I was riding on fumes after the high emotion of the day, not to mention meeting a former president who just so happened to be my boyfriend’s father. Wait. Was Reese my boyfriend? I’d never really had one before. Just the idea of it made my heart race in the very best way.

By the time we followed Griff to the vineyard restaurant Sam ran, I was exhausted and starving. Several other Marians appeared, as usual, and we ended up with a huge collection of tables pushed together in the center of the elegant restaurant.

Sam and Griff brought out pitchers of Bloody Marys and trays of brunch items like eggs Benedict, french toast, savory potatoes, and heaps of crispy bacon. Georgie was in heaven with her favorite people around her and Princess Kitty at her own spot on the table.

Reese was not impressed he’d landed the seat next to hers.

“C’mon, babe,” I teased. “We can hardly have brunch without the princess.”

He shot me a look. “You did this on purpose.”

“No, but I have to admit to enjoying the results. I told Ronan I thought you were all pulling an elaborate hoax because there was no way you were some scary mercenary bodyguard type if you were that afraid of a little fuzzy pet.”

Reese’s head tilted back onto his shoulder as he shuddered again. “We need to get her an actual kitten. Or a puppy. You’ve seen how much she likes all the dogs around here.”

He went back to eating his food while I sat there with my jaw hanging down. Had he seriously just implied us having a future together as a real family? He’d hinted at it before, but now he was talking about it like it was a given.

“Baby?” he asked as he noticed my face. “You okay?”

“Reese…” I began.

His face fell. “Was that too much? Did I go too far? It’s not… I mean, we don’t have to…”

I launched myself out of my chair and onto his lap, throwing my arms around him and planting a giant kiss on his lips.

“Not too much,” I said against his lips. “Not too far.”

“Thank god,” he chuckled, kissing me back. “Because this… this is it for me, beautiful. You, me, Georgie… Princess.”

I pulled back and cupped his face. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. You and Georgie, I mean. I know you live in Seattle and I live in Atlanta, but since Kirk has legal custody—”

Reese cut me off with a voice too low for Georgie to make out. “No. He can’t have custody of her anymore, Ben. He put her in danger. Ronan will help make sure you’re the one who gets custody of her. I promise.”

I glanced over at Ronan who was deep in conversation with Jude’s husband, Derek. He looked up and flashed me a reassuring smile. How in the world would I ever thank him for all he’d done for me and Georgie?

I looked back at Reese. “But… but I wouldn’t be able to move her out of Georgia, would I?”

“Of course you would. As soon as everything is legal, you can move your daughter wherever you want.”

My daughter.

I couldn’t decide how I felt about Georgie becoming mine in that way, but I also knew how much she’d longed for the love of a father who’d rarely given her the time of day. As I snuggled into Reese’s chest to take comfort from his embrace, I watched Georgie chatting animatedly with Maverick. She’d been shy with him at first, the same way she was with everybody, but as soon as he began telling her about the crabs he and Beau had found in the creek behind their house, she lit up like the sun and began asking questions.

“I love you,” I murmured under my breath to both of them. “I love you so much.”

Reese’s arms squeezed around me and his lips pressed a kiss to my hair. Before he had a chance to say the words back, Griff’s sister, Simone, jumped up from her spot farther down the big collection of tables.

“I propose a celebration! A cold front is coming through this afternoon, so tonight at the lodge we’re going to have a slumber party in front of the big fireplace. We’ll have hot dogs and other camping food and we’ll make s’mores for dessert.”

Her boyfriend, Joel, looked up at her with stars in his eyes while everyone else at the table tittered with excitement. Georgie’s eyes flicked to mine.

“Do you think she means us too?”

I reached across Reese’s arm and tousled her blonde curls. “Especially us, baby girl,” I said. “They want us to feel special and make sure we know how happy they are to have us here.”

She cast a worried look toward her friend, Jamie, and back to us. “But I don’t have my sleeping bag here.”

I felt Reese’s silent chuckle against my side. “We’ll bring all the blankets from our beds if we have to, or Mr. Kitty will go buy us some sleeping bags, okay?”

