Page 28 of Driftwood Daffodil 2

Dropping my elbow on my leg, I propped up my chin and sighed, “This party is a bust, Knoxy. Should we color on your mother’s wall instead?”

“Garblflat.”

I was going to take that as a yes.

Veda needed a little sunshine in her life. And by sunshine I meant giant purple boobs in every corner of her room. I’d draw dicks but I didn’t want to traumatize her.

At least that was my plan until a whined out screech poured through the house. Maw Maw really needed to fix that doorbell.

I opened my mouth and gave Knox a shocked look. “Who could that be?”

He continued to chew on his toy so rabidly, that I wondered for a second if my nephew was part dog. There was an entire half of his genetics we knew nothing about. Unless, of course, that half came from the Mancini line. But Knox didn’t have any traits in common with Gio or his family.

Pushing myself up off the floor, I walked over to answer the door. But not before I grabbed my pink sparkly sceptre. One had to commit to the role they were playing. Plus it was always fun to freak someone out.

Unfortunately the person standing on the deck was someone who’d seen me dressed up in worse things than a giant hat and ruffle skirt.

“Ah, Duchess,” Memphis folded his arm against his stomach and bowed down, like a proper gentleman. “I see I’m not too late for tea.”

Finally, someone who understood the assignment.

I stepped back and waved for him to enter. “No, good sir, you are right on time.”

Memphis did a little skip and strutted in.

I cocked a brow, “What the hell was that?”

“What?”

“That little skip you did?”

“I didn’t do a skip.”

“Yes, you did.” Who was he trying to fool? “I have eyes.”

“You sure about that? You miss a lot.”

“I do not.” I snorted.

“Knox is dumping paint on his head.”

I looked over to where I left my nephew. Sure enough, the fake loaf that used to be in his grip had been replaced with a small bottle of blue paint that he was placing on his head like a hat.

“Look at that. He learned how to take lids off.”

Memphis’s brow arched. “Really?”

“What?” That was a milestone wasn’t it?

“He’s making a mess.”

He sure was. Fat globs of blue splatted down on the blanket. Thankfully I grabbed it from Veda’s room, so it wasn’t my problem.

“Aren’t you going to do something about it?”

I looked at the blue lines running down Knox’s head and waved my hand dismissively. “He’ll have a bath later.”

“Seriously?” Memphis shook his head and walked over plucking the baby off the floor. “Come on buddy, let’s get you cleaned up.”

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