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He’s always been the most complex mix of grumpy and loving, but around me, he’s pretty much been the latter. I can’t think of a time he wasn’t patient with me when we were teenagers or even a moment when he raised his voice.
He was like a different guy with his brothers, always teasing and grumbling and shooting insult arrows in their archery tournament of banter.
But to me…he was always sweet.
As Wendy clears the opening at the end of the hallway, a chorus of cheers erupts toward the baby in her arms—my baby—and several asses shove off from their spots leaned into the kitchen counter and come forward with their hands extended.
Winnie and Ty are at the front of the race, and Ty hip checks Winnie out of the way.
“Gah! Ty!” she shrieks, but her brother is completely unfazed.
“Too slow!” Ty snarks back. “Last time I saw this little bun, she was still in the oven. I have to hold her first as a kind of ceremonial thing. You understand.”
Wendy grins at me knowingly, her eyes silently saying, See what I mean? as she passes Izzy over to Ty.
He cradles her softly to his chest, looking down at her with big, moony eyes. It’s such a change from the little shit-stirrer I remember from my childhood that it almost doesn’t compute.
Love, it seems, really does have the power to tame some of the wildest men.
“Maria, I know you remember Ty and Jude and, of course, Winnie,” Wendy starts to introduce me to everyone in the room. “This is Rachel, Ty’s fiancée. Sophie, Jude’s wife, and Wes, Winnie’s husband.”
Everyone greets me with genuine smiles and kind words, and I try hard to keep all the names and faces sorted in my head.
“The only new people we’re missing are my Howard, Flynn’s wife Daisy, their twin boys Ryder and Roman, and Winnie’s daughter Lexi,” Wendy updates, but I’m starkly aware that we’re also missing Remy.
I don’t know where he is, but without him here reassuring me, I kind of feel like I’m going to puke.
“It’s so good to see you, Maria,” Winnie says from my side, rubbing a kind hand down my forearm and startling my attention away from the crowd with my baby. “I’m so glad you came. There’s a lot of testosterone in this group, so we’re always in need of a couple more hits of estrogen. You and Izzy are more than welcome to fill the role.”
I smile at that, glancing at all the big, powerful men cooing over my baby once more. It’s very Three Men and a Baby-esque, and the simple thought reminds me of my mother. She always had the biggest crush on Tom Selleck, and Isabella and I never let her live it down.
One Halloween when we were teenagers, we even dressed up as him just to freak our mom out. The laughter that ensued between the three of us has proven to create one of my most vivid, core memories.
“Thank you. I really appreciate you all having me. It’s been…well…nearly two months since I’ve had a home-cooked meal.”
Winnie laughs. “Oh man, I remember those days. One blending into the next. It’s awful. And worth it.” She pauses briefly. “And awful.”
We both laugh at that.
“Don’t ever hesitate to call me, okay?” she adds then, her voice so sincere I can’t even bring myself to dismiss it.
“Okay. Thanks.”
“No,” she says with a shake of her head and a little grin. “I mean, really call me if you need anything, which is why I’m going to make you give me your phone right now so I can put my number in it.”
Her hand held out toward me, I have no choice but to acquiesce. It reminds me so much of how persistent and determined little Winnie Winslow was back in the day.
“Anytime, day or night,” she says and hands my phone back to me, her contact information now saved. “I remember what it’s like. We moms have to stick together.”
I swallow hard on the word mom. Even though I know it’s what I am—what I have to be for Izzy—it still feels completely foreign coming out of someone else’s mouth.
“Damn, she’s a beauty,” Ty muses as he approaches me with Izzy, and a shallow breath I didn’t know I was holding finally releases. “Rachel, I want to have ten of these cuties after we get married.”
I stretch out my arms to take her back, even get my hands on her tiny baby sides, when his fiancée smacks him on the shoulder softly and chastises, “What? No! If I’m supposed to birth a football team for you, I deserve to be able to hold the inspiration.”
Ty passes Izzy to Rachel before I can even put my hands down from the space where they were prepared to clutch her. And Rachel nuzzles her face against Izzy’s cheek.
