Page 56 of Saved By the Marines (Soldiers Of Misfortune)

“That last one,” Ray said, then shuddered. “Did I tell you that she nearly burned the house down before I got her out of here? Thankfully, it seems like you’ve found the right one so I won’t have to deal with kicking any more women out while you’re out on a mission.” Ray’s twinkling eyes met mine and I couldn’t help but laugh with all of them.

“Once we finish breakfast, I’d really love it if you came over and met the rest of the clan. We’re having a barbecue to celebrate you, Bailey,” Jean said, clasping her hands together.

“Me?” I asked, eyes wide. I didn’t even get birthday parties at my dad’s. A whole party for me was something I couldn’t wrap my mind around.

“Oh yeah, a welcome to the family,” Ray replied, with a wiggle of his brows.

“We’ll be there after we’ve had time to clean up,” Wolfe promised.

The pancake I’d taken a few bites of sat like a lead weight in my stomach. I didn’t have a problem meeting new people, but this was potentially my new relatives. A welcome to the family get together. For me. I swallowed past the lump in my throat. Already Wolfe’s parents had treated me more like a daughter than my father ever had.

I looked over my shoulder at the door. All of this was so much, too much. I thought that at any moment my legs might take off and pull me out of here. Back to…back to a life with no love. No joy. I felt a hand on my thigh again. I turned away from the door and looked at Kip. His smile was soft and calming. “Hey, relax. We know it's a lot, but you deserve this.”

With that the weight melted away.

CHAPTER25

Bailey

My head was spinning. I’d just been introduced to Wolfe’s nine brothers. There were ten of them! I didn’t even want to contemplate how Jean had managed that, she was so slim and tiny, at least compared to the guys.

“There you are.”

I jumped and turned to face Wolfe. “Sorry, I was looking for the bathroom.”

He motioned down the hall and walked beside me. “Was that too much?”

My brows rose and I shook my head. “I grew up meeting huge crowds of people, I’ve gotten good at remembering names.” I assured him. “At least this time they’re all excited to meet me.” I smiled at him. Some of his brothers were already married and their wives had yanked me into hugs, all of them so happy to be meeting me.

“I have a question.”

“Okay,” he rumbled, stopping next to the bathroom. His parents’ house was huge, which made sense now since it’d had to house twelve people while the boys were all growing up. Now it was the focal point of the family and everyone gathered here for birthdays, holidays, and whenever Jean wanted more family time.

As we’d left the guys house and walked across an open field, it’d loomed before us. There were other houses nearby on the same property. Wolfe had explained that all except two of his brothers lived in these homes. They’d all wanted to live outside the city and raise their families on the same property they’d grown up on. Jas had added in that Doug and Derrell would eventually make their way home and build on their lots as well. They hadn’t settled down yet and had chosen to live in the city near their jobs.

“Wolfe is your last name, so why does your family call you that?”

“Everyone in my training unit used Wolfe rather than my first name and it just became such a habit that after I brought the guys home my parents even caught on. All my brothers call me Wolfe, too.”

“That’s not weird?”

“It probably was at first, but not really anymore.”

“So…what’s your first name?”

He grinned at me and leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his massive chest. “Dane.”

My eyes narrowed. “They gave you all D names?”

He chuckled. “Yup and really regretted it once we all started running around. It was hard enough to tell who was who, but once you did, trying to spit their name out was impossible.”

“Your dad’s genes are strong,” I said with my own laugh. “All ten of you are the spitting image. Then add in Kip and Jas.”

“Our instructors thought it’d be funny to team up the brothers, knowing that later on family wouldn’t be allowed to actually form an official team. Joke was on them since we weren’t related and that became our unit from that moment on.”

“Wolfe!”

We looked over as one of his nephews toddled up, his mother chasing him down the hall. Wolfe scooped the child into his arms. “Chase,” he scolded, “you’re not supposed to run from your mother.”

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