Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“I teach too,” Owen adds.
“I know you will. Now, remember, he’s tiny, and Mommy is real tired, so we need to be easy with both of them, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy,” they both reply.
Slowly, I push open the door.
“There’s my boys.” Lena smiles and pats the bed next to her. Royce looks up to me for permission.
“Easy,” I remind him. He nods and rushes to climb on the bed. I move to the other side and place Owen there while I watch over the four pieces of my heart in the hospital bed.
I lean over, kissing Owen’s head, then Royce and Grant. Lena smiles and turns her cheek to me as she giggles. I kiss her the same as I did my sons. Kiss by kiss, I show them they are the best parts of me.
We’re now a family of five.
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
Lena
“Lena!” Stanley calls. The front door slams behind him. I can tell from the sound of his voice that it’s excitement, not fear. I’m just glad the boys aren’t napping because, between his loud voice and the slamming of the door, they would have definitely been woken up by the noise.
“Yes, dear?” I ask sweetly as he steps into the kitchen where I’m icing cupcakes.
He stalks around the island and wraps his arms around me, kissing me soundly. “Hi.”
Laughter bubbles up in my chest. “Hi.”
“Guess what?”
“We won the lottery?”
“No, but close.”
“Really?” I eye him skeptically.
“I found it.”
“Found what? Are you feeling okay?” I tease, bumping my hip into his.
“I’m about to make you feel more than okay.” He leans down to my level and nips at my ear, causing shivers to race down my spine. All these years later and this man still makes me feel as though I’m a teenage girl getting my first kiss.
“The boys are playing in the living room,” I warn.
“I love them, but they’re cock blocks,” he grumbles.
“Stop.” I laugh. “So, what did we win?”
“Well, it’s more like luck.”
“And that luck would be?” I wipe my index finger over the spatula for the rest of the icing and bring it to his lips. He opens and sucks my finger into his mouth. His eyes are heated, and my panties are ruined. I have no one to blame but myself.
“Well, you know how we’ve been talking about a bigger house?”
“I do.”
“And getting out in the country where the boys can run and play freely with lots of land?”
“We did talk about that,” I agree.
“I found it. It’s perfect. It’s more land than we could ever need to grow and expand, and I can see the boys growing up there, playing outside, just being kids playing in the dirt.”
“It sounds like it's everything we’ve been looking for.”
“It is. I was thinking we could pack up the boys and do a drive-by. Maybe we can take them for pizza or something after.”
“I’m in. Just let me clean up here and put these cupcakes away.”
“I’ll go get the boys ready and make sure they’re all packed up.”
“Thanks, babe.” I lean up on my tiptoes, kiss the corner of his mouth, and step away before he can push things further. That will have to wait until we’re back home and the boys are in bed.
“Wow.” We’re standing at the edge of the small gravel path. It’s not big enough to be considered a driveway, but the land is gorgeous. It’s vast, over one hundred acres. My mind is already racing with the house plans, and Stanley was right: I can see our boys here running and playing and getting into mischief as brothers and little boys do.
It’s perfect.
“It’s an oasis,” Stanley says, rubbing Grant’s back. He fell asleep on the way here. All three boys did. They can’t resist a car ride. Grant was fussy, even though we left the windows down. He wasn’t fully awake, so when Stanley gathered him from his car seat and rubbed his back, he fell right back to sleep.
I should probably wake them up. Our nighttime schedule is in jeopardy, but that’s okay. Everything doesn’t have to be perfect all the time. Besides, it’s nice that Stanley and I can talk about the land without having to look after the boys, making sure they’re not getting into anything they’re not supposed to. This isn’t our property, after all. Not yet, anyway.
“It’s so beautiful and peaceful.”
“Can you see us living here? Raising our boys here?”
“Yes.” There is no hesitation.
“I’m over people walking past the house and stopping me when I’m in the front yard with the boys, asking me to invest in their small business. I get it, but when I’m with my family, that’s my time. I don’t live for the business, you know?”
“I know. This place is definitely more secluded.”
“When I’m home, we could have family time. True family time. I could build the boys a treehouse and… so many things, Lena. Baby, I think we should buy it.”