“You love him.”
“Completely.”
Crew narrowed his gaze, and I’d seen him give Payton much the same look. He was such a dad sometimes.
“You have to talk to him. Open communication is the most important thing.”
I waggled my eyebrows, wanting to take the attention off me. “Yeah, you’d know huh?”
He groaned, but smiled too. “Yeah. I do know. So listen to what I’m telling you. You have to talk to Ville.”
“I will, just not right this moment. I’m going to the last show in Vegas at the end of the month, and then we’ll see what’s what.” When Crew opened his mouth, I held up a hand to forestall his argument. “You’re going to stand there and tell me that if you and Mal were in this situation, you wouldn’t do whatever you could to make Mal’s life easier? Because if you say no, you’ll have lied to me for the first time in your life.”
Crew chewed on that for a moment. “Fine. But I still think—”
The two-way crackling to life interrupted him.
“All hands. Anyone got eyes on EH?” Mom’s voice came through.
My brother unclipped the radio from his belt and handed it over without a word. I waited until there was a break in the negative responses to butt in.
“EH here. What’s up? Over.”
“Demi needs you. Now.”
I didn’t respond, just tossed the walkie at Crew and took off running. It wasn’t that far from the house, and I was in pretty good shape, but I was still winded by the time I made it inside. I searched the room, seeing Mom feeding Quinn, Dad snuggling Violet, and Payton trying to wrangle Aria, Emerson,and Phinneas into playing a game. Mom pointed up the stairs and I sprinted in that direction, taking them two at a time.
Demi was sitting in the rocking chair, Rowan to her breast, and her face was a dark cloud when she spotted me. I dropped down beside her, frantically looking her over.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” I demanded, voice low so as not to startle the infant. All three of them were hitting the milestones for their adjusted age, but we all couldn’t help but be extra careful around them still.
“How dare you not tell me everything going on in your head?” My twin sister hissed even as she rubbed the peach fuzz of dark hair on Rowan’s head.
It took me a second to shift gears because I’d been in panic mode. When I realized what she meant, I groaned softly and sat back on my heels.
“Come on, D. You’ve had enough going on.”
This, apparently, had been the wrong thing to say. “Our bond says otherwise, you idiot. It’s always us first.”
Then her eyes filled, tears spilling down her cheeks. I knew it was hormones in conjunction with everything else, but I hated that I made her cry.
“No, no,” I soothed, reaching to wipe the tears, and chuckling when she batted my hand forcefully away.
“I didn’t notice!” Her voice got a little loud, and Rowan’s eyes popped open. We both made shushing noises and Demi rocked a little faster. After a few seconds, Rowan went back to sucking and her eyes drifted closed again.
“You are my ride or die,” I swore at almost a whisper. “And you made three babies at once. And you have been taking care of all your kids like a goddess. I’m just missing the man I love.”
That seemed to soothe her. Rowan’s mouth sagged open, and Demi tucked her breast away before laying Rowan out on her lap, then gently, slowly sitting her up. Demi ran her hands upthat tiny torso and the burp that escaped was very satisfying. We both laughed.
Demi handed me the baby then pulled her legs up and got comfortable. “Start talking.”
It felt good to get it all out, in a way I could only ever be with Demi. She listened, made faces and noises that had me alternately laughing and grimacing, and when it was all done, I had a plan to talk to Ville at the concert.
Due to my scheduling, and the fact that I had to fly commercial even though I did spring for first class, I landed only two hours before the concert was about to start. There was a car waiting for me, and the driver was a nice man who only made a little small talk before we settled into a comfortable silence. Because of traffic, it took almost an hour to get to the venue, and once I did, I was ushered in a side door and handed credentials I immediately hung around my neck.
“Wait here,” one of the security guards said, stepping back and speaking into his radio.
I nodded and took in the scene. Even from where I was, I could see the insane hustle and bustle going on. It only took a few minutes before Ville filled my vision, and then he was all I could see. The smile that split my face actually hurt, but I didn’t care.
