“I’m the nicest person you know.”
“Mom.” Eva rolled her eyes. “That stopped being true when I got old enough to leave the house.”
“What did you do to Kaleigh?” I wasn’t an expert on babies, but the toddler was drooling, and it was blue. “She looks exhausted.”
“I let her join the other pups during recess. She played until snack time, ate three sugar-free blue raspberry ice pops, then curled up under a tree.” Eva plopped down on the couch, Kaleigh barely stirring. “She’s guaranteed to sleep through your party now, no interruptions.”
“You’re a genius,” I praised her. “An evil genius, but we don’t discriminate in this family.”
The toddler, Kaleigh Kinase, was a new addition to the Savannah gwyllgi pack and the Kinase family.
When she was only a few months old, Kaleigh was earmarked as a sacrifice for a black magic ritual. Linus and I shut down the dark rite with help from Lethe and Hood before she came to any harm, but Kaleigh’s parents had been murdered by the same witches who planned to sacrifice her, and the bleak experience had left Kaleigh with a dark aura no amount of smudging could remove.
Social services, the paranormal branch, made it plain Kaleigh had no prospects, that no family would risk what developed when the girl hit puberty and that darkness manifested, but they had been wrong.
Hood and Lethe had been trying for another baby, and when they heard the news about Kaleigh, they leapt at the chance to welcome her into their family. Eva, who was rarely a diva these days, was in heaven with a playmate she would never outgrow since sisters were forever.
It was good training for the day when Linus and I needed a babysitter for our little terror. And yeah, with Lethe as his or her godmother, and Hood as her or his godfather, I had no illusions I wasn’t giving birth to a future hellion. All I could do was pray to Hecate that he or she took more after her father than me.
“I also packed board games,” Eva said to the grumpy ghost boy. “We can play while they party.”
Oscar zoomed around the room until he blurred, then called, “Race you upstairs.”
Eva never stood a chance. No one beats a boy who can zip through walls. Not that she tried, with Kaleigh still in her arms.
Woolly’s lights flashed an incoming warning, and she opened the door in a rush.
“Thank you, Woolly,” Neely panted from behind a mountain of gifts stacked higher than his head. “I’m about to drop everything.”
The house, who loved him as much as I did, blew him a kiss on the warm air currents from the vents.
Suck up, I thought at her. You’re angling for those new stained-glass windows.
Hired to help me decorate the baby’s room, Neely made the epic mistake of buying Woolly new curtains to freshen up the living room. More small touches had spilled out into the rest of the rooms from there as they slowly redecorated the entire house with little or no feedback from Linus and me.
The old girl had sat abandoned and alone for years, so I didn’t begrudge her the expert makeover. Even if I did start to wonder if she was stealing Neely from me.
Cruz strolled in behind his husband with a sleek garment bag slung over his shoulder. “Hello, all.”
For Cruz, that greeting was tantamount to a round of warm hugs and sloppy kisses.
Obviously, I was immediately suspicious.
After hanging the bag on the downstairs salon door, he rushed to unload Neely’s arms.
“You should have let me carry these,” he chided. “You’re working too hard on this baby shower.”
“You just like to fuss.” Neely kissed Cruz’s cheek. “And I like to let you.”
“I’m going to put Kaleigh down while it’s still quiet,” Eva murmured, heading upstairs to our baby’s room and the playpen Kaleigh preferred to nap in when she visited us. Glancing over her shoulder, she singled me out. “Oscar and I will hang in your room so I can keep an ear out for her, if that’s okay?”
“Knock yourself out.”
“Thanks, Aunt Grier.”
“You’ve got a good kid there.” I watched her go with a sigh. “She’s growing up so fast.”
All parents said it, but in her case, it was one hundred percent true. She was blazing through childhood.
“I found a picture of a boy in her room.” Lethe’s mouth pulled to one side. “I’m not ready for this.”
“You’re not the only one.” Neely butted into our conversation. “You need to get dressed for your