sometimes ideas were so perfect you just had to roll with them and brave the sisterly wrath.
Nat pulled the last pin out from between her lips. “I suspect she’ll just get even.”
Crap. That could be even worse. Nell could be frighteningly creative. “Hopefully she’ll wait until our little girl is walking, at least.” That might buy them some time to redeem themselves.
“By then, we might not be too worried about Nell.” Nat undid the cloak, moving it to the table. “Okay, I just need to hem this, and then we’re done. I’ve heard stories about what Devin in particular was up to by the time he could walk.”
He grinned. “Most people blame all three of us.”
She handed him an apple. “Most people don’t know you very well.”
Devin had almost always been the instigator, but he and Matt hadn’t been unwilling followers. “We probably would have just found some other kind of trouble without Dev around.”
“You go on believing that.” Eyes twinkling, she tried to thread the cape under the sewing machine foot. It wasn’t the easiest of fits, working around her belly.
He sighed and threw another rock at his bastion of masculinity. “Want me to do it?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You can sew?”
Sigh. “Yeah. And knit, and braid, and even make a passable friendship bracelet. I draw the line at cross-stitch, though.” Nobody sane wanted to work on the same inch of work for three days.
She pulled herself up from the chair and handed over the cape. “My hero. No wonder your nieces love you.”
It was his coding skills they loved, and he was sticking to that story. “So you don’t think I’m as crazy as Dev, huh?”
Her arms snuck around his shoulders, belly pressing into his back. “Do you?”
Nope. Much as it burnt him to admit it. “He got an extra dose, I guess.”
She sat down beside him as he got the cape lined up. “Do you think he’s here for a reason? And Sierra?”
Uh, oh. He couldn’t sew and be mystical at the same time. “What are you getting at?”
She rubbed slow circles over her belly. “I just wonder if we needed to learn from them. About the different kinds of reckless. So we’re smarter when our baby girl arrives.”
He grinned at her. “Nothing happens without a reason?” It was one of her favorite themes. And she had a point. He’d grown up with Dev, but they’d still taken a couple of serious wrong turns with Sierra. Maybe he was smarter now.
Or not. He shrugged. “If nothing else, Devin might keep us out of hot water with Nell.” His brother had spent several days perfecting the world’s best flying broom. Red, shiny, and bat-out-of-hell fast. And that was without Aervyn driving.
He started up the sewing machine. Somewhere to hide might not be such a bad idea.
~ ~ ~
Devin stood, towel in hand, beside a totally mystified Sierra. And grinned as Aervyn came hurtling into the room, wearing his fire-engine-red swim trunks. “Ready to go, superdude?”
“Uh, huh.” Aervyn crashed to a halt, breathless. “Mama says not to lose me, or she’ll be really mad at you.”
Sierra took his hand. “We won’t.” She looked over at Devin. “Where the heck are we going, anyhow?”
“You’ll see.” He grinned and activated the Realm transport spell, his eyes on Sierra’s face as they materialized at the other end. Joy hit first—and then she shrieked and went racing for the water, Aervyn’s hand still firmly in hers, his feet a foot off the ground.
Moira landed just as their shrieks hit maximum volume. “Ah, good. I thought she might enjoy this.” She let go of the little girl with her. “Go on in, Lizzie. Just don’t go out too far until we join you.”
Devin felt Lizzie pulling power. No worries—she was clearly a pretty potent little water witch. He looked over at Moira. “Are you going in?”
Her regal glare had him squirming. Clearly that had been a really stupid question. “Of course I am. What, you think old witches can’t swim?”
He wasn’t dumb enough to make the same mistake twice. “I’m sure you can.” And he’d be sticking close.
“The day I can’t swim in warm ocean waters is the day I’m dead, my boy.” She grinned at him and dropped her towel on the sand. “Race you!”
It was totally embarrassing that she beat him to the water. Mostly because he was laughing too hard to move, but still. Devin trailed behind as she swam out to where the young ones played, diving under small waves