“Brooke, shut up.” I also laugh. “People will hear you.”
“Why are you blushing? You’re shopping for your wedding night.”
We walk around the room, and I admire everything the store has to offer. I realize I don’t shop here very often.
“Oh. My. God. I found it,” Brooke says from across the room. I walk over to her — she is holding up a very thin and very sexy silk bra, panties, and garter set. “This is perfect,” she squeals. She turns it over and we see a bow on the back of it. “It comes in white, black, blue, or red.”
I smile and take it from her. I already know that Alec will love it. I lightly touch the silky bow and she laughs and says, “It’s a gift that keeps on giving, especially if you become pregnant.”
I decide to get the blue one. This will be perfect for my something blue. I also grab some other sexy bras and panties before checking out. Brooke shops for herself. “Brice and I have decided to try to have a baby at the beginning of the new year; this should get the lead in his pencil.” She laughs as she holds up a black lacy bra and matching thong.
“Well, if that doesn’t do it, maybe Viagra will help,” I joke.
“A four-hour hard-on. No, thank you. I don’t have time for that.”
I say, “I heard when it’s not in use it can be used as a coat rack.”
“A wooden coat rack, now that’s an idea,” Brooke says and then adds, “That may just be book worthy. Maybe I can write a scene in my book where this will fit. And maybe a character can be a politician named Mr. Wood, and at a rally in support of him, someone can hold a sign that says, ‘Wood is good.’”
I’m laughing so hard when a woman walks by mumbling about inappropriate behavior and conversations. We decide we should check out before we get thrown out. We have lunch and then shop for tulle ribbon, silk flowers, disposable cameras, and bubbles.
“Bubbles?” Brooke asks.
“The kids want bubbles on the tables. I think it’s a cute idea.”
“That’s a great idea.”
We have coffee at the cute little coffee shop down the street and then I go home and hide my goodies in the closet. I don’t want Alec to see them before I have a chance to wear them for him. Today we are taking Raelynn and James over so Rae can see Molly’s apartment. Rae is excited, and I think Alec is worried that Molly will want to start keeping Raelynn. Molly has been several months clean and she is doing great. I understand his concern, but I also know Molly is trying and is making great progress.
“This is a very nice apartment complex. I didn’t know this was back here until now,” I say.
“They look new,” Alec says as he drives the five MPH speed limit.
“Momma, look at the waterfalls,” James says excitedly as he points to the community pool with the waterfall.
“Bubby, you and I can swim there this summer.”
Alec doesn’t say anything but the muscle in his jaw twitches and I know he isn’t ready for that. We drive around to the back of the apartment complex near where the playground is located. Molly and Adam are standing outside waiting on us.
“Yay, there’s mommy and Adam.”
Alec parks the car and doesn’t say anything. When he gets out of the car and unfastens Raelynn’s seatbelt for her, he says, “Don’t run off, Raelynn. I want you to wait for daddy.” I watch as he takes her hand and walks her around the car to where James and I are waiting.
I smile when I see Molly and Adam. Adam has his arm around her as they are waiting for us to get closer.
“Mommy,” Rae yells as she lets go of Alec’s hands and runs to her mom.
Molly gives us the grand tour of her apartment and I am surprised that it looks like she has lived here forever. “It’s hard to believe that you just moved in here,” I say, honestly.
“We have everything we need except for Raelynn’s bedding. Adam and I went shopping for her bedroom suite this week. I thought Rae and I could shop for her bedding online while she’s here.” I look at Alec and his jaw twitches again. I squeeze his hand to try to relieve some of his anxiety. Maybe he thinks Molly will want custody of Raelynn. I’m not sure.
Molly says, “Raelynn, would you like to shop for your bedding? I found some things I thought you would like.”
“Yes, mommy, but there isn’t anything in my room,” Raelynn says, confused, as she looks at the completely empty room. “Is everything in the closet?”
