Page 66 of Found By You

Cassidy sits calmly beside me with a lemon bar in hand.

“What the hell are you idiots doing?” Clayton booms.

“Duke stole my pie,” Rhett exclaims from under a headlock while throwing an elbow back into Butch’s gut.

Clayton just shakes his head, choosing a freshly frosted cookie off a nearby tray.

Julie snatches it from his hand. “You’re already at your sugar limit for tonight, dear,” she tells him, turning to her four wrestling adult sons. She sighs heavily. “Will you boys knock it off? Parker is getting tired, so we’re going to do pjs now.”

Duke drops Rhett like a sack of potatoes, jumping to his feet and rounding the island to stand behind me. “Touch her pie again, and you’ll be shittin’ sideways for a week.”

Levi plucks the last lemon bar off the bake tray, and Butch promptly seizes his wrist. “Don’t even think about it,” he growls, and Cassidy quickly acquires the dessert from her soon-to-be husband.

“Seriously?” Levi says, exasperated. “So, no one is allowed to eat whatever the pregnant women want?”

Rhett mutters something under his breath about his favorite pie while watching as I shovel in an oversized bite of the delicious chocolate peanut butter bliss.

“Come on, kids,” Julie calls from the living room, but I’m too invested in this pie at the moment.

Duke reaches for my plate, and I poke his hand with the fork. “No, sir.”

He chuckles. “We’ll bring it with us.”

Heat rises to my cheeks, and I laugh. “Oh.”

My pie plate in hand, we sit on the couch. Julie begins passing out gift bags. Handing the two largest bags to Butch and Duke, but the name on the side reads Duke & Maci.

She didn’t…

Butch hands the bag to Cassidy. She pulls out a set of matching red flannel pajamas and a plaid, Christmas onesie for Frankie that says, Nana is my favorite. Duke opens his bag, removing a set of forest green flannel pajamas for—us?

“Did your mom buy us matching pajamas?” I whisper.

He simply grins. “And she’s going to expect us to wear them tomorrow when we come over for Christmas brunch. It’s mandatory. Along with the picture she’s going to take of all of us together.”

Oh, be still my heart. She’s adorable.

“I hope you don’t mind, Maci,” Julie says. “I asked Duke your size. The bottoms should fit, but the top might be a little big. Last-minute holiday shopping is always a nightmare.”

“Thank you so much, Julie, that’s…really sweet of you.” Don’t cry, don’t cry.

Parker starts to strip in the middle of the room to put on his new dinosaur pjs. Lily stops him, laughing. “Hold on, buckeroo. Give everyone a hug goodnight, and tell them we’ll see them tomorrow when Santa comes.”

Parker makes his rounds.

“Night, buddy. We’ll see you in the morning,” Duke says, giving him a bear hug. He crawls off Duke’s lap and onto mine, throwing his little arms around me, and I melt.

“So, Uncle Butts, Jeans, and Duck,” I say, crawling into bed. “I don’t think I heard. What does Parker call Rhett?”

“Just Rhett,” Duke replies, flicking off the lights and climbing into bed beside me. “He’s only met Beau once in person, talked to him a few times on the phone, but he only knows him from pictures. Rhett and Beau are a lot easier for him to say.”

I nod, snuggling up under the covers against his warm chest. “He’s a sweet boy.”

“He’s a good kid. Shame his dad ran off the way he did.”

“He’s got five crazy uncles to look up to,” I yawn. “I think he’ll be all right.”

“Yeah…” Duke sighs. “Do you, uh, ever worry about that? Raising a son or daughter without their real father?”

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