They came over very distracted, watching over their shoulder for the last present to be unveiled.
Emma whispered something to them.
Imogen’s eyes popped wide. “Yes.”
“Okay, shh. Go give this to him. It’s a secret, Cooper.” Emma touched her lips.
He nodded, but his eyes were alight with excitement. Both children moved to sit right in front of Biyen.
“You already gave me the bear.” He took the mysterious little box. It didn’t rattle or jangle, though he gave it a shake to see if it would.
Sophie seemed to know what it was because she was watching closely, anticipation playing around her smile.
Cooper looked over at Emma. Emma touched her lips again in a reminder.
Logan was silently urging the kid to hurry up because his curiosity was getting the better of him.
Biyen tore the wrapping and revealed a box of baby swabs. His brow quirked up in puzzlement.
“That’s not a real box. Is it, Auntie Em?” Imogen asked.
“No, look inside, Biyen.”
“Is it a secret message?” He slid the drawer of the box and withdrew a rolled-up piece of paper with a ribbon on it.
“Read it,” Sophie urged.
“Do you want to come to Vancouver with us and see the dinosaur ex-hi…”
“Exhibition,” Sophie provided.
“Really?” Biyen didn’t know where to look. His head almost snapped off as he looked between his mom and Emma and the kids. “When?”
Logan felt a chuckle of pure enjoyment fill his chest. That was about the greatest thing ever, to see a kid get that excited.
“This weekend,” Reid provided. “I decided to go with Emma when she takes everyone to catch their flight. There’s room on the plane so we thought you might like to come, too.”
“And stay at a hotel,” Imogen said with suitable awe. “Do you want to?”
Biyen looked up at Sophie. “Can I?”
“Your dad and I already talked about it and agree, yes, if you want to. Do you?” She was beaming at him, enjoying his thrill as if it were her own.
“Yes. Wait, are you coming?” he asked Sophie.
“I have to work.”
“Dad?”
“Just you, little dude.”
Logan opened his mouth, ready to find a way to send Sophie if necessary, but Biyen shrugged.
“That’s okay. I’ll still have fun.”
“You will,” Sophie agreed. “It’s a pretty cool present, isn’t it? What do you say to the kids? And Reid and Emma?”
“Thank you.” He shyly hugged everyone.
“When did you cook this up?” Logan asked Reid as the kids went back to playing.
“Yesterday. Emma wasn’t feeling good about leaving Storm again. I said I’d go with them so we could bring her. Then she asked me if I would take the kids to the dinosaur thing in case Storm wasn’t loving it. Cooper mentioned Biyen had been wanting to go so Em called Sophie. We didn’t want to tell the kids until Sophie had cleared it with Nolan and Em had checked with Delta.”
Reid sent a brief side-eye to where his mother-in-law sat next to Art on the porch.
“She likes having Biyen around,” Reid said with fatalistic lift of his brow. “The kids bicker when it’s just the two of them, but that boy has a career in diplomacy if the paleontology thing doesn’t work out.”
“True that. So I’m covering for you again?”
“Only on Friday. The weekend should be quiet. You’ll have the house to yourself, too. No parties. Hear me?” He held up a warning finger.
“Between last night and this, I’m done with parties for a while.” He wasn’t so much hungover as lacking sleep, definitely looking forward to some quiet time after all this socializing.
Apparently, the birthday party had run its course. Sophie called out, “Okay, everyone. Biyen is going to hand out your goody bags before you walk home.”
“Subtle,” Reid said with a smirk. “I heard from the owners of the Missionary II, by the way. They’re talking to the insurance company about it. When will you have a proposal put together? And how are the designs coming along?”
I need a space to work, Logan would have said, but he noticed Emma had started chatting to one of the other kid’s moms. Storm was trying to scale Emma’s thigh to go after Emma’s abandoned plate of cake. Logan stepped closer to the blanket and leaned his hands down.
