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ponytail to tighten the band, Lacey started cracking up. Nothing led to more foolishness and over-the-top excess than a fired-up Justice brother.
    “Continue, Mrs. St. John. What manner of extravagant frivolity is my husband going up against?”
    “Grab hold of your knickers, sweetie, ‘cause this one is classic Draegyn. He wants to make a movie.”
    “What?”
    Tori guffawed, and Dylan answered with a series of loud laughs.
    “Yep, yep. You heard me. A movie. With parts and lines to rehearse. Desi’s kids are totally down with it and make things worse by keeping up a running email thread with Uncle Drae. Apparently,” she drawled with her eyes rolling heavenward, “they have suggestions.”
    “A movie?” Lacey was incredulous. Only Draegyn could come up with something so … Draegyn. “And where do the costumed characters come in?”
    “The kids want a Wild West theme. Old time Wild West.”
    Drae’s movie scheme lit up her mind. Sweet, sexy tingles ran along her nerves. How crazy hot would it be to see Drae, Cameron, and Alex dressed in classic gunslinger costumes? Like Wyatt Earp and Tombstone . Or Clint Eastwood. Clint was more her husband’s style since he had every damn movie the guy ever made. Hell, she could almost recite High Plains Drifter line by line; she’d seen it so many times.
    “Well, this explains Cameron wanting a Ferris wheel and a miniature choo-choo train for Dylan’s party.”
    Tori got quiet, her eyes glued to Dylan. Finally, she looked at Lacey, and all she could see was sadness and worry in her friend’s gaze. Something was not right with the St. Johns.
    “Will they be home by his birthday?”
    Wow. A straightforward question about as transparent as mud. Would Alex and Meghan be home in Arizona when Dylan’s September birthday rolled around? Definitely.
    They might jet in at the last second, but there was no way on god’s green earth that Alex or Meghan would miss it. But Tori wasn’t thinking about that when she asked. Dylan’s birthday was simply a convenient distraction. They were all feeling the strain of missing and needing the newlyweds back—everyone in their own way.
    She didn’t answer right away. Her attention moved to the slobbering baby watching them so intently.
    “I know this is gonna sound crazy,” she confided to Tori, “but when Dylan looks like he does now—all I see is the Major.”
    “What do you mean?”
    A small smile played on her face. “Besides being the calmest baby on the planet, sometimes—like now—he gets that Alex look. You know the one. Quiet stillness and regard. I see it in Dylan’s eyes. It’s like he watches us and somehow knows stuff the rest of us don’t.”
    Tori studied Dylan for several moments. “Yeah, I see it. But isn’t Cam the same way? Nobody does brooding, thoughtful silence like he does.”
    Lacey nodded. “You’re right, of course. He’s the same way. But if you ask him, he’ll tell you he learned that habit from the Major. In the war. For Alex, though, the intense, thoughtful stillness—well, it’s how he’s programmed.”
    Did she sound like a lunatic? Probably. Lacey’d given a lot of thought to the unusual connection Dylan and Alex shared. Even with him being gone for months and the baby being so young, whenever Dylan heard Alex’s voice in a phone chat or saw his face on a screen, he was instantly transfixed. They had a bond. Something psychic.
    For some reason, she blurted out the next thought she had. “He gave me away, you know. At my wedding. I’d never seen anyone so serious as Alex was that day. He approached it like a military maneuver. We walked through the moment a bunch of times at rehearsal because he wanted to get it right. For me. And for Cameron.”
    Ducking her head in embarrassment, she fiddled with the water bottle and gave a self-conscious chuckle. “I thought he was so gallant and kind of suavely sexy the first time we met. Poor Cameron. He nearly crapped his pants. That was the