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“Welcome to the chaos,” Andrei greeted in a low voice so as not to disturb Stefan.
Before Ian could reply, Daciana was whispering something loudly to her father, but Ian didn’t catch a word of it. Definitely not English. Andrei smiled and replied in Romanian.
“No one warned me that we were going to need subtitles,” Hollis teased.
“Sorry about that,” Andrei murmured. “We encourage her to speak Romanian at home, but we’re still working on not speaking it around people who can’t understand her.” He then turned his attention to the boys and smiled. “And who did you bring to join our special day?”
“This is Tyler,” Ian said, placing his hand on the head of the little one clinging to him. “And Hollis is holding his brother, Thomas.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Tyler and Thomas. We’ve set up a playroom off the kitchen and built a huge blanket fort. Would you like to go see it?”
Tyler and Thomas looked at each other and gave small nods but didn’t yet release either Hollis or Ian.
“We’ll help get them settled,” Ian said as he worked to take off Tyler’s coat and then his own.
“I’ll take them to the playroom if you want to get situated in the kitchen,” Hollis offered, holding out his and Thomas’s coats.
Ian smirked and accepted the garments. “I promised that I wasn’t going to spend all my time cooking this year.”
“Uh-huh…keep tellin’ yourself that, baby,” Hollis teased as he took Tyler by the hand and started to walk toward the area Andrei had indicated while Daciana ran ahead of them.
“Where are Rowe and Noah? I was going to send them out to fetch the food I brought.”
“In the pool. Last we heard was something about skinny dipping. Snow went down to get them.” Ian groaned and shook his head. “But I think Max and Jude are handy.”
“Good. That will give me a chance to hold this one,” Ian said, extending his hands toward Stefan.
Andrei chuckled and carefully shifted the sleeping baby so that he was now snuggled against Ian’s chest. The warm and delicate weight had Ian’s heart melting. They were already talking about adopting Tyler and Thomas, but Ian could understand the allure of surrogacy. Holding a tiny one like this, knowing that it was your own flesh and blood.
Ian laughed when he caught sight of Andrei’s shirt and then winced, afraid he’d woken Stefan.
“Don’t worry about waking him. He’s due for a feeding.”
“Nice shirt.”
Andrei snorted and looked down at where it said, “Call Me Big Poppa.”
“Rowe brought them for us. He got Stefan one that said, ‘Future Ward Security Bodyguard’ but Stefan already spit up on it. Wait until you see Lucas’s.”
They walked to the great room, where several people were relaxing. From there, he could see Sonja and Lucas’s sister, Nicole, working on the food in the kitchen. Hugs were given out and Andrei quickly directed Jude and Max to Ian’s car for the rest of the food. The air was thick with the scent of turkey, yeasty rolls, and other wonderful spices.
There was a part of Ian that ached to head straight into the kitchen and take over. Thanksgiving was his jam. He loved making all the food for the holiday and then listening to everyone exclaim how wonderful it was. But he held back. It was clear that Sonja and Nicole had everything under control, and there was a bigger part of him that wanted to hang out with family for a while before wandering over to the playroom to spend time with Thomas and Tyler.
Lucas appeared from an adjoining room and Ian took a step back as he laughed. The always perfectly dressed Lucas was wearing a pair of comfortable jeans and a black T-shirt with white writing. It said, “Call Me Big Daddy.”
“Rowe strikes again,” Lucas muttered, but he was smiling as he pulled Ian into a careful hug. As he stepped away, he brushed a loving finger across Stefan’s cheek.
“It’s a good look for you.”
“I’d say fatherhood looks good on both of us,” Lucas replied. He nodded toward the room he’d just come from. “I just saw Hollis with the twins. They’re adorable.”
“You met them?”
Lucas made a face. “From a distance. They didn’t want to stop playing with Daciana in the fort.”
Stefan shifted against Ian’s chest and gave a big yawn before letting out a soft cry.
“Mine!” Milos, Lucas’s father-in-law, shouted as he jumped to his feet. The older man hurried across the room and carefully lifted Stefan from Ian’s chest. “I was promised this feeding.”
“His bottle is prepared—” Andrei started, but Milos was already waving his free hand at his son as he walked toward the kitchen.
“I know what I’m doing. I fed you plenty of times. And our little Daci. Go away.”
Lucas chuckled and Andrei rolled his eyes.
“There’s no shortage of help during the day,” Lucas said.
