I turned my head and saw Dusty and Rocky moving our way.
Cal was in the yard not too far from Merry and Colt. Mom, Tanner, and Mike were standing on the stoop. Ryker was also in the yard, arms crossed on his chest, looking grouchy. Ryan wasn’t too far away, looking like he was trying to keep some distance from Ryker but also be close to me should I need him.
Rocky went right to Peg’s son on her hip.
Dusty went after the stroller.
And I took that moment to glory in another boon. Not one Merry gave me. One I’d earned myself.
I had really fucking awesome friends.
(Yes, even Ryker.)
“Now, let’s get you in your van,” Rocky urged.
“Go,” Dusty ordered me, commandeering the stroller and turning it down the walk. “Get on in there. Light up the candles. We’ll have our cake when we get back. But save opening the presents. That’s always the best part.”
I nodded, the movement feeling weird, wooden. At first, I didn’t know why.
Watching Rocky bounce Trent’s possibly now fatherless son on her hip while she guided a lost Peggy to her van, following Dusty, I figured it out.
I knew her fear.
And I wasn’t Peg’s biggest fan, but I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.
I looked up at Merry and opened my mouth.
He got in my face.
“Do not go soft on me,” he ordered low.
I closed my mouth.
Just a look. That was all it took.
Jeez, when did he get to know me so well?
“Her bed she made,” he stated.
“But—”
“Monday, I’ll make some calls, do some searches, ask around. If I hear anything, I’ll tell you and you can tell her. I don’t hear anything, I’ll talk to some buds. They’ll keep their eyes peeled. Anyone sees him, they’ll tell me, I’ll tell you, and you can tell her. That’s what I’ll do for Ethan. He’s gonna worry. And since I’m doin’ that for Ethan, I’ll be doin’ it for her. But that’s all I’m gonna do, Cher.”
“I’ll take it,” I replied immediately.
He nodded and muttered, “Let’s get your kid some cake.”
“Yeah,” Ryker boomed. “It’s time for fuckin’ cake.” Then he uncrossed his arms and stalked through Mike and Tanner on my stoop, into my house.
I took one last look toward Dusty, Rocky, and Peggy.
With so many people at my party, the van was down a ways. Rocky and Dusty were strapping in her kids. Peggy was standing on the sidewalk like she didn’t know where she was.
Merry’s arm went around my neck.
He turned me and guided me toward the house, repeating, “Don’t go soft.”
I looked up at him. “You think she can get home?”
“She’s a mom. When she gets behind the wheel, that’ll kick in.”
I knew that was likely true.
Time to focus not on Peggy but on my kid.
“Super stoked you didn’t let me talk you out of the Colts tickets, babe,” I declared. “After this shit, Ethan’s gonna need something awesome to turn his mind.”
This did not make Merry feel any better. I could tell by his jaw going hard, his cheek ticking, and his angry gaze slicing to Colt, who was walking back to the house with us.
Colt also didn’t seem to feel relief that scene was over.
Then again, Colt was a new(ish) dad and Merry was a very new dad-like figure.
I’d been a mother for eleven years and three days.
If something threatened to turn my son’s day to shit, that day was important or not…
No problem.
I had this.
(But the Colts tickets were gonna help.)
(Huge.)
* * * * *
“I wanna talk about it now,” Ethan demanded.
The partygoers were in the living room save me, Mom, Merry, Colt, Feb, Cal, Vi, and Ethan’s seemingly now ever-extending family through Merry—Tanner, Rocky, Dave, Mike, and Dusty.
Little Jack was in the living room with big Jack and Jackie.
Cal had a hold of his daughter, Angela; Mimi had Vi and Cal’s son, Sam, in the other room.
And Tanner had Cecelia in his arms.
I’d noted all this distractedly, seeing as this growing family of friends was literally growing and it was mine, meaning it was Ethan’s, and that was a birthday boon he wouldn’t really understand, but it was his all the same.
But mostly, I was about my kid.
We’d all come into the kitchen after Rocky and Dusty got Peggy on her way. Though, obviously, the rest of us got there first since Rocky and Dusty were getting Peggy on her way.
It was just that Ethan was a little freaked.
Which was making him stubborn.
“I get that,” I replied. “But you got a bunch of people in the other room who wanna watch you open presents, and I, for one, got a craving for R2-D2’s innards.”
I was trying to make a joke, lighten the mood.
Ethan saw through it right away.
“Was Dad there?” he asked.
“Kid, come on,” I replied softly. “We’ll talk after the party’s over.”
“Mom, that’s crazy, her bangin’ on the door like that. Who does that?” Ethan asked me.
A woman whose husband vanished.
“Son—”
Feeling sudden movement, I turned to see Merry, who’d been standing beside me in my face-off with my kid, was now crouching.
“Look at me,” he ordered after he got low.