Page 13 of Adoring Delaney

“No, ma’am. My momma would paddle my behind if she heard me call a beautiful woman by her first name.”

Mom’s eyes were twinkling and Steve was charming the hell out of her.

“Come on, you two, Tuesday and Jackson have something to say. I was sent in to get you.” She stopped and her smile faded a fraction. “I’m real glad you could make it today, Steve.”

“Me, as well.”

We followed my mom back outside. This time Steve didn’t grab my hand but he stuck close and when I introduced him to my sisters, Mercy, Honor, Meadow, and Tuesday. They were all friendly and welcoming. My aunts, Reagan, Lily, and Blake, the same. They smiled at Steve and told him it was nice to meet him and they’d meant it.

Jackson, Ethan, Jason, and Nick were a little frosty but they’d tried their best to mask it. So, there was that. We avoided Carter altogether. Both for Steve and my sakes.

Liberty broke away from talking to my parents and I braced for impact as she threw her body into mine for a bone-crushing hug.

“I missed your face,” she told me.

“Missed yours, too.”

Moira, or Liberty as she demanded we call her from fourth grade on when our teacher kept butchering her name and she was tired of being teased by the other kids, and I were the same age. I was only a few months older than her. We’d grown up close, always being in the same class from kindergarten until we hit middle school. And even after that we went to the same school and shared some classes together.

When she decided to follow in her dad’s footsteps and join the Army, I thought her mom, Blake, was going to have a stroke. Eventually my aunt came around but it had taken a while.

Just because I hadn’t seen her in two years didn’t mean we hadn’t kept in contact. We skyped when we could, and messaged back and forth weekly.

“Steve, right?” Liberty smiled. “Heard a lot about you. Nice to meet you. I’m Liberty.”

And that was the truth, I had told my cousin about Steve. She, like the rest, didn’t know the details about Carter or what had really happened the day Derek had taken me, but she had encouraged me to start dating.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Steve said. “Delaney tells me you’re in Germany. How do you like it?”

“Love it. Sadly, I’ll be changing duty stations soon. Coming back stateside.”

“You are?” I asked, trying not to bounce around like a silly teenager. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“Wanted to tell you in person. Next month actually. Just re-upped another four years. I’m Airborne qualified and headed back to Benning for RASP.”

“No shit?” Steve smiled.

“Lost me,” I said. “What’s that?”

“Ranger Assessment and Selection Program,” she told me.

“Ranger? You’re gonna try to be a Ranger? Thought that was only for men?”

“Opened it to women. Twelve have passed. I’m hoping to add my name to that list.”

Holy hell, my cousin was crazy. But she was the good kind of nuts—strong, badass, and smart. If any woman could pass that kind of physical training it would be Liberty.

“Your mom?” I whispered.

“She’s…worried.”

“I’ll bet.”

“Yo!” my dad bellowed, cutting off our conversation. “Need you all to follow me.”

Everyone got up and started after my dad, who was making his way farther into the backyard. I hung back with Steve, allowing most of the crowd to precede us. And it was a big crowd. I had nine cousins, three of them married, two of them having children, three sets of aunts and uncles, my parents, Tuesday and her grandmother, Patty. That was twenty-three people walking in front of us. Meadow and Nick’s twins didn’t count because they weren’t walking. Meadow was holding her daughter, Ariana, and Nick was holding his son, Nolan.

My heart clenched at the sight and I tried to shove the hurt and jealousy aside. My gaze landed on Honor and caught sight of her rounded belly carrying the next generation of the Lenox family and it killed seeing her.

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