“Ha! Trying to buy your silence. Tell him to go suck it,” Grant says.
“Jeremiah will.”
“By the way, what does Dad have that I don’t?” Noah says mournfully, finally looking up from his phone. “I still can’t believe you wanted Dad as your backup for the revenge thing.”
“Well, I didn’t want to bother any of you,” I explain, hating that he’s unhappy.
“Still…” Griffin sounds disappointed. Actually, all the brothers look sort of disheartened.
“Next time—if there is a next time—everyone at this table will be first on my list. It’s just that Ted’s been really kind,” I say.
“He isn’t too terrible.” Lucie bites into another slice of key lime pie. She still hasn’t touched the celery sticks on her plate.Maybe they’re garnish…?No, wait. She puts a glob of the pie on the celery and starts chewing. I have to look away.
“Jesus, that’s criminal,” Noah says, his face scrunching.
“That’s an…interesting mixture of flavors, for sure,” Amy says diplomatically.
“The combination is divine. Try it.” Lucie scoops up more green pie on the green celery stick and munches happily, completely immune to everyone else’s reactions.
“It’s the baby,” Sebastian says defensively.
“Are you craving anything?” Huxley seems like he wants to will me into craving something bizarre, just so he can bring it to me and tell his brothers it’s all cool, I’m just pregnant.
The question makes me blink and realize I haven’t had any weird cravings. “Not at all. As a matter of fact, I feel great.” I glance down at my plate with its decimated beef and mashed potatoes and the last bite of a roll. “I’m just glad I’m not hankering for tuna and broccoli like Jeremiah.”
Grant makes a gagging noise. “Ugh. That’s disgusting.”
Sebastian’s eyes slide to Huxley. “That explains some things.”
“Bite me,” Huxley mutters, but his eyes twinkle.
I marvel at the affection running through every interaction they have. It’s nothing like the meals I was forced to share with Nelson and his family. Not only that, there’s so much unspoken thoughtfulness. Huxley hands me more beef, probably because he noticed me gobbling it up. And Bobbi silently pushes the butter closer to me when I pick up a roll. I smile my thanks, and she grins back.
“Wonder what Grandma craved when she was pregnant with Dad,” Noah muses out loud.
“Probably bleach,” Emmett says.
“Don’t be mean. Ted can be nice,” Molly speaks up. “He is just a bit, you know…”
“Monomaniacal?”
“Egotistic?”
“Convinced of his own divinity?”
“No,” Molly says, “Just a little…outlandish, that’s all.”
“It’s only because you have a terrible father that you think he’s acceptable,” Nicholas says, then turns to me. “But you must have the worst to call Tedkind.”
“Theworst,” Huxley says. “He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.”
Sebastian considers. “True. If Roderick had touched Lucie, I would’ve killed him.”
“And I would’ve been your alibi,” Noah says gravely.
The rest of the brothers nod in agreement. They seem like an unbreakable spear and shield for each other—and that protection extends to their women as well. Huxley reaches and squeezes my hand. Abruptly I realize I’m now part of this tight-knit family. Shock shivers through me. I’ve been alone and defenseless for so long, it’s difficult to process.
Still, I lean my head on his strong shoulder and take it all in, feeling lucky and also wishing my life could be like this forever, even though experience has taught me that good things rarely last.
