Page 49

Chapter 48

The room was suddenly filled with a million questions from every direction, and I laughed and held up my hands. “We have a son named Paul Augustus, though we call him Paulie. He’s nine months old.”

My dad’s hand covered his mouth. “Y-you named your son after me?”

“Kiss ass,” Auburn muttered in my ear, and I elbowed him in the stomach, hearing his teasing chuckle.

Approaching my dad, I wrapped my arms around his waist, and he met my embrace. “You’re the best man I know, and we hope our son turns out just like you.”

His eyes turned watery. “Can I meet him?”

“Of course. He’s at the hotel with my friend Charlisse.”

Dad grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door. “Let’s go get him.” Then he stopped and frowned. “Wait, I don’t have my car.”

“I’ll drive you,” Auburn said, grabbing his keys from the table near the door. “We already have a car seat in the SUV.”

“I wanna come see the baby,” Gianna complained.

Kassie chimed in, pushing herself off the couch. “If Gianna gets to go, I’m going too.”

Auburn rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Everyone chill. We’ll go pick up Paulie and bring him back here. There’s no need for all of us to go.” He leaned down and said in a low voice so only I could hear, “And I get to hold him before Monty and Cruz and cement my status as the favorite uncle.”

That made me giggle. “Okay,” I announced to everyone, “I hate to be that mom , but would everyone please wash their hands before we get back? Paulie was a preemie, and he ended up with RSV, so we don’t want him to get sick again. That’s why we had to wait so long after he was born before we could travel with him.”

Everyone agreed with no fuss, and Dane and I followed Dad and Auburn from the apartment. Once we were in the car, I sent Charlisse a text to let her know we were on our way.

Dane and I were in the back seat, and I caught Auburn’s eye in the rearview mirror. He smiled. “Gianna and I would really like it if you’d stay with us instead of at the hotel. We have plenty of room for all of you.”

“Including Charlisse, Garfield, and Snoopy?” I asked.

“All of you. The kids are staying at Gianna’s dad’s tonight. Monty and Kass’s son, Sully, is too. Tony and Tora were taking them to the zoo today, but they’ll be back tomorrow so you can meet them.”

I glanced at my husband, and he nodded. “Are you sure it’s not too much trouble, Auburn? We’re a lot to deal with.”

Auburn chuckled. “My wife will have my head if I don’t convince you guys to stay with us.”

“Can’t have that,” I said, loving the relationship between Auburn and Gianna. There was an obvious age gap, but the power balance between them didn’t reflect that. My bossy CEO brother considered his wife as his equal.

When we reached the hotel, Auburn left his car with the valet and told him we’d only be a few minutes. I snickered when the man practically bowed in the presence of my big brother. Though he wasn’t in one of his custom suits, instead wearing a white shirt stained with my makeup from earlier, he still exuded power when we strolled through the lobby and to the elevators.

“I get to hold little Paulie first,” my dad announced as we rode up to the twentieth floor. “I’m calling Grandpa privilege.”

Auburn smirked with amusement. “Fine, but he’s going to like me better.”

“Blasphemy!” our dad exclaimed, and we all laughed.

God, it’s good to be home.

Watching my father hold my baby boy, his namesake, was better than I could have imagined. Tears of joy plopped from Dad’s eyes onto Paulie’s little blue onesie as he gazed down at him with awe.

“He is beautiful, Evie. Just incredible.” He sifted his fingers through the inky silk of Paulie’s hair. “All this hair. And those eyelashes!” My son did have amazing eyelashes.

Dad and I were sitting on the couch in Charlisse’s suite while Dane was next door in ours, packing our stuff. Auburn was helping Charlisse with the animals and her bags. I probably should have been helping them, but I didn’t want to miss a second of this special moment with my dad and my son.

“I’m washing my hands now,” Auburn called on his way to the bathroom. “Be ready to hand over that baby, old man.”

“I should have sold him on eBay when he was little,” Dad muttered before snapping wide eyes to me. “Shit, I’m sorry, baby. That was insensitive of me to say. Because of… you know.”

“It’s okay, Dad,” I assured him. “You can joke around in front of me.”

He seemed to relax. “Okay, just let me know if I ever say anything to upset you. I’m sure some of the memories will never go away.”

I tilted my head over onto his shoulder and stared down at my son, who was sleeping peacefully in Dad’s arms. “I did have a lot of triggers at first, but Dane helped me with them.”

“Tell me about that. About how he helped you,” my father said, reluctantly handing over the baby when Auburn showed up and sat beside him.

