Page 51 of Thanking Her Brother's Best Friends

Niall let out a throaty laugh. "Truer words cannot exist."

The boys masterfully crafted the plates, arranging the food in the most visually appealing way I had ever seen.

As Oliver joined us at the dining table, his eyes widened at the sight of the beautifully plated food. "Whoa, this looks amazing!"

Dom grinned. "Don't go making comments before you eat, though. It'll break our hearts, and worse, your mom has plans to sue us if the food doesn't taste good!"

Oliver opened his mouth to give us a very toothy, naughty smile. "You'll go to jail if I give you bad marks?"

"Yes," Aiden replied, twisting his hands in a mock display of seriousness. "Don't sell us short, little guy."

Oliver took a bite, his face lighting up with delight. "This is delicious! You guys nailed it."

Throughout the meal, playful banter filled the air as Oliver and the boys exchanged jokes and stories.

Laughter echoed in the kitchen as Ollie told us about his day and how the gates to the demon kingdom were actually supposed to be closed by a wolf who would then eat all the baddies up.

That comforted me a little bit—but one of these days, I'd have to sit down and talk to Ollie about the things going on in that vast little heart of his.

After dessert, the nanny arrived to take Oliver upstairs to prepare for bed. He gave the boys a high-five, his eyes gleaming with happiness. "Thanks for the awesome dinner, guys! Promise me you'll come back, and I'll give you full points."

And just like that, my breath caught in my throat.

Come back.Like his dad never did.

What if... what if this repeated itself, and I created false expectations in his mind about Aiden, Niall, and Dom?

But Aiden took over easily. "We'll be back whenever you call us, Little Lord. We hereby commit as your butlers. And chefs. Whichever you'd prefer."

Ollie giggled and pottered away, leaving me surrounded by the men and a sea of my own twisting thoughts.

I waited until ten minutes had passed. "You guys okay to hang out for a bit? I'll just go say goodnight to Ollie."

There was a unified "Go on," so I quickly went up to Ollie's room. Franny had tucked him into bed, and his face was flushed with the beginnings of sleep. My kid had never been a difficult sleeper.

Even now, when he shut his eyes, I knew he wouldn't wake up before I got him out of bed tomorrow morning.

I kissed his head softly.

"Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Very much." He beamed. "I like your friends, Mom."

I ignored the knife twisting my guts and planted another tiny kiss on his little nose. "I like them too. Goodnight, Ollie. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Goodnight, Mom."

I closed the door behind Ollie and went down to the kitchen. The boys were busy.

"You okay?" Dom asked as he began cleaning up the table.

"I—"

I swallowed. "Back when Ollie was a baby, everyone used to tell me not to fuss over him as much as I did. Like, I was always holding him. And they'd insist on my putting him down, letting him cry to comfort himself, just letting him grow up. But man, that was my baby. What did he know about the world back then?”

I scoffed. "Can you imagine, landing in a cold crib after nine months of toasty warmth and comfort in a mother's womb? Everything feels alien, and then, I was apparently supposed to teach him to get over it and do shit on his own. I couldn't, of course. I held him as much as I thought he and I needed it—it wasn't for him alone. And I loved and comforted and fussed over him all the time because he was the light at the end of the tunnel for me."

I raised my chin. "There are times when the greatest fear I have isn't about letting him down, but rather breaking that heart of his."

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