Page 80 of Sicilian Savior

“I can’t believe you came,” I said as I slipped out of his embrace. “We’re so happy to see you.”

Knox pointed down at Luca. “I’d get up and hug you too, but my little man is out cold.”

Marcus looked down at him and grinned. “He looks good on you, Knox.”

“Yeah?” Knox’s face split in a smile.

“Yeah,” Marcus said, and Piper agreed.

Knox settled back and stroked a hand through Luca’s hair. Piper’s phone beeped, and she looked at it then answered it with a seductive tone.

“Hey, Pretty Boy,” she said, angling the phone so we could all see Wes on video.

“Oh, come on!” He rolled his eyes. “You’re killing me! Impossibly Handsome Man. That’s my new name. I refuse to answer to anything else.”

“Is that so?” She arched an eyebrow.

“Piper, I’m telling you. I’ve been working out. I’m not the same scrawny kid you saw last. I’m an Impossibly Handsome Man now. And don’t you forget it.”

She winked and blew a kiss at the screen. “We’ll see about that, Pretty Boy.”

Wes groaned, then we all burst into laughter. The sound woke Luca up, and he looked around and furrowed his brow.

“Uncle Marcus? Is that you?”

“Hey, Luca! Sorry we woke you.”

Luca crawled off Knox’s lap and ran over to give him a hug.

As Marcus picked him up and tossed him in the air, his squeals of delight made me smile. He sure did seem okay. Deep down I knew, like me, some wounds would take a long time to heal, but he seemed remarkably unfazed by our terrifying ordeal. All that mattered now was our son’s safety, and like Knox said, we would shower him with so much love that he’d never feel unsafe again.

“I have an idea,” Knox interrupted the little reunion. “We’ve all been cooped up in the car for a while, and I need to get out and stretch my legs. What do you say we all head over to the new property and show it to Aunty Piper and Uncle Marcus, and let’s do a little fishing and catch dinner? We can have a big campfire outside tonight and cook any fish we catch over the open flames.”

“Yeah!” Luca cheered.

“Works for me,” Marcus said.

“I’m a heck of a fisherlady.” Piper cracked her knuckles, and hearing her say “heck” for Luca’s sake made me smile.

“Oh, man,” Wes groaned. “I want to go fishing!”

“You need to get off your couch and join us one of these times, Wes,” Knox said.

“I may not be trained for fieldwork, but if someone had said there’d be fishing, I’d have hopped on the next flight.”

“Next time,” Marcus said. “We’re planning a trip for all of us. Me, Irene, our daughter Ada, Knox, Lucia, Luca, and you and Piper.”

Wes waggled his eyebrows. “You hear that, Piper? He called us a couple.”

“You wish,” she snorted.

“If you saw what was happening with my abs these days, it’d be you doing the wishing.” He waggled his eyebrows then started to rise, putting his t-shirt clad stomach on the screen.

“Pretty Boy! Children present! Christ!” Knox shouted.

Wes quickly sat back down. “Oops. Sorry, kiddo.”

“Don’t scare the children, Wes,” Piper teased.