Page 387 of Wicked Brutal

“What did he say?”

“He paid twice.”

Ryan laughs beside me. “Smart kid.”

“That’s cheating,” I say.

“That’s strategy.” I lean against him. “What did everybody else pick?”

Walter looks at his phone. “You really want to know?”

“Yeah.”

He scrolls. “Callum says boy. Saoirse says girl. Thomas says girl. Alice says girl, Gideon says boy. Clifford and Louise split theirs. Theodore says boy.”

“And Katya?”

Walter doesn’t need to check. “Girl.”

I smile. “She’s been saying that for months.”

“She has.”

“Arthur?”

Walter’s mouth twitches. “Arthur has apparently predicted sex, weight, and exact birth time. Seven pounds, eleven ounces. Girl. Eleven forty-two tonight.”

Ryan looks at the clock. “He’s confident.”

“Apparently he made Catherine establish whether the official hospital time or the time we tell everyone counts.”

I laugh. “Hospital time?”

“Obviously.” Walter smiles. “That’s what Arthur said.”

Another little ache tightens across my stomach, but it doesn’t build. Not yet. I rest my hand there.

“Are they really all out there?” Walter’s expression softens.

“Every one of them.”

“All the parents?”

“All of them.”

My eyes burn unexpectedly, and Ryan notices, his hand moving from my back to my thigh. “Hey.”

“I’m okay.”

“I know.”

I look toward the closed door. Arthur. Callum and Saoirse. Thomas. Alice and Gideon. Clifford and Louise. Theodore and Katya. All sitting somewhere on the other side of it, waiting. Kaiden and Cat came from Boston almost as soon as Ryan told them I was in labor, and took Tobias without me having to ask twice. Penny and Xander left New Haven and are somewhere on the road now. Iz and Bella are coming from Baltimore. Danny and Becca are on the other side of the country, trying to get here. For one baby. Our baby.

“That’s a lot of people waiting for someone they haven’t even met.”

Ryan looks down at my stomach. “Our baby’s kind of a big deal.”

A small laugh escapes me.“Already.”