Page 130 of Insta-Family (Forbidden Descendants 3)

Chloe lifted her gaze to my face, and her eyebrows arched. “I’d say the same thing about her mama. Something has bloomed about you since she was born.”

I laughed and felt my face go hot before I pressed my cheek to the top of Ava’s head. “I do like being her mom,” I had to admit. We’d gone through a couple of rough patches—heck, we still did—but I had to say, it was worth it. She was worth it.

Face filling with pride and adoration, Chloe squeezed her hands to her heart and grinned as she heaved in such a large breath that her shoulders rose.

“I want that,” she murmured. “Maybe not the baby specifically. But that kind of happiness. You have found your niche, Lucy Olivia. My parents found theirs with each other, and so did Julian and Skylar with their spouses. And Trick is determined to be a career student, which he seems to love. Hell, even Luke appears to be settled in at the bar.”

“Luke?” I asked, wrinkling my nose over the fact that she specifically mentioned him. I mean, it made sense for her to list her parents and siblings. But out of all the other people in our family unit, tossing out Luke’s name seemed so random.

“Yeah…” She shrugged and th

en waved me to follow her as she started toward the opening of the hall that led to my room. “Since his dad and brother turned out to be doctors, you’d think he’d find some kind of dissatisfaction with still slinging drinks until two in the morning almost every Friday night. But he seems very content with it. Well, I want some contentment for myself too. My own niche, so to speak. Which is why I’m really hoping this guy tonight…”

Without finishing the sentence, she glanced over her shoulder and waggled her brows at me before she lifted crossed fingers and entered my room, where she went straight to my jewelry box.

As she opened it and waved her hands, studying my loot, I carried Ava closer. “Does this mean the other guy’s finally left you alone?”

“Hmm?” She paused in the middle of lifting a gold star dangling from a gold string to her ear and studying the result in the mirror over my dresser. “Oh! Him.” Sighing, she glanced back at me. “No. Not at all. But good news there. You know how the police said they’d reconsider a restraining order against him if he was still bothering me after a week?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Well, he was,” she announced, completely unconcerned about the fact that she had a harasser. “So they did. And I was informed that he was served with the papers today.”

“Really? Wow.” I blew out a relieved breath. “Thank goodness.”

“My thoughts exactly. I’m just so glad that’s over.” Turning back to the jewelry box, she tossed down the star earrings and picked up two big silver hoops, holding them to her ears. “What do you think of these?”

I shook my head. “Not with that outfit.” Then I frowned. “But aren’t you worried at all about how he’ll react to the restraining order?”

Chloe shrugged as she went fishing through the jewelry some more. “Not really. I mean, there have been male-dominance red flags and all, that’s why I broke it off and got the restraining order in the first place, but he was never physically abusive or even made threats. What about these?”

She held up a pair of colored, geometric shapes, and I nodded. “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” They’d make her jean skirt, cowboy boots, and black bustier top look super cute.

“Yes!” she hissed, appreciating my feedback, and promptly started to put them on. “Hey, by the way, I got a little something-something for baby Ava.”

When she pulled a small, wrapped box from her pocket, I frowned. “You’ve already given her a present, though.” A lot of people in the family had already gotten Ava a baby present, in fact, and yet tons of them had come by throughout the week to give her another.

I hummed suspiciously as I reached out to accept it. The wrapping was eerily familiar, so I lifted the box. “What is going on here?”

“What?” Chloe cried, looking way too guilty. “I can try to earn some extra godmother brownie points with you by getting another baby gift if I want to.”

“Yeah, you and a dozen other people this week,” I said, my brows rising. “What’re these really about?”

“Okay, fine,” she said, letting her shoulders sag as she sent me a scowl. “They’re all from Vaughn.”

For some reason, I was not expecting that answer. “Vaughn?”

Chloe sighed and started rifling through my necklaces. “Yeah. He had a whole closet full of baby gifts for you when we were clearing out his house, but he said you wouldn’t let him give you any more, so…” With a shrug, she glanced my way. “We all chipped in and took one and said they were from us to make sure you got them, anyway.”

“My God,” I murmured, shaking my head and looking down at the box. Realizing it was from him, my chest filled with raging emotions.

“He just doesn’t stop, does he?” I asked, glancing up at Chloe.

“What? Looking out for you and Ava? No, and I don’t think he ever will.”

She was probably right. And that just made everything so much clearer for me.

“Will you open it for me?” I asked, holding out the gift.

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