Page 117 of Diary from an Inked Throne

“Who has cops on their backs?” Isabella asked from the doorway, her arms full of flowers. She winked at her brother. “You have a new boyfriend? Don’t you have enough of that going on with just Lynx?”

“And Dax,” Lynx muttered, hiding a laugh.

This time it was Lynx who copped a kick in the shin from Dax.

Kara, who’d come in behind Isabella, hid a smile.

Isabella didn’t notice the three of them, she was too busy thrusting flowers in my direction and then reaching for her nephew.

I laughed and gave up the baby, swapping him for the flowers. “You have brought flowers every day since I’ve been in here!”

She smiled into James’s chubby-cheeked face. “I know, but it’s an excuse to come see this beautiful boy. Ugh, he’s so cute I want to eat him.”

“Please don’t,” Luca said. “We only just got him back.”

Isabella shot her brother a dirty look, but he stood, giving up his seat for her so she could sit nearest to me.

Kara smiled at him over Isabella’s shoulder, then at me. “He is so perfect, Nyah. He’s making my ovaries hurt.”

I grinned at her. “You could have another…you’ve got an awful lot of girls over in that house of yours. Maybe time to try for a boy?”

Isabella dragged her attention off the baby and stared up at Kara. “Oh my God, yes, can you, please? Jax and I will help all the time, I swear.” Her face faltered. “Oh. Though if you have another baby you might need me to move out, wouldn’t you? That’s a lot of people to have in one house.”

Kara frowned at her, her voice instantly turning scolding. “Isabella Guerra, do you really think I’m that sort of person? What exactly has given you that idea?”

Isabella’s cheeks turned pink. “I’m not blood.”

Kara scoffed, “What has blood got to do with it?” She shifted to the side of the seat and squatted so she and Issy were eye height. “You not being our blood doesn’t change how much we love you. It doesn’t change that you became Jax and Wren and Hayley Jade’s big sister the day you moved in. You picked up that role like it was always meant to be yours.”

Isabella swallowed thickly. “You don’t need another daughter though.”

“Don’t need one,” Kara agreed. “We just want one.” She glanced over at Luca. “If that’s okay with you, of course. Hawk, Hayden, Grayson, and I already discussed it and were going to talk to you when everything settled down. But when is everything ever completely settled in this town? So I guess now is as good a time as any.” She sucked in a deep breath, suddenly seeming very nervous. “We would like to legally adopt Isabella.”

Isabella’s mouth dropped open. “What? But I’m already seventeen.”

“So what? Being seventeen means you don’t need a mother?” Kara shook her head sadly. “It doesn’t matter what age you are. We all need a mother.”

My heart ached, because both Kara and I knew the pain of not having one in our lives.

Luca knew it too.

For half a second, I thought he might say no. That he wanted Isabella to come and stay with us, for us to be her parents.

I would have agreed in a heartbeat.

But something in my gut told me Isabella was already exactly where she needed and wanted to be.

Luca’s voice clogged with emotion. “As long as I always get to be your big brother, if you want Kara and Grayson and Hawk and Hayden to be your parents, then I can’t think of anyone better for the job.”

Isabella’s tears spilled over her cheeks and dropped onto James’s head. She laughed, brushing them off him, while she nodded at Kara. “Yes. Please. I would like that very much.”

Kara lost her hold on her tears too, and she hugged her newest daughter close. James let out a muffled squeak of protest when he was squished between the two women.

They both backed off, Isabella apologizing to him profusely, but he went straight back to happily sucking on his pacifier and making loving eyes at his aunt.

Luca blinked a few times, trying to get himself under control. “Kara, I just… I know apologies for what my family did will never be enough—”

She held her hand up. “We’ve been through this. I don’t want to keep rehashing it. What I want is for Isabella and Nyah and James to be safe.”