Page 112 of His Wall

"I plan this."

He pulled out into traffic.

Declan opened the door of the brownstone with Lena on his hip.

She had grown. She was a year and eight months old, and her dark hair was down to her shoulders now. She was wearing a yellow dress with a juice stain on the front. She looked at me with grave brown eyes, and then she lifted both her arms toward Julian.

"Up."

Julian handed me the wine bag and lifted her off Declan's hip.

"Lena. We talked about this. You are supposed to greet me with extreme enthusiasm."

She put her hand flat on his cheek.

"Up."

"You are up."

"Up."

Declan grinned. He pulled me into a hug. He smelled like aftershave and the rosemary dish Thea was cooking from the kitchen down the hall.

"Leah."

"Declan."

"You look beautiful. Get inside."

Nolan was in the living room in a charcoal sweater with the sleeves pushed up. Soleil was beside him on the couch, dark curls down her back, in a pale yellow dress I had seen once at the gallery opening she had brought me to in March. They both stood up when we came in. Soleil came across and hugged me. Nolan kissed me on both cheeks.

"Leah."

"Reeves."

"You are here on time for once."

"That is your brother's fault, not mine."

He almost smiled.

Thea came out of the kitchen in an apron with flour on the hem, her red hair half up, and the wooden spoon in her hand. She kissed Julian on the cheek. She kissed me. She put one hand on the side of my face.

"You look good, Leah."

"So do you."

"Sit. Drink. Declan made me put the cheese plate out, and he has been eating it the entire time."

"I have been managing the cheese plate."

"He has been eating it."

We sat. The table was big enough for all of us. Julian was beside me. Soleil was across from me with Nolan beside her and Lena in a high chair at the corner, picking apart a roll. Declan was at the head with Thea on his right.

I had been here three times now. The first time was a brunch a month after the arrest, when Julian brought me, with the careful posture of a man unsure how the room would receive me. The room had received me. Soleil had hugged me at the door. Thea had asked me about my plant.

Nolan had nodded once and said, "You saved his life, Leah. You are family”. I did not know what to do with the word.