“So they weren’t serious when they invited me to play touch football?”
“Oh yes, we were,” Molly said. “I need you on my team.”
“Then I’m glad you told me to wear jeans and sneakers, Declan.”
He smiled down at her, loving every inch of those jeans on her. “Great. I’ll be on your team.”
Braden and Connor both threw their hands out in disbelief.
“Now you’ll play?” Braden choked.
“Every other Sunday, you sit on the porch like the third grandmother,” Connor said, balking.
Declan shook his head, laughing with them and at himself. “Most Sundays, I’m in uniform to start a shift at five.”
Fortunately, Danny saved him from any more grief by shrieking to get down from his mother’s arms.
“You want a tour of the property before we eat?” Declan asked Evie. “I know you want to see the kennels.”
“I do.” She lifted her own Bloody Mary. “Are these allowed?”
“Only, apparently, if you’re fun enough to qualify.” He slid a look at his brothers.
“You’re gettin’ there, Big D.” Connor winked and stepped aside to let them go.
On the way, they stopped and talked to his cousin Shane and his wife, Chloe, giving Evie a chance to coo over little Annabelle, born the same month as Danny, but way more docile.
Finally, he walked her out the kitchen door and into the afternoon sunshine.
“I don’t remember Sundays at Waterford being anything like this. There are so many—”
“Mavviiiiieeeeee!”
Declan pulled Evie back just in time to avoid being mowed down by a tan Lab tearing across the driveway, followed by six-year-old Destiny, little Christian hot on her heels while his much younger sister, Fiona, stumbled along, trying to keep up.
“Kids,” Evie finished on a laugh, then pointed to Destiny. “I haven’t even met her yet.”
“That’s Destiny. You’ve met John Santorini, my step-cousin?”
“I think so.” She nodded. “John and Alex Santorini, right? Twin brothers, Katie’s sons, and Cassie’s brothers?”
“You got it. Destiny is Summer’s daughter. Summer and John just got engaged.”
“Oh boy.” She grinned up at him. “If there’s a test…”
“The brain trust will ace it,” he teased, tightening his grip on her hand.
“The brain trust.” She laughed at that. “You used to call me that after every report card when we were young.”
“Because you got A’s, and I…didn’t.”
“Well, I want an A on your family names. I remember there were six Kilcannon kids and four Mahoneys, and I used to think that was a massive tribe when I’d come here on a Sunday. So is this everyone? Except Nick Santorini, the son your uncle Daniel didn’t know he had.” She shook her head. “I still can’t believe that story.”
“And Theo Santorini, Navy man, currently in San Diego. Then that’s it.”
“Well, it’s a phenomenal family.” She let out a noisy exhale and turned to look back at the house, spilling over with kids and couples and two very happy-looking grannies rocking on the porch.
Yiayia lifted her drink in their direction.
“You sure everyone’s phenomenal?” he asked on a laugh. “Because those two grannies can be a handful.”
“They’re precious and well-meaning.” She responded to Yiayia’s cross-lawn greeting by lifting her own drink. “I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I was green with envy over this bunch. You know how I grew up. Alone in that monstrous house with no siblings and no cousins. My grandmother was lovely, but she couldn’t compete with Finnie or Yiayia for colorful and crazy. My mother hid in her sunroom studio all day.”
“I remember that house was always so quiet.”
“So this is…” She glanced over her shoulder again, then turned to the expansive pen where many of the family dogs hung out during Sunday dinners. Without finishing her thought, she headed toward the pen. “Paradise for a person who loves big families and dogs.”
“I didn’t know you love big families,” he said. “I mean, you have the ultimate family. The founders.”
“Yeah, but you have the actual living people.” She closed her fingers around the wire fencing and made a few kissing sounds, immediately getting some of the dogs’ attention. “And four-legged furbabies, too.”
Jelly Bean came trotting over, along with little Stella and Lola.
“If you think learning all the people is challenging…” He leaned a little closer to feel her hair on his cheek when he talked. “They all come with dogs.”
She laughed. “That’s never a problem for me.”
“Come on, I’ll introduce you to all of them.” He unlatched the gate, waving to his cousin Garrett, who was with his wife, Jessie, on the other side of the pen. They were working with a new terrier Declan didn’t recognize, probably readying the dog for adoption.
“This beautiful Weimie is Jelly Bean, owned by my brother and sister-in-law Braden and Cassie.”
“Oh, he is gorgeous.” She knelt on the grass to get face-to-face with Jelly Bean. “What intelligent eyes he has.”
“Yep, he’s a genius,” Declan told her. “Once, he ran all the way from Yiayia and Gramma Finnie’s house to the fire station with an olive jar around his neck to let Braden know Cassie was stuck in the basement with a broken foot.”
“No!” She gave Jelly Bean a kiss right on the nose. “You are brilliant!”
“And this is Lola, who once wouldn’t eat a thing until Jessie Curtis”—he pointed to the couple across the pen—“came and brought Lola out of her shell. Then she brought Garrett out of his, and they’re married and now have little Patrick.”
“Hello, Lola.” She feathered her fingers into the dog’s pale gold fur.
“Go ahead, tell her you love her.”
She slid him a sideways glance. “Really?”
“She’ll say it right back.”
“I love you, Lola.”
On cue, the Aussie mix barked three times, delighting Evie, who threw her head back with a hearty laugh. “Awesome! And who is this delicious little creature?” She reached for the tiny Chinese crested with a puff of white fur on her little head.
“That’s Stella, and you’ll love her story. She belongs to Darcy and Josh. She was blind, and Uncle
