Page 19 of Inked Temptation
“You have pictures?” I asked, grinning.
Leif smiled and pulled out his phone. The twins were around two now, with Colin around eight if I was doing my math right. There were too many babies in the Montgomerys, and I couldn’t keep it straight.
In the photo, Leif had Colin on his back and held each of the twins in his arms. They were all grinning, their bright eyes shining.
Although Colin was Austin and Sierra’s only biological child, they all had that Montgomery glow. Maybe it was the cheese, or maybe it was just the way that we surrounded each other with family.
“I need to make it down there. I have another piece that I want to add to my back, and I think it’s your aunt’s turn, not your dad’s.”
Leif grinned. “Aunt Maya will kick your ass if you skip her. You know the rule in the Montgomery family. You take turns with your family tattoos.”
I rubbed my forearm—where my Montgomery iris lay—and grinned. Each of the Montgomerys had our crest, a tattoo that we literally inked on our bodies once we found the right place and the time was right. Nobody said you had to do it, but we all wanted it. Some people’s were small, some were intricately woven into huge pieces, so it was like finding Waldo with the crest. Mine was interwoven within the vines and trees on my forearm.
I knew that Leif was slowly working on his own tattoos but was taking his time. He was nearly a blank canvas, but he was also an artist. His father and Maya, as well as our cousin down in Colorado Springs, had each done a tattoo on him. But, so far, that was it. He was figuring out what he wanted and, considering Leif was only twenty, I didn’t blame him for taking time.
We may like ink as much as our cheese, but we were careful with it because ink was forever.
Just like the Montgomerys were.
“Did you hear Lee’s getting his?” Leif asked, and I blinked.
“Really? I didn’t.”
“Someone said my name?” my brother-in-law said as he came forward and squeezed Leif’s shoulders before he did mine.
Lee was our friend, and had been long before he had married Paige. It had been a shock when he had not only fallen in love with my baby sister but was raising the child she’d had with her ex-boyfriend as his own. Colton had walked away, maybe with a second glance, but not a third, but Lee had stepped up, and now they were a happy family and he was my brother-in-law, rather than the guy who I had once almost hooked up with when we had both been too drunk and realized we were far better as friends.
Thank God for that, because there were some things that Montgomerys did not need to share.
“I was just saying that you’re getting your tattoo,” Leif put in.
Lee grinned. “Yep. It’s going to go on my shoulder piece once your dad works out the crest that he wants. Got to get my Irish folklore in there as well to mix with the Montgomerys.”
“I can’t believe it. You’re branded. Even though you didn’t take our name.”
Paige sidled up to her husband and wrapped her arm around his waist. Lee didn’t even have to look down at her before he had his arm around her shoulders, and they sank in together as if they had been doing this forever.
They just fit. And it surprised me that I hadn’t seen it before.
I should have, but I hadn’t.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a Grier. I like being Paige Grier.”
“Paige Montgomery-Grier,” our dad grumbled from the deck, where he stood past the open French doors.
Paige just rolled her eyes and leaned into her husband. “I’m hyphenated. Just like Annabelle. It’s a little ridiculous, but it happens.”
I shrugged because I hadn’t hyphenated. I hadn’t even taken Marc’s name. In retrospect, that should’ve been a sign, but Marc hadn’t wanted to be a Montgomery, and he hadn’t cared if I changed my name or not.
I had felt hurt at first, wondering why he didn’t want me to be hyphenated or why he didn’t want to hyphenate either, but in the end, it had saved paperwork, so I guess there was that.
“Okay, dinner’s ready. Your dad is just getting the brisket out now, and I have the tamales.”
I rubbed my hands together and waved to the other guys to go help my mom finish setting the table.
“These look amazing, Mom, thanks.” I kissed the top of her head as she smiled at me.
“Eliza and I had fun making them.”
