Brothers in Blue A Bryson Family Christmas - Jeanne St. James Page 0,37
ass!” Greg crowed, bouncing in his seat.
Mary Ann sighed. Leah smothered her chuckle by taking a sip of hot chocolate.
Leah turned toward her in-laws. “Thank you for taking the kids, it’s been so peaceful.”
“P-e-a-c-e or p-i-e-c-e?” Ron spelled out.
“Ron!” Mary Ann scolded him.
“Quiet,” Leah corrected her mistake. “Until now.”
She spotted her husband squeezing through the crowd, carrying Jax, and keeping a tight grip on Austin’s mittened hand who held onto Oliver’s.
God, seeing him still made her breath catch. Especially when he was in uniform. And this was why she was pregnant for a third time.
Watching him interact with their sons and nephew would make her eggs shoot out of her ovaries like a machine gun.
“Here they come,” Mary Ann said.
“Here they come!” Greg shouted, excited to see the boys, like it had been weeks instead of maybe twenty minutes. “And Marc!”
Oh yes, here he came...
Her husband’s gaze locked with hers and he smiled.
She decided right then and there, she was taking a nap after the parade so she could jump his bones as soon as he walked in the door after his shift.
His smile wobbled and he lifted one eyebrow at her, like he could read her mind.
She hoped he could. Because that might keep him warm while he walked the parade beat.
When they got close enough, he put Jax down and let go of Austin’s hand so they could run over to her.
“Mommy!” They both tackled her and she guarded her hot chocolate so they wouldn’t knock it out of her hand. “We had funnel cake.”
“You did? Before dinner?”
Austin, a perfect clone of Marc, nodded. “Daddy got it for us.”
“Yes, I see the powdered sugar on your lips.” She lifted her gaze to his father. “Daddy knows what sugar does to you. And Daddy also knows your grandparents are getting you Chinese food tonight for dinner.”
“Daddy also knows what a little sugar does to Mommy,” Marc whispered.
“Is that what you younger generation are calling it now?” Ron asked. “Sugar?” He turned to Mary Ann. “Are we going to have sugar later?”
“I put plenty of sugar in your wet-bottom shoofly pie, honey.”
Ron smiled. Marc made a face. And Leah groaned.
“At least that gives me hope,” Leah said under her breath.
Ron patted her hand. “Yep. If he’s anything like me he won’t have any problems in the future.”
“Christ,” Marc muttered, “Pop, the kids.”
“The kids, what? We’re talking about sugar and pie. Isn’t that what you’re talking about, too?”
“Whoa,” Leah whispered as she saw a big man with an extremely long beard making his way to an empty spot on the sidewalk. He was holding on to a blonde woman with one hand and a matching little girl with the other.
Marc turned his head in the direction Leah was staring to see the six-foot-three, two-hundred-something pound biker heading toward an empty spot not far from where his family sat.
“Dunn and I ran into him the other week in the empty lot where the old warehouse used to be,” Leah said.
“What was he doing there? The Blood Fury hasn’t owned that lot for a while now.”
“He was talking to that blonde. He said she had gotten lost and was only trying to help her. I didn’t think they knew each other, but apparently my instinct was wrong.”
Marc’s eyebrows rose. The PD dealt with Judge Scott and his cousin, Deacon, a lot since they owned Justice Bail Bonds on the other side of town. However, they both began to wear the Blood Fury MC’s colors last year when the MC was resurrected by the deceased former president’s son. Not one cop at Manning Grove PD was thrilled to hear or see that club be reborn since the Fury had caused a lot of problems prior to it imploding over twenty years ago.
Murder and mayhem had been their M.O.
“She doesn’t look so lost right now since she’s holding Judge’s hand. The little girl must be hers. She looks just like her.”
“First time I saw the girl,” his wife answered.
As Judge began to set up their folding chairs, the little girl spotted them and took off at a run, little bells jingling on her sneakers.
Both Judge and the mother screamed, “Daisy!” at the same time.
Daisy ran up to both of Marc’s sons and Oliver and yelled, “Hi!” at the top of her lungs and did a floppy side wave. “I’m Daisy!”
Austin and Jax both glanced up at Marc, unsure what to do.
Marc shook his head. At this rate, his sons would need help learning how to