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Delilah tried to memorize each face. The small one was Gracie, the tall one was Larissa. The curvy one was Destiny. And the one with baby Cain was Annalise. “And who is this?” She glanced at the sleeping infant wrapped in pink.
“This is Lucy, Anna and Adam’s newest.”
She didn’t know who Adam was.
“Adam’s my brother. He’s Anna’s mate,” Gracie promptly explained.
“Oh.”
“Come. Sit.” Larissa waved her to a chair. “We’ve been anxious to meet you.”
As soon as they sat, Gracie’s face pinched as if she suffered a sudden headache. “Grandmother, I believe they’re in need of you back at the house.”
“Yes, I was just on my way. It was lovely meeting you, Delilah. I hope we have another chance to visit soon.”
Larissa rubbed a soothing hand on Gracie’s shoulder but made no comment about whatever just happened. “So, Sister Delilah, how are you liking the farm?”
“I, uh, it’s outdoorsy.”
The girls laughed. “I heard Christian built you an indoor bathroom,” Larissa said and the other girls smiled appreciatively.
Gracie laughed, all signs of a headache now gone. “I’ll never forget how difficult Anna was about bathing in cold water when Adam first brought her here.”
“There really is nothing like modern plumbing,” Larissa agreed. “Once you have it, you can’t go back.”
“I insisted Cain had to build me a copper-heated tub before I’d marry him.”
Delilah frowned, forgetting which women were transitions and which were raised on the farm.
Gracie’s hand closed lightly over hers. “It can be overwhelming to learn so many new names and faces at once. The important thing is that we’re all friends. Larissa and I were raised right here in this house with our brothers, Adam and Cain. Annalise is mated to Adam and Destiny is Cain’s wife.”
“Cain and I are living here, for now,” Destiny explained. “With Gracie.”
“My father is ill, you see. And my mother won’t leave his side.”
Just then, a clatter erupted from the house and a child screamed. Gracie stood and sighed. “And that would be our youngest brother, Jaden.”
Delilah’s eyes widened as another loud clamor shook the house. “Is he okay?”
“He’s… temperamental. Excuse me.”
As soon as Gracie went inside, Destiny leaned forward and whispered. “Terrible twos can get pretty ugly around here.”
Larissa laughed. “Why do you think I left Moriah with her father? Just yesterday she pulled the entire table down, ruining supper.”
So far, these women were proving to be an incredible form of birth control. “Is Moriah your daughter?” she asked Larissa.
“Yes, and the apple of her father’s stubborn eye.”
“And a pain in her mother’s ass,” Destiny joked, making Delilah laugh as well.
All humor disappeared when Gracie returned holding a small boy, no bigger than little Cain, wearing some sort of leather Hannibal Lecter mask on his face. Delilah’s eyes widened at the sight. “Why…”
“He bites,” Gracie explained, lowering the boy to the quilt with a bottle. “Behave, Jaden, and I’ll take you to the woods later.”
The boy plugged the bottle into his mouth, the rubber nipple fitting perfectly between the wire slats of his mask. Humanitarian concerns for the child overwhelmed Delilah and she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.
Gracie touched her arm. “Don’t stare. He doesn’t like that.”
“Is he okay?”
“He’s perfectly fine.”
But how could she know for sure? The boy surely couldn’t say much at his young age, and whatever words he meant to say would be compromised by the muzzle.
“I’m telepathic.”
Delilah’s focus snapped from Jaden to Gracie. “Seriously?” She’d thought that was only a mate thing.
Gracie smiled. “It’s a gift. I promise you, Jaden is completely content. He’s my baby brother. I would never allow anyone or anything to harm him. But he’s teething and a danger to others.”
“Poor Grandfather. His knuckle still hasn’t fully healed.”
She was sitting with the fucking Addams family.
Annalise returned and took the sleeping baby Lucy back from Destiny. “Thanks for holding her.”
“I don’t mind.”
Annalise took a seat with the baby. “I know, but your hands are better at sewing than mine, so I’ll hold her.”
“And we have much to do,” Larissa reminded.
The women—aside from Annalise—plucked material from the basket and returned to stitching. Delilah looked in the basket. “Can I do something?” She didn’t know the first thing about making clothes.
“You just relax,” Gracie said. “It’s a skill that develops with time.”
Time was something she had plenty of. “Did you always know how to sew?” she asked Destiny, who didn’t appear to have the proficiency of Larissa and Gracie, but she was still more capable than Delilah.
“My mom used to be a seamstress, so I learned from watching her. But I’m nowhere near as talented as Larissa and Grace.”
She glanced at Annalise and the woman snorted. “I got nothin’.”
Her modern slang made Delilah smile. She hadn’t considered that her clothes were handmade, and now she felt horrible for comparing her gown to a pile of Jell-O shot puke.
