by K. C. Crowne
“You keep that attitude up and you’re gonna be wearin’ this Hawaiian pizza,” I said as he took a couple of boxes off the stack I was carrying.
“Get your ass on in here, brother – snow’s about to start any second.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see the clouds had grown even heavier since I’d last noticed them. A few flurries of snow fell, landing on my gloves. We hurried through the open doors, and the moment we stepped into the huge entrance room, the eager sounds of the twins filled the air.
“Uncle Patrick!”
Finn glanced at me with a wry smirk. “Never a moment’s peace, eh?”
The pitter-patter of two sets of little feet hurried down the hall, followed by four-year-old Sam and Sophie appearing around the corner.
“Hey there, wee ones!” I said as they rushed to me, throwing their arms around my legs. Their hugs were so intense I nearly lost my balance. “Now, easy there – you two aren’t careful, you’re gonna be wearin’ these pizzas as hats.”
They shrieked with laughter.
“Did you take any cool pictures?” Sam asked, looking up at me with those eyes that were so much like Finn’s it was almost eerie.
“Like of birds and stuff?” Sophie asked.
“You bet I did,” I said. “And I found the best little fox out there. He had little black paws and got so close to me I could almost touch him.”
“Wooow,” the kids said at the same time.
“I’ll show you once I get a couple of slices in me.”
We headed down the long hallway toward the kitchen. The walls were decked with pictures of the happy family, shots of the four of them on various vacations around the country, some of Sam in his baseball gear, others of Sophie playing piano. I wasn’t much for having a permanent home, but I had to admit the pictures made the place feel welcoming and warm.
Kenna finished setting the plates at the marble kitchen bar as our little group came in. “Hey, Patrick!” she said with a big smile. “Good to see you, and even better to see those pizzas.” She followed this with a friendly wink.
“You don’t know the half of it,” I said as Finn and I set the boxes on the kitchen counter. “Took all the restraint I had not to shove half of one of these down in the car.”
“After the day you’ve had,” she laughed, “I wouldn’t blame you.”
We passed around plates with slices, and once my plate was stacked with a couple slices of supreme with extra cheese, little pools of grease in the pepperoni, I was set.
“Tell me about the fox, Uncle Patrick!” Sophie said as she climbed onto my lap. I loved to hear her and Sam talk. Their voices were all-American, but every now and then I’d hear traces of the musical Irish brogue my brother and I spoke in. It was a little reminder that these kids were sure as hell half-Irish.
“Oh, he was the cutest little guy,” I said, wiping the grease off my hands before reaching over to the far end of the kitchen bar and grabbing my camera. “And I could tell he loved havin’ his picture taken.”
I clicked through the photos on my digital camera, Sophie and Sam watching eagerly as I did. They let out “oohs” at the various shots, and as they watched me scroll, I took some mental notes of which photos were good and worth going over in Photoshop later.
“Now,” I announced. “You can go through ‘em, but be very careful, alright? Press that button there and that’s it. If you accidentally delete any, I’ll be sendin’ you both up into the mountains to take new ones.” A smile came with my words, and the excited looks on the kids’ faces revealed they considered this anything but a punishment. My camera in their hands, they headed to their end of the kitchen bar and began looking through the photos.
“How was it out there?” Kenna asked, a glass of red wine in her hand.
“Beautiful,” I said. “You are all kinds of lucky to be so close to nature.”
“It’s part of the reason we picked this area to build,” Finn replied. “Right in the middle of nature.”
I glanced out of the tall windows in the living room past the kitchen. The snow had started to fall hard, but I could still see the sliver of moon enshrouded in a silvery glow behind the clouds above the mountaintops.
“Sure beats livin’ in a hotel like I’ve been for the last several years.”
“Now,” Kenna said as she set down her wine and prepared for another bite of her cheese slice. “You know you’re welcome to stay in the guest house for as long as you like, right?”
Through the windows I spotted the guest house. It was next to the pool, which was covered and closed for the winter. If the main home was in the style of an elegant chateau, the guest house was more like a cozy little cabin, one you’d expect to find tucked away in the woods, far from civilization.
“I know,” I said. “And I most certainly appreciate the offer. But I’m not anticipating bein’ here more than another few weeks, yeah?”
“Then off to…where?” Finn asked with a smirk. “Crashing in some posh hotel in Prague with all the high-class bankers and espionage artists?”
I shrugged. “Wherever the story takes me. Thinkin’ I might do a little urban shooting in LA for a while, see if I can get enough good stuff to scrounge up somethin’ to sell.”
