Nerds on Fire (35 page)

Emma noticed and beamed at Trixi with
a General’s approval. Mark hoped Trixi didn’t salute. She yanked
Katy forward instead.

“
This is Katy Greene. She’s
also a granddaughter.”

Katy smiled at the small
whirlwind with her usual charm. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve
heard
a lot
about
you.”

Emma’s laughter was knowing. “I’m sure
you have.” She patted her pristine hair. “I do have a reputation to
maintain.”

Leo groaned. “Trust us,
General Emma, we
know
.”

Beside him, Mark nodded. It was the
truth. “Where’s Uncle Rich?” The line ahead of them seemed to have
stalled, so they had time. It looked like Ed was causing a ruckus,
as usual.

“
He’s in D.C. He got caught
in a meeting, on a Saturday no less, and still hasn’t left yet.”
She didn’t sound happy.

“
Uncle Rich is a Navy
Admiral, and Ben’s boss.” Mark nodded in his cousin’s
direction.

“
Ben’s a Navy SEAL,” Treeny
murmured.

Trixi and Katy’s eyes both grew large.
“I’ve heard of those,” Katy said. Leo had to nudge her
forward.

Ben smiled. “I’m just like
you.”

A round of disbelieving snorts
accompanied his remark. “Yeah, only better.” Leo’s statement caused
another round of laughter.

“
He’s a superman,” Emma
confided and beamed at her nephew.

“
So Uncle Rich is married
to Aunt Emma, and he works in Washington, D.C. and was expected
here tonight?” Trixi fit the pieces she knew together.

“
Yes, love. Rich usually
commutes back and forth because our daughter and her family are
here. We still have Rich’s house, and we stay there when we need
to. I can run my business from the home office I maintain
there.”

“
So you still expect him
home tonight?” Katy asked.

“
I told him to stay put.
We’ll see what he does.” Emma sounded more resigned than anything.
They took a few steps toward the food tables.

“
Admiral O’Riley is the
only living person who doesn’t listen to General Emma,” Ben stage
whispered to Trixi and Katy.

Their ensuing grins caused Emma to
shake her head sadly. “There are others who are still
living.”

“
We’re more concerned with
those who aren’t,” Leo quipped.

Emma smacked him, but then the line
surged forward and they finally made it to the stacked disposable
plates. Everyone turned his or her attention to the dishes laid out
in what looked like an endless array.

“
This is a lot of food.”
Trixi didn’t exactly balk.

“
Just take a little of what
you like. There’s no way you can sample it all,” Mark
advised.

Both she and Katy looked relieved at
his advice. “How do you choose?” Katy whispered to Leo.

He explained his technique in a low
voice so they could keep the line moving. Then plates filled, they
strolled to a spot not yet crowded. There were enough seats for
their little group, which consisted of him and Trixi, Leo, Katy,
Janine, and Greg. Ben and Treeny were sidetracked by their kids and
Emma got pulled out of line before she ever reached the
food.

They tucked in, and Katy and Janine
started talking again. It was obvious to him Katy was eager to
start working with Janine. His cousin seemed every bit as happy
Katy had come on board with them.

Leo turned to Trixi. “So Trix, how’s
neonatal?”

She had just taken a bite, but
shrugged.

His eyes widened. “You’re not enjoying
it?”

Trixi managed to swallow. “I love it
but it’s a lot different as a nurse practitioner than it was as a
nurse.”

“
Want to come and work with
me?” he teased.

“
No way.”

Both she and Leo laughed. Greg was
engaged in conversation with yet another couple Trixi didn’t know.
Janine’s husband leaned forward. “Trixi and Katy, this is Shelby
and Sam Welby, she’s Emma and Rich’s daughter.”

Trixi glanced up at the huge man and
nearly swallowed her tongue. His shoulders out-spanned Mark’s and
that was saying something. He had to be of a similar height to Leo.
He set an empty car seat beside a chair.

