Page 27 of S.O.S. Mizzay

“Not to worry,” the heretofore silent brother assured him, piling out after Cobble from where he’d been in the far back seat. “It’s par for the course around here. You’ll be covered with it more often than not.”

Huh.No Brooklyn accent there, either.

“Come on, come on.” Andy, unaware of Cobble’s confusion, urged him forward.

He banked his questions for later, traversed the walkway leading to the porch, and went up two steps to be instantly embraced by Andy’s mother.

“I’m so glad to finally meet you,” she gushed with no trace of Andy’s intonations. “I feel like I know you after all Andy’s told us.”

And didn’t that fill up Cobble’s chest? Andy hadn’t just mentioned him in passing. It seemed she’d spoken about him at length. At least to her mother.

“Mom,” Andy snorted. “Way to make Cobble feel like he’s been a huge topic of conversation around here. I—"

“No. No,” Cobble demurred not letting her correct her mother.

No takesies-backsies.

“It’s fine with me. I mean, this way we can skip a lot of the bullsh—, uh, baloney, and really get to know each other,” he postured.

Andy’s mother gave a bright, tinkling laugh. “First of all, youcansay bullshit. When we decided to raise our kids as independent thinkers, we gave them free rein over their choice of language. And secondly, if what I think is happening here isactuallyhappening, we’re going to have a very long time to get acquainted.”

Yup.There were no flies on Andy’s family. They’dallalready figured out she was stashing him here, and were welcoming him with open arms.

Andy’s mother then made the last of the introductions. “I’m Eleni, by the way. Missy’s mother. And these are my boys’ wives, Sue and Bevvy.” She smiled fondly at the pair, then waved an arm airily in their direction.

Cobble proffered his hand, first to the redhead who was nearest to him. “Nice to meet you. You’re...?”

“Bevvy, Nik’s wife,” she clarified.

The big man Cobble hadthoughtwas Nik, came over and slung an arm over the woman’s shoulders.

Cobble gave her a smile, then reached out to shake with the second woman, a pretty blonde who looked to be very pregnant. “That makes you, Sue. Married to Atticus.”

“That’s me,” she confirmed, her soft hand sliding easily into his. “And yes, the more handsome of the two brothersismy husband.” She blew Atticus a kiss.

Cobble laughed as she got gently cuffed by Bevvy. It was easy to see that these two got along just great.

“Are you hungry?” Eleni asked him and Andy. “I made avgolemono soup for supper, and there’s still some left.”

“Starving,” Andy responded. “And if I know Cobble, his backbone is about to chew its way through to his stomach.”

“Yeah. I could eat,” he answered. An understatement.Yup.His mouth had actually been salivating as he’d watched thedogssettle down to chew on their beef bones. “But what’s avgolemono soup?”

“A creamy, chicken soup with lemon-egg sauce,” Eleni replied.

“I’m in,” Cobble agreed, and he hoped no one else could hear his stomach growling.

“Then let’s take this inside,” Theo suggested, “where you can eat, and we can find out exactly what brought you two here so unexpectedly tonight.”

His tone held a little less joviality and a tad more concern than before.

Rightly so.

These folks had to understand that his and Andy’s unannounced arrival heralded a precipitous flight to safety.

CHAPTER NINE

“So, nobody but the two of you, right now, know that Cobble is here,” Missy’s father confirmed as Missy and Cobble tucked into the generous bowls, as well as the bread that her mother had just placed in front of them. The family had all gathered around the well-loved wooden table to hear the latest.

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