Georgie looked up at Reese in surprise. “You would?”

Reese swallowed before he reached out his arm to pull her into our hug. “I would do anything for you, ladybug. Anything.”

It turned out we didn’t need to worry about any of the plans or supplies. Griff’s brother, Jamie, and his husband, Teddy, had camping gear galore and brought piles of it from their home in Davis. After taking Georgie back to the cabin for a nap in anticipation of a late night, we made our way to the lodge with our pillows and a backpack of personal items. Georgie ran ahead on the path while Reese held my good hand, swinging it back and forth between us like we were in some kind of romantic comedy.

“It’s deceptive, you know?” I murmured softly to him.

“What is?”

I gestured around us. “This, all of this. I want to lose myself in the idyllic situation we’re in, but good god, Reese. There are people out there who want to harm my sister. Hell, even Kirk clearly doesn’t give a shit about her. Surely if he did, he would have tried calling my cell phone by now. It’s been more than two weeks, Reese. Ronan said nothing from Kirk has come through at all.”

Georgie saw Jamie and his sisters up ahead and ran to join them. Reese turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Baby, we are handling this. Nothing is going to happen to Georgie. I told you, Ronan had a small break today. That’s going to lead to more breaks. I’ve never known Ronan to let go of something until he’s fixed it. This is no exception.”

“Thank you. I’m just… I guess I feel like there’s going to come a point where we have to acknowledge we’re not going to find these guys and if—”

He leaned in and kissed me, taking complete control of my mouth and wrapping his strong arms around my back.

“Just promise me you’ll let it go long enough to enjoy tonight,” Reese said. “Tomorrow we can go talk to Ronan and see what else can be done. Tonight we accept that we’re safe. We celebrate friends and family in style and enjoy seeing Georgie get spoiled rotten by so many new aunts, uncles, and grannies. What do you say?”

I inhaled the fresh spring air, held it for a minute, and then let it go.

“Yes. That sounds like an excellent idea. Let’s go have a slumber party.”

We entered the lodge to a scene of happy chaos. All of the sofas had been pushed around to make a giant horseshoe shape with the fireplace at one end and all the pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags piled on the giant Persian rug in the middle.

Two of the Marian babies toddled around on chubby legs, holding on to the edges of the sofas and visiting all the people sitting on them. Griff jumped up to introduce us to Jamie and Teddy Marian, whose names set Georgie and little Jamie off in a fit of giggles.

Pete and Ginger’s girls had finally arrived and turned out to be prime babysitting age. They were beyond excited to be put in charge of the younger kids for the evening and immediately pulled Georgie and Jamie over to a table and began describing the dream catchers they were going to make with sticks and yarn.

I watched Georgie’s shy smile as she reached out to touch the neon green yarn. The taller of Pete’s girls immediately encouraged her by handing her the whole ball and telling her to pick a couple more colors too.

Reese squeezed my hand and pulled me over to sit near Griff and Sam. Before I had a chance to sit, Sam hopped up and pulled me into a hug. “Thank you so damn much. I will owe you for the rest of my life. Whatever you need, anything. It’s yours.” His voice broke, and I tightened my arms around him to let him know I understood.

“Thanks for loving him,” I said. “I’m so happy he has you.”

Sam pulled back and sniffed, grinning despite the tears. “Loving Griffin Marian is the easiest thing in the world. Now come meet your namesake.”

He pulled me down beside him on the sofa and reached over to pluck the baby out of Simone’s arms.

“Hey,” she pouted, “I was getting my snuggles in before he goes off to college.”

“He’s seven months old,” Griff chided. “And so is Mattie. Go bother Blue and Tristan for their baby.”

I made an exaggerated smiley face as Sam handed Benji to me. “Hi, sweet boy,” I cooed at his chubby-cheeked face. “I’m your Uncle Ben.”

Everyone around us groaned at the same time and Reese snorted. “We may need to think of something else unless you want to remind us of the rice by that name every time the kids call you that.”

“Don’t listen to Mr. Kitty,” I said as I stood with Benji on my hip “He’s just upset he’s named after a tarantula.”

