Coup De Grâce by Lani Lynn Vale Page B

all talked a good game, the entire leaving thing was hard on us all, something that showed with the way Nico clung to his kids and wife and refused to let them get too far out of his reach.
    “Oh, my God! Saint’s on the front page!” Georgia squealed in excitement, jumping up and down in her nightgown.
    I jumped too, clapping my hands.
    “Isn’t that the cutest thing ever?” I asked in excitement.
    Georgia laughed and spread her paper out on the table.
    Nico leaned forward to study the picture.
    “Nice,” he said, laughing.
    Michael, the ultimate ‘I’m not cut out to be a father,’ was on his ass on the back of the cop car holding the tiniest of babies in his arms.
    The baby didn’t even look to be a month old, at most.
    He was gazing down at the little girl holding a pacifier in her mouth.
    His eyes were gazing at the small bundle, looking for all he was worth like a devoted father.
    Something I knew he’d be if he ever gave life a chance.
    “Was this not something you could’ve called for?” Nico asked after he read the story.
    I shrugged. “Sure I could have. But then I couldn’t annoy the shit out of you like I’m doing right now.”
    He lowered his eyes into a glare, and I plopped down into his lap.
    He grunted as my weight hit him.
    “Jesus, I think you’ve gained weight,” Nico teased.
    I wrapped my arms around his fat neck, although it wasn’t really fat, and squeezed for all I was worth.
    “Ackk!” He said as air escaped his lungs.
    I smiled down at him.
    “Now what were you saying?” I asked with a raised brow.
    He curled his lip at me.
    “Alright, Nik. Let me get dressed and we’ll head up there to see these babies,” Georgia said as she hustled out of the room.
    “Hey!” Nico said, standing.
    I held on for dear life, causing him to come down with me.
    Nico grappled for purchase, but I succeeded in pulling him down with my unexpected move of holding on while still going down.
    Nico landed beside me with a grunt, and I wrapped my arms around his neck from behind, wrapping lightning and thunder (my legs) around his upper torso and squeezing the life out of him.
    “God! You’re such a shit!” Nico growled, effectively knocking the wind out of my sails by rolling over onto his back and pinning me to the floor with his body weight.
    I didn’t let that stop me for long, though.
    Instead, I anchored myself even better, let go of his neck, and started attacking his armpits with the tips of my fingers, ticking him like a lunatic while he writhed and shook with laughter on the ground.
    “God! Stop!” He yelled loudly.
    I was like a tick, though.
    I stayed and stayed until I had no strength left to hold on, then, like any smart woman, I ran.
    Like the wind.
    I pushed off of him with inhuman strength that resembled a lumbering donkey, and sprinted for Nico and Georgia’s door.
    I made it, too.
    Slammed it right in Nico’s face and locked the door before he could reach me.
    Then I promptly fell on their bed that was littered with clothes and other baby paraphernalia, and collapsed in exhaustion.
    “Y’all fight all the time,” Georgia said from the closet.
    I nodded. “Yeah, we do.”
    “I don’t know why y’all can’t just be normal siblings,” she said observantly.
    Nico was the only boy with six girls…it was bound to happen.
    I wasn’t a bad sister. I was a normal sister!
    “You’re just jealous that your brothers won’t give you the time of day,” I teased.
    I was lying.
    Georgia’s brothers loved the hell out of her.
    They just had a different relationship than Nico, my sisters and I did.
    It didn’t mean it was wrong that they tried to baby her.
    It was understandable, really.
    Especially how Georgia held their family together after the death of their two youngest brothers.
    “So what’s going on? Why do you want me to go to the hospital with you?” Georgia asked.
    I gave her a droll look.
    “You’re a social worker, Georgia. Why the hell do you think I want