Maci Kate
I turn the handle to almost as hot as it can go. I like it hot, but I’m not at that level of masochism. Stripping the dirty clothes from my body, I step into the shower and under the hot spray. My body begins to shudder and melt under the scalding water. Finally, I let the tears I refused to allow Reece see fall.
You can try to imagine what it’s like to be a single parent, but if you haven’t ever been one, you wouldn’t know the struggle and utter exhaustion that can consume you at times. Today was one of those days. Bennett has been sick before; life goes on. With Reece coming back into my life, asking to be a part of it all, I was battling with what help I needed.
I don’t want to be the whiney partner who needs her man to do everything for her, but I don’t want to play the martyr, either. Reece is right, and this is what I sought in a man. We are in this together. If I truly trust him and want to make us work, I need to give a little. I need to learn to rely on him for everyday things like help with Bennett and the house. That’s another thing we have yet to discuss. We’re engaged now, so does that mean he’s moving in? He keeps calling this place home.
“Hey, love, what time do you expect David to be here?” Reece asks from the other side of the shower curtain. I didn’t even hear him come in. I hope he didn’t hear me crying.
Getting my wits about me in a flash, I think about the biggest pain in my ass, David. He’s such a loser. I always knew he didn’t compare to Reece. It’s glaringly obvious who the better man is.
“Baby?” Reece says, getting my attention.
“Yep?” I croak, realizing I had drifted off in thought. “Oh, right. Umm, he said he’d be here around four, but that was a while ago, so who knows if he’s even going to show up. Why?”
His hands twist me around, and he pulls me into him, our fronts touching, and I know why he wanted to know. I don’t know how he does it. His presence, while intimidating, is also the most protected I’ve ever felt. I melt into him, knowing beyond doubt that he’d keep me safe from anything. I wrap my arms around him, loving his strong, thick build, and run my hands up his back. “Reece, you are my safe place, the only place I can be the truest form of myself. Thank you for being my person. Thank you for loving me and allowing me to love you without fear.”
Reece grabs my shampoo and puts some in his hands before he begins washing my hair. When he’s finished, he turns me and helps to rinse it out, then grabs the conditioner and repeats the process. “You’re my home, Maci. Wherever you and Bennett are, that’s my home base. I’ve been a free soul for a long time now, and I finally feel as if I’m setting down some roots. I’m wrapping those roots so tightly around you and Bennett, you won’t ever be able to get rid of me. Don’t ever ask me to give up my home, because I won’t be able to.”
I grab my loofah, put my body wash on it, and begin washing Reece. I start at his chest and wash down his stomach, to his hard dick. I take my time cleaning him there, showing my love for him, being careful with his balls, then turning him so I can wash his back and his ass. We take turns cleaning and rinsing one another until we are clean and wrapped up in towels.
The quiet that surrounds us is warm, and I’m scared to say anything and break the spell, forcing us back to the real world. Maybe this is one of those magical moments that will begin to fill in our cracks and broken parts. I pray for many more, because this is one of my most treasured.
While we’re getting dressed, I see Reece grab clothes from the bed that he had placed there before he hijacked my shower. “Reece?”
“Yeah, baby?” he asks, while pulling his sweats up.
“Where do you keep getting clean clothes?” I say after I pull my panties up over my butt.
He laughs and helps me pull my shirt over my head. “I had a bag in my truck. I wasn’t sure if I should bring it in, but it’s in your closet now. I’ll put my things away later.” He sits on the bed and pulls me between his thighs. Biting my lip, I stare into his blue eyes, mesmerized by the man holding me in his arms. “Is that okay, Maci Kate? I figured we’re getting married soon, and I don’t even want to contemplate sleeping without you next to me. Don’t even get me started about not being around at night for you and Bennett, in case anything happens.”
Grabbing him by his scruffy cheeks, I lean into him, kissing his soft lips. “Of course it’s okay. I want you here every night, but do you want to live in this house? It’s the house I shared with David.”
