I liked my brother-in-law—loved him, even. He was a great man who adored my sister to no end. And he was a fantastic father. I didn’t know how the two of them handled four kids…soon to be six. But they seemed to do it with ease.
And my favorite part?
I got to be Uncle Leo.
The best title I could ever have.
I sat on the blankets, the girls scrambling over me as they fought a little about who would sit where. My sister moved us around as if she had done it a thousand times. And, honestly, she had. She organized everybody in her life and fit them where she needed them. I usually just followed what she said because she generally had the right idea.
“Chicken!” Willow exclaimed as she clapped, and then we all gorged on potato salad, macaroni salad, fruit salad, veggies with dip, cold fried chicken, cornbread, and cookies.
I was pretty sure we had enough to feed an army, and considering my nieces, we were one. “That was good. Did you make it?”
My sister gave me a look and then threw her head back and laughed.
“You know I didn’t make this. I can do most things, but I cannot fry chicken.”
“I thought Mom taught you the paper bag method.”
“Oh, I can do that part. It’s the frying part. It always freaks me out, and I don’t like so much oil around the kids. I bought our lunch from the grocery store. Sue me.”
“Hey, it was worth your time to buy it rather than make it. I’m just grateful you shared it with me.” I leaned forward and kissed the top of her head.
“You’re a good brother sometimes.”
“Only sometimes?”
She smiled at me. “So, since I’m here baking these two,”—she rubbed her belly—“and my other four are frolicking in the daisies in front of us, I have a question for you.”
Foreboding slid up my spine. It was never a good thing when Caroline had questions.
“What?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“When are you going to settle down, dear brother? Don’t you think it’s time? I see you with the girls. They love you. They’re amazing with you. I only want to make sure you’re happy.”
I looked at her and shook my head, a sad smile playing on my lips. “You know I have fun. I’ll find it when I find it.”
My sister rolled her eyes. “You’re a player. You never lead women on, but you don’t stay with anyone for longer than a night.”
I shrugged. “I’m not ready.”
“Ready for what? Happiness? You don’t need to sleep with every woman in Denver to find your person.”
I groaned. “It’s not every woman.”
“Close enough.”
I sighed. “I’ve watched two of my best friends fall in love recently. And I watched another lose someone he loves.”
Caroline’s face fell. “That poor boy. And now he’s a father? I can’t believe he lost Marley. I can’t believe women can still die in childbirth with all our advances in medicine.” Tears filled my sister’s eyes, and she put both hands over her belly. “It scares me to death. I had four beautiful pregnancies that, yes, had few complications. But twins now? At my age? It’s scary.”
I cursed myself for bringing up Marley. I should not be mentioning a friend who’d died in childbirth to my pregnant sister. There were rules, yet here I was, being an idiot. “I’m sorry. Though before I put my foot in my mouth again, don’t say ‘at my age.’ You’re thirty.”
“That’s nearly a geriatric pregnancy. But I understand what you mean. The girls make me feel young and old all at the same time. And, yes, I worry about these babies. Worry that I’m not enough or am doing too much or not enough. That’s what happens when you’re a parent. But I guess all of that was to say I want you to have the same worries.” She laughed, wiping away some tears.
“It would be nice to find the perfect person one day. To have what you have, or what Leif and Nick have with their women. But let’s be honest, you’re doing enough settling down for the both of us.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Excuse me. What do you mean by that?”
“I’m currently looking at my four nieces, and you’re pregnant with two of my nephews. I think that’s enough settling down.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “Jerk. You deserve to be happy.”
“You’re saying I’m not happy?”
She shook her head. “I’m not saying you have to be married with kids, a picket fence, and all that crap to be happy. But I know you. I know you want to get married and have children because you told me. I’m not projecting on you. Those are your goals and dreams. So, yes, I want you to be happy.”
“Just let me be for a minute.” I leaned forward, kissed her head again, and smiled.
“Leo!”
I turned, that familiar voice echoing in my ears with alarm. I scrambled to my feet as Caroline called her daughters toward her.
Luke ran to me full-out, his eyes wide, but he had a smile on his face.
I looked around, scanning the faces of the adults to see if I recognized anybody. But Luke seemed to be alone. What the hell was Brooke’s kid doing here by himself?
I smiled at him, trying not to look worried before I crouched and swung Luke into my arms. He giggled and wrapped his arms around my shoulder.
“Hi, Leo. How are you?”
“I’m okay. How are you, buddy?”
“I am happy!” He looked over my shoulder. “Hi, Leo’s family. Hi, Leo’s friends. Hi!”
“Hi!” all four of my nieces called at once.
Luke tried to scramble down, but I held him tight.
“Luke? Where’s your mom?” I asked, keeping my voice calm.
“At work, silly.”
I opened my mouth to say more before a shout that made my blood run cold reached my ears.
“Luke!” May yelled as she ran full tilt toward us, a broken shoe in one hand.
She saw me holding her charge, and her eyes widened. For a minute, terror filled her gaze before anger took its place. I didn’t think she recognized me. The hand on her shoe tightened, and then she blinked as if it finally clicked who I was.
She calmed instantly, her shoulders dropping slightly. Then she limped toward us, her hair wild and her face smoothed of emotion.
“Luke. You know better than to run off like that.”
I heard my sister get up, my nieces swirling around her like a flock of birds.
“Luke, buddy, did you run away from May?” I asked, just now remembering that May was his nanny. I knew that. There was a reason May was off-limits.
Because she was Leif’s damn nanny. That meant I wasn’t supposed to think dirty thoughts about her beyond a simple daydream I might’ve had once or twice—or four times.
Yet with her standing here, a Valkyrie with a broken shoe and wild eyes, I had to remind myself that she was off-limits.
“I saw you. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Luke curled in on himself, and I held back a curse. I set the kid on the ground because I had a feeling May wanted to hold him, to clutch him close. But she also didn’t want to rip him from my arms and scare the boy more.
“Luke, you know you’re not supposed to run away from me like that. You scared me. We have one rule. And that is to trust each other. And you nearly broke that rule.”