“You mean defensive driving and the navy?” Liam started up the car.
“I don’t care what you call it, but I’ll kill you if we’re late.”
By the time they reached Denton Memorial, everyone else of their makeshift family was already there, including Bumblebee, who lay with his head on his paws and kept a careful eye on his toddling charge, Bar.
“They let you bring a dog in here?” Liam asked.
“Cullen pretty much owning the hospital has its advantages,” said Eli, obliging little Ella’s demand to be taken off his shoulders and passed to Liam’s. “Not that it stopped Dani from ordering me out of the room.”
“What? Why?” Liam swung the giggling girl around as he frowned at his friend. Unlike Liam could ever hope to be, Eli was an amazing father.
“I believe the woman’s exact words were ‘Get out of here, you bloody annoying Brit, and don’t come back until you have your head glued on straight,’” Aiden put in helpfully.
Stepping up, Patti patted Eli’s muscled arm. “Eli was maybe just a little too enthusiastic with his concern and encouragement.”
With Lisa in rehab in Colorado, Liam’s mother had decided against returning to Ann Arbor and was busily making up for Liam’s lost childhood years by adopting all his friends. Making matters worse, instead of discouraging it, Liam’s bastard friends had adopted Patti right back. Hell, the assholes even seemed to enjoy having her around, which just figured. Though so far as Liam was aware, not even Patti knew what deal Lisa and Aiden had worked out.
Patti glanced at the closed door to the delivery room. “I think you’re safe to make another approach, though. Just remember, she’s right and you’re wrong. About everything. If she says the sky is purple, you agree. If she’s sure the baby has three legs—”
“I say that I’ve already ordered special shoes.” Squaring his shoulders, Eli marched to the door.
Patti smiled at the man’s departing back, then glanced back at Liam. “You better be taking notes for when it’s your turn.”
“Ma…” Liam stepped away, focusing his attention on the little girl on his shoulders to avoid the conversation. Jaz was a bright woman, and she knew Liam too well to want to have children with him. They hadn’t said it in so many words, but Liam had made it clear that the choice as to when—and whether—to have children was entirely up to her. One didn’t need a psychology degree to know which way that was going to swing.
But that was all right. For reasons unknown, Ella had taken a liking to him, and Liam would be content to be an uncle.
“Do you know where Ivy and Jaz went?” Kyan asked, walking up to him. Behind Kyan, Bar followed along with a decent imitation of his father’s confident gait, the image spoiled only slightly by the thumb in the boy’s mouth. “And for the record, I still can’t believe you’re going to be my brother-in-law. I really thought my sister had better taste.”
Liam snorted. “Honestly, so did I.” He was only half joking. The more time he spent with Jaz, the more disbelieving he became of his own good fortune. “Are they with Dani?”
Kyan shook his head. “I saw whispering, widened eyes, and then they disappeared down the hall. Sky is now running interference for anyone who tries to head that way. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s making me nervous.”
“Can Cullen make Sky talk?”
Kyan raised a brow.
“Right. Stupid question.” Liam turned to watch Sky, who was indeed standing nonchalantly in the middle of the hallway. As he watched, the woman pulled out her phone and read something on it, then called Patti over.
Patti looked at the screen, gasped, and turned her back to Liam and Kyan.
“We need to recon,” said Liam and swung Ella off his shoulders. Getting down on one knee before the little girl, he re-pigged a loose pigtail and gave the child a serious look. “Listen here, kid. Auntie Sky and Nana Patti are playing keep away. I need you to go, be cute, and find out what they’re whispering about. You copy?”
“You copy?” said Kyan. “How is she supposed to understand that?”
“Copy that, base command!” Ella retorted. “En route.” She paused long enough to stick her tongue out at Kyan and then scampered off, skipping along the checkered tiles.
Kyan whistled.
“Eli has been bringing her to the gym,” Liam explained. “We have an understanding.” What had started as a favor to a friend had turned into a routine Liam had found himself looking forward to. All logic to the contrary, he discovered he truly enjoyed having a child around. He only hoped the practice wouldn’t end now the pregnancy was over.
The girl returned just as Ivy and Jaz herself reappeared in the waiting area.
“Well?” Liam asked Ella.
“Two.”
“Two what?”
She shrugged. “Dunno. Just two.” She held up her fingers to demonstrate how big a number, lest Liam misunderstood.
Kyan snorted. “Good going there, Commander.”
The sudden unmistakable sound of a crying baby echoed from the delivery room, making Liam’s throat tighten. Though he was happy for Eli and Dani, he suddenly wished that call was for him. That a little person might enter into the world and trust Liam to lead him through it, the way Liam’s own father never had.
He felt Jaz slide her hand into his and swallowed hard. He didn’t want to pressure her. Not that she’d give in to something she didn’t believe was right.
“It’s a boy,” Eli announced, peeking out of the delivery room, a tiny bundle in his arms. Joy radiated from the large SEAL, his trained muscles cradling the little child with a practiced gentleness that Liam envied. “None of you vultures get to hold him for another twenty minutes, but you can start queueing up.”
“You should get in the queue,” Jaz said into Liam’s ear. “You need the practice.”
“Mmm?” Liam forced his attention away from the door, his mind finally catching up to Jaz’s words. “Oh, I don’t think Dani is going to let him bring the baby to the gym for a few months at least.”
“Right. Um…” She put her hands into her pockets. “I wasn’t talking about Eli and Dani.”
“I don’t follow.” He glanced down at Ella, whose lower lip was starting to signal a coming discontent with the turn of events, and picked the girl up quickly. “Do you have any idea what Aunt Jaz is talking about?”
“Two,” Ella announced sagely.
“That’s exactly right,” said Liam, eliciting a grin from the child—and a frown from Jaz.
“Wait, you know it’s two?” said Jaz.
“I know it’s two. I just don’t happen to know what we’re counting. Hopefully not apocalypses.”
“Well, it depends how you look at things,” Jaz said, biting her lip. “In this case, we’re counting children. I’m pregnant. With twins.”
Liam froze, everything inside him stuttering to an emergency halt before starting up again with a vengeance. “You…you stopped taking birth control?”
Jaz frowned, a worried glance fluttering over her smooth skin. “Yes, of course. I mean you did say that you were ready whenever I was, didn’t you?”