She rounds the corner a moment later, holding Willow against her chest. Wrapped in a yellow onesie with a matchingknit bow on top of her head, she begins to wail as Darby sinks into the recliner beside the couch where Elena and I sit.
“Baby girl.” Elena pouts, leaning over the armrest to get a peek at her.
“I think she’s just hungry.” Darby sighs. While she looks tired, she’s still beautiful, with her blond hair pulled back into a low bun, her skin still glowing and hazel eyes still radiant, even if exhaustion peeks through. Tilting Willow in her arms, she looks around the room before her eyes fix on a blanket basket beside the television stand. “Can one of you grab me that donut pillow thing?” she asks, nodding toward it.
I lift off the couch and step across the room, swiping the pink, U-shaped pillow from the basket before handing it to her and returning to my seat. Darby positions Willow atop it before undoing the two buttons at the center of her floral-printed shirt.
“How’s everything at work?” Darby asks as she positions Willow at her chest, watching with pure adoration as she latches on and begins to nurse.
“It’s been fine,” Elena says, settling back onto the couch cushions to get comfortable.
“Good.” I nod.
“Are you two ready to finally address your shit with Everett and Leo today?”
Elena side-eyes me, and I shrug.
“I’ve always thought it was a little insane that I spent three months here one summer ten years ago and could see the chemistry your brothers have been so willingly blind to all this time.” Darby laughs. “They’re acting so shocked that this relationship between you two isn’t as new as they thought it was, when if they’d paid any attention at all, they would’ve seen it way back then.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Whatever weird tension was happening between you and Everett at the hospital?” She nods toward Elena. “Leo’s been bringing it up, telling me neither of you will talk to him about it, and he doesn’t know what happened.” Darby looks at me. “And I read you like a book, August. I could tell for a while that there was more to your story than what you were telling me. And you don’t have to, but I just want to make sure you can work it out with Everett and Leo and get everyone on the same page.”
I smile at her reassuringly. “We’ll do our best.”
“Motherhood has made you very intuitive,” Elena says from beside me.
“I’ve always been intuitive.” Darby smiles. “Someone gifted me a bunch of selenite when I was younger, and I absorbed its energy.”
Elena snorts, raising a hand to flip her off.
“Better have a damn good reason for making that gesture at the mother of my child, Lena,” Leo drawls as he slides through the French doors that lead inside from the back patio.
“She can redirect it at you for dripping water all over my floors,” Darby murmurs.
“Baby, I can’t very well strip outside when we have guests, can I?”
“I could close my eyes,” Elena says at the same time I mutter, “I’ve seen your dick a million times.”
“Augustus,” Leo gasps. “That was supposed to be our secret.”
I chuff, rolling my eyes as he tiptoes down the hall and into his and Darby’s bedroom, surely enough, leaving a trail of puddles in his wake. He returns a few moments later in a pair of shorts and a tee, sliding down the hall with a towel beneath one foot, wiping up the water. After tossing it into the laundry room off the kitchen, he makes his way to his wife.
“That’s the hungriest kid I’ve ever seen,” he says, kissing the top of Darby’s head.
“You’re telling me,” she murmurs. “How was your lesson?”
“Kids were great.” He smiles, holding his hands out and flexing his fingers. “Is it daddy time?”
Darby glances down to check if Willow is still nursing before she nods, gently lifting their daughter and handing her off to Leo, then reclasps her blouse and tosses her pillow to the floor. Leo grabs a folded cloth from the coffee table and drapes it over his shoulder before placing Willow against it and slowly pacing the room while rubbing soft circles into her back.
“Do you think you two can stay for a little while after dinner tonight?” Leo asks Elena and me, though we already knew it was coming.
She glances at me, but we both nod as the front door creaks open. I hear it close before the sound of footsteps echoes, and a clattering sounds from the kitchen, as if something made of glass or metal is being placed on the counter.
Monica peeks her head around the corner from the kitchen a moment later, whispering, “I made lasagna. I’m going to warm it in the oven while Dad makes a salad, and we can sit down to eat as soon as Everett and Dahlia get here.”
“Thanks, Mama,” Leo says. “Sugar should be zonking out any minute here, so I’ll get her to bed before we eat.”
