“Do you remember the moment you decided you wanted kids?” Sean asked.
Touchy-feely territory. Yep. His brother was trying to get him there, but Ian was good at avoiding the land mines. Usually he would simply walk away, but he wanted those cookies so a little deflection was necessary. “Nope. I do remember the day Charlie said she was no longer on birth control and what was I going to do about it. Here’s a hint. I did not get snipped, which was the only option she gave me besides rolling the dice.”
“Seriously, that’s what you’re going to tell those girls?”
He shook his head. “Nah. Charlie really wanted kids. You’ve seen her with Carys. Besides, Carys deserves family. After you and Grace made the decision to keep her a single, it kind of fell to me and Charlie to give her cousins.”
“You make it sound like we did it to spite you,” Sean groused. “The doctors told Grace another pregnancy could be very difficult. She wanted to try. I said no. Carys needs her mother more than she does more siblings.”
This was the way it was with him and his brother. They worked out their issues through sarcasm. They didn’t need the therapy crap other people did. “Well, I think she needs cousins. I will say if I’d known about Case and Theo at the time, I totally would have shoved this duty off on them.”
“Don’t even say that,” Case said, walking up to them.
Theo was at his side with a big grin on his face. “I’m up to the challenge, big brother. Well, maybe not the actual babymaking challenge, but I’m willing to practice.”
Case rolled his familiar blue eyes. “He thinks he’s getting some in Africa. He’s absolutely certain Erin is going to fall into his bed while they’re fighting Ebola and stuff.”
Theo didn’t back down. “I’m optimistic. I’m getting her alone and I’m pleading my case.”
“Yeah, she’s going to respond by shoving her foot up your ass, little brother,” Case explained.
Ian kind of figured that Erin would try to shove her boot up Theo’s ass, but he also thought she might not fight him too hard. “Any way I can convince you to go to Africa and just get the job done?”
He’d often found that the people around him did exactly the opposite of what he asked them to, so he employed reverse psychology to get his way. In this case, it wasn’t exactly his way. It was Theo’s way, but Theo was going to waste a ton of time if he didn’t go after that girl and take her down. She wouldn’t respond to roses. She responded to a man strong enough to take her shit and protect her from whatever the hell she was afraid of.
Theo frowned. “I’ll try, but I gotta be honest. I’m probably not going to try very hard. Something about that woman does it for me. I can’t help it.”
Case groaned. “I swear I’m going to beat him to death if he bursts into song.”
Ian sympathized. “It’s disgusting, isn’t it? I had to put up with Sean singing about Grace for weeks.”
“I did not sing, asshole,” Sean shot back.
They continued down the hall. “I distinctly remember you singing and weeping and playing really bad guitar.”
“I did none of that,” Sean clarified.
“I’m pretty sure Theo’s been writing poetry.” Case fell in step with Ian.
Theo shook his head. “Never once in my life have I written poetry.”
Sean and Theo walked alongside but there was zero way to miss the similarities. Case and Theo might be twins separated by mere minutes, but they were he and Sean all over again.
Before they got to the lobby, Case put out a hand and held Ian back.
Shit. Was Case about to ask him not to send Theo to Africa? Case could be super protective of his younger brother. Another thing they had in common.
“What?”
Case frowned. “I just wanted to say something. I know I was kind of an asshole when we first met.”
“You can’t help it. It’s your personality.” He knew what Case was talking about. Case had always resisted acknowledging their connection as anything past a coincidental biological link. He was wrong, of course, but Ian didn’t bother to point it out.
Charlie, on the other hand, had been pretty specific with his brothers. They were family and therefore her responsibility, and she didn’t care if Case agreed. A while back, Case had broken his leg, and without bothering to ask the boy what he thought, she’d simply moved Case into the spare bedroom and taken care of him while Theo was off in Dubai.
“Yeah, well, it’s yours, too,” Case shot back. “Look, this is hard for me. Could you please shut the fuck up and listen? I’m sorry I was an asshole. I worried you would come in and Theo would look up to you.”
Ian felt for the kid. He remembered what it felt like to only have his brother. “I was never going to take Theo away from you.”
“I know, but I think you should also know that I wish it had been different.”