Page 377 of Wicked Brutal

He runs straight at me and I get my arms open just before he hits my chest, climbing up like he belongs there. Because he does.

“Mon Ryan.”

Two words. They get me every time.

“Hey, dude.”

“I missed you.”

“You were gone an hour.”

“I still missed you.”

My chest hurts. I squeeze him tighter and tell him I missed him too, and he stays there a few seconds, tucked into me, not moving. Then his head lifts and his eyes go to Ally’s stomach.

“Baby!”

He starts climbing down, catches me in the ribs with a knee, and has the audacity to hold out his hand for the swear it knocks out of me. Ally’s laughing. “He’s mugging me.”

“He’s enforcing the rules,” she says. “Especially against you.”

I pay. He stuffs the dollars in his pocket and lowers himself carefully across Ally’s legs, belly-down, face right beside her stomach. One hand reaches back and finds mine, curling around two of my fingers. I stop breathing for a second. Ally sees it — of course she does. I move closer, my free hand settling over her bump, and Tobias puts his other hand beside mine.

“Hi, baby.” Ally’s fingers move through his hair. “Do you think it can hear me?”

“Maybe a little,” she says.

He thinks — really thinks — then leans closer and starts telling the baby about his day. The playground. Aire de jeux, he adds, because he knows that in French now. The kartoshka Becca gave him. The ride Kaiden’s going to take him on, and the frog bomb Cat’s going to build, which costs Kaiden another dollar from across the room. Every item lands and gets a fine and the whole thing dissolves into laughter, Tobias shaking with it against Ally’s legs. Then he settles, cheek beside the bump, fingers still wrapped around mine.

“Baby? When you come out, I’m Uncle Tobias.” Ally’s face crumples. He doesn’t notice. “And I know frogs. And French.” Penny presses her lips together. “And Russian.” Becca’s eyes shine. “And fishing.” He squeezes my fingers. “And Mon Ryan knows where everything is. So if you lose something, ask him.”

A laugh breaks out of me even as it lands square in my chest. Ally wipes under one eye. “He does know where everything is.”

Tobias looks at the bump again, softer now. “If you’re scared, you can come get me. And Ally. And Mon Ryan.” I can’t breathe. He rubs his cheek against her stomach. “We all live here.”

Ally makes the smallest sound. I reach for her hand and she gives it to me at once, so now Tobias has two of my fingers and Ally has the rest and my other palm is over our baby. All three of them touching me. All three of them here.

Tobias yawns, then says into her stomach, very seriously, “Bonjour.”

He lifts his head. “How do I say baby?”

“Bébé,” Bella tells him.

“Bonjour, bébé.”

Ally’s tears spill. He gets malysh and privet from Becca and puts them together against the bump. “Privet, malysh.”

Danny’s arm tightens around Becca; her fingers find the butterfly. Penny’s crying. Cat’s crying. Ally’s crying. I’m not doing great myself.

Bella looks around at all of us. “You all cry way too much.” Her voice cracks on the last word. Iz turns his head. She wipes under one eye and points at him before he can say anything. “Not one word.”

Then Tobias’s hand comes up off Ally’s stomach and lands, palm open, in front of her.

“One dollar.” The room goes quiet. Bella stares at him — then laughs, actually laughs, and digs a dollar out of her bag and puts it in his hand.

“Worth it.”

He pockets it, drops his cheek back to Ally’s stomach, curls his fingers tighter around mine, and whispers, “Ya tebya lyublyu, baby.”