So I laid it out for them. Told them a bit about the nightmares and how closed spaces and the dark bothered me. How Dane would sit on the veranda with me until the sun came up. How he went completely over the top in the lighting section at the hardware store. They got a laugh out of that. It was easier than I would have suspected to talk to them about what I'd been through.

“But I’m okay now. I haven’t had a nightmare in years, and I don’t have to sleep with the window open or a bunch of lights on. We still have one of the turtle nightlights, and I keep it on at night, but that’s more out of nostalgia than anything else.”

Dad kissed my forehead. “I know you and Dane didn’t start out in a conventional way, but I like him. He kept my little girl alive and took care of her, so I’ll always be grateful to him for that.”

Dear lord, my heart was so full.

Paulie was a big hit with my family. He was pampered and cooed over, fed and bathed. We all had dinner together, and Dad announced that he wanted to stay over at Auburn and Gianna’s too.

Cruz, Kassie, and Monty left about ten, and my dad and I stayed up talking till the wee hours. He told me a lot of things about my mother and why he’d stayed with her for so long. I was disgusted by some of the things she’d done, though I shouldn’t have been surprised.

We finally called it a night, and Dad went to sleep in Jaxon’s room while I crept into the guest room where my husband was sleeping. I checked on Paulie in the portable crib and found him sleeping like an angel, so I crawled into bed with Dane.

“Everything good?” he murmured, cuddling against my back and kissing the back of my head.

“All good,” I sighed in contentment.

We were woken about dawn by our own personal alarm clock, and I groggily crawled from the bed. “I’ll get a bottle.”

“I’ll get the baby,” Dane said around a yawn.

When I returned with the warmed bottle, Dane was sitting up against the headboard with Paulie cradled against his bare chest. My breath caught at the intimate beauty of father and son together. The baby held a handful of his dad’s hair in one hand. He never pulled; he simply grabbed a chunk of strands in his little fist like it comforted him.

“Well, my boys are certainly looking handsome this morning,” I purred, curling up beside them on the bed.

“We are a couple of good-looking dudes,” Dane teased, taking the bottle and popping it into Paulie’s eager mouth. We watched his chubby cheeks move and listened to his sucking noises for a while before Dane asked, “Should we start looking for a place to live?”

“Is that what you want?”

“I want you to be happy.”

“That’s not what I asked,” I pointed out. “Do you want to live in New York?”

He mulled it over before nodding. “I do. I think we belong here. Paulie will have a grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins.” A sly grin slid over his lips. “And I’ve missed New York pizza.”

Relief settled in my gut. “I was afraid Monty had scared you off yesterday.”

“Nah, your brother is all right, and I don’t blame him. I was a bit of an unsavory character in my past life.”

“What did he say after he shook your hand yesterday?”

Dane’s lips tipped up on one side. “He said he respected me but he wasn’t sure he liked me. I told him I felt the same.”

“Well, I guess that’s better than nothing.”

“I’ll try to make an effort today when everyone comes over again.”

“If he gives you too much trouble, let me know, and I’ll deal with my brother.”

Dane kissed the tip of my nose. “You’re so protective of me.”

I gave him a wink. “I’m a wildcat, remember?”

“Auburn and Gianna really know how to throw a party,” Kassie said, stuffing the last bit of cupcake into her mouth and groaning. “And your husband is a damn baking genius.”

“He definitely is.” We were in the kitchen, and I peered around the corner into the living room. Dad was bouncing Paulie on his knees, making him laugh while the other kids looked on, enraptured with their new baby cousin. Gianna and Auburn’s twins, Jaxon and Jane, were seven, and Kass and Monty’s little boy, Sully, was six. I already adored all of them.

My eyes drifted to the balcony where my husband was standing beside the grill with Monty, both with beers in their hands. I returned to sit across from Kassie. “Our husbands are on the balcony together, and they don’t seem to be attempting to throw each other over.”

“I’m calling that a win,” she said, eyeballing the platter of desserts Dane made earlier. “I had a talk with your brother last night and set him straight. I told him if he makes Dane feel uncomfortable with the family, you guys might decide to just move back to Florida.”

Gianna walked into the kitchen and caught the tail end of the conversation. “Noooo, Evie. Please tell me you’re staying. I’m already addicted to that little nugget you birthed.” She waved a hand at me. “I mean, you and Dane are pretty cool too.”

I laughed and reassured her. “We want to stay. We talked about it last night and decided to look for a place to live here in New York.”

