Page 61 of Promised to the Cowboy

I sit back for a moment and simply watch the teasing, the interruptions, the easy affection. Nobody is trying to impress anyone or wondering who has the biggest house or the best title or the most money.

They’re just… living. Together.

I look around the table and think… this is what family actually looks like.

Then my eyes find Gabriel. He’s already looking at me, as if seeing me here is enough.

I smile.

He smiles back. Small. Private. Mine.

Chapter 16

Evie

Once everyone has eaten their body weight in food, Shay stands and points a serving spoon at the men.

“You lot know where the dishwasher is.”

Ethan stands and collects the dishes, taking them to the sink to rinse. He passes them to Henry, who stacks them. Daniel picks up the carving board. Angus reaches for the serving bowls. Ben scoops up a sleepy Max and carries him upstairs.

Tom sighs dramatically. “I see my opinions continue to carry absolutely no weight around here.”

Kitty slips her hand into his. “Of course they do.”

He brightens.

She smiles sweetly. “We just ignore them.”

Luna hides a smile behind her coffee mug.

Shay loops her arm through mine. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“For some girly time.”

The living room somehow manages to feel even warmer than the kitchen.

Shay curls one leg beneath her on the sofa. Luna settles into the opposite corner with the quiet ease of someone who never seems to take up more space than she needs.

Delaney appears carrying a notebook.

Kitty plucks it neatly out of her hands before she can sit down. “Not everything requires minutes.”

“It might.”

“It doesn’t.”

Delaney sighs with the long-suffering air of someone who’s had this argument many times before, but she lets Kitty tuck the notebook onto a nearby shelf.

I smile. “You two always like this?”

Kitty laughs. “Sisters.”

“What she means,” Jenna says, settling into the armchair, “is yes.”

Delaney shakes her head. “Someone had to keep her alive.”