Sister-in-law? Grace gulped. “I don’t know. It’s only been a week.”

Sal walked in followed by Alex, Romero and Isabel.

“Isabel,” Alex said. “You can hold my babies but I don’t know about Romero.”

“I’m not sure I want to,” Romero said. Alex gave him a look. “I’m scared!”

“Of what?” Isabel asked. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re going to hold them.”

Romero raised his eyebrows at Grace to acknowledge her but looked genuinely nervous. “All right but only if I’m sitting.”

Isabel smiled at Grace. “Hi again.” She leaned over, looking as mesmerized as everyone was with the baby. “Oh my gosh. Look at those eyes!”

Grace lifted the baby, offering her to Isabel. Isabel took her, gushing. Romero sat on the bed. Grace giggled at the way he prepared himself backing far up so he was further away from the edge. He cradled his empty arms a couple of times.

Alex’s brows pinched. “What are you doing?”

“I’m practicing!”

Valerie laughed, standing to hand him the baby. She placed it gently in his arms and Romero’s eyes widened as she began to pull her own arms away. “Hold on. Hold on!”

“You got it,” she laughed.

Grace had never seen anyone hold a baby so awkwardly and everyone laughed at how stiffly he sat. “Relax, dude,” Sal said.

Isabel sat down next to him and he looked absolutely panicked. “Don’t move me!”

“You’ve never held a baby before?” Isabel asked.

“How can you tell?” He inched a little further back into the bed.

“You better not drop her,” Alex teased.

Romero’s eyes opened even wider at the comment then looked back down at the baby. “She’s beautiful, man.”

Sal leaned over to Grace. “You wanna go check on your sister?”

Grace stood up. “Oh yeah, she’s probably looking for me.”

They excused themselves and walked out. She walked in front of Sal through the hallway and felt him lean into her ear. “Just so you know. I’m very serious about us. I hope you are, too.”

Grace didn’t think she could get more excited than what Sofia and Valerie had said made her. She turned to him just as they walked out of the hallway together. She’d wondered when he walked in, if he’d heard Sofia’s question. “I am. She just caught me off guard I wasn’t sure what—”

He kissed her softly, before she could finish. “All I needed to hear were those first two words. Don’t worry about anything else.”

She felt her heart inflating a million times over as he stared in her eyes. What she felt for him this soon, was utterly illogical. She hadn’t been scared before but now she was. Completely. She wasn’t just falling in love with just him, she was falling in love with his entire family.

CHAPTER 20

They walked out into the backyard and Sal felt a little alarmed when he didn’t see her sister and Vincent anywhere. Vincent had been one headache after another for years. The problem was his dad’s younger brother hadn’t been around much in the beginning of Vincent’s life. When he finally was, Vincent was a preteen and already out of control.

His mother lived too far for Sal’s dad to be too much help. The last he heard was that his dad was having to pay fines because the ass got caught tagging up the school walls after hours with his low life friends.

Grace glanced around. “You think they’re still over by the koi pond?”

“Let’s go see.” He took her through the front instead of walking through the crowded backyard. They didn’t have to walk very far. Vincent and Rose were sitting on the porch swing, talking. Rose was a very pretty girl and looked a little older than her fifteen years. Sal thought Vincent looked a bit too comfortable and the swing was big enough he didn’t need to be sitting so close. Vincent smiled when he saw them. “Checking up on me already? I told you I’d be cool.”

“The food’s here. Why don’t you guys come get something to eat?”

Vincent asked Rose something Sal couldn’t hear and turned back to Sal. “Neither of us is hungry yet. We’ll get some later.”

Sal frowned, lifting his hands with Grace’s hand still in one of them and parted them. “Can you get a little space in between you two? Come on, Vin. There’s enough room on that swing.”

Vincent laughed. “You’re kidding me, right?” But he complied and scooted over a little.

Grace squeezed his hand. “Sal!”

They turned back to the backyard. “I’m telling you,” he said in a lowered voice. “That kid can’t be trusted.” He turned back to Vincent. “Don’t go disappearing anywhere, Vin.”

“We’ll be right here.” The wicked grin only spiked Sal’s nerves.

They ate an excellently executed version of Grace’s casserole and after the cake was served, Valerie began working her way through the enormous pile of gifts. Those babies were set with every baby gadget and product out there. Even Sal hadn’t been able to help himself and bought the deluxe twin stroller that doubled as car seats.

Then came the clothes. Valerie made a comment pouting that she’d have no excuse to shop for them for at least a year. She wasn’t kidding. She got to Grace’s bags and Sal abstained from frowning, especially since Grace grinned silly when she saw Valerie pick up her gift bags. Sal knew Grace was on a tight budget. She’d even told him how she paid for a good portion of the household bills.