Erin excused herself and came back quickly. “Todd will be by tomorrow to look at everything.”

Elise thanked her and felt marginally better.

She felt his approach before she saw him. His scent hit her nose as his body heat blanketed her side.

“You’re going to have to hose Rennie down after this,” Brody said, kissing her briefly. She allowed herself to lean in to his body and he hugged her tighter.

“She’ll love it, even if the water is so cold her lips turn blue. My kid loves the water.”

He grinned. “Did you know that Erin’s building has a pool?”

“Oh my gosh, that just occurred to me.” Erin turned to Elise. “We do have a pool. It’s rarely used, but maintained really well. You two should come over and swim. That would be fun.”

“Erin, your idea of fun puzzles me. You have two super-hot men to go home to and you think listening to Rennie screech and splash around is fun?”

Erin hugged her around where Brody hung on. “I’ll need the practice. This morning there was a plus on the stick.”

Elise hugged back, kissing Erin’s cheek. “That’s wonderful news.”

“It really is.”

“You two wanna fill me in?” Brody’s look was patiently amused.

“Adrian needs to come over here too. But he’s being flirted with, so I don’t want to interrupt.”

“You told her!” Brody pointed to Elise. “She’s never made you chocolate chip pancakes, I bet.” He sort of pouted, and Elise had no other choice but to cup his cheek. Good gracious, he was just so much to her. At that moment, she wanted to pour her heart out to him, wanted him to take care of things while she stayed in bed under the blankets. It sucked always to be the one to have to fix things.

Erin giggled. “She’s cuter. Plus, you and Adrian are like a combo platter. I can’t tell one first and not the other.”

“Adrian!” Brody called out to his brother.

Adrian looked up from the conversation he’d been having with Martine and nodded in Brody’s direction, but he continued to listen to Elise’s mother, smiling and making Martine flutter her eyelashes.

“My mother is as bad as Rennie is with the flirting.” Elise handed out new sheets of paper and took the others, using clothespins to hang the paintings to dry.

“You’re an old hand at this,” Brody said. “Then again, Rennie’s quite the artist, so clearly it helps.”

“I figured out pretty quickly that she loved to paint and draw, so we’ve perfected the process over the years. On days like this I can let her work outside. But normally I put out a painting tarp on the dining room floor and let her work there.”

“You and I are going to talk later tonight,” he whispered as he leaned in.

“Can’t. My parents are hanging out, and tomorrow is a school day so everyone will be in bed early.”

“You’re going to tell me.”

She sighed, thankful to see Adrian approach finally.

Brody kept an arm around Elise’s waist, holding her in place. He liked her there with him and he liked everyone knowing it. Another part was that his protective instincts had gone into overdrive and he didn’t trust anyone else to protect her as well as he could.

He also liked seeing how close she and Erin had become. Erin had told him Elise had shared her story. He was relieved she’d shared, but he couldn’t help but wish it had been with him. Erin said she’d tell him if he asked, but that she thought Elise should tell him herself. He agreed with that, but at the same time he really wondered what had happened and if his basic impressions were true.

“Guys, you’re going to be uncles again.”

Brody’s heart stopped for a moment when he’d really heard what she’d said. Then joy salted with a bit of sadness came over him as he moved with Adrian to hug their sister.

“When? When are you due? How long have you known? Are you okay?” Adrian said, sounding very much like the worrier he was. ’Course, Brody was worried too.

“I just found out before we got here. I’m not telling anyone else until I’m through the first trimester. I don’t know when my due date is yet. I’ll see my doctor this week and they’ll have an approximate time. And I’m more than fine. I’m ridiculously happy. It’s a good time in my life. Steady. Full of love. I have no complaints.” Erin turned a bit. “Where are you going?”

Brody turned too, catching a red-faced Elise, who’d begun to slink away.

“Well, it’s a private family moment. I didn’t want to intrude.”

Brody simply reached out with his open hand, and with a sigh from her, she took it and he drew her back to his side.

“You’re a dumbass.” Erin said to Elise. “You’re family. I’d like you to be the godmother. Rennie can be like an honorary godassistant.”

Elise hugged Erin. “I’d be so honored. Rennie is going to flip her lid when she finds out.”

Elise was so grateful for her friends, Brody most of all, for keeping her laughing and entertained all day so she wouldn’t dwell. But now that they’d cleaned up the area, it was clear to her she needed a long, hot bath and a big glass of wine.

But first to tell her parents after they got Rennie to bed. Brody had stuck around, hoping to corner her, but it had truly been so chaotic she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have tell him even if she’d wanted to. Rennie was more than tired, she was overtired and overstimulated, and she vibrated with that grumpy, hyper and suddenly weepy personality girls her age got after days like the one she’d just had. Elise was exhausted just dealing with it.