He held her up under the arms as he cooed at her, her tiny body curling into the sweetest ball as she made a bunch of adorable noises.
Addy, Eva, and Maci were all on their feet, running that way.
“My baby cousin Luna is awake! Oh my gosh, she is the cutest. I wanna hug her, Uncle Otto!” Maci crossed her arms over her chest and squeezed herself, swaying from side to side, while Addy and Eva basically tried to climb him to get to the baby.
“You need someone to feed her, and I’ve got you covered,” Addy told him. “I’m a really good babysitter, and I help my mom all the time, so I really know what I’m doing.”
“I wanna baby.” Eva grinned and beamed and tipped her precious face up to get a look.
Otto chuckled, just as enamored with the baby as the girls.
Luna had a thick head of black hair that stuck up all around her porcelain face. The baby so fuckin’ cute it was difficult looking at her.
“We’ll definitely let you all spend some time with her as soon as her momma gets her fed. But I’m thinking my little one is probably just as hungry for her mom as I always am.”
Otto tacked a slew of innuendo into it as he sent Raven a salacious look from across the room. Luckily the little girls were too young to pick up on it.
Raven and Otto were mad about each other, and Raven still fucking swooned every time he looked at her. Though right then, it was tender. All that love they held for their little girl pouring out between them.
It was that terrifying kind of love that would ruin you if you lost it.
But I guess it was the exact same expression every one of my brothers constantly wore when it came to their women. When it came to their kids. Their hearts and souls wrapped up in them, all while they continued to try to devote their lives to the purpose we found.
It was reckless.
So fucking reckless, trying to merge two worlds the way they did.
I could never understand how they gave in. The way they took on these families.
Didn’t they know what happened when you invited this kind of lawlessness into your life then turned around and tried to wrap it in some sort of normalcy?
People hunting us. Threats around every corner. Every second of our lives peril.
And then they wanted to sit down at the family dinner table at night.
It didn’t equate.
“Give me that baby.” Raven’s voice was wispy, adoration scored on her face as she took her daughter from Otto’s arms.
Love pulsed through the air.
Not just between the two of them.
But through every person in the room.
River gazing over at his baby sister and brother-in-law. The rest of my crew pausing to appreciate the moment, the girls in the kitchen with these awed smiles before their attention inevitably slanted to their children.
That same love profound.
Daisy looked at her kids, and a gush of it flooded free. A crash into the room before it was crashing into me.
She lifted her eyes to meet mine.
That endless depth of twinkling blue.
My guts fisted and my heart felt like it would fail.
And maybe for the first time in my life, I got it.