Leo jumped to his feet and the two
greeted each other like old friends. “Trixi, this is Sam Welby,” he
repeated Greg’s information and the name clicked. “Trixi is a
neonatal nurse practitioner, Level Three.”

“
You’re the pediatric
oncologist,” she blurted, awed to finally get to meet
him.

“
Right. Sam is at the very
top of his field.” Leo clapped him on the back.

By then Ben and Treeny joined them,
and Ben gave Sam a noogie before the huge man escaped him and did
something in turn.

She turned to Greg, since he was
proving to be an excellent source of information.

“
Sam was a Navy SEAL with
Ben before he became a kid doctor.”

The little girl who had been hovering
behind her mother snuck close and then crawled into Greg’s lap
where she nestled close to him and Janine.

“
This is Kiley, Sam and
Shelby’s oldest.” Janine ran a beautiful hand over the little
girl’s springy hair. “She’s getting a sister soon, once the papers
go through, and she’s really excited about that.”

“
We’re not certain when
she’s coming.” Shelby set down her plate and still grasping an
adorable little boy, a toddler, in her other arm, gave Trixi her
left hand to shake. “My mom grabbed our youngest, Ronan. This is
Gavin,” she introduced her shy son. “It’s really nice to meet you.”
She repeated the gesture with Katy.

By then Ben took Gavin and when he
spied Kiley, tried for her, too, but Greg and Janine were obviously
capable of thwarting him. It was charming to watch. Trixi leaned
back and enjoyed the show.

It lasted until Emma showed up, when
with a squeal, Kiley launched out of Greg’s arms and into Emma’s.
“Grandy!” she shrieked. Emma handed her plate off to her
son-in-law, since he was close, and caught the little girl with
expert care.

“
Thwarted by a
grandparent,” Greg said in disgust, and beside him, Janine rumbled
with laughter.

“
They outrank everyone,”
Mark explained.

“
Who has Ronan?” Shelby
asked her mother.

“
Heather took him.” Emma
cuddled Kiley. Greg kept trying to entice her back, but Emma
remained firm.

“
Heather is our mom,” Ben
explained, waving between himself and Janine.

Greg didn’t have long to be
disgruntled though, because another little girl wandered by and as
soon as she saw Greg and Janine, she took Kiley’s former place.
“Uncle Greg,” she exclaimed and then crawled up onto his lap. Like
Kiley had, she settled against him and Janine both and then helped
herself to the pineapple chunk on his plate.

There was another one on Janine’s and
she helped herself to that one too.

“
Trixi and Katy, this is
our actual niece. Macy is my sister KC’s daughter.”

“
Max Morrison, a first
cousin to Mark, Leo, and me, is her father.” Janine added to Greg’s
explanation.

“
Have you seen either of
them tonight?” Greg asked Janine.

She frowned. “No, now that you mention
it...”

Trixi blinked a few times. “How can
you tell?” After she blurted this, her cheeks heated when everyone
laughed.

“
It gets easier, Trixi,”
Shelby assured her.

“
You’re family so you’re
probably used to this,” Katy said with a smile. She used a hand to
indicate the packed room.

“
I was adopted after I was
born because my parents didn’t know each other’s names when they
met and made me. I only just found them a year or two ago.”
Shelby’s smile was sweet. “Sam has been a part of my family longer
than me.”
[
The
Nerd’s Pocket Pets
- The Morrison Family
Series - Book 4]

Sam seated himself beside her, since
he had to get up to tend to the little boy. He deftly sorted out
which plate was his and which was Emma’s. “I was swim buddy to Ben
here,” and he used his bald head to indicate the man, “all through
SEAL training. Then I got cancer a few years in and couldn’t
continue as a SEAL.”

“
So you became a
pediatrician?” Katy sounded fascinated, which was probably
true.