“I know there isn’t anything in your room right now and no it’s not in your closet. The people are bringing your bedroom suite this week. I have a picture of it, if you want to see it,” Molly says sweetly.
Molly goes online and shows Raelynn what her bedroom suite looks like and then shows her some bedding for her to choose from.
“Molly and Adam, may we have a word with you, please?” Alec asks.
“Yes, of course,” Molly says. “Raelynn, keep looking, and James, will you make sure she picks out something nice?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I follow Molly, Adam, and Alec out on the lanai that overlooks a cluster of lighted palm trees.
Molly says, “Alec, do you have a problem with the apartment? I tried to get one that was kid friendly.”
“No, it’s very nice. Please, believe me when I tell you I’m happy for you,” Alec says.
I look around the lanai and Alec says, “In your absence, I was the sole provider and caregiver for Raelynn. I guess my question is… what are your plans concerning Raelynn now?”
I watch him as he cracks his knuckles and the twitch returns in his jaw. He looks inside the glass door and watches Raelynn and James on the computer.
“Are you wanting custody of her? Because, Molly, I can’t…”
“And I don’t expect you to. No, Alec, I messed up, I know that. I’m just hoping….” She looks over at Adam and says, “We are hoping maybe someday down the road she’ll be able to visit me and possibly spend the night.” Adam holds her hand and gives her a sad smile. “I know I don’t deserve custody of her, and that’s my fault. I just want to be able to see her and when she’s here I want her to feel like this is her home, too.”
“Alec and Emma, I hope you don’t mind me saying, but we didn’t mean for this to look like anything other than Molly is trying to provide a safe environment for Raelynn and I hope you can see that she has. Molly’s only intention is to be a good mother to Raelynn. She made a mistake and I hope that you give her a chance to make it right.” Adam stands tall and confidently as he speaks clearly.
“Alec, I haven’t even considered custody of Raelynn. I just want to be able to keep her sometime,” Molly says.
“You don’t want custody of Raelynn?”
“No, I don’t. I know that she belongs with you. I messed up and that’s my fault.”
“Molly, I’m sorry. I just had to be clear on what your intentions are. This place is very nice, and it will make a nice second home for Raelynn.”
My heart swells with pride with what Alec has said. My man loves his daughter and there is nothing sexier than that.
“Really?” Molly cries.
“Yes, I mean that. It looks like she’s already at home here.” He nods in the direction of the kitchen. I turn around and look through the glass door and see Raelynn and James in the kitchen pantry. They both have juice boxes sitting on the table as they search for a snack in the pantry.
Molly cries and Adam holds her. “We went to the store the other day, and I didn’t know what to get her. I had no idea what kinds of foods she liked.”
I smile and say, “Well it looks like you guessed very well. I think they are having a difficult time deciding.”
We go inside and the kids are now sitting at the table for four, with their juice boxes and fruit snacks. They are laughing and talking about the new bedding Raelynn and James picked out. “What bedding did you decide on?” Molly asks.
“I want the purple and pink flowers, and Bubby wants the ninjas.”
“Um, James, the bedding is for…” I begin
to say.
Molly says, “That is a great idea. I didn’t know you liked ninjas, James.” I look over at Molly and she smiles at me. “It’s all right,” she mouths.
We sit and visit while the kids play in Raelynn’s empty room. Alec stands and asks, “Are you ready? We need to get groceries before we get home.”
I stand with him and say, “Would you mind keeping the kids? They hate grocery shopping.”
Molly looks at me, Alec, Adam, and then me again. “Really?”
“We’ll just be an hour or so,” I say like it’s no big deal. I know this is unexpected, but we have to start trusting her sometime. One hour at a time seems like a good place to start.
“Yes, we would love to,” Molly says. She smiles and asks the kids to come and kiss us goodbye. Alec hasn’t said anything, and I think he may be stunned into silence.
We kiss and hug the kids and walk out the door. “I hope you know what you are doing.” It’s all he says before walking to the car.
“I do, we’re taking baby steps. One hour at a time.”
