It dawns on me then that we’ve never been around kids together. I met him at Le Luxe, an adults-only club, and no one ever brings their kids anywhere near it. I haven’t seen him that much with his family, and the few times I have, there weren’t any kids. His brothers’ wives only just started having babies.
And the kids are drawn straight to him. I wonder why. Could it be those twinkling eyes or the fact that he’s smiling at them? Has the concept of having a baby all our own softened him?
Thayer does introductions. Mario and Sergio both hail from Boston.
“Ooh, I love Boston,” Savannah says gleefully.
They talk about businesses the Rossi family owns in the North End, and Savannah’s been to several as she went to school in Boston.
“I had no idea they were owned byyouguys.”
Mario, jovial and friendly, quirks a brow. “Did that affect the taste of the cannoli? Hmm?”
“Definitely not,” Savannah says with a groan. “Oh my God, what I would give for one of those cannoli right now.” She pats her pregnant belly.
“Sergio,” Lyam says, extending his hand. “What brings you here, brother?”
“Came to talk to Thayer.” He glances at Avril. “I’m opening up a business outside of Boston similar to Thayer’s, and I wanted to ask his advice.”
“You came all the way to Paris to chat?” Lyam asks.
“We came to Paris on business and thought we’d stop in while you were here.”
I don’t know much about their business dealings, but I know that the Rossis, and by default the Montavios, their close cousins, work with the Gerard brothers. When you’re as powerful and as wealthy as they are, it helps to have someone who’s got your back.
“And who are the darling children?” Avril asks. “Yours, Sergio?”
“God, no,” he says with a smile that looks a little haunted. “My little cousins. We’re taking a family vacation in Paris and these two have kept my cousin up at night. We said we’d wear them out good in the city today.”
The little boy, about three years old, toddles over to us and points to Lyam’s arm. “You draw?” he says. “Bad.”
“I told him it was bad,” Avril says, shaking her head.
Sergio half-smiles. He looks like the kind of guy that doesn’t smile often, and when he does, he has to remember how to.
“Someone got in big trouble for drawing on the wall. He thinks you drew on yourself with a marker.”
“What it is?” the little boy asks.
Lyam bends to one knee. “It’s a snake,” he says in a low voice, which only excites him further. “Do you like snakes?”
The little boy’s eyes widen. He only nods.
“Oh lovely,” Avril says on a groan. “Another snake lover.”
I watch Lyam with the little ones. I watch the way he gently but firmly guides them away from the elegant vase in Avril’s entryway and instructs them to sit politely at the table when a member of staff brings cookies. I watch him carry them on his shoulders so they can reach way up high to see out the stained glass windows. With every gesture he makes, my heart melts a little more.
I watch him with the children and know: Lyam’s gonna make the perfect daddy.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Lyam
I thinkCosette would stay all night long if she could, but we have an informant to confer with. Still, I’m glad she talked to Savannah. Thayer was a harder sell, but there’s no one more dedicated to family than he is.
“You gonna propose?” he asks discreetly when Maman says something about giving them goody bags of baked goods to take home and the girls go with her to the kitchen.
“Of course I am. You know it. She’s having my kid, brother.”
