And those eyes that looked exactly like Michael’s sure had a way of making my heart melt.
Each and every time.
“Yeah, Grammy and Poppop spent a hundred dollars on her. They said I better like her. And treat her well, because that was the last time they took me there,” Caro continued.
I smiled and winked at ‘Poppop.’
They were such suckers.
I’d known, of course, the minute they’d said that they were taking Caro to the Boardwalk, that they were in for a rude awakening.
Caro was my child.
She could shop until she dropped, and did so daily.
She could talk just about anyone into anything, which was why her room was filled with all kinds of toys, clothes, and shit she didn’t need.
“Hey! Let go of my kitty!” Caro screamed when Clay latched onto the kitty and wouldn’t let go.
“Caro,” I said sternly. “Clay is just a baby. You can’t yank stuff out of his hands like that. You could hurt him.”
Caro stuck out her tongue at her brother, who was all of eight months old so the effect was lost on him, and crossed her arms.
I smiled and looked down at my hands.
She looked so much like Michael when she did that that I could barely stand it.
“If y’all wouldn’t mind watching them, I have to go to Lowe’s…again…and get a coupling for the plumbing underneath the house. And pick up the cake,” I said, trying valiantly not to blush and failing miserably.
“Okay, dear. Don’t forget to pick up that prescription you made me call in,” Manuelo said.
The blood in my veins froze.
Motherfucker!
Shit!
Fuck!
“Okay,” I said shakily, walking to the front table and clutching my keys in a tight fist.
I was out to the car when I managed to quietly pull out my phone, open the door to my Tahoe, and slide inside.
When I started the truck and started to back out of the driveway, I hit the call button and immediately called Michael.
He didn’t answer, of course.
I didn’t expect him to.
But I wanted his voicemail anyway.
This is Michael, leave a message.
“Michael,” I said quietly. “If you managed to knock me up again today, I’m going to fucking kill you,” I growled, then slammed the phone button on my steering wheel.
Ineffective but it made me feel better, nonetheless.
I’d run out of birth control pills two weeks ago, and had completely forgotten until just yesterday that I’d not been taking them.
Michael and I lived busy lives.
We both had some really odd hours, so on the off chance that we had been able to find time to do the deed, in the past two weeks, I’d forced Michael to use a condom.
Something he absolutely loathed doing.
Today, though, I’d completely forgotten.
And I knew, like I’d known with Clayton, that he’d just knocked me up.
There was something about Michael and his damn bad intentions that made me lose my mind. Forget that I didn’t want to be pregnant.
But there Michael was with that ‘magic dick’ as my lovely friends liked to call it, and all my inhibitions flew out the window.
And with it went my ability to drink.
Shit.
***
Four hours later, with all my family and friends around me, I realized that maybe another kid wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Especially not with Georgia and Nico’s fourth baby in my arms.
“He’s just the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen!” I said, rubbing my nose along Heath’s head.
Heath was all of two weeks old, and the very definition of his father.
“You did good, big brother,” I said, smiling up at Nico.
Nico winked. “I know.”
“And so humble,” Georgia laughed.
“Nico, humble?” Downy asked after taking a sip of his beer.
The whole group laughed.
And I looked around at my extended family.
They were all there.
Luke and Reese with their three children.
Nico and Georgia with their four kids.
Downy and Memphis with their two children.
Miller and Mercy, with their three.
Foster and Blake with their two.
Bennett and Lennox with their two.
My sisters and their husbands and boyfriends.
The Chief and his wife.
My parents. Michael’s Parents.
Joslin and Dean.
Madden and his kiddos.
My husband and children.
Hannah and Wolf – although, that was a new thing.
They’d spoken on and off for the last few years, but with the way they were acting, looking at each other but not going near the other, I knew something had transpired.
I just didn’t know what, but I had a feeling that something would break soon.
And then they’d be just as happy as the rest of us.
And I was happy
Ecstatically so.
“Here you go, Mama,” Michael said, handing Clay over.
He took Heath from my arms and handed me my own little butterball, and I smiled as Michael gazed longingly into Heath’s little face.
For a man that hadn’t wanted any children, he sure was adamant about having more and more.
And as I looked around at all the children running and playing happily in the yard amongst their parents, I decided that just maybe another baby wouldn’t be a bad thing.
As long as I had Michael, I could totally get on board with another kid.
Because I loved him.
With my whole heart and soul, and I knew he’d always be there for me.
He was just that type of man.
A man that always had his woman’s back, no matter what it took.
That’s what true love was.
Coming Soon
Counter To My Intelligence
1-6-16
Prologue
Rules are meant to be broken…just not quite like that.
-Coffee Cup.
Sawyer
“Bristol, please let’s not do this!” I pleaded with my best friend.
Bristol looked over at me with a raised brow. “Finals are over. You don’t have volleyball practice for two months. It’s time to stop being such a hermit and just be a college freshman like the rest of us.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think this is going to be a good idea. I’m freaking out here, and I’m not even there. I don’t want to go.”
Bristol looked unimpressed.
“I’m going whether you want to or not. The decision is up to you,” she left that hanging in the air, and walked out of our shared dorm, closing the door quietly behind her.
“Shit,” I sighed.
I really didn’t want to go.
But it was more than apparent that Bristol did.
I wasn’t one for parties. I was more comfortable curled up with a good book rather than going to a party or hanging out with friends.
I loved Bristol with all my heart, and I knew she loved me right back.
We’d been friends for as long as I could remember, and I knew that she’d always be there for me. Even if I wanted to be left the hell alone.
Bristol had done her best to ‘get me out of my head’, as she liked to call it, but it would help if I actually wanted to be out of it.
Which I most certainly did not.
I was a very shy person.
Between her and Isaac, my boyfriend, I was doomed.
Something he proved in the next minute when a text showed up on my phone.
Going 2 the party w/ Brooklyn. You better be there.
Fuck!
I looked longingly over at the new book I picked up at the grocery store before I walked to my dresser and pulled out a pair of pants and a black spaghetti strap shirt.
It wasn’t the greatest, but it’d do.
I wasn’t there to impress. I was there because I was being forced.
***
“No, Isaac. I don’t want any,” I growled four hours later.
I’d already had a beer, and it was one more than I’d wanted.