The Fix Is In (Torus Intercession 4)

“That’s for sure,” Delly groaned from the back seat.

“This is kind of exciting,” Sian pronounced. “We’re like the actual Scooby Gang.”

“The what now?” Delly asked.

I snorted and caught Sian’s eye in the rearview mirror. “Feeling old, are ya?”

She flipped me off.

“No seriously, what’s a Scooby Gang?”

“You know, I’m sort of loving the heated seats in this car,” Benji remarked, and then glanced over his shoulder at Sian. “And, you know, a heater, period, is a nice touch.”

“Listen,” she began, and I heard the irritation in her tone, “when you start taking real money and not food in return for our services, then we’ll talk.”

“You’re going to have a baby soon. You’re going to need something safer than the deathtrap to put a car seat in.”

“I’ll figure it out,” she groused at him. “I still have two months to get my life in order before Bertram makes his appearance.”

“Bertram?” I asked. “I thought the baby’s name was Elmo.”

“I’m trying out different names in spur-of-the-moment situations to see how I like them.”

“I see.”

“There’s a lot to do before Cody makes his appearance.”

“I have to say I like that one better.”

She grunted, and Delly muttered something under her breath.

“What was that?” I couldn’t make out what she said.

“Yeah,” Sian growled at her, “what was that? Maybe you wanna speak up so the whole class can hear.”

Benji cleared his throat, squeezing my forearm again. “Delly was suggesting that if, perhaps, Sian would let, say, the father of the baby help her—as he’s dying to do—then maybe she wouldn’t have to do everything alone.”

I thought a moment, remembering my brother’s screwed-up situation. “My sister-in-law Sophia, she was going to have her baby, my nephew Ingram, alone because my brother Niall was kind of a player when they met.”

It was suddenly very quiet in the car, no more talking, only the sound of the rain pelting the roof, the heater on high, and the rhythmic tapping of the wipers.

“But right before the future of professional hockey was born—really, you guys should see this kid. He’s only six, and he skates circles around other people, and already he can throw an elbow to the throat that the refs don’t even catch,” I assured everyone in the car.

“I’m sorry, what?” Delly was aghast.

“Go on,” Sian ordered irritably.

“Well, like a month before Sophia was ready to pop, Niall finally pulls his head all the way outta his ass and gets over to her place with a moving van and all of us and is down on one knee in her driveway with a diamond as big as a quarter when she got home from work.”

“This is a good story,” Delly sighed.

“He tells Sophia he’s sorry he wasn’t there to rub her feet the whole pregnancy, and he’s remorseful as hell. He loves her like crazy, and he wants her, and he wants his kid.”

“And Sophia, she loved him, yes?” Benji asked me.

I remembered my brother begging her and her breaking down, unable, she told me later, to turn him away like she’d dreamed of doing. She wanted to be strong and brave, but it turned out that trusting him was the strongest and bravest thing she ever did. It was a gamble, but it turned out her intuition was on the money. He was good, just not particularly bright. My mother always did say he was the pretty one.

“Of course. He’s Niall. He’s a fireman. Everybody loves firemen,” I said instead of anything more personal. I had no idea what was going on with me. Why was I talking about my family? I didn’t tell strangers about my family. What the hell?

Benji huffed out a breath in what sounded like frustration. “But Sophia, she took the ring and the man, and they lived happily ever after?”

“Until he got hurt on the job, yeah,” I explained, unable, somehow, to stop sharing. “But see, this is where it gets good, because now Niall stays home and takes care of their five kids, and Sophia, she’s this high-powered, scary ad executive.”

“I really like this story,” Sian announced.

“And you should see when she looks at my brother carrying around one of his kids. I mean, everybody should get looked at like that once in their life.”

“Aw,” Delly cooed.

“You see?” Benji snapped at Sian. “Just because you don’t believe in happily ever afters, doesn’t mean you won’t get one!”

“Why’re you yelling at me?” Sian retorted.

“Because I’m the one Christopher calls and texts and follows around when he bumps into me. You cut him out of your life, which put him squarely into mine. So he had a moment of uncertainty; not everyone does change as well as you.”

I heard how sarcastic the end of his rant was and checked the rearview mirror. Sian’s arms were crossed, and her jaw was clenched. She looked furious.

“You might have given the man a second to wrap his brain around your news instead of not liking his silence and walking out of his life for the past seven months.”