Page 374 of Wicked Brutal

“You’re pathetic,” Iz tells him.

“My girl wants a girl.” Penny softens and kisses him, and Bella makes a face like she might be sick, and I catch, out of the corner of my eye, Danny going quiet.

Becca has too. Her fingers have left his chain and found the little butterfly on the bracelet at her wrist, thumb passing over it once. Danny’s arm tightens, just enough to bring her closer, and he presses his mouth to her hair. They’re still smiling. Still here. Just quieter.

Ally sees it — of course she does. “Are you guys okay?”

Becca gives her a real smile. “We’re good.” She nods at Ally’s stomach. “Seriously. What do you want?”

Ally traces my knuckles. “I just want a healthy baby. Boy, girl, I don’t care. I just want our baby healthy.”

My throat tightens.

“Boy,” Becca says softly. Danny looks at her, and something passes over his face, and he says it back like a small vow. “Boy.”

Everyone looks at me, and I shake my head.

“I have no fucking idea. My current feeling is that there’s a baby in there, and sometime soon somebody’s going to hand it to me, and I’m probably going to lose my mind.” I kiss Ally’s forehead. “I don’t care what we have. I just want them here.”

Her eyes go shiny. “Oh, don’t.”

“What? I said one sentence.”

“I’m pregnant. It doesn’t take much.”

Bella sighs from her chair. “You people cry constantly.”

And then the guest house door flies open.

“PRIVET! BONJOUR! YA TEBYA LYUBLYU! JE VOUS AIME!” Tobias comes through it at full volume, one shoelace untied, cheeks red, hair stuck to his forehead. “SPASIBO! MERCI! LYAGUSHKA! GRENOUILLE!”

Walter follows carrying the abandoned water bottle, looking like he’s been listening to this for a while. Cassandra’s behind him with a hoodie over her arm.

“WE WENT TO THE PLAYGROUND!”

“How do you say playground in French?” Becca asks.

Tobias stops dead, eyes going up. “Aire de jeux.”

“He’s been practicing since we left,” Cassandra says.

“You said it twenty-three times in the car,” Walter adds.

“Because I’m learning.” Then Tobias spots Becca and he’s gone, launching himself half onto her and half onto Danny, since she’s still in Danny’s lap. “Privet.”

“Privet,” she says into his hair. “Ya tebya lyublyu.”

“Ya tebya lyublyu.” Danny ruffles his hair.

“Hey, Frog King.”

“Aire de jeux,” Tobias corrects him.

“Sorry. Aire de jeux.”

Becca reaches for a small container on the side table, and the second Tobias sees what’s inside he loses his mind, tripping over the word until she walks him through it — kar-tosh-ka — and he lands it proudly and yells it at the ceiling. Danny reaches for one and gets his hand smacked away.

“Mine. Becca said for me.”