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Finally noticing a new person, Beau shied against his mother’s cheek and gazed at Daisy from wary blue eyes. When Aspen glanced uncertainly toward Noel, he nodded once.
“This is Beau,” she introduced. “And I’m Aspen, Noel’s wife.”
“So nice to meet you,” Daisy told her warmly before turning to Teagan.
“My daughter, Teagan,” Caroline said.
Not as cautious as her cousin, Teagan sprang forward to hold up a toy, eager to share it with Daisy as she announced, “Lego.”
Her grandmother smiled and accepted. “Yes, I see that.”
Teagan kept blinking at her expectantly, which roused a confused glance from Daisy to Caroline.
“She wants to play Legos with you,” Ten translated dryly.
“Oh! Well...I guess. Okay.”
As Daisy knelt on the floor and played with Teagan, Beau grew curious and finally wanted to get down to play too.
All the adults pretty much just hovered, watching closely as their children interacted with Daisy.
She never again looked in my direction or asked who I was, which I didn’t mind, but still...rude.
Probably beginning to feel like a bug tacked to a board by how closely we watched every move she made, Daisy finally lifted back to her feet and brushed off her knees. “Do you have a washroom around here I can use?”
“Down the hall,” Noel told her after a beat, as if deciding whether he really wanted her in his bathroom. “Middle door on the right.”
“Thank you.” She moved past me and disappeared down the hall.
“I don’t like this,” Ten immediately announced.
Noel and Caroline didn’t answer, but they didn’t exactly look pleased.
Aspen began to wring her hands. “How do you think Brandt and Colton are going to react?”
Her husband shook his head. “I don’t know. I just hope she’s gone before they get home so at least they have more time to adjust to this than we did.”
“Colton used to have nightmares about her taking him away,” Aspen went on, the worry on her face clear as day.
“She’s not taking him fucking anywhere,” Noel growled. “Jesus.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Was I wrong to let her in the house?”
Ten snorted. “You didn’t exactly let her in.”
Noel sighed. “If the boys don’t want anything to do with her, would it be wrong to just tell her, thanks but no thanks, go away now?”
“Fuck, no,” Ten said. “You can absolutely tell her to screw off if you want to. She abandoned you.”
“Not really,” Caroline argued with a wince. “She just—”
“Abandoned you,” Ten muttered.
“Sarah,” Noel said, making me jump and wonder why he’d said my name. I didn’t have any reason to be brought into this conversation. But as soon as my gaze met his, he asked, “How do you think Brandt’s going to react?’
Honestly, I had no clue. Brandt had barely ever talked about his mom. Past saying she’d been a shitty parent who’d neglected them to the point that Noel had assumed guardianship of them, he never mentioned her, never acted as if he missed her or wanted her around or even thought about her.
I figured he’d be pretty ambivalent to her appearance, the same as Caroline.
But before I could answer, a male shout roared through the house, from the direction of the kitchen in the back. “Get the fuck away from him!”
