Craving Molly (The Aces' Sons 2)

“How the heck are you going to talk to her?” Rose asked Lily, whose mouth twisted up in a grimace.

“You can talk to her,” I said quickly. “She can hear just fine, she’s just not talking yet.”

I looked up at Trix and Farrah, and both women were smiling cheerfully at Rebel as she batted her eyelashes at the little girls.

“Hi, Rebel,” Lily said softly, her eyes pointed over my shoulder. “I’m Lily. How old is she?”

“She’s almost two.”

“Don’t babies start talking when they’re like one? Curtis and Draco are only one and they never shut up.”

Mel snorted behind me as Farrah huffed.

“Draco and Curtis are my boys,” Trix informed us. “They babble.”

“They say a lot of words, too,” Rose pointed out.

“Well,” I said as I glanced over at Mel, who gave me a small smile. “Rebel has Down syndrome. Do you know what that is?”

“A couple of the kids at my school have that,” Lily said, nodding her head.

“Yeah, so it’s just a little harder for Reb to master stuff than it is for other kids. She’ll get it eventually, though.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Lily, I think she wants you to hold her,” Rose said, leaning around her aunt to talk to her cousin. “She’s got her arms out.”

Rose was right. Rebel was leaning forward, reaching for Lily.

“Oh, um,” I said, glancing helplessly at Farrah.

“It’s okay. She holds the boys all the time—she knows what she’s doing.”

Lily took a tentative step forward and lifted her arms.

I didn’t want to be an asshole. I really didn’t. But Rebel was sort of a live wire. You never really knew how she would behave and I was really afraid that Lily would drop her.

I took a deep breath and handed Rebel to Lily, who immediately propped Rebel on her hip with one hand under her tush and the other solidly around her back.

“You like Lily, huh?” Farrah asked Rebel, leaning down to look into her eyes. “I like her, too.”

Rebel smiled and lay her head down on Lily’s thin shoulder.

Lily beamed. “She totally loves me,” she announced.

“She’s like the baby whisperer,” Trix told me, watching Lily. “Sometimes she’s the only one who can calm the boys down for a nap.”

“Okay, girls, we need to get cracking,” Farrah announced. “Brenna’s present isn’t going to buy itself.”

“Do you want to walk with us?” Lily asked, her expression pleading as Rebel’s fingers sifted through the hair hanging over her shoulder.

“I think—”

“Sure. I’m not liking anything in here.” Mel chirped, cutting me off.

“Okay, I guess we will,” I said through my teeth.

“Give Rebel back to her mama, Lilybug,” Farrah said softly.

“I’ll hold your hand, okay?” Lily told Reb as I took her away and strapped her back into her stroller.

We left the crowded store and headed out into the main part of the mall, and as soon as there was a little room to move, Rose led Lily to the side of the stroller so she could hold Rebel’s hand as we walked.

My panic must have shown on my face because Farrah sidled up to me immediately. “As long as you don’t plan on starting or stopping fast and you’re not into running little girls over with your stroller, she’ll be fine,” she told me, nodding toward Lily. “Rose leads Lily around like she’s an extension of her body. They know what they’re doing.”

“I hope Rebel has a friend like that,” I said quietly, watching the girls as they giggled at my baby’s antics.

“Well, they’re cousins,” Farrah pointed out with a laugh. “I married my best friend’s little brother, so they’ve been connected since birth. I’m not sure if Rebel will ever have what Rose and Lily have—most people don’t. But I’m sure she’ll have a best friend.”

“Does Lily go to a school for the blind?” I asked, immediately feeling like I’d overstepped. “Ugh, ignore me.”

Farrah laughed. “No, she goes to regular school, and has a tutor three afternoons a week. We couldn’t separate the girls after Lily lost her sight.”

I wanted to ask a million questions. They were right on the tip of my tongue, but somehow I kept my mouth shut. Farrah was the first mom I’d talked to that had a special needs child—and even though the girls were totally different, I wanted to know how she did it. I wanted to know the secrets. Sometimes I felt so alone.

After half an hour of visiting with our new friends, Mel and I said goodbye and walked toward the other end of the mall, where we’d parked the car.

“What the hell was that?” I hissed once we’d gotten far enough away to not be overheard.

“Gathering intel,” Mel replied, bumping her hip against mine.

“What intel? You talked about makeup and asked if Trix worked out!”

“Did you see that woman’s ass? She had ass for days!”

“You’re so annoying!”

“Hey, they invited us. I just thought it would be cool to find out a little more about Will.”