“Pass me the gravy, dear,” Grace says to Greg.
I turn to Seb. “Where’s Rose?”
He looks down at his side, where the almost two-year-old was just moments ago.
“Jesus Christ, we need a GPS tracker or some shit,” he says as he scoots his chair back.
“Language, Sebastian,” his mother scolds.
He winces then stalks off, looking around for our sassy little girl. We both know where she’ll be or, rather, who she’ll be with.
“So Liv …” Sienna’s eyes light up at me from across the table. “You guys are planning to come to Graysfield over Christmas?”
I nod with a smile, taking a sip of water before responding. “Yeah, Seb managed to get the week off.” I sigh. “I love it here, I really do, but I’m so excited to get out of this town again. Just for a little bit, anyway.” I laugh then shovel some more turkey in my mouth.
She nods. “What are your plans with Zeke and Rose?” She then takes a bite of her bread roll.
I don’t even cringe. The past eighteen months have really proven that if you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way to make it work. And that’s exactly what we’ve done.
Zeke seems to be dating or, rather, having fun. I don’t know, but even though he’s backed off, he never misses his day with Rose every Saturday. He also has her on his rostered day off each month, which is great for when I need to get into the office and Seb is working.
I shrug. “He said to just let him know.” I cut up more of my turkey, dunking it in the gravy and letting the fork hang over my plate. “I know he’d love to see her over Christmas, but his mom’s arriving home the week before, so we’re planning on having a little dinner before Seb and I leave to come see you all.” I shove the food in my mouth and take another sip of water, realizing Seb isn’t back yet.
“Honestly”—I glance around—“where on earth could they have scampered off to now?”
Grace laughs, wiping her hands on her napkin. “I just saw Dan poke his head around the corner.” She nudges her head in that direction. “I think my boy is right; we need something for when these two girls get together.”
“Got her!” Seb declares loudly, rounding the corner with Rose hanging over his shoulder; she’s giggling like mad.
Dan follows behind, Lorelei frowning like she’s about to stage a meltdown.
“Girls!” Greg says joyfully, holding his arms out to them. “You can’t just leave me here; I need your help to finish all this food. Then maybe we can have some of your grandma’s famous pie.”
“Pie! Pie!” they yell simultaneously.
“After you finish your roll, sweet girl.” Seb sits back down. This time with Rose in his lap.
“Here.” I take her from him, so he can finish eating.
I kiss her rosy cheek. “You’re a sneaky girl. What were you two doing?”
She grins up at me. “Hides and seeps.”
I laugh. “Hide and seek?”
She nods. I roll my eyes; they must be the most skilled hiders in the world, seeing as my house isn’t exactly big and two grown-ass men couldn’t find them.
“Da!” She reaches over and yanks on Seb’s shirt sleeve.
She calls Seb and Zeke the same thing, but neither of them seems to care, least of all me. Well, I’m sure Zeke might a little.
He turns to her, eyebrows raised. “Hmmm?” He tries to swallow his food.
She points at his lap.
“No, baby girl, just wait a minute till he’s done.”
He takes her from me anyway and puts her sideways on his lap, eating around her. Something he’s unfortunately used to doing, though he never complains. I rub his back and turn back to Sienna, just as a knock sounds on the door.
“I’ve got it.” I scoot back my chair to get up, but the door slams closed and in walks Millie and Beau.
“Hey, mama.” She beams at me then everyone. “Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!”
Beau heads straight to Seb, placing a beer down in front of him.
Seb grins ruefully. “Thanks, man.”
Beau claps him on the back before swooping in to smooch Rose on her light brown-haired head; she giggles and tries to grab his nose.
I glance over at Millie, who’s pulling up a chair on my other side. “How’re you feeling?”
She rubs her six-month pregnant stomach. “Better. Thank God. I still feel like I’m going to barf some mornings, but it eases up quicker than it used to.”
I reach over and rub her stomach. “Any closer to picking a name?”
She scoffs. “Ape over there is still stuck on Beau the second.” She rolls her eyes. “No thank you. Not happening.”
“Naw, darlin’…” Beau tuts. “I’ll have you agreeing soon enough.” He winks at her.
She scowls at him then gulps as her blue eyes continue to stare at him and Rose.
She leans in close. “Liv, these pregnancy hormones are no joke. I don’t know how you did it on your own,” she whispers. “Some days, I think I’ll kill him with how much sex we’re having. And others, well, let’s just say I feel like I wanna plain kill him.” She leans back, grabs my water, and swallows the rest in one gulp. She’s fanning herself once she’s put it down.
I laugh, patting her leg. “You’ll both survive. I, for one, can so picture a little Beau Junior running around.” I smile just thinking about it. Beau practically jumped ten feet in the air when he came out of their ultrasound a month ago, yelling to anyone within a hundred-mile radius, “It’s a boy! I’m gonna have a little boy! Fuck, yeah!”
I still laugh, remembering the horrified look on Millie’s face as she came rushing out. She was still tugging her shirt down over her stomach, but smacked him numerous times, hissing at him. “Shut your idiot mouth, right this second.”
She smirks. “You’re on your own with that one, then.”
“Maybe make it a middle name?” Grace suggests. “Meet him in the middle.” She laughs at herself.
Sienna laughs but nods in agreement before taking a sip of her wine.
Millie looks as though she’s considering it when Lorelei screeches, “Pie!”
Which in turn sets Rose to chanting, “Yeees, pie, pie!”
“Okay, you two. If it’s pie you want, it’s pie you’ll get,” Grace singsongs as she gets up to head to the kitchen.
“Oh, I need me some pie,” Millie declares before hustling to the kitchen as quick as possible.
