“Don’t you dare start crying. If you cry, then I’ll cry, because the hormones are hormoning and I’m not prepared…” I sniffed and hugged her tight.
Tommy swung Luka into his arms and danced with him in a circle. “You’re going to be a big brother, Luka.”
“Yay.” Luka fist-pumped the air and wiggled. “I’ll be the best big brother ever.”
Dad hugged the breath right out of me. Mom stood and passed the baby to Daphne, then joined the embrace. “Another baby. Oh, my darling girl. Congratulations.”
“Mom.” I laugh-cried. “Now you’re going to make me cry.”
“I’m allowed. I’m the grandmother.” She patted my cheeks. “You look so happy.”
“I am.” I bent when Luka climbed the steps and picked him up.
“What does being a big brother mean?”
“It means you’re going to have a sibling, like Bella and baby Emma.”
Luka swung his head around. “Sometimes, baby Emma is loud. Will my baby be loud?”
“Maybe. Sometimes.” I waited for Luka to absorb that. He scrunched his face with a sigh. “That’s okay. I can still teach her stuff.”
“It might be a boy, Luka. You might have a brother.”
He shook his head. “No. I have a sister.”
I let it go. We’d cross that hurdle if it came.
The celebration wound up instead of down, my family bringing out bottles of wine and sparkling water for everyone.
At some point, Mom made a subtle sound and twitched her head toward the door.
A brief but quiet orchestration of wrangling took my entire family inside until it was just me and my three men on the porch.
Leo pulled me against his side with one arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple. “I missed hearing that the first time. I refuse to miss a single second of this one.”
“You’re not going to miss anything.” I tilted my face up for a kiss. “I promise.”
“I love you more than I have words to speak.” He kissed me with a slow and delicious touch.
When he ended the kiss, I grinned. “You have a lot of words.”
“Not enough for this.” He turned me toward Viktor.
Viktor kissed my knuckles. “I thought I had sealed every door. I was certain I had made myself incapable of this.” He turned my hand over and kissed the palm. “You have thoroughly and completely ruined me.”
“I’m not even sorry.”
“Neither am I.” He pulled me close and held me, his chin at my temple and his heart beating double time. “I am going to be there for this every single minute. Every appointment. Every night. Every first.” His voice was so low I barely heard it. “I swear it.”
Misha hadn’t moved from where he stood a few feet away.
I went to him, my arms open wide.
He let me come, watching me cross the small distance with those dark eyes of his.
I laced our fingers together and kissed his cheek.
“My mother would have loved you. She would have loved Luka.”