“We’ll let the three of you talk.” Damon leaned down and kissed Bee before pulling me away, where we stopped to talk with Kayson and Ariel before moving on to Tristan and Ian.
Bee dashed past me on her way to find Harlow but Christine grabbed her as she ran and pulled her into her lap. The two chatted away. Whatever she was saying made Bee happy, and that was what I cared about; after all today was her birthday. George walked over, and I heard the three of them laughing.
“Thank you, Pops, thank you, Yia Yia.”
I looked back at Christine, who was beaming but also had tears in her eyes.
“Okay, beetsa, go play.” Christine gave Bee a love pat on the butt to send her off playing.
Bee nodded, and I was totally confused. “Beetsa?” I asked Damon.
“It means little Bee,” Damon whispered, and something about that cracked my heart.
“Now you, I koritsi, let’s get this party going.” Christine stood and pulled me into the kitchen with her.
I looked over my shoulder at Damon, who mouthed the word “daughter.” That had me turning back to Christine, my soon-to-be mother-in-law and smiling. She was exactly who I wanted to be when I grew up.
“You’ve done so much already. Show me what you want to be done, and I’ll do it.”
“Nonsense.” Christine flicked her wrist, ignoring me.
“Bee won’t know what to do with all of these gifts. I swear this birthday tops all of her birthdays and Christmases combined.”
I finished filling the second bowl with chips and handed them to her before picking up the tray of cookies and brownies and heading out to the pool area with her.
With Damon’s family, Jim and Nina, the Iron Orchids, Ringo, plus the crew and their families from Christakos Construction, the yard was packed. The pool was a constant source of splashing. And my kid was non-stop smiling.
“What’s that look for?” Damon’s warm breath tickled my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Happiness. I just never imagined being this happy.”
He gave me a kiss. “Get used to it, we’ve got an entire life in front of us.” Damon headed off to join his brothers for a game of volleyball while I took a seat with the girls by the pool so we could keep an eye on the kids.
Stella walked around with two pitchers and filled cups. “Daiquiri or Pina Colada?
“Isn’t it amazing.” Sophie held up her cup for a refill. “It’s amazing. I have the hardest time getting in eight glasses of water, but give me a drink with alcohol and that goes down faster than—”
“Stella at a Magic Mike show?” Leo interrupted.
“Well, I was going to say faster than a chubby kid on a teeter-totter but either works.” Stella pretended to pour the pitchers on all of our heads as we laughed.
I looked over at Jim and Nina, who were watching me, and tried to figure out what they were thinking. Maybe, just maybe, they were proud that I had ended up doing well for myself.
“While we have a few minutes, let’s discuss some shit.” Ariel took out her notebook, proving that she was the single most organized human being. “We have the Watermelon Crawl for charity on the Fourth of July in the morning. I figured we could all meet at my house and ride from there.”
“Oh my God, my first official Iron Orchids motorcycle event.” I clapped my hands with excitement.
“Hey, what about these?” Stella held up her foot and rolled her ankle in front of me. “All of us went together, we rode, that made it an official Iron Orchids event.”
Ariel snapped her fingers. “Hey, let’s focus. Kayson asked Max to be a groomsmen so that we are balanced with Katy.”
“What? You want me in your wedding?” I’d never been a bridesmaid. Hell, we were planning on telling the family after tonight that we weren’t having a full service. We wanted the priest, us, and the church. No fancy clothes, no hoopla.
“Of course we do. We’re going to be sisters. Plus, we are sisters with Iron Orchids. There is no way you aren’t going to be up there with us. I’ve moved the kids a bit, they’ll all still wear the same thing, but Gianna will be the flower girl, Harlow will be the girl ring bearer, and Bee will be the junior bridesmaid—”
“Mom, can I open my presents now?” Bee interrupted as she pulled herself from the pool. I snagged a towel from the chair and handed it to Bee.
“Dry off first then go let everyone know that we’re going to have cake.”