“
I took some oncology
classes because I like to know these things and before I knew it, I
had a medical degree and was on rotations. I discovered then I
wanted to be a pediatrician, specializing in oncology.” Sam sounded
matter-of-fact.

“
He’s a supernerd,” Ben
informed them. Gavin, on Ben’s lap, was busy helping himself to
whatever was there. By then the little guy she identified as Ben’s
ran in. He climbed up on his father’s lap and also helped
himself.

Treeny entered the room and sat beside
Ben, a beautiful little girl in her arms. This one looked so much
like her brother it was easy to identify who she was. She caught
sight of Greg and Janine and grinned at them, and then cooed. It
didn’t take Janine long to settle her next to Macy on their
laps.

“
I love this,” Trixi
murmured to Mark.

“
It’s fun to watch,” Mark
agreed. He slid an arm around her and appeared to enjoy the show
with her.

A baby cried nearby and Shelby
responded. She soon returned, carrying a nine-month-old boy, who
stopped crying when she sat down and resumed eating. He made a game
out of trying to grab her plate and his father’s.

Seeing all these people interact and
enjoy each other and their offspring was amazing. “Do Janine and
Greg have children?” she asked in a low voice to Mark
only.

“
No. Their careers have
been such that they feel they shouldn’t.”

Even though she didn’t understand,
Trixi nodded. There was something dangerous lurking beneath the
surface of this pair. Not dangerous to those they loved but for any
who threatened the people this pair considered their own. Her eyes
slid next to Ben and then to Sam Welby.

“
Good luck to anyone who
tries to hurt these children.”

Chapter 34

“
Well, you survived meeting the Morrisons,” Katy
announced as they entered Trixi’s bedroom.

“
I never doubted
I
would.”

Katy sent her a strange look. “Then
what did you doubt?”

“
That my brand new, amazing
relationship wouldn’t.”

“
Oh.” Katy waved her fears
away as negligible. “The more I see you together the more convinced
I am that Mark is besotted with you.”

“
Besotted?”

“
In this case,
yes.”

“
I don’t think you know
what you’re talking about.”

“
Yes I do. I know you, and
I know I’ve never seen you like this with a man.”

“
I’m not arguing about my
feelings for him. I’m arguing about his feelings for me.” Trixi
sank into the chair by the window and stared into the darkness
beyond.

Katy opened her mouth, but the window
in front of Trixi exploded. Glass pieces spattered her and Trixi
instinctively shielded her eyes.

“
Trixi?” Katy sprinted to
her side. In the background, Trixi heard her shouting for Leo, but
shock made everything seem suspended, like in gel, so it was
springy and painless, and not really there.

Hands joined Katy’s in grabbing her
and yanked her away from the window. In the next moment, Mark
arrived and took command. He quickly examined her. “Are you okay?”
he kept asking, or maybe he took turns with Leo and Katy. She
couldn’t tell.

“
I don’t know,” she
admitted as chills set in. “What happened?”

“
The window shattered.”
Katy’s voice was flat and stark.

Leo, who was prowling near the window,
suddenly sprinted out of the room. Trixi noticed but didn’t much
care. Instead, she huddled close to Mark, trying to steal some of
his warmth. The chills spread until she felt ice-coated. The only
thing preventing the ice from overtaking her was hard male body
against her.

Other people rushed into the room, all
of them asking questions, but Trixi wouldn’t let Mark go. He
finally scooped her up and sat down on a different chair, a
distance from the window. Settling her in his lap, she answered the
police’s questions from the safety of his arms. She couldn’t tell
them much.

Katy didn’t either, although she
offered more than Trixi. Arms wrapped around herself, Katy kept
close to them. Mark tugged her down on the arm of the chair and
kept a hand on her.

At least until Leo returned. He
wrapped Katy close and she tried to burrow into his skin. Trixi was
aware of him and Mark communicating, but she wasn’t cognizant of
what was decided. Instead, she leaned against Mark, wishing this
hadn’t happened.