“Right.” Marius takes a deep breath before turning towards me. “Take me away from here or I might piss both of them off.”
I chuckle. “Don’t worry. Gwen protected Faye for a long time. She is safe with her.”
“I know.” Marius sighs, but obediently follows me back to the packhouse, where we bump into Dad.
“Two of my boys,” he says happily. “Will you stay for lunch, Marius?”
“Yes, I’d love to.” Marius grins. “Besides, Faye is obsessed with you and Mom.”
“With so many grandchildren, it’s going to get lively again,” Dad says. “I am happy to have her around anytime.”
“Now that we other kids are grown up, you can try for a seventh one,” Marius says with a serious expression.
Dad stares at him. “You did not just say that?!”
“Just think of a cute, little-“
“A baby?” Mom appears next to us all of a sudden. I didn’t even see her approaching.
“Marius is joking,” Dad tells her.
“But now that I think about it,” she frowns. “They have such cute noses and little toes.”
“We can’t make another baby just because they are cute,” Dad argues, before a glint appears in his eyes. “But maybe Marius and Felix would like to hear how cutetheywere as babies.”
“No, we don’t,” Marius says promptly.
“We really don’t,” I agree.
But Mom is on the case now, much to Dad’s obvious delight. She links her arms with us and drags us into the packhouse, while beginning to tell us all the embarrassing baby stories she can come up with.
I didn’t even do anything,I link Dad.Why did you drag me into this?!
It’s more fun like this,he grins.
Later that day, Celine drops by with Annie. Annie is already showing and looks happy. She was much more anxious at the beginning of her pregnancy, but it seems like things are going much smoother for her than the last time.
“We are going to take Gwen and Faye,” Celine says. “And watch a movie.”
“We want to invite Arden to join us,” Annie smiles. “Then you can have a bit of time to yourself. It’s rare that all of you are together.”
She is right. It’s been a long time since I was alone with my siblings.
“I actually like the idea,” Aurelia agrees. “Let’s grab a beer and just hang out.”
“It truly has been a long time,” Marius says. “When is Liam coming?”
“He should be here in a couple of minutes,” Annie says. She looks like she wants to say more, but then she just grins and shakes her head. Celine, meanwhile, has Faye in her arms, following Gwen to our little house.
“Does it even count when it’s not all of us?” I ask.
“I am not so sure about that, either,” Marius says with a sigh, before accepting the beer Aurelia hands him. “But I’ll take what I can get.”
Before I can answer, I feel a well-known presence approaching. “Dario,” I exclaim before the others can see or smell him. He pops his head into the private dining room. “Come join us.”
He comes closer curiously. “What for?”
“Just a little hangout, with your brothers and favorite sister,” Aurelia explains.
