Page 33 of Mason

Mason found his niece lying in the crib, screaming her head off. Poor kid. He reached down and picked her up. “Hey, Rosie girl. You miss me?”

Her little pink lips wobbled, and he cuddled her close. He’d been around babies enough to know she wasn’t hungry or wet. She was just cranky. He sat in the rocking chair and started to hum to her as he rocked. The baby grew quiet and listened.

“How the fuck did you do that?” Nikoli asked from the doorway.

“Women love me, bro.”

Nik rolled his eyes. “Fucker…”

“Language,” he mock-warned. “What would Lily say if she heard you?”

“She’d ask me to make sure you were here at night so we could get some fucking sleep.” Nik shoved a hand through his hair and shuffled into the room. “Rose seems to think it’s funny to keep us up at all hours of the night.”

The baby decided to coo at that particular second, and Nik lost all his frustration. He grinned and stroked the baby’s head of downy black hair. “Papa loves you, Rose.”

“Have you taken her to the doctor? It might be colic. Viktor’s boys had that.”

“We have an appointment with her pediatrician tomorrow. Lily was thinking the same thing. Either that, or she’s teething.”

Mason laughed, and Nik looked at him questioningly. “Would you have ever thought we’d be here now, sitting with a baby girl talking about teething?”

“Fuck, no.” Nik sank down on the carpet, his back against the crib. “I had no use for women other than sex, and then I met Lily. She changed me. Then Rose came along, and I don’t know, it’s like everything’s settled, and this is how it’s supposed to be, despite our state of being a walking zombie.”

“I get it.” And he did. Jo did that for him.

“Do you remember Mama telling us she was going to curse us to have all girls?”

Mason laughed out loud. “She was mad when she said it. Kade convinced Conner to hold the wood while he chopped it. Chopped his fucking finger off. It was hanging on by a little strip of skin.”

“He never did forgive Kade for that.”

“Scared Mama to death with him running in the house, blood everywhere. And on her clean floors.”

“I’m surprised you remember that. You were, what…four or five?”

“Five, I think. I remember it because it scared me. I’d never seen that much blood before, and then Conner fainted.”

“Passed out,” Nik corrected him. Fainting was for girls, not boys.

“Passed out,” Mason agreed. “I bet Mama is laughing her ass off with all these girls in the family. She knows we’re going to drive ourselves crazy protecting them.”

Nik snorted. “Conner is collecting knives, the rest of us are stockpiling guns.”

“Papa wants to stop his treatments.” The words tumbled out, unbidden. All this talk of family, and he couldn’t help it. Nik deserved to know, anyway.

“What?” Nik went completely still.

“I went over to check on him, and he told me he wants to spend what time he has left with his family and not puking his guts out.”

“He can’t. He’ll die without those treatments.”

“He’s really sick, Nik.” Mason rubbed the baby’s back as he rocked her. “The treatments are making him worse. I understand it, I do, but we can’t let him stop his treatments.”

“I’ll go over when Lily gets home and talk to him.”

“I sorta already did…”

“Explain.”

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