Later that night at home, James doesn’t want to take a bath. He says he had one yesterday and he doesn’t need one today.
“You mean that bath that you took yesterday is good for today?” I ask.
“Yep, and tomorrow, too,” he says, seriously.
“One bath is good for three days. I had no idea. That is a very interesting fact, James,” I say, looking at Alec in disgust.
“You know, James. There was a little boy in my office today and his brother didn’t want to take baths either.”
“See, momma, only girls have to take baths every day.”
“They are such cute little kids. Do you want to see a picture of them? I think I have one right here on my phone,” Alec says. “Just give me one minute,” he says, as he scrolls through his phone. “Here it is and they are identical twins, too. “This is Timmy,” he shows James a picture before showing it to me. “And this is his brother, Tommy,” he shows James another picture before showing it to me. I try to hide my smile.
“Huh, that’s a mushroom. That’s not a boy,” James says in confusion.
“He was a boy until he stopped taking baths, then he turned into a dirty little mushroom.”
I watch as James walks out the door.
“Where ya going?” Alec asks.
“I’m taking a bath — I don’t want to be no dirty mushroom.”
Mason
The babies finally got to come home, and I can’t stop grinning. This is my life and my family and I feel like the king of the mountain. Trying to get Angel to take it easy has proven difficult, if not impossible.
“Beauty, please let me get that for you.”
“Mason, I can get it.”
“The doctors told you to take it easy.”
“That was almost six weeks ago.”
I still can’t believe the twins are almost six weeks old. They haven’t been home but only a few days and I can’t get enough of them. I swear their looks are changing daily. As I wanted, our children look like Angel. Ana, our daughter, has a head of thick black hair and long dark eyelashes, as does our son, Alex. I hold Ana and admire her. I was afraid that when our babies were born, they would look like they had been born just in time for their 80th birthdays. Some babies look like little old men.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
I look over and Angel is watching me. “She is beautiful like her mother. Which baby do you want to bathe tonight?”
“I bathed Ana last night, so it’s my night for Alex,” she says.
Angel and I take turns bathing the twins. One is easier to bathe than the other. Angel and I undress the babies in our room and carry them to the kitchen sink. We bathe the twins side by side in separate sides of the sink. Alex cries; he hates his bath. I laugh as I try to watch him and Ana at the same time. Ana loves her bath and goes limp in my hands while she soaks in the lukewarm water. I swear my heart melts for my daughter. She is only just over five weeks and is already reminding me so much of Angel.
Angel laughs out loud and brings me from my reverie. Alex is kicking and screaming and damned if it’s not hilarious. He’s small, skinny, and feisty. I wash Ana’s hair and Angel turns Alex over to wash his back. He calms and she says, “This is definitely your son.” When she stops he cries again. I wash Ana and wonder where all the crud in her neck rolls comes from.
Once we are finished, we wrap the towels around the babies and Angel yells, “Mason, he did it again.” She unwraps Alex and places him back in the bath water. I look at her although I already know he has peed all over her. That’s my boy. I am almost done dressing Ana when Angel comes in with our crying son. He sucks on his hands indicating he is starving. Angel is breastfeeding and I’m not at all shocked that is where he wants to be.
I feed Ana with a bottle of breast milk as Angel nurses Alex. Both babies fall asleep during their feeding.
We rock the kids in their rooms before placing them in their bassinets in our room. In the beginning we tried to let the twins sleep in their own room but that meant Angel would also sleep in their room with them. I’m a pretty smart man and realized if I wanted my wife in my bed with me, I would need to move the bassinets in there first.
While pregnant, Angel followed a charming superstition that stated that you can influence your babies even before they are born by reading books about heroes and heroines. The superstition is that if a pregnant woman reads about brave people and kind people, her kid or kids will be brave and kind. She read the novel Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace and several biographies about such people as Mother Teresa. In a way, the superstition can be correct. Reading such books during pregnancy can make the pregnant woman a better person, thereby giving her babies a better mother.