Ariel put away the notebook, and within five minutes we had everyone gathered, and Bee—my Bee bug—was in the spotlight as everyone sang to her at her first ever birthday party that was more than just the two of us.
“Did you decide on a new wish?” Damon wrapped an arm around her shoulder and planted a kiss on her head.
“Yep. Mom, I want you to have a seed.”
“Have a seat?”
“Nooo. A seed.”
“What are you talking about?” My kid had lost it. I had no clue what she was talking about. I didn’t think anyone else did either because they looked just as confused as I was.
“Harlow said . . .”
I turned as Sophie let out a groan.
“That babies come from a seed. Daddies give mommies the seed. I want Daddy to give Mom a seed.”
“I’m sure Damon wants the same thing.”
I turned to stare at his brothers, not sure which one said it, and our audience of friends, family, and coworkers did nothing to fight back their laughter. Stella was bent over, her head resting against Tristan as she laughed. Even George and Christine were covering their faces to mask their laughs, but they couldn’t hide the fact that their bodies were shaking.
“Bee, we will discuss this later. Why don’t you blow out your candles?”
“Mom, how does the seed get in your tummy?”
Not thinking, I threw out the first answer that came to mind. “You swallow it.” Everyone and everything went completely and utterly silent as soon as the words were out of my mouth, and the flash of burning hot embarrassment was instant.
“Hate to break it to you.” I turned at Stella words. “Sure, you can swallow the seed, but that isn’t the proper way for a baby. I should know; I’m a nurse. Just saying.” She leaned back, clearly feeling extremely self-satisfied.
“Bite me.”
Bee, who was completely oblivious to the undertones to the conversation, shrugged and blew out her candles. Christine moved to cut the cake while Dion started passing slices out. The entire time they served cake, they both had a slight shake to their shoulders as they continued fighting back their laughs.
I’d spent some time during the party with Jim and Nina, but I still wasn’t comfortable yet. I had a lot of forgiving to go and it had only been two weeks. When the party was over, I was ready for them to go home. As horrid as it sounded, I needed to be able to relax, and I couldn’t with them. I was always afraid that they were watching me, judging me, and that Bee would get hurt even though they had rescued her.
By the time we got everything cleaned up and only Damon and the usual family remained, the house was still noisy but bursting at the seams with love.
“So, kid, was this everything you wanted in a birthday?” I tussled Bee’s hair.
“Yep. Thank you. I can’t believe everything I got. It’s perfect for my new room.” Bee sat in the middle of the floor going through her loot with Gianna and Harlow.
“Tristan, is your door unlocked?” Damon asked. Tristan tossed him the keys and Damon took off.
“What are you doing?” But he didn’t answer me. I looked at Tristan, who was suddenly very interested in the ice in his glass.
Several minutes later, the door opened from the garage and Damon asked Bee to close her eyes. Stella wrapped her arms around Bee and turned her around to make sure she wasn’t peeking.
Obviously, she knew what was going on, but I had no clue. I stared in disbelief as Carter grabbed Harlow and whispered something and Sophie did the same with Gianna and kept her turned away fr
om whatever Damon was about to do.
Yes, this was my kid’s birthday, but at this point, I was excited as she was. That was when I saw it. My breath caught and just lingered in the air. For one brief, second I was a child again. This was the one thing I had always wanted and never got, but my kid, she was getting it and I couldn’t have been happier.
“Okay, bug, you can turn around.” Damon’s voice had a catch in it and his eyes were bright with an excitement that mirrored my own. “Happy Birthday.”
Bee looked at me, then at Damon, then me, then fell to her knees. “Is she mine?”
“Yep, she’s yours. What are you going to name her?” Damon carried the puppy over. “She’s a ruby Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.”
“She looks just like Lady from Lady and the Tramp. Can I name her Cricket?”
Damon pulled out a blue velvet collar with a gold diamond shaped tag, just like Lady wore, and on it was printed Cricket. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”
I looked at him in amazement, how he knew that she was going to name the dog Cricket was beyond me.
