Page 395 of Wicked Brutal

“She sleeps with us for a while,” Ally says.

“With you and Ryan?”

“Yeah.”

His eyes stay on her, and something changes — small enough most people probably wouldn’t notice. I do. “Where do I sleep?”

Ally’s face falls. I crouch in front of him. “Wherever you want.”

“My room?”

“Yep.”

“Or yours?”

“Yep.”

“Even with Piper?”

“Even with Piper.”

He looks at me. “What if she takes my spot?”

“She doesn’t have a spot.”

“She’s little.”

“Exactly. She gets her own little bed beside ours.”

He thinks about that. “So I can still come?”

“Always.” Ally reaches for him. “Come here.”

Tobias looks down at Piper. “I have the baby.”

I take Piper carefully while Tobias climbs onto the edge of Ally’s bed, and she wraps both arms around him. “You still have your room. You still have us. You can still crawl into our bed whenever you need to. Piper doesn’t change any of that.”

Tobias’s face presses against her shoulder. “Okay.”

“You’re still my Toby.”

He lifts his head. “And she’s my Piper.”

Ally’s eyes fill. “Yeah, baby.”

He looks at me. “Our Piper?”

I can’t speak for a second. I look down at the seven-pound, eight-ounce person sleeping against my chest. “Our Piper.”

“Okay.” Apparently that’s enough. He kisses Ally’s cheek, climbs down, and comes over to inspect Piper again.

Cassandra has been watching from near the window, her face wrecked again. None of us have stopped crying long enough today for it to matter. She comes closer, and instead of opening the door and announcing anything, she just walks to the side of the bed and asks, “Do you want them to come in?”

Ally’s eyes lift to hers. “Now?”

“Only if you want them now.”

Ally looks down at herself — the hospital gown, the blankets — then at Piper in my arms. Cassandra waits. “What if I say no?”