She shrugged. “You have good energy. And, don’t worry, I know you’re a secret. I’m good at keeping secrets.”
He had no doubts.
“What’s in the boxes?” he asked.
What was the small child’s name? Zippy? And the boys were Royal and Baron.
“That depends,” Baron said. “What are you going to do if we tell you?”
The Fox raised his eyebrows. “I think that’s the wrong question to ask. It might be, ‘what am I going to do if you don’t tell me?’”
The boys shared a look and then nodded as if they’d had a conversation together silently.
“Fireworks,” Royal said. “We’ve got fireworks in the boxes.”
“And not the wimpy sort,” Zippy told him with glee. “We’ve got the good ones, the ones that are going to make a great big bang. That Dad wouldn’t approve of.”
That’s what he thought.
“Good. I’ve got some fireworks to add to them, but the big one has to come last. All right?” he asked.
“And if we set off your fireworks, you won’t let on what we’ve got back here?” Royal asked.
“Exactly,” the Fox said. “We have a deal?”
“We have a deal.” Zippy nodded and held out her hand for him to shake.
He didn’t shake many people’s hands. But he reached out to shake hers.
Perfect.
The Fox headedinto the house, looking for Brody and Autumn. They were supposed to stay close to Ink or Duke if he wasn’t around. He found Duke in the kitchen, cleaning up Sunny who seemed to be coated in icing and glitter. She was grinning while Duke frowned as he glanced over at the Fox.
“You wouldn’t happen to know how I got hit with a second cupcake, would you, Fox?” Duke asked.
“Of course I know,” the Fox replied. “I hit you with it.”
Duke tensed. “What? You hit me? Why?”
“You really should do something about all that tension in your shoulders. It can’t be good for you. Perhaps try meditating. Or jerk the jellybean more often.”
Not that he wanted to think about Duke doing anything like that. He especially didn’t want to think of him doing anything with Sunny. He ought to kill him just for that.
But Sunny wouldn’t like that. And he only wanted Sunny to be happy.
“Jerk the jellybean?” Duke asked in a strangled voice.
“Hmm, it’s a euphemism. I’m sure you’ll work it out.” He ran his gaze over Sunny. “All good, sweet girl?”
“Yep,” Sunny said with a smile. “That cupcake war was epic, wasn’t it?”
“That’s one way to put it,” Duke muttered.
But when Sunny smiled up at him, the Fox saw the way he relaxed.
He turned toward the living room, where he found his babies sitting on the sofa, watching television. There was a news report on. Cash, Ralen, and Butch were lingering around. Although Butch was standing on the opposite side of the room from the other two.
“Daddy,” Autumn said quietly, turning to stare at him. “Everything all right?”
