“I know. We did pretty good, eh?” Natalie said.
“We did,” Zoey said with a nod of approval, and bore her cousin away.
“Eh?” Rowan repeated in a light tease. “I used to think that was a joke, but you Canadians really say it. Even Demitri’s started.”
“How many cousins does she have on the other side?” Nic asked.
“It’s not a competition,” Natalie chided, sharing an eye-roll with the other wives. Theo was mature enough to abstain from juvenile contests, but the other three were not.
“I’m just saying, if we could assist in any way...” Nic continued innocently.
Rowan tilted her head back in a sultry laugh of enjoyment, hugging her husband. “We’ve been dying to get you all together and tell you! The agency called us. They have a little boy from the same village as Evie. We can get him next week, and we were hoping one of you would keep Evie while we do.”
“Of course,” everyone rushed to agree, hugging and kissing and congratulating.
As the hullaballoo died down, Adara said, “Of course, that’s only one.” She shared a look with her husband, flashed one at Jaya and bit her lip. “We have a bit of news ourselves. You know that we’ve never wanted to open the can of worms that is Gideon’s background, so adoption has never really been available to us. But a friend of Jaya’s cousin is pregnant. She’s very young, but wants to have the baby and have an open-adoption situation. We’ve talked with her several times and... Of course, anything could happen, but she seems very certain.”
“We offered to help her out so she can keep it, but she wants to finish her education and go into law. She’s met Androu,” Gideon said, indicating their son. “She feels strongly that we can offer a better upbringing. They both do. The baby’s father is in the picture, willing to marry her, but he really doesn’t have much. And he’s scared out of his mind at the idea of being a father. Doesn’t feel he’d make a good parent. He’d rather his child have more stability and opportunity.”
“She’s due in a month and... Well, as I say, things can change, but I think we’re expecting,” Adara said with a teary smile.
All the women sighed and hugged her; the men kissed her cheek and shook Gideon’s hand. Everyone wished them luck.
“So that’s two,” Demitri said with a nod of approval. “Of course, my brother the math whiz might say differently. How is your wife’s jet lag slash food poisoning, anyway?”
“Okay, it’s not food poisoning!” Jaya cried, covering the blush that darkened her cheeks. “And it must be a girl because I was never this sick with Zephyr.” As she accepted congratulations from everyone, she said, “I hated keeping it from all of you. It’s just that silly rule about—”
“Waiting three months, I know,” Demitri said. “Bothers me, too.”
Everyone went quiet. They looked at his smirk, transferred their attention to Natalie’s flushing cheeks and exasperated glance at her husband. They grinned.
Adara blinked back tears and said, “Oh, Natalie.”
“I know,” Natalie said, growing teary herself. It wasn’t just hormones. She was happy. Really, really happy. They’d been waiting until his business was established, which had happened very quickly, given his skill and connections. She was finishing up a special project she and Jaya had been working on for the hotels and now...
Life was about as perfect as it got.
After accepting everyone’s felicitations, she hugged Demitri, reveling in the way he gently crushed her into his side.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For giving me all of this.”
“Thank you,” he said, grazing her lips with his own. “I never imagined myself like this, you know.”
“A father? Part of a big family?”
“Happy,” he corrected. “Living happily-ever-after.”