Page 56 of Doctor Daddies

James, Cole, and I exchange a look. Is that…is that agreement? It sounds a whole hell of a lot like it, that’s for sure. Might not be a thundering endorsement of our relationship with her, but it’s the closest thing we’re going to get right now, and I’ll take whatever I can lay my hands on.

“That means…?”

“That means if you want her, then you go after her,” Matt says, holding his hands up. “Not saying it’s going to be easy for me to wrap my head around my three best friends getting with my sister, but…” He looks between us. “At least it’s going to make my Christmas card list a little shorter, huh?”

We all laugh, his joke enough to ease some of the tension between us. It’s not much, but Jesus, after everything that has happened, it’s something. And I’ll take whatever I can get right now.

“Have you spoken to her about this?” Matt asks curiously, and I shake my head.

“We wanted to talk to you about it first. We knew that’s what she would care about when it came down to it. She doesn’t want to lose you, not for anything.”

Matt grins slightly. “Well, you’ve got my permission,” he tells us, lifting a hand. “So go get her, guys.”

27

MILLIE

I humto myself as I come up the stairs, my bags laden down with groceries.

It’s been a week or so since the trip to the hospital, and it finally feels like things are beginning to settle into their usual pattern—taking Lewis to school, tending the apartment, resting up for my next appointment…

It’s a quiet kind of life, but one that I’m all too happy to let myself sink into now that I have it.

I dump the bags on the floor as I push the key into the lock, feeling a little pang as I think of the silence of the apartment waiting for me. That’s the one thing that I’ve been struggling with. In an apartment the size of this one, having all this space to myself isn’t easy, filling the time without the guys there to keep me company. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I try to distract myself, I always find myself craving their company in a way I just can’t deny.

So you can imagine my surprise when I push open the door and find all three of them waiting there on the other side for me.

For a second, I just stand there, too shocked to say a word. Am I imagining them? Is this part of the first trimester, hallucinating men in your home so you don’t have to live with being quite as lonely?

I gape for a second as I look between their smiling faces, wondering if it’s some sort of fantasy I’ve conjured to salve my own overthinking mind.

But then, to my total shock, my brother steps out from between them. And just like them—he’s smiling too.

“Matt?” I gasp, my hand flying to my mouth.

Now, he’s thelastperson I expected to see here, that’s for damn sure. He seems to have been doing his best to avoid me since it all went down with the guys, and I expected him to duck and dive my company as far as he’s able to for the coming weeks.

I’ve missed the hell out of him, but I’ve respected that he wants to be given his space, and I know my brother well enough to see that I’m not going to be able to get through to him by applying pressure where it will only be ignored.

“Hey, sis,” he greets me, stepping forward to give me a hug.

The way he pulls me into his arms tells me that he has seriously missed me. I feel a lump leap to the back of my throat, those damn pregnancy hormones making me all emotional.

As he pulls back, I look around the room, at the four most important men in my life, and try to figure out exactly what they’re doing here.

“What…what happened?” I blurt out finally. Not exactly my sharpest turn of phrase, but I just need to figure this out before something happens to shatter this newfound quiet between us.

James grins, reaching out for my hand and giving it a squeeze. I look to Matt, expecting him to be glaring at the spot where our skin touches, but he hardly seems to notice or care.

“You want to tell her?” James asks Matt.

Matt sighs playfully. “Damn, you just can’t stop involving me in this, can you?” he replies. But then he looks up at me, and there’s a flash of the old playfulness that I recognize from the many years we’ve spent together as siblings. “Well, Millie. Cole, James, and Ross came to me earlier today, and they told me that they…”

“That we’re in love with you,” Cole finishes up.

My eyes widen, and I look between the three guys, wondering if this is all some crazy joke. But they don’t break my gaze, not for a moment, and I realize, with a surge of excitement, that it’s true.

“Wait, you…?”