He shot her a pointed look but kept his mouth shut. She’d known he would. Danny wasn’t the kind of person to make anyone around him feel bad. Even during their frenemy wars, he’d never once picked on anything that would make her feel actually bad. It was more about ramping up the annoyance and the aggravation.

Catie had responded in kind. Actually hurting Danny had never been the point. And now…

Things twisted inside her at the idea that he was in pain.

Well, she thought with stubborn determination, he’d get over his silence—or she’d make him. He’d lured her with cookies, hadn’t he? She’d lure him out with bait just as good.

The elder Eseras had managed to gather the entire gang for this family dinner. Which meant Catie ended up being jumped on by her big sister and cuddled to within an inch of her life.

Grinning so hard that her face ached, Catie said, “It’s only been a week since you last saw me, Issie,” but she didn’t mind the affection. At all. Her sister’s arms were the most familiar anchor in her life.

After Ísa had satisfied herself that Catie was still in one piece, Catie found herself being wrapped up in Sailor’s strong arms. Yeah, okay, she still had a little bit of a crush on her brother-in-law—in a strictly platonic way. He was the epitome of a protective big brother in how he treated her; Catie let him get away with it because he’d earned the right over years of love and care and steadfast support of her dreams.

Sailor had driven her to countless out-of-town meets over the years, been so openly proud of her at them that people who didn’t know who he was had assumed he must be her brother rather than her brother-in-law.

It was some five minutes later, after more hugs from various members of the clan, that Catie was able to make her way to the corner armchair where Charlotte sat, nursing her newborn. Seraphina Pippa Bishop was her and Gabe’s first child and the newest member of the clan.

“Catie.” Charlotte’s smile was as sweet as always as she reached up an arm to hug Catie even as she cradled Seraphina with the other. When her spectacles slid down her nose, Catie nudged them back up with a finger.

“Look at her.” Catie touched one plump baby cheek just as the baby unlatched and smiled a gummy smile at her. “Don’t tell me that’s gas. I want to pretend she’s smiling at me.”