“Look at you,” Finn teased. “Actin’ like you need to sell your work to get by.”
“Hey, just because I’ve got a nice nest egg doesn’t mean I don’t like to sell when I can.”
“Stay for as long as you like,” Kenna repeated. “I know you like to be on the move, but it might do you some good to settle in here for a little while. The kids love having you here, if that wasn’t obvious.”
I glanced at the twins, who were still going through my photos.
“Hell, don’t be afraid to do some decorating in the guest house,” Kenna offered. “Put up some of your pictures if you like.”
“Nah,” I said, eager to change the subject. “Nesting is the first step to puttin’ down roots. And once you put down roots, you’re stuck.”
Finn swept his hand toward the scene around us – the twins, the home, the fire roaring in the fireplace. “You consider this stuck?”
“Brother, I’m all kinds of thrilled you have the life you do. But livin’ in one place, bein’ a da…it’s just not for me. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t pack it all up and head out whenever I wanted. I’m doin’ what I love, and I’m makin’ a darn good livin’ at it. Can’t think of anything’ else I’d want.”
“You know,” Finn replied. “That’s exactly –”
“Exactly what you said before you got married and found out you were a da,” I said with a smirk. “And like I said, I’m so damn happy you two found each other. But I’m happy with my life just the way it is.”
Finn and Kenna shared a look, one that suggested they knew something I didn’t. But they dropped the subject, the conversation falling to Kenna’s party-planning business and Finn’s job as a pediatrician and the CEO of a local medical charity. They both had great things going, and the flexibility of their work allowed them to spend as much time with the twins as they wanted – which was a lot.
After we’d all put away our share of pizza, the kids hurried to the living room where they enjoyed some ice cream and Scooby Doo. Finn, Kenna, and I had a little wine near the fireplace, continuing our conversation as the kids watched their show.
As I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the cartoon, the world blurred again. I froze, more than a little concerned. This was the first time it’d happened twice in one day like that.
“Hey, Patrick,” Finn spoke, reaching over and placing his hand on my shoulder. “You alright over there?”
Thankfully, my vision unblurred almost as quickly as it’d started, and I was back to normal.
“What’s wrong?” Kenna asked, concern in her voice.
“It’s nothin’,” I said, shaking my head slowly. “Just…just tired.”
Finn and Kenna shared another knowing glance.
Fuck.
“Hey, babe,” he said, putting his hand on Kenna’s leg. “You mind if I give a quick medical consult to my stubborn brother here?”
She smiled softly. “Of course not. I’ll go put the pizza away.” With that, she rose and left Finn and me alone.
“It’s nothin’,” I said, waving my hand through the air and pre-empting his words. “Just wearin’ out my eyes.”
“It’s not nothin’,” he countered. “Pat, this is somethin’ you’ve been dealin’ with for a couple years. And it’s not goin’ away.” Before I had a chance to respond, he took out his phone and began to type a text.
“Hey, now,” I said, craning my neck to see what he was doing. “What’re you doin’?”
“I’m sendin’ a text to an associate of mine at one of Duncan Pitt’s other clinics in town. Dr. Lola Bridges. She’s the best ophthalmologist in the state.” He didn’t take his eyes off the screen until the text was written and sent.
“Brother, you don’t need to go to all that trouble.”
“It’s no trouble,” he said, slipping his phone back into his pocket.
I opened my mouth to speak, but before a word came out, I paused. “Lola Bridges,” I mused. “Why does that name sound so damn familiar?”
He smirked. “Because it’s the name of the doctor I told you about when you were in town a couple years ago, remember? You were supposed to go back then, and now look at you.”
I snapped my fingers. “That’s when Da had his stroke,” I reminded him. “Wasn’t about to sit around and wait for an eye appointment when that was goin’ on.”
“I get it – I do. But you shoulda gotten it taken care of some time after.” He shook his head. “Brother, your business is your eyes. You can’t take chances when it comes to your health, specifically your eyesight.”
I chuckled. “I love when you get in doctor mode and big brother mode at the same time.”
He laughed with me. “I know, I know. Sue me for not wantin’ my little brother to go blind.”
“It’s not that serious.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” he said with a shrug. “Only way you’re goin’ to find out is to get your butt in there and get ‘em checked.” He took his phone out of his pocket again, reading a text. “Tomorrow at nine AM. Clear your calendar, because you’ve got a date with Dr. Bridges.”
“Alright, alright. And thanks, brother.”
