Thomas nodded. “Thanks, Mom.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“I consider myself an enlightened person, boy. I do have the Internet and HBO. I just don’t need to know the details. And you—” she jabbed a flour-covered finger at Tyler, “should have known better than to let him get away with not telling me.”
Tyler looked appropriately chastised. “Sorry, Mom.” The way he said it sounded like “mum.”
Nevvie couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“What are you laughing about, sweetheart?” Tyler asked, approaching.
Thomas smiled, sensing Tyler’s thought. “Yeah, what are you giggling at?”
The men surrounded her, tickling her. Nevvie couldn’t fight back with her hands full of dough. “All right! Uncle!” Each man planted a gentle kiss on her cheek before releasing her.
Peggy smiled, shaking her head. “I imagine you’ve got your hands full with these two.”
Nevvie blushed and went back to rolling pie crust. “We have a lot of fun.”
Thomas and Tyler sat across the table and watched them work. Peggy smacked Thomas’ hand when he tried to snarf a piece of raw dough.
“You should have seen her, Mom,” Thomas said. “She’d only been working at the office for a few weeks and she discovered an embezzler. Asshole robbed me for nearly a half-mil over the years.”
Tyler nodded. He winked at Nevvie and managed to steal a piece of dough from her board before she could stop him. “She’s amazing, Mom. She’s a wonder, truly. She helps me edit my manuscripts, manages the business end for me. I have so much more time to write now.”
“How is the latest?”
“Sent the manuscript to my agent last week. So far, so good.”
They all fell quiet for a moment. The men watched the women roll out crust and line the pie plates.
Peggy cleared her throat. “At least now I know why you insisted on staying at a hotel.”
Thomas dropped his gaze. “Well, it would have been weird trying to explain it over the phone. I didn’t know how you’d react.”
She reached over and gently smacked him on the cheek with a flour-covered hand. The shock of her action more than the actual force stunned him. “Look here, Thomas Ryan Kinsey, have a little more faith in me than that. How did I react when you brought Ty home?”
Thomas stared at her in disbelief, his left cheek still bearing her flour handprint. Tyler smirked.
Peggy wagged a finger at him. “Don’t you be getting smart either, Tyler.”
Nevvie tried to hold her giggles and couldn’t.
“Have y’all checked in yet?” Peggy asked.
Thomas shook his head.
“I don’t know how you plan on telling your sisters, Tommy. I’m assuming you’re going to. Y’all would be the only overnight guests. None of the rooms have a bed big enough for the three of you, so someone’s going to have to bunk alone. Unless one of you wants to keep falling out all night. I don’t mind you staying over. I would prefer some discretion, if you get my drift, but you’re always welcomed. You’re family.”
“I need to tell them,” Thomas said. Tyler reached over with a napkin and wiped the flour off Thomas’ face.
Peggy sighed. “I’ll make the eggnog extra strong and serve doubles before you do it.”
The women put the pie crusts in to bake while the boys unloaded their luggage and cancelled the reservation. Nevvie got the last word, and the boys grudgingly settled in Thomas’ old bedroom with her next door.
Thomas gave Nevvie a tour of the house and large property while Tyler answered an email from his agent that came through his BlackBerry.
“See? I told you she’d love you.”
“Your sisters might not be so easy.”
He hugged her to him under an old pecan tree down near the pond. “Let me worry about that.”
Nevvie closed her eyes and breathed in Thomas’ scent. “She asked me about grandkids.”
His rumbling laughter rolled through her. “That doesn’t surprise me. Remember, I’m the only boy. I think she saw her chance for another Kinsey fly out the window when she met Tyler.” He hesitated. “What did you say?”
“I told her it was too soon to think about that.” The three of them hadn’t even discussed it yet.
Thomas’ eyes burned into hers. “Is it something you might want to think about? In the future?”
She nodded, trying to ignore the sudden, aching need fighting for attention in her lower belly as he hardened against her.
He buried his face in her hair. “It’s your choice, sugar. It’ll only be your choice—if, when, how many. Whatever you want.”
Tyler called to them as he walked down from the house. “Karen’s on her way with a bunch of stuff for tomorrow.” He smiled, his blue eyes twinkling. “I just got another reaming for not making you tell, Thomas.” He put his arms around both of them, kissing them. “Make sure you spend the weekend sucking up to Peggy, right?”
“I will.” Thomas looked at Nevvie. “See? This worked out fine.”
“No, we haven’t told your sisters yet.”
Tyler took her into his arms. “Karen will be the easiest, I suspect. She’s next to youngest. She was the first of the girls to welcome me into the family.”
Nevvie had memorized their names. Oldest to youngest: Emily, Katie—short for Kathryn, Cheryl, Karen, and April. She’d asked Tyler to help her prepare when Thomas wasn’t around. Thomas wouldn’t understand her desperate need to not fuck this up, but Tyler did.
All too well.
“Mom asked her about grandkids.”
Tyler froze, then looked into her eyes. “And?”
“I told her it was too soon yet.”
“Yet?”
“That’s a strong maybe, Tyler.”
He hugged her. “Oh, sweetheart,” he whispered. “We love you so much.”
“I already told her it’ll be her decision if and when, that we’ll go along with whatever she wants to do.”
“Absolutely.”
“Give me a chance to get used to what we have first, boys.”
The men held hands with Nevvie as they returned to the house.
Chapter 21
Karen was four years older than Thomas and looked most like him. Tall and lanky, her shoulder-length brown hair was sprinkled with grey. Thomas made the introduction when his sister walked in, her arms full of groceries. Nevvie mustered a nervous smile and accepted Karen’s warm hug after she’d set the groceries on the counter.
“It’s nice to meet you, Nevvie. There’s always room at the table.” She turned to Thomas. “Where’s Blue Eyes? I need help unloading.”
“I’ll help.”
“If I wanted to look at you, bro, I woulda asked you for help.”
“Quit putting moves on him, Karen. He’s taken.” Thomas winked at Nevvie, who stifled her nervous giggle.
“Tyler!” Karen bellowed. “Where the hell are you?”
Peggy winced. “Watch your volume, missy. You weren’t born in a barn.”
“You screeched?” Tyler appeared in the kitchen doorway, and Karen’s eyes lit up. She flew into his arms.
“There you are!”
He gave her a perfunctory hug and Nevvie noticed Peggy glanced at her before looking at her daughter.
Thomas nervously shifted his weight. “Uh, sis, we need to talk.”
“You’re breaking up, and I can have him?”
Tyler had sidled around the table to stand by Nevvie, slipping his arm around her waist. Best to get it over with.
“Not exactly. We’ve added to our family.”
Two plus two equaled seven in Karen’s mind. She squealed with joy. “A surrogate? You’re going to have a baby? That’s gr—”