“What the …? Has anyone seen Lorelei?” Sienna asks, looking around. Dan huffs and scoots his chair back to start searching once again. Sienna laughs and calls out to him. “You’re amazing, honey!”
He merely swats his hand in her general direction. The difference between Dan and Seb’s personalities is striking. Their looks, though, not so much. They’re the spitting image of each other except for Dan’s blue eyes and lack of tattoos. And he’s a lot quieter, a little more serious, but always quick to laugh. So he’s not as unapproachable as he seems. Oh, and my God, is he nice. The way he dotes on his girls—Sienna and Lorelei—turns your heart to mush.
“Did someone say pie?” Beau asks, looking around the table.
Greg chuckles. “Pull up a seat, son, and prepare yourself for the finest piece of pie you’ll ever taste.”
Beau grins. “I’m likin’ the sound of that.” He sits down next to Greg, and they start talking animatedly about the game that’s on tonight.
I turn to find Seb watching me, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“What?” I ask.
He shakes his head with a quiet laugh then leans in. My eyes dart around, aware of the scattered company in our house. But when his lips near mine, I’m soon too lost in everything that’s him to care.
“You have some gravy,” he whispers, “right here.”
My heart starts galloping in my chest as the memory flashes through my mind. But instead of wiping it off, his lips briefly connect with mine. He pulls back a bit, and tears sting my eyes as I whisper, “Was there really?”
He nods. “Just a tiny speck under your bottom lip.” He shrugs, kissing my forehead before turning back to Rose, whose pie has now been delivered, leaving me in a pile of emotion and memories.
An hour or so later, I’m putting away the last of the dishes when Seb comes up behind me and burrows his nose into my neck.
“Mom and Dad have gone to stay at the apartment; we’ll catch up with them in the morning before they leave.”
Even though he moved in with me once his leg had healed, the rent there is dirt-cheap, so we still lease it from Mariel for when Seb’s family comes to town.
I nod and put some tinfoil over the last two slices of peppermint pie.
“Make sure you save them. Our girl will always sit still for pie,” he mumbles into my skin.
I laugh. “Or chocolate.”
He chuckles. “Just like her mama.”
His hands drift down to my stomach. “I wonder if this one will be as easy to bribe.” His palms splay over it, gently rubbing.
Yeah, he didn’t want to waste any time. I found it hard enough making him wait as long as we did. We married this past April and the ceremony was held at the very same place we had our first date—by the falls on the outskirts of town. The reception was held at a beautiful lodge that sits just in the next town over. It was small, intimate, and absolutely everything I was always too scared to wish for. Linda even came, which I didn’t feel weird about at all. In fact, it felt all the more perfect. That night, he grabbed my pills from my suitcase and threw them in the trashcan of our hotel bathroom.
It’s truly a whole different experience this time around. Not only because I was so sick for the first three months that I thought I wouldn’t make it, but because he’s so damn attentive, excited, and so very present, that I feel like I’ve won the lottery—morning sickness be damned. It’s thankfully passed, though, since I’m almost five months along. And despite everything we’ve been through, I’m still wondering what the heck I did to deserve him. To deserve all this.
“I hope he or she won’t be needing any bribing,” I state.
He laughs. “Wishful thinking, beautiful.” He kisses my neck and exits the kitchen. I put the pie in the refrigerator and make us some tea before joining him in the living room, my eyes roaming over his relaxed form on the couch.
“She go to sleep okay?” I sit down beside him.
He smiles. “Quickest I’ve seen her fall asleep since she was a little chunky baby.”
“We can thank Lorelei and the general mischief they get up to together for that one.” I smirk and take a sip of my tea.
He reaches over and starts fiddling with my hair, moving it all to the side of my neck.
“They’re lucky they’re cute because holy shit.” He laughs. “I don’t even need to go to the gym for a few days after chasing those two around.”
I laugh. “They are indeed.”
He takes my mug and places it on the coffee table, swinging my legs up to hang over his lap.
“How’re you feeling?” His brown orbs study my features.
“I’m okay. Just kinda pooped really.”
His eyes hood as they drop to the neckline of my sundress.
Oh, cleavage. I try to fight the rolling of my eyes and lose the battle.
“Eye’s up here, Sebastian.”
“But they really like the view.” He reaches out to squeeze one. “And they’re just growing so damn big,” he says with his eyes still stuck there. Then he’s trailing a finger across the swells of them before softly running it down the crease between my breasts.
Oh, damn.
“Seb,” I breathe. “Unless you’re going to finish what you just started, hands off.”
His eyes finally meet mine, and he grins. “As if I’d ever deny you, beautiful.” He tugs me by the chin to his amazing lips, nipping my bottom one as I try to scoot further into his lap.
His hand runs up my thigh, and my legs open automatically, inviting him between them.
“I think I really dig pregnancy hormones.” He smiles against my mouth. “Once this baby arrives, I’m going to put another one in you.”
I scoff with a laugh. “We’ll see about that.”
His nostrils flare as if I’ve just issued a challenge that he’s all too happy to accept. Shit.
I swipe my tongue along his top lip to distract him. It works. He lets out a groan that resonates right between my thighs. His finger runs over my already damp panties, eliciting a delicious full-body shiver.
“Fuck, I love you.” His lips break away to drag down my neck, and I tilt my head back to allow him better access.
“Show me,” I breathe. Knowing it’s a pointless request. He shows me every day. He loves me with a volume so loud; my fears no longer stand a chance. And as crazy as it may sound, I’ll forever be grateful for the unforgiving path of heartbreak that led me to him.
The End.