“What are you two in here cackling about?” Beck asks, rounding the couch and settling in next to his wife. “Oh Dee, your son is going to kill you,” he gruffs with a smile.

“Oh hush, old man. He isn’t going to do anything of the sort.”

“If you don’t stop showing his woman all those embarrassing pictures of him, he will.”

She turns and narrows her eyes at her husband. “I’ve been waiting his whole life for this moment. When my little man would bring home his future. All my life, John Beckett. You do not spoil this for me.”

I wouldn’t have guessed, because she seems so soft-spoken and sweet, that his mom would have a backbone that would snap tight, but I was wrong. She may look the part of quiet and motherly, but right in this moment, I can tell where Lee got a lot of his stubborn grit.

Beck’s eyes soften and he gazes at his wife with love written all over his body. “Pull those claws back, wildcat,” he hums, his voice sounding deeper, rawer, and I instantly feel like I’m intruding on something a little too intimate.

“Would you two stop?” Lee laughs and drops down next to me. His eyes hit the open photo album seconds before shooting back to his mom. “You didn’t,” he groans.

“I did. Don’t you start on me either, Liam. I’m your mother and it’s my mother duty to share all of your embarrassing moments with your girlfriend. You haven’t given me the chance before and if I’m judging right, I won’t need another, so I’m taking it and you can just deal.”

Lee puts his hands up, surrendering to his mom, and pulls me back to his chest.

“Molly, come here, little lady! Old grandma Dee has some funny pictures to show you.”

Dee’s eyes narrow at his reference to her age, but when Molly comes skipping into the room, her face goes soft. “Just Grandma, honey or nanny works too. Don’t listen to that grumpy man. He’s just mad he doesn’t fit in my shoes anymore,” Dee tells her and we all laugh when Lee starts to sputter.

We continue looking through the photo albums, laughing when Lee gets embarrassed, but true to her word, his mom doesn’t stop until the last book is finished.

“That was a terrible thing to do to your only son,” he grumbles and leans back crossing his arms over his chest.

“Mommy, Leelee is having a fit,” Molly snickers.

“He sure is, little bird,” I tease.

“You just wait, Liam,” Dee starts. “You just wait.” She looks over at me, “You make sure and take lots of pictures of Molly and any more children you’re blessed with. You’ll love this moment just as much as I have. I don’t have a daughter, but I’m sure if I did, this lump here would be doing the same thing I just did,” she says and points to Beck before laughing when he pulls her to his side.

“The hell I would,” he rumbles, giving her a soft kiss before looking at me. “But I would be cleaning every gun I own at the approximate time that any man was due to arrive,” he tells me in all seriousness.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Lee mutters to himself and I look over at him. “What?” he questions, throwing his hands up. “It’s a good idea. When Molly starts dating it’s also one I won’t forget.”

“What?” I ask lamely.

“Darlin’, she looks like your twin now at five. Add ten years to that and I’m going to go out of my mind when boys start coming around.”

His parents laugh and Molly joins in, but I just look at him. Right when I’m about to respond he opens his mouth and shocks me again.

“You give me more girls and I’ll have to buy more guns though. You give me some boys and I’ll make sure they know how to help me clean those guns. I figure though, with me being a cop, there isn’t going to be a single knucklehead that messes with my girl.”

“What’s a knucklehead,” Molly questions, breaking into my thoughts.

“Boys are knuckleheads,” Lee tells her. “And I don’t want knuckleheads near my girl.”

His parent’s laughter grows.

“That’s me, right?” Molly inquires.

“That’s right, little lady. You’re all mine forever and ever.”

She twitters a laugh that sounds like a happier version of her chirpy bird giggles.

“Mommy, I love being Leelee’s girl.”

I don’t hear his parents laughing now. My eyes don’t leave Molly’s when I nod and tell her how much I love that too. But I don’t need to see his parents to know how happy they are for their son.