Anything For You (The Connor Family 1)

I went to get Maddie, who was at the bar with Grace.

“Maddie, remember I told you my cousin and his family would stop by?”

“Yes. They’re here?”

“They just arrived.” I guided her to them, drawing small circles with my hand on the small of her back. She sucked in a breath when I touched bare skin through that slit under the ribbon.

“Maddie, this is my cousin Sebastian and his wife, Ava.”

Sebastian shook her hand. “Happy birthday, Maddie. Sorry to crash your party, but we haven’t seen this lot in a while. Thought it’d be a shame to pass through LA and not catch up. We’ll only be staying for an hour. These two get cranky when their bedtime passes.”

“Don’t hurry. I’m happy to see you here,” Maddie said.

She shook hands with Ava, then crouched until she was level with the two boys.

“And what might your names be? I’m Maddie.”

Both of the boys looked up at Ava. She pushed a strand of her blonde hair away from her face before answering.

“Seamus and Peter. They’re very shy.”

“They’re twins?” Maddie asked with excitement, straightening up.

I chuckled. “Not identical, but yes, twins. There’s a strong twin gene in our family.”

“You must have your hands full all of the time,” Maddie said, looking between my cousin and his wife.

“Oh, we’ve got two more at home. They’re with their grandparents,” Sebastian supplied. “Four in total. For now.”

Ava snapped her head in his direction, eyes wide. “For now? Husband of mine, I think four will do.”

I bit back a smile. “Don’t be so harsh on him, Ava. We come from big families.”

Sebastian pulled her closer, kissing her temple. “I’m not worried. I always wear you down.”

“He does,” Ava whispered conspiratorially to Maddie, then grinned. “I wish I could say otherwise, but when Sebastian wants something, boy oh boy, is my man persuasive. He even got me to agree to name this little one Seamus.”

“Took me four kids to finally convince you to use the name,” Sebastian said. “Still, I did it.”

Maddie was grinning at them. “Well, come on in.”

We walked with them toward the bar. Midway, Seamus wiggled his hand free from Ava’s grip. He could barely keep his balance, but he broke into a run, as if determined to test his legs. Maddie ran after him, scooping him up in her arms before he pelted headfirst into a wall.

“We’ve got this,” I assured Ava and Sebastian. “You two have a drink. We’ll bring Seamus back.”

Maddie was talking in a soft voice when I approached them.

“That’s a wall, little one. Hard and solid. Nothing good can come out of running into it, I promise. That’s an experience you can forgo.”

She brought him right in front of the wall, putting his small hand on the surface.

“See?”

She’d be a great mother one day. Something stirred in me, and the longer I watched her, the stronger it grew. When she walked with him toward me, the vision of a family became all too real. Our family.

“Seamus is adorable,” she informed me, kissing his forehead. “Pity I can’t keep him.”

I almost asked, “Do you want to keep me?” But that was a conversation for another day. I didn’t want to put her on the spot on her birthday. Seamus was playing with her hair as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. I agreed with him. She was fascinating. And she had become the center of my world.