Six months later

“I just can’t believe how quickly they’re getting around now!” I cried out, watching Ben and Aaron crawling around, chasing after Fletcher and Schuyler who were completely confident on their feet now. It wouldn’t be long before our boys were doing the same, but I couldn’t help but feel like they were growing up faster than I could process.

It seemed like only last week they were both sleeping most of the day, lying curled up in my arms and crying out for nursing. Now, they were giggling and gallivanting around on all fours, running me ragged all day long. Thankfully, Kenneth, Scotty and Jamie were more than happy to babysit, and of course Juan loved taking them off my hands whenever he wasn’t out in the fields working.

This is my life now, I thought as I watched them chasing Fletcher around the front yard as the sun went down. It was a beautiful March evening, and I could smell the burritos cooking inside. Juan’s parents had come up again to cook another family dinner for everyone, and would be using some of our fresh jalapeno peppers Juan had picked today.

“Won’t be long before they’re on the football team,” Juan joked from beside me, pinching me gently on the back of my arm.

“Oh, God!” I groaned, smacking him gently on the leg. “Don’t even say that. I’ll be having nightmares about concussions tonight, I just know it!”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” he teased. “I’ll give you something else to dream about tonight, you can make sure of that.”

“Mmmm,” I giggled, pulling my chair up closer to his. I’d heard other couples in my life say that sex dropped off after you had children, but so far, that wasn’t even close to being true with Juan and me. If anything, we were going at it even more than we were before, as we were jumping each other’s bones whenever a moment presented itself.

Just last week, Kenneth had taken the twins over to Scotty’s studio for a visit with Fletcher, and Juan had slammed me up against the wall and had his way with me in one of the hottest quickies of our entire relationship. If he saw a chance, he had his hands all over me, and I loved it.

Fletcher had some kind of mini beach ball and was swatting it around at the twins, who would flail at it and try to knock it back to him. He kicked it, a little too hard, and it bounced right into Ben’s face and knocked him backwards.

“Sorry!” he cried out as my little baby boy toppled over into the grass. I tightened up out of pure reflex, but didn’t say anything. Benjamin was a tough little boy, and simply burst out laughing like someone had just cracked the world’s funniest joke.

“He’s okay!” Juan called out. Fletcher smiled, obviously relieved that he wouldn’t be getting in any trouble today. “You okay, Ben?”

Ben turned his head and smiled at us both, and again, I felt my heart melt. I guess it’s something only parents can understand, but the feeling you get when your child smiles back at you with all the love in the world—it’s just incomparable to anything else.

Of course Juan still makes me melt, but it’s a different feeling completely. Neither is better or worse than the other, they’re just different, but the love of a child is something you can’t possibly understand until you have one—or two!

“Dinner’s almost ready!” I heard Juan’s mother call out from inside. Juan flinched from beside me.

“Gosh, she’s loud,” he grumbled, getting to his feet.

“She has to be,” I laughed as he extended his hand. “Or we would never hear her!”

I grunted as Juan helped me to my feet, putting a hand over my brand new baby bump. Juan had wasted no time knocking me up again, and I was already two months along. The rest of the pack joked that Juan and I would singlehandedly overwhelm the farmhouse and that another addition would have to be built soon. But we both had baby fever, and it didn’t seem like it would be stopping anytime soon.

I caught Juan eyeing me as I got to my feet.

“What?” I asked coyly, pretending not to know what he was up to.

“Oh, nothing,” he grinned.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing!”

“This doesn’t seem to be nothing,” I said, stepping close to him and wrapping my hand around the bulge that was beginning to form in his pants.

“Hey, stop that!” he cried out, swatting my hand away. “You want me to be all boned up during dinner?”

“I dunno, I could pretend to drop something under the table…”

“Oh, God!” he gasped. “My parents are here! I’m not that depraved.”

“Not yet,” I giggled, brushing my hand over his abs as I stepped off the porch and made my way over to my kids.

“Okay, Fletcher. Schuyler,” I called out. “Dinnertime. Come on, boys!”

Ben was still a giggling mess, obviously still amused by the beach ball to the face he’d taken a minute ago, and Aaron was fascinated with a long strand of grass he’d found, and was swinging it around his head.

I reached down and lifted him up into my arms and kissed him all over his soft little belly. He broke out into the giggles that warmed my heart. Juan grabbed Benjamin and tossed him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and started racing towards the house.

“Careful, Juan!” I called after him.

“Don’t worry, Bailey,” Jamie smiled, coming over from the barn. “He won’t drop him.”

“Ugh, I know,” I groaned, walking with her up the steps. “I just worry. I can’t help it!”

“You’re a parent,” she shrugged. “What else can you do?”

“When are you gonna start churning them out, Jamie?” I asked as she held the door open for me.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she replied. “I’m auntie to four kids as it is, and you’ve got another bun in the oven. I think I’ll have my hands full for a while!”

The rest of the pack filtered in from whatever they were doing. Juan had the twins’ highchairs ready, and Scotty and Kenneth were helping get the table set. Dinner smelled delicious and had my mouth watering. As I came over to my chair, Juan pulled it out for me so I could easily sit down.

“There ya go,” he said softly, pecking me on the back of the head before taking his seat beside me. I looked around, at his parents working hard in the kitchen, Terry and Preston on their way to the bathroom to wash up before dinner, and Jamie wrangling Fletcher and Schuyler, trying to calm their wild energy so we could all sit down and eat, and part of me still couldn’t believe that we’d gone through everything and made it here.

It was silly, but I felt my eyes starting to well up and used my shirt to try and dab them dry.

“You all right, baby?” Juan asked, squeezing my knee.

“Yeah,” I laughed. “I’m fine. I’m just—I’m just so happy!”

Juan wrapped an arm around me and brought me close. I closed my eyes and inhaled his scent, the smell that always had the most wonderful effect on me, and felt my heart soar with his love.

“So am I, baby,” he whispered. “So am I.”

The end