He waits a few moments, considering his answer. “What do you want to do, Maci girl?”
I answer him immediately, knowing the right answer and not needing to think about it. “I want to sell it and start over, new, with you and Bennett in our own home. I loved this house because it was a part of my healing and standing up for Bennett and me, but I’m past that now.”
“I thought we could find a house near or on the lake. A big yard for Bennett, maybe a dog. One with a lot of rooms to fill with our children.”
“That’s perfect,” I sigh, hugging him close and giving him my full weight.
“Good. Now, I’m going to check on Bennett, and then we can figure out dinner,” Reece tells me, kissing me chastely on the lips. I walk out to the living room and see that he cleaned the kitchen and picked up all the dirty clothes I had scattered on the floor. I didn’t realize how nice it would feel to have someone here to help me with all the day-to-day stuff.
I go to my laundry room and start a load, putting the pile of clothes in that were set neatly next to the washer. I laugh when I realize that I’m smelling one of Reece’s shirts. It’s all the little things that are making him the most important person in my life, besides my son. He’s always trying for Bennett and me. He shows how much he cares by being here for the hard, not just the easy. I fold the clothes that have been in the dryer for the past three days.
When I’m finished, I go back to my room to put away my clothes. When I get to Bennett’s room, I hear my boys talking to one another. Their conversation breaks my heart as I listen.
“Why doesn’t my dad love me?” Bennett asks
“I’m sure he loves you, buddy, he’s your dad. Who couldn’t love you?” Reece replies after some quick thinking.
“I guess, but not like you do.”
“What do you mean, bud?”
“Well, you play with me, and you don’t get mad when I ask you somethin’. You came to make me feel better when I was sick. Dad doesn’t do that. I wish you were my dad.”
“I’ll be your dad if you want me to. I’ve never been a dad before, though, so you gotta tell me if I don’t get something right. Will you do that?”
“Yes! Can I call you Dad and everything?” Bennett asks, excitedly.
“Of course, you can. Whatever you want.”
Unable to hold myself back any longer, I walk in and find the two of them snuggled on the bed. Bennett is in Reece’s lap with his arms wrapped around his middle, giving Reece the biggest hug he can muster for a four-year-old. Reece looks up at me with moisture in his eyes and a huge grin.
“Come here, baby,” he rasps.
I walk over, and before I can do anything, Reece has his arm around my waist, pulling me into the both of them. I relish this moment for what it is: the very first time I have felt part of a family—part of my own little family, that is. As the happy tears fall, I hug my guys tighter, feeling blessed for having yet another magical moment today.
“Uh, Mom, Dad, you guys are squeezing me too hard.”
We all laugh and release each other.
“Good. I thought you guys were going to squeeze me into slime,” Bennett says before sliding off Reece’s lap and running out of his room without a care to be had.
I watch him disappear, and just as quickly as he ran out on us, all the stress of the unknown slips away and my soul is light and free, like it hasn’t been since I was a child. For I do know. I know that Reece will be there for it all. He’s the one person above all else I can count on.
“Why the tears, baby?” Reece asks as he wipes away the few that I didn’t know had escaped.
“Oh, I didn’t even realize those had dropped. These are happy drops,” I say while still holding onto Reece as he slides me onto his lap.
“Happy drops? I’ve never in my life heard of these. How about you tell your fiancé about them.”
“No one has ever told you about ‘happy drops’? I’m shocked! The outrage! You’ve been deprived for so long,” I say, clutching my chest.
“Brat. Tell me,” he says, right before tickling my side and making me giggle.
Settling down, I continue. “They’re special, you know. Hard to come by in your life. There are few moments that touch you so profoundly that the happiness filling your soul seeps out of you. You see, you’re not crying, because tears and crying are for moments when your soul weeps in despair of a circumstance you contain within you. Happy drops are the opposite.”