Page 113 of Shadow Dance

“Look at these goofballs,” Maeve says affectionately. “They dropped everything to be here. Even Lucky.”

“They came because they have your back. That’s why I don’t mind if they’re part of the deal,” I say. “I don’t mind your family. I just don’t want to lose you.”

Chapter 35

Cruz

One Year Later

Bria greets me at the door, looking uncharacteristically harried as the dogs bark in excitement. “Thank God you’re here,” she says, thrusting her fussy baby at me. “Can you hold her for a sec? I have something in the oven and I think it might be burning and there’s apple juice all over the floor!” A beep sounds from the kitchen and she hurries off, her rant fading.

I step inside and shut the door, looking down at the tiny human in my arms. “Hey, Jules.”

Juliet’s huge gray eyes glitter with tears, but her seriousness melts into a drooly grin when I smile at her. I swear, this is the happiest kid on the planet. And maybe the cutest, too … for now.

“Sorry about that,” Bria says as I walk into the kitchen with Juliet. She sets a huge pan of lasagna onto the countertop as Liam wipes up the floor with a wad of paper towels. “We’re a hot mess today.”

“Hi, Uncle Cruz,” Liam mumbles, pouting as he works.

“Hey, Liam.” I chuckle as their pit bull Bacon noses his way over and starts licking the sticky mess. “What’s going on?”

“Spilled my juice,” he says, peeking at Bria.

“Juice he was sneaking,” she says, ruffling his hair with her oven mitt.

“Ah.” I look around. “You guys need any help?”

“We’regood for the moment,” Bria assures me. Crisis seemingly averted, she tosses her oven mitts aside and turns off the oven. “How’s Maeve feeling?”

“Better. I think her morning sickness is finally dying down,” I say, letting Juliet play with the cross around my neck.

“Thank God. The wedding will be hectic enough without her feeling like she needs to puke every five minutes.”

“Yeah,” I agree, distracted once again by Juliet’s adorable smile. She looks a lot like Bria, but with her dad’s eyes and smirk. I wonder if our baby will look like me or Maeve.

“You really love your uncle, huh?” Bria laughs, gently taking her daughter back. “She’s always so happy with you.”

I shrug. “I think she’s just happy.”

“Not when she’s teething,” Bria laments, proceeding to kiss Juliet’s face until she squeals. “She’s been having a rough day.”

“Is this good?” Liam asks from the floor.

“Yeah, but we should mop it so it doesn’t get sticky, okay?” she says, bouncing Juliet. “Can you grab the mop from the laundry room?”

“Fine.” Sighing dramatically, he trudges away.

“You can go on up, Cruz,” Bria says. “Lucky should be off the phone soon—there was a shipping emergency in Belfast or something.”

I jog upstairs to Lucky’s office, knocking on the door. He opens it with the phone pressed to his ear, motioning for me to come in. Tristan’s on the couch with Owen, talking quietly. They rise as I walk over, clapping my back.

“How’s Maeve? You ready for the big day?” Owen asks.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I smile, thinking about the last few months of near-frantic planning. “Maeve’s excitement is through the roof, though.”

“Not surprising,” says Tristan. “She’s been planning that shit since we were kids.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay,” Lucky’s saying, fingers pressed to his eyes. He’s obviously over the conversation. “Fine. Just tell ‘em it’s the same order as last time. Great. Thanks.” Disconnecting with a giant huff, he tosses his phone onto the desk. “Hey, man. Sorry about that.”

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