“Teresa, Pippa, Phoebe, Paulina, their husbands and kids, Bampi, and Momo all came over to Liam’s last night.”
Bampi and Momo were Michael’s parents, who weretechnically his grandparents. That was so strange. He’d compartmentalized his siblings in his head, even Teresa, Michael’s wife, but he’d never even really thought about his biological father’s parents even though he’d met them.
“Do they hate me?” he asked.
“What? No, oh my gosh, no! They were… shocked. But no,no onehates you.”
Deacon exhaled a sigh of relief. He hadn’t realized how much it had weighed on him these past few months that he was lying to people—people who were his family.
“I mean, you owe us all a million dollars,obviously.”
“Do you need money?” Deacon loved Poppy. He’d give her anything she needed. He’d give any of his siblings anything they needed now that he knew them. “If you do?—”
“Oh my God! No! I was joking! Stop! We don’t need anything from you! Actually, that’s not true. I do need something from you, that’s why I’m calling.” She took in a shaky breath.
“What? Yes. Anything.” He felt so guilty for lying, he would do whatever she asked.
“If you’re not busy today, you and Tabby’s presence have been requested at the wedding of Yaya and Mr. Santino. No, not requested,demanded, by the bride.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “If you don’t come, I’m concerned for others’ safety.”
He knew she was joking. At least hethoughtshe was. Yaya was a bit of a wild card.
“Of course, yes. We’ll be there.”
“Oh thank God.” She sounded genuinely relieved. “Everyone will be there. I hope it won’t be too overwhelming for you and Tabby.”
“It’ll be fine.” He’d tell Tabby about the development before they left. “What time?”
“It starts in twenty minutes.”
“Oh shit.” That was cutting it real close.
“Five dollar word, Daddy!”
“Yep, on it,” he told his daughter, then asked Poppy, “And it’s at?—”
“Liam and Frankie’s.”
“Okay, we’ll be there.”
“See you soon,brother,” she teased, but it actually made Deacon’s chest swell with warmth.
“See ya soon, sis. Bye.”
“Sis!” Tabby’s head popped up over the couch as he hung up the phone. “Why did you call Poppy sis?”
Did she have bat hearing or something?
“We are going to Yaya and Mr. Santino’s wedding, but we have to hurry, and I have to talk to you about something important before we go.”
“Woohoo!” Tabby started hopping up and down on the couch.
“Can we put your hair up in a bun or do braids?”
Tabby had been growing her hair out for Locks of Love for the past year and a half, and it was curly, so the nights he didn’t braid it before she went to bed, it was a pain to pick out and style if she wanted to wear it down. Curly hair was no joke.
“No.” She shook her head. “Down.”
Of course she’d want it down when they had fifteen minutes to get ready.
