Chapter 6
Year 6…
The week had been long and tiring. Then again, every week was beginning to be like that. Anna and Jackson were in so many activities there wasn’t a night in over a month we were home at a regular time.
I rubbed my face and glanced over to the clock with a sigh. The day was minutes from being over, and my to-do list was barely checked off.
Closing up, I settled my desk, readying it for the next day to start the cycle over again.
“Night, Nathan,” Angie, my shared secretary, said as I stepped out of my office, locking the door behind me.
“Night.” I set a file in her inbox. “Don’t stay too late.”
“I’ve got to pick the boys up from their dad’s, so no worry there.”
I swung by Lila’s office and waved to Owen. The poor guy looked swamped as usual. I was surprised that he continued on with the position for so long. Perhaps he, like Lila, found a sort of peace in the chaos. The more stringent requirements, double checking everything.
He had a little one of his own on the way, and I wondered what Jack was going to do while he was on paternity leave.
Lila cut back to part time when we realized we could no longer handle both our long hours and two children. My income was more than enough to support us, but she didn’t want to stop working. Thankfully, Jack was more than willing to reduce her hours just to keep her on.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the garage and stepped out. As soon as the door opened, there was a clatter of something falling, followed by little giggle screeches.
“What’s going on in here?” I asked, overlooking my children completely covered in white dust.
Lila was standing at the island with an exhausted look on her flour-sprinkled face.
“Hi, Daddy!” Anna jumped up and ran to me, her little arms wrapping around my leg, covering me in the fine white as well.
Jackson followed her lead and grabbed on to my other leg. “Daddy!”
I set down my keys and reached down to pick them both up. Since they’d already gotten me, there was no use trying to stop the spread.
“Just what have you two been doing? You’re covered!”
“Jackson did it.” Anna wasted no time ratting her brother out.
“Wanta halp Mommy.”
“That was sweet of you,” I said as I glanced back to Lila, who stared down at the mess looking like she was about to fall over. “Have you two been good today?”
They both nodded, despite the white powder that created a fine misty halo around them.
Anna held up her hand and pointed to it. “I made a turkey out of my hand!”
I chuckled. “Where is it?”
She squirmed in my arms, and I set them both down as she ran off to get it, Jackson chasing behind her. I walked over to Lila and pulled her into my arms. Her whole body sagged against me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I ran my fingers through her hair, shaking out some of the flour.
She shook her head. “I’m just exhausted. Every movement takes all of my effort.”
“Coming down with something?”
“I’m not sure.”
I leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I’m going to go get changed, and when I get back you’re going to go upstairs and lay down.”
“But…” Her hand waved around.
“I’ll clean it up and make dinner.”
She tilted her head back, and our eyes met. The dull grey-green that looked at me made my chest clench. I cupped her face and pressed my lips to hers.
“Be right back.”
I ran up the stairs, working my tie loose as I went. The sounds of our little ones filled the hall. They probably got distracted in their quest.
In the bedroom, I changed out of my suit and into some lounge pants and a T-shirt.
Back in the hall, I peeked into Anna’s room. They were coloring, and behaving—a rarity—so I left them.
I ran back down to the kitchen to find Lila wiping down the counter. “Go relax.”
She nodded, then grabbed onto my T-shirt as she leaned into me, her forehead on my chest. A few seconds, then she let go and stepped away.
I picked up the washcloth and rinsed it out before resuming where she left off. Once the counter and sink were done, I pulled out ingredients for some dinner.
Over my relationship with Lila, I’d become a little more self-sufficient in the cooking department. I wasn’t going to let her do all the cooking. It wasn’t the ‘50s, and she worked as much if not more than me.
We were partners. Splitting household and parental duties was a no brainer. Especially when it came to parenting—an area where we were both novices. Lila more so than me.
Granted, she cut her work as a transactional attorney to part time, but she was a full-time mom. Thus, the workload of parenting and chores did become a little lopsided.
She joined a few mommy groups online and found a local group where she’d made a few friends. As with everything else in our relationship, we did it together, and eventually found our rhythm.
The giggles and patter of racing children bounced off the high ceilings.
“Don’t run,” I said loud enough for them to hear.
The running stopped, but when Anna appeared she was bouncing on her toes, still covered in white, with a manic look in her eyes.
My parents called it karma that I had a wild child—Anna was my mini-me. Apparently I drove my parents crazy with my hyperactivity and mischievousness.
“Did you get candy today?” I turned on the water and filled a pot before setting it on the burner.
She nodded so fast it was more like a vibration.
“Can you and your brother go play while I clean up the mess you two made?”
Again, she nodded before bouncing away. “Come on, Jackson!”
It took an hour to clean a mess that should have only taken twenty minutes, thanks to them. As soon as I cleaned an area, they ran through it again, and I was then cleaning footprints.
At another pass, I caught one of them. “Come here!” I picked up Jackson by the waist. He was giggling and squirming as I tried to wipe his face, arms, and hands.
Then I set my sights on Anna. A game of cat and mouse ensued as I chased her around the room, my arms high in the air as I let out monster growls. I was breathing hard by the time I caught her and gave her as good of a wipe down as her wiggly butt would allow.
After that, I gave up. The cleaning service was coming in the morning, and they could get the remnants of the kitchen. It was evident that after dinner I was going to be giving two hellions a bath.
With dinner ready, I sent Anna to get Lila. When my beautiful wife entered the kitchen, she didn’t look like she was feeling any better.
I kissed her forehead. “Go sit.”
She nodded and headed to the table.
“Mommy, kiss,” Jackson said as he stood in front of her, his little lips pursed.
She smiled and leaned down. “Mwah!”
Spaghetti and chicken breasts wasn’t the most gourmet meal, but I figured comfort food might be more appealing to her.
I set the plate in front of her, and she smiled up at me. “Thank you.”
Jackson already had his hands in the spaghetti, sauce all over him, by the time I sat down with my own plate. Anna was bopping along to some tune in her head as she slurped up a noddle.
I took one bite of my own food before I leaned over and began cutting up Jackson’s chicken.
“I think I’m pregnant.”
Time stopped for a fraction of a second before I turned to look at her, my knife halfway through his chicken. “Think?”
She pursed her lips. “I’m late, and the smell of the chicken makes me want to vomit. Add in how I’ve been feeling and, well…”
Three kids? I looked between Anna with her still flour-covered hair and Jackson and his sauce-covered mouth. The thought stunned me, my mind wrapping around the idea of adding another child to our already hectic lives.
I swallowed hard and resumed cutting. “Okay.”
“Okay?” She almost sounded confused, but I was honestly still processing the information and that was all I could come up with.
I cleared my throat. “Well, it’s shocking and scary, but if we seriously didn’t want any more kids, we would’ve done something about it.”
The more I thought about it, the more I was surprised that it hadn’t happened earlier. Sure, sex had slowed down over the last few years with our busy schedules, but it was still a multiple-times-a-week occurrence. Lila never went back on birth control, and we never talked about how many we were going to stop at.
“Five’s not a bad number,” she said, pushing the plate back.
“We already have a minivan.”
She nodded. “Anna just gets the backseat now.”
A sense of déjà vu came over me. A forgotten dream from long ago.
I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face.
Dreams do come true.