“Because, if you’re lucky, one of them will break his leg, and then you can laugh at him.”

Lucy smiled. “You’re such a loser, Nell.”

“I know.” Impulsively, Nealy reached out to hug her. Lucy’s entire body went rigid, and Nealy immediately backed away. Lucy rubbed her arm and wandered off, not moving toward the boys, but not exactly moving away from them, either.

Mat set the baby in the grass, then popped a root beer. “What were the two of you talking about this morning?”

She frowned as Button started to prowl, but she knew if she mentioned anything about dirt, bugs, or dogs he’d ignore her. “Mainly whether or not Lucy should get her navel pierced.”

“Over my dead body.”

He sounded very much like a father. She began putting out the food. “I told her I definitely thought she should.”

“Why’d you tell her that?”

“Because a navel’s better than a nose or eyebrow. Besides, anything I’m in favor of she’ll automatically reject. Then we discussed whether I should get my ears done.”

“Your ears are already done.” He touched the small hole in her left lobe, lingering longer than he had to.

She cleared her throat. “According to Lucy, one pierce doesn’t count, and I should get another one in each ear.”

“You’re going to start wearing two earrings in each ear?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

He got the strangest expression on his face. It almost seemed like relief. “Maybe you’re not such a blue blood after all.”

She put out the carrots, and he started to sit down on the bench, only to have Button pull herself back up on him. He glanced toward a sandbox sitting a few yards away. “Come on, Demon.”

“The sand box? No, Mat. She’s too young. She’ll eat it.”

“After a bite or two, she’ll stop.” He hoisted the baby in his arms, tossed her once into the air, and carried her toward the sandbox, where two little boys were already playing.

“She’ll get dirty,” Nealy called out. “And sunburned.”

“It’s in the shade, and she’ll wash. You want to try out the sandbox, Demon?”

“Gah!”

“I thought so.” He dropped her in, then glanced toward the other children playing there. “May God have mercy on your souls.”

Keeping one eye on the baby, he moved back to the table to claim his root beer. “Panda-face cupcakes? Do we have little pointy hats to go with them? Hey, Demon, knock it off!” The baby was about to heave a plastic bucket at one of the other children.

“Go watch her while I finish putting the food out.”

He looked as if she’d asked him to poke needles in his eyes.

“And don’t call her Demon in front of the other kids,” she added. “They’ll tease her.”

He managed a pained smile and trudged off to supervise the sandbox.