He reached over and patted me on the back. “You got Da’s stubbornness but believe me when I say health’s somethin’ you can’t take for granted. If you don’t have that, you don’t have anything.”
I threw back the rest of my wine, fatigue running through me as the day caught up. I stood and stretched. “I think I oughta wind down,” I said. “Especially if I’ve got an appointment that early.”
Finn rose with me and laughed. “You thinkin’ nine AM is early is yet another reminder of your bachelor status.”
I bid good night to the family. Kenna called out to me as I left to give the idea of putting up some pictures a bit of thought. I waved an answer and left through the back doors with my camera and coat, making my way through the cold and snow to the guest house.
Warmth hit me as soon as I stepped inside. I flicked the lights on to reveal a one-room abode, a queen-sized bed in one corner, a desk in the other, a couch and TV in the middle, and a small kitchenette on the far end. The walls were bare, crying out for some décor. In spite of Kenna’s offer, I wasn’t going to be the one to provide it.
Finn and Kenna had built the little house a few months before I’d told them I was coming in for a bit during the winter, and part of me wondered if they’d designed it strictly with me in mind – a way to entice me to live there for the long-term, to put down some roots, but I wasn’t about that life. The place was perfect as a temporary pad, a spot where I could recharge after a day of picture-taking and having fun with the kids. The bed was big enough, and the desk was perfect as a work area where I could spend hours editing my pictures to perfection.
And that’s exactly what I had in mind. I opened the cabinet above the fridge, taking out a bottle of whiskey and pouring myself a glass. That in hand, I slid into the desk chair and opened my MacBook, taking the memory card out of my camera and slipping it into the port.
I put some Dropkick Murphy’s on Spotify, letting the music blast as I began to sift through the photos, sipping my whiskey as I put some major thought into which of the pictures I took that day was worth keeping.
As I sipped and worked, what Finn had said about roots kept popping into my mind. I’d never needed such things. I hadn’t once had an apartment of my own since I’d been old enough to leave my old man’s place. And I’d never needed one. Photography was my life, and I went wherever it took me.
What use did I have for a home? And what he’d said about starting a family…I meant what I’d told him. I just didn’t have it in me, whatever it was that one needed to be a father.
After an hour or so of working, I grabbed my whiskey and stood up, stretching my arms and legs. Through one of the front windows of the guest house, I spied on the happy family. Finn and Kenna scooped the sleeping twins off the couch and carried them upstairs to bed.
As I watched, something moved inside me, a stirring I hadn’t felt before, one I couldn’t describe. I put it out of my head as quickly as I could, tossing back the rest of my whiskey before pouring myself another and going back to work.
Work. That was all I needed.
Nothing more.
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About the Author
K.C. Crowne is an Amazon Top 10 bestseller.
All books are FREE on Kindle Unlimited and can be read as standalones.
Doctors of Denver Series (This series)
Doctor’s Secret | Doctor’s Surprise Delivery | Irish Doctor’s Secret Babies | Millionaire’s Surprise Triplets | Doctor's Baby Plan| Knocked Up by the New Zealand Doctor
Mountain Men of Liberty Series
Baby for the Mountain Man| Junior for the Mountain Man| Knocked Up by the Mountain Man| Baby For Daddy's Friend | Triplets for the Mountain Man | Taken by the Mountain Man| Secret Baby for the Mountain Man | Mountain Man’s Accidental Surprise | Quadruplets for the Mountain Man | Delivering His Gifts| Mountain Daddy’s Fate | Mountain Man’s Lucky Charm | Mountain Man's Best Friend's Sister
Lumberjacks of Grizzly Falls Series Lumberjacked | Lumberjack’s Baby
Rainbow Canyons Cowboy Series
Taboo Cowboy |Cowboy’s Baby|Her Cowboy Daddies | Southern Charm| Cowboy’s Bride
Big Bad Daddies Series
Big Bad Doctor | Big Bad Daddy| Big Bad Taboo Daddy | Big Bad Prince|Big Bad Mountain Man| Big Bad SEAL| Big Bad Boss| Big Bad Sugar Daddy| Big Bad Mountain Brothers
Bearded Brothers Mountain Man Series
Her Mountain Daddy| Beauty and the Beard| Bride and the Beard| Built and Bearded |
Firemen of Manhattan Series
Big Bad Fireman’s Baby| Big Bad Firefighter| Big Bad Fire Daddy|
Spenser Sisters Reverse Harem Series
Men on a Mission| Christmas with Four Firemen| Dirty Cowboys
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Copyright © 2021 by K.C. Crowne
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