“Nothin’,” I replied. “It means nothin’.”
I turned to Keela, who hugged me and thanked me profusely for helping her.
“I need a cup of tea,” I announced. “Me nerves are gone.”
Everyone chuckled as we entered Alec and Keela’s house and, of course, headed for the kitchen. The lads got the bags of messages in, and once they were on the counters, myself and Keela began to empty them and put the food away. I felt Damien’s eyes on me the entire time, but I ignored him as best as I could. I was angry with him over our fight, and I refused to pretend like it didn’t happen.
“I read something interesting today.”
I took Jules from Branna and snuggled him against my chest as I gave my attention to Alec.
“You know how to read?”
“Don’t annoy me, dwarf. I’m in a good mood today.”
“Fine, proceed.”
“I read online this morning that the first thing a man notices about a woman and keeps his attention is ultimately the thing he can’t live without.”
“Did it give you statistics about what a man notices first?”
Alec grinned. “Of course.”
He no doubt found it on the recommended section of Twitter.
“What’s the first thing you think a man notices?”
“The first thing a man notices in a woman are her eyes.”
I eyed him, wondering what was wrong with him.
“When her eyes aren’t looking,” he continued, “he notices her tits.”
There’s the man we all knew and love.
“You’re so predictable.”
“It’s the truth.” Alec shrugged, then looked at Damien. “Be honest, what did you notice about Alannah first?”
“Not her tits.”
Alec rolled his eyes. “Her ass then.”
Damien dimpled, and I blinked with surprise.
“I don’t have a nice arse, though.”
Gasps were sounded, and Damien looked like he was physically wounded.
“Don’t say that,” Branna warned. “When I said I didn’t like mine, I got an hour-long lecture about it.”
“I’m still upset with you for saying that,” Ryder mumbled. “It’s my favourite ass in the world.”
I smiled and looked down at their son in my arms. I pretended to chew on Jules’s fingers when he stuck them in my mouth, and he laughed.
“You’re so perfect,” I told him. “You and all your white hair.”
When he looked up at me and smiled, my heart squeezed.
“Oh God, these twins look like duplicates of the big twins.”
“The big twins.” Keela snorted. “Is that what we’re labellin’ them as, big twins and little twins?”
“Nico and Damien can be Thing One and Thing Two,” I said. “These precious boys can be called angels instead.”
“Typical,” Damien muttered.
I ignored him.
“I can’t wait until I can babysit these two.” I looked up at their parents. “When will that be?”
Ryder looked at Branna. “She wants to take them, so we should let her.”
Alec laughed as his eagerness.
Branna hesitated. “What if I cry?”
“I’ll hold you,” Ryder answered. “I’ll make it all better.”
“I’m sure you will,” I mumbled.
He grinned but kept his eyes on his wife.
“Okay.” Branna nodded. “But we should start with them just being gone for a few hours. Not overnight yet.”
“Sweetness, a few hours alone with you is all I need for us to experience heaven.”
I blushed on Branna’s behalf, and it amused Keela, who was watching me.
“I can take them for a few hours on Saturday,” I suggested. “I have a free day from work, and Damien is home that day, too. He’ll be drafted in if I need any help.”
Damien agreed with a bob of his head.
“Sounds good to me,” Ryder said and looked at his wife.
“Me too,” Branna said. “Be warned, I bet I’ll cry.”
I chuckled, then turned to Alec. He had his arms around Keela with his hands on her baby bump.
“Since you mentioned readin’, I just remember that I read somethin’ on Twitter last night that will mind fuck ye’.”
Alec locked eyes on me. “Hit me with it.”
“The alphabet song is really just ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’.”
I watched as Alec mumbled the two songs, and when the realisation dawned on him that they had the exact same melody, it cracked me up.
“How the hell have I not known this before now?” he asked Keela.
She shrugged. “I didn’t know it until now either.”
I watched as he tried to disprove my fact, and he couldn’t.
“Ah!” He grunted. “Fuck you, Alannah.”
I beamed.
“You enjoy your bickering so much it’s actually scary.”
I looked at Ryder. “It keeps me young.”
Alec then announced he was making pancakes, and both Damien and Ryder were happy with the news.
“He is obsessed with makin’ pancakes,” Keela said to me. “It’s his thing as of late.”
“Not just any pancakes,” Alec corrected. “The perfect pancakes.”
“What is the perfect pancake?” I quizzed.
“I’m glad you asked.”
Keela’s shoulders slumped. “I’m not.”
Alec ignored her and focused on me.
“The perfect pancake requires skill. Any moron can make a basic pancake, but it takes a true master to use his talent to execute the perfect circle of roundness, the right consistency of fluffiness, and of course, the correct ratio of golden brown.”