“Hey,” Layla scolded teasingly. “Not nice. These are your brothers, not toxic waste.”

“They smell like they produce toxic waste, Mom. I can’t breathe in here. I’m going over to Aunt Emmie’s.”

“We’ll be over in a little while,” Layla assured her. “Don’t just sit around, either. Ask her if she needs any help. This party is something that she’s been trying to get sorted for weeks now.”

“Sure. Love you.” She walked into the room, her shirt over her nose as she approached Lyric on the changing table. Seeing his sister, Lyric gave a happy squeal and reached for her. Lucy kissed the top of his head, covered in dark brownish red hair. “Love you, stinky.” Walking over to me she did the same to Luca. “I don’t know who smells worse, Luc. You or Lyric.” He just giggled again.

When she started to turn away I caught hold of her hand and turned her to face me. To look at her right this minute all you would see was the happy girl, the mask she put on for everyone. She wasn’t over the kidnapping and truthfully neither was I. Layla and I had finally put our foot down a few months ago and forced her to start seeing a therapist. I couldn’t really tell if it was working, though. The nightmares were just as disturbing and most nights she either ended up in bed between me and Layla or I crawled into bed with her. I wanted to help her get over the monsters in her nightmares, but was helpless to do anything about them other than to hold her while she slept at night.

“Love you, Lu.”

She grinned, an honest all the way to her eyes grin. “I love you too, Daddy.”

Drake

The house was quiet when we arrived. With Nevaeh in my arms and Angel beside me carrying the diaper bag and two pies, we walked through the house and out onto the patio. The place was crowded already and I grinned, thinking that today was going to be better than Emmie had ever imagined.

Nik was sitting down in a lounger, letting people come to him instead of him going to them. He had his two-month-old son in his arms and didn’t look like he was going to relinquish hold on Jagger any time soon. I couldn’t blame him. I felt just as territorial over Nevaeh.

Mia sat at the end of the lounger, ever the proud big sister. Letting people know quick that if they touched her new baby brother the wrong way she would be dealing out the punishments—normally a kick to the shins to whoever had made Jagger cry. When she spotted me, however, she gave up her guard post and ran over. “Uncle Drake! I missed you.”

I lifted her into my free arm and kissed the top of her red head. Nevaeh reached forward, touching Mia’s face and giggling. Mia kissed the baby’s hand. “Hi, Nevie. I really like your dress. It’s so pretty.”

“Where’s your momma, Mia?” Angel asked, glancing around at the crowd. “I don’t see her?”

“She’s in her office with Rachel and Felicity.” Mia wiggled and I set her down. “Luca! Luca!”

My head turned to find Jesse chasing after his oldest son as he crawled toward the pool. “Gods, that boy is a handful.” I grinned. “And to think, that’s your cousin, Nevaeh. You actually share DNA with that kid.”

Angel elbowed me in the ribs, but she was grinning. “I’m going to find Layla and see if she needs any help with Lyric.”

“So you’re offering to help her with the good baby, not the trouble-making one?” She narrowed her eyes at me, but she couldn’t really dispute that statement. Lyric really was the good twin so far. He rarely cried, hardly got into trouble and when he did it was usually instigated by his brother. Nine-month-old hooligan that he was.

“Like Nevaeh is little miss perfect.” Jesse snorted coming up beside us with Luca firmly in his arms. He was grinning like a proud papa bear. “She’s got you so twisted around her little finger that you don’t see just how horrible she really is.”

I grunted. “Yeah, because she’s off stealing, murdering, and shit.”

“Dude, she bit Luca the last time she was at our house.”

“Only after the little runt pushed her down while she was trying to pull herself up.” While we bantered, Nevaeh showed her obvious disgust with her older cousin by reaching forward and hugging him. Luca met her halfway, loving on her just as hard as she was loving on him.

Someone produced a glass of iced tea for us and I stood laughing with my friend and brother-in-law as we watched everyone else around us. I spotted Lucy sitting at a table with Harris and Jenna. She looked happy, but wondered if she really was hiding behind the mask Lana had said she had adopted to make the adults around her merely think she was okay.

The members of OtherWorld were walking around, all with iced tea or soft drinks in their hands. You would never find a drop of alcohol at one of Emmie’s parties. Not only was it because of the kids who ran around, but for my benefit too. I was thankful for that, but really it wasn’t a problem for me if other people were drinking. I’d been to parties where there was beer and even harder stuff flowing like water, and although there had been cravings, I’d been able to curb them. The simple thought of Angel and Nevaeh were enough to keep my hands steady.

Around us everyone was starting to grow quiet and I turned my head to find Emmie standing by the sliding doors of the house. She had a huge grin on her face and her happiness was so infectious that I couldn’t help but grin back. She’s been working so hard and this party was just proof of how much she had achieved over the last six months or so.

Emmie

My heart was in my throat as I stood in front of all my friends, family, and employees. I’d never thought that life could be as perfect as it was right at this moment, but it was and I was going to soak it all up for as long as I possibly could.

I let my eyes roam around my back yard, taking in the sight of my husband holding our son. That right there was the sweetest sight in the world to me and would never grow old. Jagger might have been another surprise baby, but he was no less loved. From the moment I had felt him kick inside of me I had known he was going to twist my heart like a pretzel, which he had the moment he had opened his blue eyes and smiled right at me.

The world was going to know exactly what a momma’s boy looked like, because even at two months old he was already spoiled to the point of rottenness. I was his favorite person in the world and Nik had to fight for his attention most days. I didn’t mind sharing him though, just as Nik didn’t mind sharing Mia’s adoration with me.