He went to the head of the table, where his mom sat, looking happy and content, even though Cole suspected she detested being parked at the table instead of in the kitchen, busy and in charge. Her color was good, her cheeks the slightest pink, and her eyes sparkled with the joy of having her family around her. He put his hand on her shoulder and said, “Hi, Mom.”

“Hey, cousin.” Miranda, the only female of all the North siblings and cousins, came up to him and bumped him with her hip before putting one arm around him and giving him a side hug. “Congratulations. We’re happy to finally have you in the family biz.”

“Thanks,” Cole said, kissing the side of her head, hoping to hide his discomfort with being the center of attention.

“Took you long enough,” Connor, the oldest North cousin, said, reaching up from one of the dining chairs to give Cole a fist bump.

“Everyone, this is Sierra Lowell. This is the North family,” he told Sierra, “plus a couple of wannabes.”

“I’m their third mother,” Geraldine Fleming called out as she removed a pan from the oven.

“That’s about the truth,” Liz said of her and his mother’s best friend.

Cole went around and introduced everyone. “Geraldine Fleming, a.k.a. Third Mother, and Logan North, tech geek extraordinaire in the kitchen with Gabe, who you met. Liz North, my aunt—”

“And second mother,” Liz said as she poured red wine into a glass and handed it to Miranda.

“It’s a good sign that these ladies claim you all,” Sierra said, garnering a collective laugh and a couple of smart-ass remarks directed toward the two women.

“You’ve met Mason, and next to him is Gabe’s lifelong friend Lexie Gallagher, who we’ve pretty much adopted as a sister, Miranda, Connor, and this,” he said, squeezing his mom’s shoulder, “is the leader of our people, my mom, Faye.”

“Only because she’s oldest,” Liz said.

His mom pushed up from her seat, and Sierra graciously said, “You don’t have to stand, Mrs. North.”

His mom straightened the rest of the way, turned toward Sierra, smiled at her, and pulled her into a hug. “It’s Faye, and it’s so nice to meet you, dear.” When the hug ended, she said, “I’ve been sitting so much I think my butt size has increased by two inches on each side, just in the last hour. These people are bossy. Every last one of them.”

“Everybody likes to boss the boss,” Mason said.

With a laugh, Sierra said, “It’s nice to meet you. Cole’s told me a lot about you.”

Faye put her arm around Cole and pulled her middle child to her side. Craning her neck to look up at him, she said, “I can assure you only the good stuff is true.”