Angel frequently reads the twins a story despite how young they are. Angel’s cousin, Nimia, from Puerto Rico, started sending the twins books every month before they were even born. The books are in Spanish, and I soon realize I should have already been seriously learning Spanish.
“Beauty, come to bed,” I say as she leans over the side-by-side bassinets and admires the babies.
“I just can’t believe they’re ours.”
I know exactly what she means. I can’t believe it either.
She sings softly in Spanish and I get on-line and e-mail Nimia and ask her if she can teach me Spanish on-line. It would be nice to surprise Angel one day when I answer her in Spanish. I recognize some words of the song, but not many. I don’t want to be left out of any parts of their life and if Angel continues to speak Spanish to them, I’m certain to miss out on some things. I need to be fluent or near fluent in my Spanish to have the same bond she does. When I’m done with my e-mail to Nimia, I say, “Beauty, come to bed.”
She lies down and cuddles into me and I swear I am the happiest man on this earth. I also soon realize that protecting Angel was one thing, but now I have three people to protect. I may need to hire a bodyguard for them. Nothing is more important to me in this world than my family.
Chapter Seven: To Have and to Hold for Ever and Ever
Alec
Today is Emma’s bridal shower, and it’s fishing day for me and the boys. My dad rented a huge fishing charter boat for all of us. If your wife or girlfriend is at the shower, then you are with us fishing. We considered golfing, but there were too many guys to golf.
Emma was right about “baby steps, one hour at a time.” Molly and Adam are keeping Raelynn and James today. Although Adam doesn’t live with Molly, he’s there a lot and has proven to be good for her and the kids. When Molly keeps Raelynn, she also keeps James. James and Raelynn are truly brother and sister, maybe not by blood but by love. When Emma and I dropped off the kids today, James was excited to show us his and Raelynn’s bedroom. I was just as shocked as Emma was to see ninja bedding on the bottom bunk of the beds. Molly has accepted James into her heart and into her home.
Emma and I get married next weekend; she
is a little anxious. Emma is usually calm and collected, but I can tell the wedding is stressing her out. She wants everything to be perfect. I could marry her at the Justice of the Peace and it would be perfect, but I don’t tell her that.
“There’ll be no daydreaming and no girl talk today,” my dad yells from the bow of the boat. Everyone laughs and I wonder if he was talking to me. Mason, Donovan, and Vincent came, as did Mason’s dad, my dad, and Emma’s, Max’s and even Molly’s dad; my brothers and brother-in-law are also here. My brothers aren’t fishing, but they are drinking and enjoying time away from their wives and kids.
I feel fortunate that Molly’s parents and I remain on good terms. It makes it easier on Raelynn, and even James is benefiting from it. They love him as if he were their own grandson.
“Are you nervous about next week?”
I look up; my dad is taking the seat next to me.
“No, not at all,” I say quickly and honestly.
“Good, Emma’s a great girl.”
I tip my beer back and finish it off. “Yes, she is. This time next week I’ll have everything I ever dreamed of.”
“Have you considered a honeymoon? I know with the school situation and Raelynn, I wasn’t sure if you had made any plans.”
“No, Emma and I don’t want to leave Raelynn. We thought of taking the kids with us somewhere, but Rae isn’t ready for that. To be honest, I just want to marry Emma and have one night alone with her. I don’t need a honeymoon, I just want a wedding night.”
“You can always plan something at a later date, maybe when Raelynn is back to her old self.”
We have a great day of fishing, laughing, drinking, and joking. The crew on the boat luckily clean the fish we caught and package them up for us to take home. We head back to the port and everyone is beginning to sober up. We say our goodbyes and I head home.
I walk into a dark house that I expected to see lit up. When I get to the top of the stairs, I check on the kids; they are both asleep. The bedroom is dark, but the bathroom light is on. I smell lavender and vanilla, and I know Emma is taking a bubble bath. I call her name so I don’t startle her.
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