And I’m right. The final piece, once it’s filled in with reds and pinks and blues in this amazing brushstroke style, takes my breath away.
After Brady finishes up, I lean up to whisper in Rider’s ear. “Your tattoo is sexy as hell.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “Really? How sexy?” He flexes his big gun, and I shake my head.
“Show-off.”
But then his expression turns serious. “When I find out Poppy’s birthday, I’d like to add it right here.” He points to his arm where two flowers diverge.
For some reason, that really hits me hard, how he doesn’t know his daughter’s birthday. And from the look in his eyes, it upsets him too.
“We’ll figure it out,” I whisper.
I don’t want to bring her up because we’ve had such a good day, but I can’t help wonder about the woman who left that adorable baby in the middle of a raging party. Does she miss Poppy? Does she even think about her?
I’m distracted when two women come up to Brady’s station. One kisses him and then turns to me.
When I get a good look at her face, I freeze.
She lookssofamiliar.
Her eyes widen.
And we both start talking at the same time.
“Oh, my God.”
“Do I know you?”
I open my mouth, not sure what to say.
Brady smiles. “Gabby, this is my wife Kat and her sister Tori.”
Tori moves next to her sister and stares at me for a long minute before her lips twist. “Do your pinky fingers form a V?”
“I’m sorry. What?”
“Like this.” She places her hands in front of her and turns them so her palms face her. Then she brings them together so her pinkies form a V.
Um. “I have no idea.” So I try it. And lo and behold, they do.
How did this girl know my pinkies were crooked when I’ve never realized it?
Tori snaps her fingers. “You’re a Duran, aren’t you?”
My eyes bug out. “How did you know that?”
“Because we are too. Or we were before we got married.” She waves a finger between her and her sister. “Not to each other, obviously. You know what I mean.”
Turns out we’re cousins.
I stand there a little dumbfounded because I didn’t know I had cousins in the Austin area. Most are down near Corpus Christi.
The three of us have the golden Duran eyes.
Twenty minutes later, we’re still huddled, trying to figure out our family. Kat places a hand on my shoulder. “We heard about your dad, but your mom died too? I’m so sorry. How did we not know that?”
“My father was estranged from the family,” I explain, trying to make sense of it myself. “So we weren’t really close to anyone when my mom passed a few years later.”