Her green eyes lit with excitement. “Oooh, goody. I think I can help.” She tilted her head back and called, “Auuuuburn!”

Ten seconds later, he appeared beside her, hands going to her pregnant belly. “What? Are you okay?”

Her voice turned into a purr, and she walked her fingers up his forearm. “I was wondering if Evie and Dane could have that apartment that just opened up downstairs. Pretty please? I’d do anything if they could live in our building.”

Oh, she’s good.

My brother grasped her chin and kissed her hard on the mouth. “You don’t have to bat those pretty eyelashes at me, baby girl. I was going to offer it to them anyway.” Then he bent closer and whispered, “But I’ll still take you up on that anything you were offering.”

“Gag!” I whined. “We can hear you.”

Kassie rolled her eyes at me in commiseration, letting me know their PDA wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.

Auburn flashed me a look of chagrin. “You and Dane are welcome to the apartment. Consider it a gift.”

“I’ll talk to him about it, but we have money,” I protested. We still had a chunk of the original seven million; plus, both our jobs paid well.

Auburn appeared to be deep in thought for a moment. “There’s still your trust fund as well. I’ve been managing it for you, and it’s grown substantially over the years.”

I was a little stunned. I hadn’t thought about that for a long time. “Thank you, Auburn. I guess I thought… I’m not exactly sure what I thought,” I finished with a laugh.

“Do you plan on working? I’m sure there aren’t as many turtle-related opportunities here as there are in Florida, but I know of an excellent fashion company where you could put your marketing degree to good use.” He waggled his dark brows at me.

“Are you offering me a job, big bro?”

“If you want it. Monty and Cruz work at Bouvier too, so we might as well have the whole damn family involved.”

“That sounds great,” I said, fighting back the tears. “I’ll talk to Dane about that too.”

“Speaking of Dane,” Gianna said, “have you tried these cupcakes?” She selected a yellow and pink one and held it up for her husband to taste.

His eyes rolled dramatically back in his head as he chewed. “Dear god, that’s the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.” Then he winked at Gianna. “Well, the second best.”

“Again, Kassie and I are sitting right here,” I griped, scrunching my nose up at them, though I wasn’t really offended. They were pretty damn cute together, and I loved how happy my brother was with her. For years, all I’d seen were stoic photos of him online or ones where his smile was obviously forced. But that was all pre-Gianna. Now he just looked… happy.

“What kind of cupcake was that anyway?” he asked, ignoring my complaint.

“That was a Battenberg. The Neapolitan are good too,” I told him, pointing at the black-and-white ones with pink frosting on top.

My brother snagged one of those, holding it up for inspection before eating half of it in one bite. “Mmmm. Maybe I’ll open a bakery in the lobby of the Bouvier building and let Dane run it. Though I’d probably put on about forty pounds.”

“Dad bods are all the rage,” Kassie pointed out. “You should go for it, Auburn.”

He poked his non-existent belly out. “I think I could pull it off.”

“He just wants to look as sexy as us, Kass,” Gianna claimed, resting a hand on the bump of her belly.

I propped my chin in my hand and watched as the three of them bantered back and forth. The family dynamic was beautiful to see, so accepting and filled with genuine love and affection.

Later that afternoon, Cruz’s fiancée, Lehra, arrived, along with his mother, Estrella—who I learned everyone called Stella. She was also dating my father. They were seriously adorable together, and I was thrilled for Dad. He deserved a warm, lovely woman like her.

I found myself beside Kassie again, but this time on the couch with Paulie asleep in her arms. She bent to sniff his head. “God, I love how babies smell.”

“Good, I’ll bring him to your apartment when he dirties his diaper,” I said dryly.

“I’ll have plenty of diapers to change pretty soon,” she said, indicating her swollen belly.

“I have something to talk to you about since you’re an attorney,” I told her, and she lifted her brows at me in question. “Once word gets out that I’m alive and back in New York, I’m assuming the police or FBI will want to talk to me.”

“And you’re worried about that?”

“Yes. I don’t know the law, but I’m pretty sure having forged IDs and living under a false name isn’t exactly legal. Plus, Dane, uh, took care of some things related to my kidnapping.”

She nodded in understanding. “I’m sure he did what he had to do to protect you.”

“He did,” I agreed. “I just don’t want him going to jail or anything.”

Kassie reached over and rested her warm hand on top of mine. “I’ll go with you to talk to them, Evie. We’re family, and I’ve got your back. Always.”