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My girl appears to enjoy it, her little eyes squinting in comfort, but my heart is still beating a million miles a minute.
Remy is across the room now, finally appearing from wherever he’s been hiding in this beautiful brownstone. I recognize his brother Flynn standing beside him, and I assume the beautiful woman next to him is his wife Daisy. Which means the two adorable-looking boys on their hips must be their twins, Roman and Ryder.
My eyes are wide, and I can practically feel them stretching to the limits of my face as I try to telepathically yell to Remy when Winnie steps into my line of vision and fills it completely.
Her face is a friendly smile full of amusement. She reaches up and squeezes my shoulder comfortingly as she explains, “By the way, there’s a rule here. You never have to take care of your own kids. It’s group-parenting, sister-wife-ing, whatever you want to call it. But there are enough of us, and enough of us who get it. Take the break and enjoy it. I promise Izzy will be in good hands.”
“Okay,” I reply as calmly as I can manage, trying to squash the overwhelming need to hover obtrusively.
Winnie giggles. “Man, Maria, I’m impressed. Not many moms pretend not to be shitting themselves as well as you.”
I slam my hands into my face and groan before smiling back at her. “Am I that obvious?”
“Only because I’ve been there,” she says. “I can remember when Lexi was that age, and I felt like someone had removed my arm whenever I wasn’t holding her. You’re doing great. I promise.”
“Thanks,” I murmur, surprised by how nice it feels to have that kind of encouragement. “Truth be told, I kind of feel like I’m bumbling my way through this whole motherhood thing.”
Winnie nods supportively. “That means you’re doing it right.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah,” she enunciates. “We’re all big fakers without a flipping clue.”
“Yo, Ty, when are you going to pay up, bro?” Jude shouts so loud from the other side of the kitchen that it startles Winnie’s and my attention. He slaps Ty in the stomach with a hard hand. “You still owe me fifty bucks for Phillips’s TD.”
“Ow, you fucker,” Ty grunts, and Wendy steps between them with a stern face.
“Knock it off, you two. I brought you into this world, which means I can take you right back out if I want.”
“Mom, how many times do you think you’ve said that to us?” Jude asks, grinning like a real smartass.
“Apparently not enough.”
Winnie gives me a look and points conspiratorially at her mom. “Even Wendy’s still faking it. Though, I can’t blame her. Who the hell would know what to do with these hooligans?”
“Certainly not me.” I grin. “I always wondered if your mom was superhuman.”
“Girl, I still wonder that,” Winnie says through a laugh, but when Wendy calls her over to the oven, she gives my shoulder one last gentle squeeze. “Looks like I’m being beckoned back to food duty. Talk to you later.”
I nod then, putting my hands to my hips and then my pockets and then crossing them over my chest when neither of those feels right. For two months, I’ve done nothing but hold stuff. Bottles, babies, toys. My hands don’t know how to just hang anymore.
I spot Remy again as he moves to his mother to give her a quick hug. And when he turns around with a heart-stopping smile and scans his siblings and their significant others, it’s all over.
He spots Izzy in Rachel’s arms and doesn’t hesitate to steal her.
“No way, Rach, this is my girl. I always have dibs,” he says, and Rachel gives him the stink eye but also grins at his dramatics.
For the first time since I got here, I start to relax a little. But when he meets my eyes over the top of Izzy’s head and winks at me, all relaxation flees again.
How can one man whom I’ve just started to really get to know again make my heart race so much?
Remy
My sister’s house is bustling with the entire Winslow gang, but my attention is pulled across the room to where Maria stands in the kitchen. Her eyes are busy keeping track of Izzy as Ty’s fiancée Rachel holds her, and although Maria looks a little out of sorts, she also looks fucking beautiful.
Damn, I’ve missed her.
Even though it kind of feels like a lifetime, it’s only been two long days since I’ve loved on Maria and Izzy. The urge to scratch at least one of the itches is nearly uncontrollable. That said, I’d wager it’d be slightly inappropriate to scratch things with Maria in mixed company, so I swoop in and steal Izzy from Rachel instead.
Rachel voices her annoyance with me, albeit more amused than anything, but Maria smiles.
And the small shadow of her happiness makes the victory of my acquisition feel even more significant. I wink at her over Izzy’s head, snuggling her sweet baby smell so deep it’ll stay with me forever, and then cross the room to the woman I haven’t stopped thinking about since I left her apartment.
