Juanpablo started to bray.
“That’ll be Luke. He’s dropping off the kids.”
Right. Because Demi would’ve gone to the hospital with everyone else.
“I don’t know anything about kids, but I can help out?” I could make snacks or do something equally as easy.
Mal grinned. “Thanks. Carter is coming over, too.”
Carter was Hawk’s man. I had met him briefly the other day, but he’d been busy working from home, apparently.
Two cars parked in front of the house, and I went outside to meet them. Carter got out of his vehicle and rounded it to go help Luke with the kids. I found myself walking closer to see what I could do.
“Hey, man,” Luke said as he leaned back to let Carter pick up Aria who was babbling and clinging to the guy who had managed to get through Hawk’s dislike of people according to Emery.
“Hey. How can I help?” I asked, peering into the car where the two little ones were in their seats.
Luke nimbly unlocked a tiny seatbelt and pulled a kid out, handing him over. “Grab a baby.”
I chuckled but took the little boy a bit awkwardly. “Okay.” I was a bit startled, but what else could I do. “Which one is this?”
Luke smiled as he went to the other side to grab his other son. “Yours is Little Em.”
Emerson, not Emery. I locked eyes with the baby. “Hello, Emerson.”
He looked at me with his big eyes and contemplated on whether to cry or not. Then he was distracted by Mal’s voice.
“There are our boys!”
Clearly, Mal had managed to get Payton settled or Carter was watching him—did a six-year-old need watching still?
I handed Emerson over, and the boy cuddled right up to him. It was clear they were family.
Luke came to me with the other twin. “Now, Phinneas, this is Ville. He’s going to take good care of you with Mal and Carter, okay?”
I wasn’t sure why he was explaining things to a kid that young, but okay. I took Phinneas whose lip wobbled as I managed not to drop him.
“Let us know any news ASAP, okay?” Mal told Luke as he accepted a gigantic diaper bag from him.
“Of course. Talk to you later.”
As Luke got back into the SUV, Mal began to hum a tune to Emerson, bouncing him in a way that was a clear distraction to his dad driving off. I took Phinneas inside, feeling supremely awkward, because I was not someone who would bounce, let alone sing, to a baby. Or were they toddlers already? What was the age range for that definition? How old were these new humans anyway?
Their big sister was smacking Carter’s face with both of her palms at the same time, and he seemed to… enjoy it?
“You can put Phinn down in the playpen over there,” Mal said, nodding toward the thing at the other end of the family room.
I gingerly carried the boy there, setting him down so carefully, Carter snorted.
“What?” I asked over my shoulder as I handed Phinneas some of the toys that were behind him.
“He’s not a hand grenade.”
I rolled my eyes and blushed a little. “Hey, I don’t know where the pin is in these things!”
Mal laughed as he walked in with Emerson. “It changes place. That’s the tricky bit.”
Payton looked at all of us from his spot on the couch like we were speaking a foreign language. For a moment, he seemed as if he was going to ask, and then he just shrugged and went back to reading his book.
