to Aiki. He’d always been a dick. “You know, I can see it.” I pursed my lips. “They’re both assholes. Neither one of them takes responsibility for their actions.”
“Stop!” Hana said, but her lips trembled as she suppressed her laugh.
“What?” I couldn’t stop smiling. “I’m just pointing out?—”
“That you get to keep banging the love of your life—hey!” Adam huffed when Naomi poked him in his ribs. “He was and will.”
“Such a romantic.” Naomi rolled her eyes.
“Well, this definitely calls for a celebration,” Cormac said. “We have cake. Meet us at Naese’s place for the party.”
“What were you going to do if they were related?” Stolly asked.
“Eat cake and break out the Jack Daniels,” Keelie said.
“Aren’t we going to do that now?” Cruz asked.
“Yeah, buthappily,” Cormac said.
“Makes sense,” Coach said. He glanced over at Paloma. “We’re in, minus the Jack Daniels. We have to pick up Trix from school later today.”
“I have some work back at the office to complete,” Gunnar said as he rose. He buttoned his suit jacket before offering me his hand. “Congratulations on the brother, and on not being related to this lovely woman.”
“Thanks.” I shook his hand.
“We’ll swing by the store and grab some mocktail fixings,” Naomi said.
“And collect Ashley,” Adam said. “He can play driver in case we celebrate too hard.”
Naomi shook her head. “That means you plan on getting sauced.”
“Ashley can handle us a bit tipsy. He can handle pretty much anything—he’s a manny,” Adam said with supreme confidence in his son’s caregiver. “Plus, it’s not every day one of your BFFs finds out he’s not related to the woman of his dreams.”
