Page 104 of Angel Eyes

“Should we eat first or work on the invitations?” Lily asked, rolling up her sleeves like she was preparing to perform intensive manual labor rather than stuff envelopes.

“Definitely eat first.” I slid into the spot on the floor between Juliet and James just as Nora sat down beside Lily. “If even one invitation arrives with a sauce stain on it, Jean-Claude will have a coronary.”

“Not to knock his preference for doing things the old-fashioned way, but wouldn’t it be easier to send these out electronically?” James said, spooning moussaka onto his plate.

“Probably,” I said, licking a bit of hummus off my thumb and smirking when I caught Juliet watching me. “But Jean-Claude insisted an email could never match the elegance of a hand-delivered invitation. But don’t worry. We sent out the save-the-dates electronically, and we’ll send a reminder via email before the event so people have the details easily accessible.”

“Very wise,” Juliet chimed in just as Lily swatted her brother’s hand.

“Hands off my pita,” she snapped, scooting her plate away from him. “Why can’t you get your own? The carton is just over there.”

“Because yours is right here,” he said matter-of-factly.

Juliet wiped her fingers on a napkin. “Here, James. You can have one of mine.”

“Absolutely not,” Nora said, waving a fork at Juliet. “You’ll only encourage him. It’s bad enough he had a mother and two older sisters to spoil him for a quarter of a century. Don’t you take up the baton.”

“Well, what do you expect?” He reached for Lily’s plate again, only to earn an elbow to the ribs. “I was the baby of the family until Lily came along. You can’t imagine how difficult it was for seven-year-old me to accept the sudden change in our family dynamic.”

“Oh, yes, I can.” Nora nudged him with her foot. “You forget, I’ve seen pictures of you at the hospital when she was born. Your face was redder than hers.” She set down her plate, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “And on that note, I’d like to make an announcement.”

“Already?” James grinned. “Thought we’d at least get to the baklava before you told them.”

“Told us what?” I uncapped a water bottle as Juliet’s and Lily’s eyes connected across the room, clearly picking up on something I hadn’t yet.

“I’m pregnant.”

Juliet clasped her hands over her mouth just as Lily overturned a carton of salad. “Oh, my goodness,” she squealed, diving onto Nora. “I’m going to be an auntie.”

I swiveled to James, the water bottle still suspended halfway to my mouth. “Are you serious? How long have you known?”

“A couple of months now,” he said, beaming proudly.

“So, you can keep a secret—just not mine.” He laughed, and I gave him a wide grin, clapping him on the shoulder. “Congratulations, mate. That’s fantastic news.”

“Right,” Nora said, untangling herself from Lily’s arms to accept a hug from Juliet, “and I’m expecting you all to come to our gender reveal party in a few weeks. Make sure to let me know your guesses whether it’s a boy or a girl beforehand. The winners will get to take their turns first during the baby names game.”

Lily squeaked. “Oh, I hope it’s a girl.”

“Baby names game?” I said, blinking in confusion.

James’s mouth twitched. “Don’t try to understand it, mate. Just come for the free beer.”

Juliet laughed, shaking her head at James as she nestled into the crook of my arm. I pulled her closer, hooking a hand over her hip and nuzzling her hair.

I looked around at the four of them huddled on the floor of my studio, laughing and talking—and occasionally elbowing, in Lily’s case—and realized that, for the first time in a long time, I felt completely at peace, surrounded by people I loved. They might not have been the family I was born into, but they were the family I’d found.

And they were more than enough.

Thirty-Six

Cristian

“So, what do you think of the candidates?”

I blinked, looking up from the computer screen I’d been staring at for however many minutes without seeing a single thing. Caleb sat across from me in my office, leaning back in his chair with his long legs sprawled wide as he waited for me to respond.

“Sorry, what were we discussing?”

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