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She giggled and swatted at my hand. “I love it when you’re home, Charles. I’ve missed you.” She cupped her hand around her mouth. “Hazel, Charles just called you a handmaid. That means you’re young.”
Her words softened the center of my chest. I didn’t experience that feeling very often. “I’ve missed you too, Grandmother. I’ve missed you too.”
“I have a surprise for you, sweet boy.”
“Okay.” She was the only person who was allowed to call me “sweet boy.” I looked around, wondering what she had in store.
She gestured to the door and called out, “Henry, please let them in!”
Because manners had been drilled into me, I stood.
The door burst open, and three men tumbled into the room.
“I said I was going to be first!” Donovan, the baby, exclaimed as he pushed Liam, the third oldest, in the back.
Liam turned and half-cocked his fist in the air. “Why I oughtta!”
He didn’t get to finish.
“Break it up!” Sebastian, the second oldest brother, pushed both of them apart and grinned at me. “Bro!”
I laughed and moved toward them. “Look what the cat dragged in!”
Sebastian and I embraced first, and then Liam and Donovan both threw their arms around us.
“Ahh.” Liam laughed. “Look at all of mysistersfinally back together!”
“You mean, you’re the sissy!” Donovan pushed him again, sending all of us falling. Good thing we caught our balance.
I separated myself from the group with a grunt.
Grandmother laughed. “Ahh, you boys.”
“Grandmother,” Sebastian said, straightening and hugging her.
Liam and Donovan actually hit the floor, then quickly got up.
I put my arms around their shoulders. “Enough, gentlemen. Or I’ll put you in the doll room.”
“Pfft, no way. I’m done,” Liam said, feigning a smile and moving to Grandmother.
A horrified look crossed Donovan’s face. “Why would you say the doll room? Who are you—the Nazi gestapo?”
I laughed. It felt good to share my fear with my brothers.
Grandmother looked puzzled. “Do you all hate the doll room that much?”
“Yes,” we all said simultaneously.
She snorted.
We laughed.
I gestured to the table. “Sit and tell me what you bozos are all doing home.”
Donovan sat next to me. “Home to bug you.”
Henry had already slipped in and put plates on the table for my brothers.
