I still had work off the next day, and I found myself lying on the couch while Larry worked at the pub and Ethan napped. As much as it had killed me to hold back, watching Ethan and his mom take Milton down another notch or two satisfied me in a soul-deep way. But the whole event had prompted a curious line of thinking. I wasn't that close with my parents. They only lived a couple of hours away, but other than Christmas, we didn't really see each other. I'd drive up for that one day, but be safe in my bed that evening.

Why?

I'd never really fought with my parents, like Ethan had with Mrs. St. John, and they'd definitely never stood up for me like that. Of course, I hadn't really needed it. I was awkward, yeah, but apparently not in the way that drew bullies. Maybe because I'd played well in soccer and decently in football, I'd managed to sneak under their radar.

Was it my fault we weren't close?

One look at Ethan and Bella or Ethan and Mrs. St. John squashed that line of thinking. Especially when I had Milton's bad example right in front of me. He didn't have a relationship with his daughter because he hadn't pursued it. Ethan did have a relationship with Bella because he developed it. It wasn’t a child’s responsibility to make sure their parents loved them.

I was determined to have that with my children. Maybe there'd be times when I just wanted to be left alone, but I knew I could trust the guys to call me out on that shit. They already called me out on it when I got too wrapped up in my own head and withdrew from them.

I wasn't withdrawing right now, though. There was something about adversity that really drew us together. That didn't make me happy about Milton's presence, but I was happy about our cohesive response to it.

A knock at the door—the outside door—drew me from my thoughts. I was immediately on my guard. Had Milton found us? Who else would be knocking on the outside door at this time of day?

The man outside the door wasn't Milton, but his greeting disturbed me almost as much as seeing the asshole would have.

"Salutations, honored caregiver." The crazy hippy doula grabbed my face and kissed each cheek before releasing me. "I believe now is the time for the appointed communion with the twins and the lifebringer?"

"The lifebr—oh! Ethan! Yes, come in, come in. Let me go wake him up."

The dude folded his hands in front of him and sat down on the floor, cross legged. "There is no rush. I will simply survey the influences of the home while I wait."

"Right...."

I hurried into the bedroom, but hesitated before shaking Ethan. He looked so peaceful. But then a strange hum invaded from the main room, and I grabbed Ethan's shoulder. "Honey? Wake up. Kai is here."

Ethan blinked groggily at me. "Yeah, yeah. Just a minute. It'll take me a minute."

I perched on the bed next to him. There was no way in hell I was going back out into the room with that guy alone. Absolutely not.

Ethan yawned and stretched his arms, rolling over onto his back, then he held out a hand. "Help me? I've fallen and I can't get up!"

I snorted as I pulled him from the bed. "I'm sure Kai will be just as happy to commune with you lying down as sitting up."

Ethan laughed. "Fair enough."

When we entered the living room, Kai looked up at us with a frown. “I'm sensing the influence of bad energies—energies that were not here when I first visited. Has anyone come into your life with a particularly tragic presence?"

Ethan chucked humorlessly. "Depends on if by tragic you mean poisonous."

Kai's face turned darker. "Hmm. It's worse than I feared. Well, then." He stood suddenly, one smooth, flowing motion. "Before we go any further, we absolutely must smudge the home."

"Smudge?" I blinked furiously, trying to keep my expression neutral. "And that is?"

"I will burn white sage, which is used to purify. It should wash away all the negative energy. I'll be right back. I have some in my car."

"Of course," I said dryly. "Who doesn't?"

Kai either didn't notice or ignored my sarcasm. "Indeed. It's really a shame more people don't. If everyone participated in a little regular smudging, I have no doubt that road related accidents would decrease significantly."

Once the door closed firmly behind him, I turned to Ethan. "It's not too late to get you another doula... I know Josiah suggested him, but that doesn't mean we have to keep him."

Ethan laughed and gave me a soft kiss. "I like him. Believe it or not, his crazy does make me relax. At least I can always be assured that no matter how hard my hormones are kicking me around, I'm not the craziest person in the room."

"You got that right," I muttered as Kai returned. Thankfully, my phone rang, and when I saw it was Julian, I excused myself and retreated to the bedroom, wincing as Kai lit a bundle of twigs on fire. "Just make sure he doesn't burn the house down, okay?" I urged Ethan before disappearing into the room.

"Hey, dude, what's up?"

"I just thought I might give you an update on the little pregnant omega, right?"

I flopped on the bed. "Everything go okay?"

