Aisling’s mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide. “No way!”
“Who is that?” Griffin asked, craning his neck to look at the door. “That voice sounds familiar.”
“Grandpa is back,” Braden replied darkly. “And he’s in a mood.”
“Are you kidding me?” Aisling made to start for the door and then shrank back when Emmet appeared in the archway. “I guess you’re not kidding.”
Emmet’s gaze was dark when it landed on his only granddaughter. “Aren’t you a little old for Halloween hair?” he demanded.
Aisling’s hand went up to her black hair, which was streaked through with white highlights. She hadn’t been keeping it up as much since giving birth. “I ... .”
“Her hair is fine,” Cormack said with a weary sigh as he joined us. “It looks nice.”
“It does,” Griffin agreed. He appeared wary as he put his hand to Aisling’s back and urged her closer to him. “I like it. Her hair was one of the first things I noticed about her.”
“And then my butt,” Aisling said.
Emmet scowled. “Young lady, it is not appropriate to say things like that in mixed company.”
Baffled, Aisling glanced around the room. “How is this company mixed?”
“Well, for starters, there’s a stranger here.” Emmet jerked his thumb toward Griffin. “Who are you, by the way? Are you the chef? We need to talk about the morel situation.”
“I’m not the chef,” Griffin replied dryly, looking to Cormack. “I’m ... Aisling’s husband.”
Emmet jerked his head back. “That’s impossible. I would know if she had married. I would’ve been invited to the wedding ... and expected to give some hideous gift, I’m sure.”
“You were invited to the wedding,” Cormack said. “You declined because you felt that traveling when you had the sniffles was inadvisable.”
“And we were happy you didn’t come,” Aisling added. “We didn’t need you sucking the fun out of the room.”
“Your idea of fun and mine differ greatly,” Emmet said. He maintained his air of superiority but looked genuinely confused. Part of me felt sorry for him ... and then I remembered he was willing to sacrifice his own son and grandchildren weeks ago.
“No arguments there,” Aisling agreed.
Lily, still in Braden’s arms, picked up on the emotions and started fussing. She pushed against Braden’s chest and emitted a series of whimpers.
“Here.” Cormack took her and offered up a happy smile that didn’t make it all the way to his eyes. “Let Grandpa take a look at you. What are you wearing today?”
Lily was dressed in full pants and a shirt for a change, though Aisling had put her in a shirt that she knew would appeal to Cormack. It read, “My Grandpa is aces” and featured several playing cards.
“Who is an angel?” Cormack crooned.
Lily settled some but still looked unhappy.
“Who is this?” Emmet frowned as he eyed the baby with obvious dislike. “Which one of your heathens is responsible for this?”
Griffin snapped out of his baffled state. “She’s mine, and don’t even think of saying anything to her. I will arrest you.”
“Arrest me?” Emmet snorted. “How will manage that?”
“Griffin is a detective with the Detroit Police Department,” Cormack explained. “He has the power to arrest you.”
“And he’s responsible for that baby?” Emmet reminded me of a few women in the Quarter who had been diagnosed with dementia. One was a powerful voodoo queen, just as haughty, and her quick decline had hurt my heart. With Emmet, it just made me wary.
“I’m responsible for the baby too,” Aisling volunteered. “And my husband is right; if you even look at her funny, I will set your trousers on fire. Remember when I was six? It will be way worse than that because now I understand about lighter fluid.”
“All right.” Cormack used his hip to nudge Aisling back. “Dad, why don’t you sit at the far end of the table and I’ll get your breakfast?”
“I don’t understand any of this,” Emmet muttered. “How is that girl married? Last I knew she was living with that homosexual.” His gaze darkened when it landed on Griffin again. “You’re not that homosexual, are you?”
“Knock that off,” Cormack hissed, his fury on full display. “Just ... sit down.”
Raucous voices in the foyer told me that the rest of the Grimlocks were about to join the world’s worst party. Sure enough, Redmond was the first through the door, Cillian directly behind him. Aidan and Jerry brought up the rear, and per usual, Jerry had his wedding binder with him, ready to once again discuss wedding preparations. He was about to have a very bad morning.
“I smell omelets,” Redmond announced. “Bring it.”
“There are no morels,” Emmet groused from the chair he’d begrudgingly lowered himself into. “Can you even call it an omelet without morels?”
Redmond’s jaw dropped at the sight of his grandfather. “What in unholy bad grandparents is he doing here?”
“It’s nice to see you too,” Emmet drawled. “Get me some coffee. I’m not sure which you are, but it doesn’t really matter.” His gaze bounced between faces. “Oh, there’s the homosexual. I see you do still allow him here.”
Jerry’s stare was accusatory as he looked between faces. “Why is he here?”
“We’re not certain,” Cormack replied, struggling to hold Lily with one arm and picking up a plate for his father with his free hand.
Taking pity on him, I grabbed the plate and delivered it to Emmet, earning a thankful smile from Cormack.
In true Grimlock fashion, all the siblings moved their chairs as far from Emmet as possible, ceding a full one-third of the table to him.
“I don’t understand any of this,” Aisling admitted as Griffin went to retrieve Lily.
Cormack clutched the baby tighter. “She’s happy with me.”
Griffin looked torn. “I was going to feed her.”
“I’ll feed her.”
“Yeah, but ... .” Griffin glanced at Aisling, who gave him a small, almost imperceptible shake of her head.
“I guess I can feed her dinner,” Griffin groused. “I’m giving her something good today no matter what you baby thieves think.”
Cormack nodded absently.
“I still don’t understand how this happened,” Cillian said. He seemed more interested in his grandfather — as an otherworldly science experiment — than his food. That was almost unheard of in this house.
“Izzy had a dream,” Braden explained as we stood in the omelet line. “She saw him coming through. It was real enough that we decided to check it out.”
“You should’ve woken me,” Cormack chastised. “I would’ve accompanied you.”
“We weren’t certain we were going to find anything,” I offered. “I would’ve felt guilty dragging you out there for nothing.”
“It didn’t turn out to be nothing.”
“No.”