Everyone continued to laugh and tease throughout the evening. At one point after there were toasted marshmallow streaks in everyone’s hair and chocolate smudges on everyone’s cheeks, Thomas and Rebecca Marian made a point of approaching me.

Thomas was one of those men whose eyes were filled with warmth and kindness, no matter who he was talking to.

“Ben, we can’t tell you how happy we are to finally have you here. Griff has… Griff has missed you so much. I know that seems silly since you were only a newborn when you were adopted away from your biological family but… he’s always wanted you. I hope you know that.”

I nodded. “I do now. But it’s still really nice to hear. Thank you. Your family is…” I looked around the room. Blue had Simone in a headlock while Joel Healy gave him a friendly reminder that Joel knew several ways to kill a man without a weapon. Teddy held Pete’s son Tommy upside down by his ankles and pretended not to be able to find him. Nico and Dante were taking turns telling a funny story to Ethan and AJ, while Ethan's fiancé, Cain, was busy winning all of Mav and Beau’s money at cards. I didn’t even want to know what the old lady trio were up to where they huddled in the corner around a giant rolling suitcase, showing its contents to Reese’s dad and his boyfriends.

“Your family is everything I ever wanted. You must be so proud of them all.”

Rebecca pulled me into her arms. “We’re proud of you too, Ben. Georgie is a doll. I can tell she is well-loved and cared for.”

After pulling out of her embrace, I thought of a question Thomas and Rebecca would be the perfect people to ask.

“Reese said he’s going to help me adopt Georgie, and I wonder… could I talk to you sometime? About adoption and whatever special issues I might have to deal with?”

The two of them exchanged a look before pulling me in for more hugs. “Of course you can, honey,” Rebecca said through tears. “We’re your family now. We’ll be there every step of the way in whatever way you need.”

Simone’s gasp cut through the din of the various group conversations around the space.

“No guacamole? Sam, you swore to me there was going to be guac here tonight.”

Sam stared at his sister-in-law. “I totally forgot. I’m so sorry.”

Joel pulled Simone down from where she’d stepped up onto a chair to get a better look around the room for any elusive guacamole that might be hiding. “Sweetheart, I’ll go get some.”

Blue walked up to hand his mom baby Mattie. “What the hell’s her problem? We have salsa, for god’s sake.”

His parents stared at their daughter as she turned to her boyfriend. “No, I’ll go. I want to get pickles and cashews too.”

“Let me come with you,” Joel said, reaching in his pocket for his keys.

Simone stayed his hand and pulled out her own keys, then leaned in for a kiss. “No need. You stay here and help put baby Wolfe down. You’re the only one he listens to these days. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

Jude and Derek must have heard what she said because they hustled over to Joel and dumped their teething son into Joel’s arms.

“Wait…” Joel said.

“Finders keepers,” Derek called as he threw his tiny husband over his shoulder and hustled toward the hallway with the bedrooms.

“Did they…” I began.

“Don’t say it,” Thomas blurted before putting his hands over his ears.

Everyone took turns helping put babies, toddlers, and kids down to sleep in their various areas. The babies and toddlers were put to bed in the rooms set aside for them away from the light and noise of the group, and Thomas and Rebecca gratefully took babysitting duty so they could turn in early under the guise of watching the littlest Marians.

Georgie, Jamie, his sisters, and Pete’s two girls all settled down in their sleeping bags in front of the giant stone fireplace and listened to a story Griff began to tell about dragons and wizards.

Joel had just returned from putting the baby down and had accepted the beer Reese handed him when Blue rushed up to us, his expression pale. I went instantly on alert. “What? What is it?” I asked.

“Um, maybe nothing… maybe something, I don’t know,” Blue said shakily as he made his way out of the front doors and away from the sleeping children. Several of us followed him outside. He was holding his phone in his hand. To Reese he said, “That was Simone… I asked her to pick up a few extra things for breakfast tomorrow. We were… we were talking and then she said she’d have to call me back because there was a car blocking the road and she needed to make sure everyone was okay. She hung up before I could tell her to wait for one of us.”

Joel snatched Blue’s phone from his hand and dialed. “Stubborn woman…” he muttered, but the concern was clear in his voice.