"Everything went splendidly, or at least as well as it could go after getting dumped by your paramour. Little Devon gave birth to a darling baby girl, and the two are doing quite well. I popped in for a bit this morning."

"Did you not stay with him until he gave birth?" I realized that was asking a lot of a stranger, but I couldn't imagine leaving that poor young thing to face such a difficult event on his own. Maybe it was because instead of seeing Devon, I was seeing Ethan in that same position.

"No, both Daniel and I stayed, but it didn't last very long. They went for a cesarean soon after we got there. Both of us took a chance to hold the little bit, and then we scampered. I promised to check on him this morning, and Danny boy said he plans to pop up this afternoon."

I relaxed. I should have known better. Julian was good people. He had to be, to be friends with me for so long. "Wonderful." I could hear Kai chanting something outside of the room and grasped for anything to stay on the phone longer. Surely as a grown man I didn't need an excuse to be in my own bedroom, but excuses made life easier. "So how is that military fellow with the custody battle doing?"

There was something like a strangled sound from Julian's end of the connection.

"Julian? You okay?"

"Pardon," he gasped. "Swallowed something wrong. You were asking?"

"About that friend of a friend of Ethan's? You have any idea how his custody thing is going?"

"He's... well... it's...."

"Not going well, huh?" That sucked. But if courts around here were tough on custody, was that a good sign or a bad sign for us when it came to Milton? I still wasn't convinced he'd completely given up the idea of grabbing control of Bella, if only to fuck with Ethan's mind.

"Well, it's not the best. But it's not the worst. As far as I can tell, that is."

The door opened, and Kai came in, swinging his smoking stick like he was banishing demons. Ethan mouthed, I'm sorry.

Damn it. Was nothing sacred these days? "Hey Julian, I've got to go. But we'll meet up soon, okay?"

"Don't think I haven't forgotten it's your birthday coming up, eh?"

Well fuck. In the excitement and drama of babies and Milton, I had completely forgotten about my own birthday. Ethan looked at me curiously as my face flushed. "You know I don't like—"

"Not another word, mate. The big four-oh. You can't think there's any way I'm letting that pass by. Anything particular you want? Be aware that I will take your requests under advisement and discard anything naff you might consider."

I sighed. "If you must get me something, get me baby stuff."

Ethan gave me a confused look.

"Baby stuff..." Julian said dryly. "Why don't I just buy a bottle of scotch and some adult diapers and call it good?"

"I mean it, Julian." I tried to slip out of the room, but Ethan followed me. "I've been told—very forcefully—that we're not having a baby shower because this isn't Ethan's first pregnancy. But from everything I read online, there's so much we'll need."

Ethan was giving me a death glare as Julian said, "Well... send me a list, and I will consider it. But I'm guaranteeing nothing."

"Sure thing." I hurried off the phone before Ethan could kill me with the laser beams shooting from his eyes.

"I said no showers, Ryan. That means no showers that are called something else either."

"I wasn't! It wasn't! I swear. Julian just asked me what I wanted for my birthday—"

"Your birthday?" Ethan drew back in surprise. "I can't believe this—I don't even know when your birthday is."

Kai came out of the bedroom and continued his smoky adventure through the remaining rooms.

"It's no big deal," I grumbled, attempting to cut him off the same way I had Julian, but knowing the effort was probably just as futile.

Ethan gave me an incredulous look. "Like you would let me skip a birthday? Come on, when is it?"

"I'm not telling you. If you don't know, you can't throw a party."

"I can just make one up and throw a party anyway. Or...” he dashed across the room, surprisingly nimble with his growing belly. "I can just check your ID and know for sure."

Damn it. I forgot I had set my wallet on the side table when I had come home the other day. I crossed the room and attempted to wrest the information from him. But I was too late. Ethan handed my wallet back to me with a smug grin.

"I hate you," I grumbled.

"You love me." Ethan bopped my nose, and I was tempted to wrangle him back to the bedroom and make him pay for his impertinence, but Kai let out an ungodly warble, prompting us to spin around to see what the hell was going on.

He stood with his arms outstretched, his face turned up, and his adam's apple bobbing as he made whatever sound that was. Then he looked over at us, pressed his hands together to his head and chest and said, "The smudging is complete. Would you like to begin, lifebringer? You are more than welcome to join us, caregiver?"

Ethan nudged me with an evil grin. "Yeah, caregiver. Join us."

I could tell by his teasing that he didn't actually need me. "I'll just... go check on Larry downstairs." I beat a hasty retreat as the two began preparing for yoga.