“I grew out of it. Mostly.” He shrugged and grinned goodnaturedly. “The usual stuff older siblings get in trouble for, I guess. Picking on the younger brother, blaming stuff on him, making messes and not cleaning them up, stealing the dessert that’s supposed to be for everyone and eating it all myself. Let’s hope Little One doesn’t inherit any of those bad traits from me.”
Hypothetical questions didn’t bother him; hypothetical answers were what generally got him into trouble. He wasn’t above tiny fibs to preserve someone’s feelings, especially when his thoughts strayed to his mother and biological father. They’d rushed into things and look what happened. Elliot gave this a bit of thought before saying, “I think she’d say she’d wrestle the title for favorite grandmother away from Mimi.”
Elliot smiled when Rae pointed out another reason why she loved this relationship. “You will. And at the very least, those naps are making sure you don’t go completely without sleep.”
“Damn right,” he said with an affirmative nod. “Little One already has the Don’s favor. Every other kid would be right to be jealous of us and our kid.” Elliot’s smile softened when Rae agreed that they were, indeed, the lucky ones in this picture. If luck really was on their side, this family wouldn’t hit any more emotional speed bumps along the way.
“As greedy as I want, she says, not realizing exactly how greedy her man can be when it comes to hogging all the Sunshine time,” he mused. “Or maybe she does realize it and doesn’t care about all those poor people who would suffer if Eli really was unmercifully greedy.” All the delicious food was a benefit of being the head cook’s beau, but of course they were both aware of the far more intimate benefits that came from that. He nodded when she talked of heading back into the kitchens. “Whenever you feel like you’re ready, babe. Don’t feel like you have to rush yourself. I’m sure Mimi doesn’t mind.”
Elliot was too nervous himself to join in Rae’s lighthearted urging for their little one to show itself. He’d done this procedure right the last few times he’d done it. Had he forgotten to do something? Was he missing an important step? His brows drew down in concentration as he continued to search and then… there! There it was. Smiling, Elliot let out the breath he’d been holding and turned his head to glance at Rae. “Found it. Got a feeling our Little One’s gonna be a pro when it comes to hide-and-seek.” He reached up to turn the monitor a little so that Rae could get a better view from where she was lying.