“The Innkeeper’s wife.” Sylvie straightened so she could look her father in the eye. “She said that I was a girl so I should play a girl part.”
Dom ran his fingers over her dark hair and I could see the open love in his eyes. It pulled at something deep inside of me.
“Your Daddy and I will talk to Miss Valerie, okay?”
“Tell Papa what you said to Miss Valerie,” Logan said and Dom glanced at him. A small smile graced Logan’s lips and he gave Dom the slightest of nods.
“I told Miss Valerie that I knew the ABC song better than any of the boys and that I could run faster than all of them too. And none of the boys wanted to hold that furry spider…”
I must have shown my surprise at the last part of her statement because Logan glanced at me and said, “It wasLearn About Spidersday a few weeks ago and someone brought in a tarantula.”
I actually felt a shiver creep over my body at that. Sylvie turned to me and said, “It felt funny on my hand but it was nice. Papa and Daddy said I could maybe have one when I’m older.” I nodded at Sylvie before she turned her attention back to Dom.
“What did Miss Valerie say?”
Sylvie snuggled against her father’s chest again and calmly said, “She made me the leader.”
“What?” Dom asked with a laugh.
“Apparently Miss Valerie says there is a strong possibility that there were four wise men.” To his daughter he said, “But she didn’t make you the leader.”
Sylvie merely shrugged and then her gaze fell on me. Something flashed in her eyes and then she climbed off Dom’s lap and left the kitchen, her pale blue eyes staying on me until she disappeared through the door, Sweetie at her heels.
“Sorry about that,” Dom said with a laugh as his hand closed over Logan’s again where it was resting on the table. “So what is it you wanted to talk to us about?”
I felt my body go hot as I leaned forward, but before I could even get a word out, another voice rang out. “Logan, Dom?”
“In the kitchen,” Logan called.
I wanted to slam my head against the table when the swing door opened and more Barrettis flooded the kitchen. This time it was Dom’s youngest brother Rafe and his husband Cade. “Hey,” Rafe said as he leaned down to hug his brother. “Your secretary said you were working from home today so we wanted to stop by,” Rafe saidin a rush as he went around to hug Logan as well. Cade greeted both men as Rafe’s eyes fell on me.
“Mav, hi. Wow, sorry, did we interrupt something?”
I began shaking my head when Dom said, “Mav stopped by to talk to me and Logan about something.”
“Damn, sorry, our news can wait,” Rafe offered, though his bright eyes said it really couldn’t.
“No, please,” I interjected and stood to go, but Cade put a hand on my shoulder.
“You can stay…you would have heard the news this weekend at family dinner anyway.” Cade’s eyes shifted to his husband and a big smile drifted across his mouth. “Tell them, baby.”
Rafe smiled and nodded. His eyes dropped to his brother. “It’s twins…a boy and a girl.”
“What?” Dom whispered and then he was on his feet, pulling Rafe into his arms. More hugs followed and before I could even contemplate what was happening, more bodies filed into the kitchen. I immediately recognized Rafe and Dom’s other brothers Ren and Vin along with one of Ren’s partners, Jagger. Ren’s service dog, Mick, trailed behind her owner.
“What’s the big news little brother?” Vin said as he pulled Rafe into a quick hug. I lost track of things after that as Rafe and Cade shared the news about their surrogate’s pregnancy and was planning to extricate myself from the celebration when Sylvie suddenly appeared at my side, hairbrush in hand. She didn’t say anything as she stared at me expectantly and I couldn’t help but smile as I reached down to lift her onto my lap. I pulled the tie holding my hair back and as soon as it was free, she began brushing it. It wasn’t the first time the little girl had expressed her fascination with my hair.
The noise continued around us, but Sylvie didn’t seem to notice. I suspected she was used to all the chaos considering the size of her family. I used the time to study the little girl. I suspected she was Logan’s biological child based on her eyes and hair color, but she was clearly both her fathers’ daughter. Would mine and Eli’s child be the same way? Carry the DNA of one of us, but the traits ofboth? The idea of a son or daughter with Eli’s dark eyes and unbreakable strength had me smiling. It would probably be a while before we could bring a child into our family, but the idea of it was no longer an uncertainty. Wewouldhave this someday. And we would have it as part of this bigger family of men and women who were so close that the news of impending fatherhood would be so important that they’d all rush to be together to share in the celebration of it.
It took me a moment to realize that the chaos around us had died down and I looked up to see all the Barretti men looking at me and Sylvie. Dom and Logan were once again sitting down, but their brothers and their partners were lined up behind them. It should have intimated the hell out of me.
It didn’t.
“Dom, Logan, I have something I need to ask you,” I finally said.
Vin was the one to pipe up and say, “We should probably go.”
But I put up my hand before any of them could move. “Please stay,” I said. “This pertains to Eli’s family…his entire family.”
