Page 174 of The Defiant Curse

“I’m right here. That’s my Mom,” he said. “Seriously, Dad? Pervert.”

That made Ethan laugh even more. While Michael wasn’t of his wife’s body, he was of their hearts, and that was far more important.

“I’m definitely on cooking duty,” she said, changing the subject before they all needed therapy.

Michael grinned.

“Mom is cooking,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “Please say Italian. Please say Italian,” he said over and over again as his husband stared at him.

“By this reaction, you’d think you hadn’t eaten in a long time,” he joked.

Oh, this man didn’t get it.

“Her Italian is to die for,” he stated. “Every year for my birthday, she makes me chicken cutlets and pasta. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen mom beating the hell out of chicken for dinner.”

She snorted.

“We don’t have chickens here, do we? Once I make friends, I can’t eat them.”

Michael laughed.

“We have some cranky ducks, but no chickens. They live on the lake. I’d be cranky too if I lived there.”

Well, then, she was good.

“Chicken cutlets it is.”

Only, Ethan stopped her.

“I’m cooking too. Point me at the sauce. Lyzee, my love. You’ve got the chicken, but I’m on sauce duty.”

Michael was giddy.

“Oh, we eatin’ tonight,” he said.

The whole time, his husband stood there with his arms across his chest.

“I mean, I’m eating again,” he stated, correcting himself. “No one cooks as good as my husband.”

Graham laughed.

“Liar.”

He let it go.

Why?

Because Elizabeth and Ethan were going to team up in the kitchen, and that almost never happened anymore.

Time hadn’t permitted it.

As for Ethan, she bumped him with her hip.

“You know it, handsome. Let’s show these children how it’s done,” she said.

And with that, she rolled up the sleeves to Gabby’s borrowed sweater, toed off her shoes, and got an apron from Graham.

The two men sat down as Elizabeth and Ethan got to work.