Page 396 of Wicked Brutal

“Then they keep waiting. If you want another hour, you get another hour. If you want the rest of today, you get the rest of today. If you want me to tell every person out there to go home and come back tomorrow, that’s what I’ll do.” She smooths a piece of hair from Ally’s face. “You don’t owe anybody access to you because they’re excited.” She looks at Piper. “Or her. Nobody holds that baby unless you want them to.”

Ally looks at me, and I know what she’s about to ask before she does. “What do you want?”

“Whatever you want.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Yeah, it is.” I look down at Piper. “Of course I want them to meet her. But Piper’s not going anywhere.” I look back at Ally. “And neither are you.”

I watch it land. Her eyes close for a second. When they open, she looks at the door. “All of them came?”

Walter nods. “All of them.”

“I want them,” Ally says. “All of them. I want her to meet everybody.”

Tobias raises one finger. “But not all at once.”

Walter nods seriously. “Excellent point.”

Ally laughs. “Definitely not all at once. But can we go slow?”

Cassandra’s whole face softens. “As slow as you want.”

She reaches for the handle — and Tobias bolts through it before anyone can stop him. “YOU CAN COME MEET HER!”

Walter closes his eyes. “So much for crowd control.”

For the first time in hours, Ally laughs hard enough that she has to hold her stomach.

Cat comes through first. Kaid is right behind her, which probably means she shoved everyone else out of the way.

She makes it three steps and stops, both hands over her mouth. “Oh my God.”

Penny appears behind them with X and immediately starts crying, and X puts his hand on the back of her neck. Nobody says anything for a second. I look down at my daughter — still asleep, already destroying people.

Cat finally looks at Ally. “You did it.”

“I did.”

“You fucking did it.”

From the hallway: “One dollar!”

Cat closes her eyes, digs a dollar from her pocket, and holds it behind her without looking. Tobias runs in, takes it, and disappears again.

Then Cat comes to Ally — not Piper, Ally — and bends carefully to hug her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m so proud of you.” Only then does she look at Piper, her hand pressing to her chest. “Holy shit. Can I?”

Ally nods. I sit Cat down and put Piper into her arms, and every trace of humor disappears.

“Oh.” Her voice breaks. “Hi, Piper.” Kaid stands behind her, his hand settling on her shoulder. She touches Piper’s fist with one finger. “You are so loved already.” Then she tips her head back at Kaid. “Your turn.”

“No.”

“She isn’t going to break.”