Page 54 of Knot Convenient

“Hey, Brenda.” She looked up from her paperwork, eyebrows up. “I’ve had a small family emergency. Nothing too serious, but I need to get home. Are you okay with that?” We had plenty of staff, so I couldn’t see it being an issue.

“Of course. I hear you. Go ahead. We should be fine without you.” Brenda nodded, walking up to Alex and putting her hand on her shoulder. “Alex and I got this. Plus, Ben is coming back from break in like five minutes. Go be with your mate.”

Smiling, I put my hands together, taking off my white coat and passing it over the counter to Alex. “Thank you. I’ll owe you one.”

“Damn straight, you will,” Alex teased, shooing me out of there.

I turned back to Marshall. “All right, let’s go.”

Ten minutes later, we were pulling up outside of the house in Marshall’s large SUV. Marshall had driven like a damn speed demon, though I got it. Together, we hurried up to the house and stuffed ourselves inside.

We didn’t even have to look for our mothers because, the moment we entered the house, we could hear them clattering from the kitchen. Hattie, who had raised both me and Marshall, was standing at the kitchen counter with baby Milo on her hip, while Edie was chopping up some vegetables.

“Distract them. I’m going to go check on Summer.”

Marshall looked at me with his mouth open, snapping it shut as he glared. I’d clearly beaten him to the punch. “Ugh, fine.”

I left him to it as I jogged up the stairs and straight to Summer’s room. I knocked gently, and it didn’t take longer than a few seconds for her to answer.

I could hear her speaking from behind the door as she approached. “Just a second. Is Milo being too—” The door opened, and she looked at me with wide eyes. “Tobias? Why are you here?”

“Marshall informed me that you’ve met our mom and Edie is here too. We figured you needed some reinforcements, since they’re definitely going to want to know how this all happened.”

I watched the relief spill across her face, and Summer’s shoulders sagged. “Oh god. Thank you. I’ll admit, I am very glad for the shower,” she said, lifting her hair with a little grin. “But I did not want to do that alone.”

“We got you. Marshall is downstairs.” I raised my brows at her. “Are you ready?”

She nodded, blowing out a breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

We walked downstairs, and Summer gripped my hand, squeezing hard enough to make my bones ache. I felt terrible. We should have said something to our parents. This was not how we’d wanted it to play out.

“Tobias!” My mom’s face lit up when she saw me and Summer, pulling me into a one-armed hug with the baby still on her hip as we walked into the kitchen. “I thought you would be stuck at work longer.”

“Marshall made sure to come get me since you two decided to bombard Summer.”

She raised her brows, reeling back playfully. “Who? Us? Never! It’s not our fault our sons never told us about getting mated!”

“Mom, I⁠—”

Our mother waved a hand at Marshall, cutting him off. “I don’t want to hear it.” She turned to Summer, her expression softening. “And how was the shower? You look so much better, dear.”

Summer blushed, ducking her chin for a moment. “Thank you. It was nice. I, umm…” Her words trailed off as she looked between me and Marshall. But the moment I was about to say something, my mom started back up again.

“Also!” She turned to me and Marshall, swatting both of us in the chest. “You have a wonderful mate, and you left her alone while she was struggling with a baby. What sort of men did I raise?”

“What on earth are you talking about?” I asked, brows crinkling.

Edie raised her brows. “When we got here, it was clear as day that poor Summer had been struggling. She desperately needed a shower, and Milo was fussing nonstop. Clearly, she hasn’t been sleeping much. Have you guys been helping her at night?”

“Summer has been doing the majority…” I trailed off.

Hattie didn’t like that answer. She glowered at us. “Not good enough! I know you boys are busy with work, but why didn’t you call us?”

“We wanted to give Summer time to settle in,” Marshall defended.

“Settling in is easier with help. And I’m making lasagna for dinner,” Edie said, her eyes going to Summer. “Do you have any allergies?”

“None, but she’s not a fan of mushrooms,” I said, recalling the information sheet we had been given on her.