“Babe, can you go get Ronan?” Reese asked me. “As discreetly as possible.”

I tensed and then nodded. But I should have known there was no such thing as discreet in the Marian vocabulary. Because all it took was for Tristan to notice his husband’s worried expression through the glass doors, and the rest of the family members followed like dominos. By the time Joel tried to ring Simone for the third time, each and every remaining adult Marian surrounded us in a huge circle.

“She’s probably just chatting,” Tristan said, trying to calm his husband down. “You know what a talker she is…”

“Joel, give me her number,” Ronan said. He was all seriousness as he spoke to Daisy, the woman Reese had told me handled the IT stuff for Ronan’s team. By the time he hung up on her, I knew it wasn’t good news.

“The phone hasn’t moved,” Ronan said.

“That’s good news then,” Pete said. “It’s like Tristan said. She’s just gotten to talking…”

“It hasn’t moved,” Joel said grimly. “It hasn’t been powered off, so she can hear it ringing. Even if by some miracle she left it in the car, you know she drives with her windows down… she would have heard it.” Joel started moving for the parking lot before he even finished talking.

“I’m going with you!” Blue said, followed by Griff.

Reese was the one who cut the men off. “Ronan’s probably already got some men en route to the scene.” He looked to Ronan for confirmation.

Ronan’s phone rang a moment later. The group went completely silent as he spoke to whoever was on the other end. When he hung up, he didn’t try and sugarcoat anything. “A couple of my guys found her car about a mile and a half from the east entrance. Her phone is there, but it’s lying on the ground, trashed. There are signs there was another vehicle in front of Simone’s.”

Several people started talking at once as Blue let out a soft sob and turned into his husband’s arms. Many of the Marian brothers were already grabbing their keys when Ronan climbed onto a nearby stone bench and loudly whistled to get everyone’s attention.

The second everyone was silent, Ronan said, “I know you guys want to run out there like gangbusters and get your sister back, but we need to play this smart or we’re just going to be putting more people at risk.”

“She’s our sister,” Pete declared. “We’re not staying here while she’s out there…” His voice cracked a bit.

“I’m not asking you to,” Ronan said patiently. “We’re going to break up into groups and search the vineyard in sections. Gage,” he called as he looked at the man with his arm around Reese’s father’s waist. Nash was holding Everett’s hand. “You’re going to lead a team from the north side down to the east entrance. Nash, I want you to pick several guys to stay here to watch over the kids.”

“We’ll help too, sir,” said the Secret Service agent shadowing Everett.

Ronan nodded. “I’m moving men to form a perimeter that encircles only the lodge… it’ll be a tighter barrier.” Ronan climbed off the bench and went to his husband. Seth didn’t seem at all surprised when Ronan handed him the gun from his ankle holster. “Protect our kids,” he whispered to the younger man.

Seth nodded and kissed him. “Take Bullet,” Seth said as he motioned to the huge German shepherd by his side.

“No, you guys might need him here.”

To Tristan, Ronan said, “Do your dogs know how to track?”

Tristan nodded. “The basics. They both know Simone… if she’s anywhere in the vineyard, Piper and Merlin will find her.”

Ronan nodded and went to Reese and Joel to start hatching a plan. The speed with which they assigned tasks was daunting to follow, but it was crystal clear what Reese was expecting when he came up to me and kissed me softly.

“Oh no, don’t even,” I said fiercely. “I’m coming too.”

“Ben—”

“Georgie will be safe here,” I said as I looked at all the firepower around me. “One of my sisters is safe, but the other isn’t,” I said firmly. “And she’s going to need all her brothers to get her back. So save the arguments for later because we need to go.”

I didn’t give him a chance to respond as I pushed past him and hurried to follow Joel, Griff, and Ronan from the lodge.

Fuck if I was losing my family after I’d just managed to find them. Maybe I couldn’t wield a weapon or throw a punch, but I’d do whatever I had to in order to make sure my family didn’t lose even one single member.

Reese would understand that.

He had to.

And a moment later when he grabbed my hand in his on the way to the car, I knew he did.