Page 72 of This Wild Heart

-No, we don’t know anything about the mom.

-Yes, it was during his manwhore phase.

-Yes, he did a paternity test, and we’re waiting on the results. His name is Leo, he’s really cute, and you’re not allowed to ask Parker too many questions because he gets that twitchy look in his eye.

-No, Mom will not be sharing the baby at this point in time. Please wait one business day before requesting to hold him. She’s kindly asked that you “feed your damn selves” if she’s in the middle of active grandparenting.

I gave Poppy an incredulous look. “Are you serious?”

She lightly shrugged one shoulder. “It worked, though, didn’t it? Greer didn’t ask any questions.”

“Yet,” Greer answered ominously.

Anya watched the two sisters with unbridled glee.

“What are you smiling about?” I asked.

She arched an eyebrow in my direction. “You didn’t tell me we’d get so much entertainment while we’re here.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. “It’s an unfortunate side effect of any visit back home. They literally can’t help themselves.”

Sheila laughed.

Greer pointed at the sign. “Put it back up. That shit is genius.”

Beckett slapped me on the shoulder. “Congratulations. Welcome to the dad club.”

Olive plucked the sign out of my hand. Greer hopped up from the couch and took it from her, dropping a kiss on her stepdaughter’s cheek. “Well done, Olive,” she told her.

I gave Olive a fake growl, tickling her side until she laughed, tucking her face into her dad’s neck. I could feel Anya’s eyes on me again, but she wasn’t really trying to hide it.

Greer ducked past me and slapped the sign back on the door, setting her hands on her hips. “When does everyone else get here?”

Poppy was doing something on her camera. “Ian and Harlow will be here soon. Cameron and Ivy are working late, so it’ll be after dinner. Erik is coming in from Seattle with little Isla, but Lydia couldn’t come with him because she had a work conflict. They’re staying in the guesthouse.”

“What are you doing, Poppy?” Sheila asked.

She hooked her phone into a weird circle contraption on three legs. “I told you I was going to film the arrivals. Not sure why anyone thought I was kidding.”

I marched into the kitchen, but she spread her arms out. “Take it down,” I commanded.

“Oh come on, at least let me film one. We can watch it in a few years, and it’ll be hilarious.”

“To you,” I said darkly.

“Can I hold him now?” Greer asked Sheila.

Sheila stared down at Leo. “Not a chance, honey. Not a chance.”

It took Greer three hours to wait out my mom. The moment Sheila sighed in frustration, and admitted she’d had to pee for the last two hours, Greer whooped triumphantly and snatched Leo right out of her arms.

“Oh, he’s so kissable,” she proclaimed, snuggling him up against her face. “I’m your Auntie Greer, and it’s okay if I’m your favorite. Everyone will understand.”

The chorus of groans from the kitchen, mostly from my brothers, made Anya laugh.

All evening, I’d been able to watch.

Watch my family process the news of the baby. My brothers were shockingly nonplussed. Ian, my oldest brother and definitely the most stoic, simply blinked down at the baby, proclaimed him cute, and smacked me on the back. Cameron raised an eyebrow and got his hand hit by Sheila when he tried to take the baby. Ivy, my future sister-in-law—a sharp, no-nonsense ballbuster who was single-handedly commandeering the family’s business into the stratosphere—studied Leo with a shrewd expression on her face and immediately started researching Oregon parental abandonment laws. She didn’t even stop to play chess with anyone, which was telling.

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