Nothing at all, as if they didn’t exist.
He’d thought to ask Sera about her mother and father more than a few times, but the flow of their conversation would shift, and he’d file it away and vow to ask later. And she certainly hadn’t mentioned them beyond that vague dismissal during their first real conversation after getting reacquainted.
Which he supposed hadn’t been all that strange, the actual number of hours they’d spent in each other’s company having been somewhat limited. Their time alone even more so. It had been less than two weeks since that first day of the task force, and they had spent several days apart since that first meeting. So, really, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the subject of her parents hadn’t come up.
Only he was beginning to suspect that was on purpose and that stung a bit. Especially since he had shared the details of his father’s death.
Which was dumb, Gavin thought as he picked up a small plate to select a few items from the charcuterie board Sera had laid out. This wasn’t a tit-for-tat situation, and if he wanted to know something, he could damn well ask.
But it would have been nicer to learn the information voluntarily.
A fact that he’d have to ponder later as Robin came up beside him and laid a hand on his arm. “The flowers are beautiful.”
“I’m glad you like them.”
“It’s big news,” Robin said as she began fixing a plate for herself. “Happy news, but very big.”
“It is. And while unexpected,” he launched in, more than willing to set the stage succinctly with his intentions, “it’s happy and welcome news.”
“It most certainly is.”
“Sera and I haven’t known each other all that long, but—” He left the thought trail off because, really, how did you talk to a woman about how sexy and attractive you thought her niece was?
Even if Robin’s knowing smile came winging back at him, whip-quick, her gaze doing a quick flight to Enzo before returning to him. “When you know, you know.”
“We’re still trying to figure that part out.”
“Figure it out or just go with the feeling.” She winked at him. “Since you started with feelings, maybe you should just stay on that path. Keep the brain out of it altogether.”
“Aunt Robin!” Sera came up behind her, wrapping an arm around the woman’s shoulders. “Discretion.”
“I’m only speaking the truth.”
Sera shot him a helpless look, and for the first time since that explosive kiss when he walked in, Gavin felt something unclench in his stomach. He wanted her, that had been clear from the first. But he’d struggled with whatever his brain kept tossing at him.
Statistics on their likely success rate as a couple.
The pressures of both their jobs.
Starting a family without that rock-solid, get-to-know-you time together before as a couple.
All fair points. And all equally relevant to living a life he took responsibility for, but maybe there was something to be said for not allowing those thoughts to take over.
Raw attraction had brought them together. It had been quick and electric, unlike anything he’d ever felt before in his life. And maybe—just maybe, Gavin admitted to himself—he wasn’t giving that base connection enough credit.
Especially since there was no way he could think his way out of this one. He and Sera had shared something extraordinary, and it had momentous, life-changing results. Whoever he was last year, he’d become someone else entirely different as the page turned on a new year.
Wasn’t that the real truth underneath all of this? His life had changed exceptionally quickly. The last time that happened, it had brought immeasurable grief.
But this time?
This time it brought a tremendous power for change and opportunity and need. Bone-deep and soul-defining.
He needed her.
Sera.
And as he kept imagining the child who would be here in a few short months, Gavin realized he needed the family they would become.
“Your aunt’s right, you know,” Gavin said, the words springing to his lips with ease. “Feelings and gut instinct are never to be underestimated.”
“I knew I liked you.” Robin patted Sera’s hand where it rested on her shoulder. “Listen to the man, my dear. He’s got something there.”
“Are you two in cahoots?”
Although she voiced the question with serious tones, Gavin didn’t miss the light in Sera’s eyes or the quick wink, so like her aunt’s, that she shot him before turning to Robin. “And don’t let her fool you, Gavin. This is the same woman who made Uncle Enzo propose three times before she said yes.”
“Four!” Enzo hollered from his perch on the couch in front of a basketball game.
Robin shushed her husband before pursing her lips. “I needed time to figure myself out.”
Unwilling to be dismissed, Enzo kept pace. “Took you long enough.”
“A woman shouldn’t be rushed.”
“But what about all those feelings, Aunt Robin?” Sera pressed her point, and in the insistence—even one based in humor—Gavin had a sense of Sera’s dogged pursuit of justice in the courtroom.
Robin simply laughed in the face of the pressure. “How do you think I got so smart about it all? I hemmed and hawed with all those ideas in my head. They were just getting in the way of what my heart already knew.”