“I guess I’m the only one without a bug name. You’re Bee, Mom is Katy bug, and now you have Cricket.”
Bee snuggled with the wriggly pup as Harlow and Gianna joined her on the floor. “Yes, you do. You’re Daddy Longlegs.”
Oh. My kid said the sweetest things. “Something tells me she’d already thought this out.” I smiled down at my daughter, then over to my soon to be husband, then friends, and family.
Damon came over and lifted me so he could sit in the chair and pulled me down onto his lap. A vision of us in this same position at different places, different homes, and for different occasions flashed before me. This was it, my life, and I absolutely loved it. Damon’s hand wrapped around mine and he held me as we sat, listened, and laughed.
“You said that I could get her anything and that you didn’t care.” His warm breath tickled my neck.
“You asked about a pony, a dragon, and an airplane.”
“Yeah, I thought this would be a lot less mess.” He tightened his grip around my waist.
Damon had been playing with my fingers, but when he took his hand away, my hand . . . well, to be exact my third finger on my left hand had something cold and heavy on it. I looked down and saw the diamond. It wasn’t flashy or huge; it was perfect.
Epilogue
Katy
Three years later . . .
Holy shit, we’re going to give someone a heart attack, you know that, right?
“Stop worrying.” Ariel slapped my shoulder. “I’m sure people have seen more than four pregnant women.”
“Yeah, but four pregnant women in the same family at the same time going on the same cruise?” I threw my hands up in exasperation.
“Okay, you have me there. But just think, Christine and George are going to be busy with all four of their daughters-in-law due within twelve weeks of each other.” Ariel rubbed her belly. “This is the last one for me. Three is plenty.”
“Oh, come on, don’t you want four?” I teased. “At least you aren’t the size of a whale. I never imagined having twins, let alone twin Christakos boys. Bee and Maggie won’t know what to do.” I turned at the sound of a moan as Tristan’s wife joined us.
“Shut up. I’m due before all of you. I have hemorrhoids and a husband that suddenly decided that he is an obstetrician as well as a neonatal physician and wants to discuss every single fucking thing. Now he is on some kick about wanting six kids and adding on to the house. He’s already talking with Damon about construction. He forgets that he works long hours and I’m the one who will be home all the time.”
“It’s your first. Give it time, he’ll change his mind with all the two a.m. feedings.” I patted her arm, trying to calm her down.
“Really? Go tell her that.” She hitched her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of Ian’s wife. “It’s her second, and her husband wants another four more. He’s gone all geeky and has run all of these science statistics on the odds of having twins and triplets.”
“Oh, stop bitching,” Sophie said as she joined us on the deck. “It goes by so fast you don’t even remember those pesky things like dirty diapers and middle of the night feedings. Before you know it, they will all be grown and your house will be empty.”
Just the thought of Bee leaving me had tears pricking my eyes. She was already twelve. Before I knew it, she’d be off to high school then college.
“Anyway, I was sent to tell you four that the guys are on their way down. The parents have the kids and are taking them to an early dinner and then to the movie theater on the Fjord deck and they are staying with them.”
“All of them?” I counted quickly. “Bee, Maggie, Avril, Gianna, Harlow, Theo, Starves, and George.” With each name, I lifted a finger. “There are eight.”
“Yep. But there are five adults, plus they have Bee, Gianna, and Harlow to help.” Sophie assured me.
“And they have five that are age three and under.”
“That’s why they are doing it. They said it’s probably the last time they’ll get to do it for the five of us at once.”
Our family vacation was just that, our entire family, including my parents who had just built a home on the end of Dios Lane, the same street that Sophie lived on. In other words, Bee could flee to either grandparents house and she never went to the community center anymore, except to visit. Between my mom, Christine, and her aunts and uncles, the kid had non-stop care.
Sophie took a step around me. “We need to find out when their show is.” She pointed toward the pool where a small group of women were slipping on mermaid tails. “Gianna would love it. Those costumes are beautiful.”
The women turned and glared at us with eyes full of icy hatred.
“What the fuck? All you did was compliment their fucking costume.” Tristan’s wife had a way of saying things loudly.
“That’s the problem, you ignorant land folk, it isn’t a costume. It’s our prosthetic,” a woman with short black hair said as she tried to roll up her tail.
“Prosthetic? This is your replacement tail?” She crinkled her nose as if she’d smelled something rotten in the air. She was going to get us in a fight. Tristan had his hands full. “There’s something fishy going on here. You do realize that mermaids are Fictional? Right?”
“Stop, Noelani. Educate don’t segregate.” A mermaid, one that appeared to be the oldest of the group, put her hand— or fin—on the bitchy one. “We were all born in water. Your babies are all swimming right now. It is what we know before we know anything else. Some of us discover that we are happiest when we are in the water.”
“Then live at the ocean.” I rolled my eyes as if that answer was obvious.
“But that isn’t in the water. There is an entire society of people around the world that have discovered that they truly are merpeople.”
“You don’t actually believe that you are mermaids, do you? Where’s the hidden camera?” Tristan’s wife moved around, acting as if she was searching for a mysterious camera.
She stopped searching, and we all turned at the sound of male laughter as Damon, his three brothers, and Carter walked out on the patio.
The mermaids giggled.
“They really are a sight to look at, aren’t they?” I asked, trying to soothe the tension in the air.
“Even though four are my cousins, yeah, they’re all attractive.” Sophie, the only non-pregnant one of us, moved to Carter.
“Hey, Ariel, you—” Damon’s words were cut off.
“That isn’t funny. Not every mermaid is named Ariel.”
“Huh? Did I miss something?” Damon looked lost.
“You’re all ignorant.” Noelani, the mermaid with a tentacle up her ass, was on her warpath again.
I waddled over to stand by my man. “Yo, calm down. Her name is Ariel. I don’t think he was talking to you.”
“See, I bet you feel gill-ty now.” Looking over at my sister-in-law a
s she let out one of her famous cackles. “Get it? Sea? Gill?”
“You aren’t helping matters.” I had to shout to be heard above the screams from the fucking mermaids.
“Come on, stop being so shell-fish,” she whispered, which in her octave was most people’s normal voice.
“Stop.” I tried to control her, but in truth she was fucking hysterical. “Let’s go.” I wrapped an arm around Damon. “I’ll explain over dinner.”
We headed out of the patio area, but she was still at it.
“Thank God you all were so quiet, I was afraid you all had clammed up.”
“Would someone please fucking explain?” Damon stopped walking and turned his stare at me.
I started at the beginning about the costumes, the aggravation, and that they claimed to be real live mermaids. The guys shook their heads in disbelief. And then of course, I explained about my friends’ sick sense of humor.
Tristan let out a laugh. “You could have helped her. Sounds like she was floundering all by herself.” He and his wife gave each other high-fives over that comment.
They were so alike, it was scary. Damon and I rolled our eyes and let out a groan in unison as we listened to Ian and his wife discuss the mechanics of being a mermaid and their sex life and Kayson and Ariel talked about the whole Little Mermaid and being named Ariel comment. I turned to Sophie, but she and Carter were wrapped in an embrace and I had no clue what they were saying.
“Do you see this?” I jerked my head toward our family members.
Damon scanned the area. “Seems like everyone is happy to me.” He pulled me closer to him.
“Are you sure that you want to be seen with me? I’m huge, I might cramp your style.”
“You’re fucking gorgeous. I absolutely want to be seen with you.” He rubbed my belly just like he had the entire nine months that I was pregnant with Maggie or as Bee calls her, Magpie. “I want to show you off. You don’t get it. For me at least, I look at you and I’m like, I did that. Yup, she’s mine. That’s mine.” He patted my belly. “I’m going home with her.” I shook my head at his silliness.
Impact (Iron Orchids Book 3) Page 22