Kel’s cell rang, and she ran to pick it up. She was expecting a call from Cait, she was supposed to be coming for a visit and bringing Rosaline with her for a week or so. The plans were up in the air, but Kel wanted her to come, desperately. She was feeling a bit lonely and was afraid she’d give into what Ethan wanted, which was for her and the children to live in Scotland with him.

A sigh came out of her as she saw her husband’s name on the screen. She was tired of arguing with the obstinate man. “Ethan please don’t start in again.”

“Kel, I’m not about to start in again. I’m on my way home,” he told her.

She smiled, thinking he was over his ridiculous obsession with uprooting their family for his own reasons. “Good. I’ll be glad to have you back home. I’ve missed you.”

“We have much to discuss when I get there. See you in a few hours, love.” He ended the call before she could ask just what he wanted to talk to her about. If he was coming home, then wasn’t the idea of moving, behind him?

She put the cell down and went to check on the children who were eating lunch in the kitchen with their cook. As she rounded the corner, she found EJ, Ethan Junior, their first born, running away with a chocolate chip cookie in one hand and a mischievous expression covering his adorable face. Auburn curls, just like his father’s, bounced around his small round head as he ran smack into his mother. “Mom!”

“That’s his third cookie, Kel!” the cook shouted as she came up behind him. And he hasn’t taken even a nibble of his ham sandwich. Just went straight to the cookies!”

Kel looked around the irate cook and saw their three-year-old daughter, Bell happily eating her sandwich and drinking her glass of milk. “Well, at least one of them is being good,” she remarked. “Now, EJ, you might want to get to eating the food that was made for you and leave the third cookie for another time. Daddy’s coming home, and he’ll hate to hear the news that you’ve been bad.”

“Dad’s coming home?” he shouted and handed the cookie to his mother. “Yes! I’ll go eat it, Mom.” He spun around and went back to the table, gobbling up his lunch without so much as a disgruntled groan.

Kel knew the children had missed their father. He’d been gone two whole weeks. Longer than they’d ever been apart. Ethan was blaming her for that.

He was supposed to go and make a little visit to his ailing aunt, a person Kel nor the children had even met. They’d spent so little time in Scotland that it didn’t make sense to her why Ethan suddenly wanted to relocate there.

Ethan’s request hit Kel out of the blue, and she wasn’t about to pack up and take her kids across the globe on a whim. EJ was going to be starting school in the fall, she’d signed him up for a prestigious kindergarten when he was still a baby. She wasn’t about to let that go.

She heard her cell ringing in the den again and rushed to get it, now hoping it wasn’t her sister looking for a get-away. But she found it was Cait and answered, “Hey, little sis, guess what, my hubby’s coming home.”

“Damn!” came Cait’s quick reply. “Phoenix is driving me nuts. All he can do is talk about having a baby. I’m sick of it!”

“So, that’s why you wanted to come see me? To get away from him. I didn’t realize that was why. I thought you missed me and your niece and nephew.”

“I do,” Cait said. “That was what I told Phoenix. He wanted to come too, and I told him Ethan was in Scotland and you and I would be taking the kids to the zoo and lame things like that. He was still pretty disappointed that I wasn’t letting him come with us.”

“Cait, why would you do that to him?” Kel asked. “You’re not being fair to him about this baby business. He has the right to want what he wants too.”

“Not you too!” Cait moaned. “Mom told me the same damn thing. Look, I want one kid, and that’s all!”

“Well, you aren’t an only you, you’re part of an ‘us’, the ‘us’ being you and your husband. What he wants matters too. And the last time I saw Rosaline she was a bit on the spoiled side. I think you two do need more kids. You tend to dote on her far too much. It’s unhealthy. And everyone loves a baby. Give in to him on this. I think you’ll find yourself very happy you did.”

“And what about you, Kel?” Cait asked. “Why aren’t you giving into what Ethan wants? Moving your kids all the way to Scotland.”

Kel frowned at how her sister knew that. She’d only told their mother about it. “Mother!”

“Yes, Mom is a talker, Kel. You should know that. And she thinks if your husband wants his family to live in Scotland then you should do what he wants.”

“I know, she told me that. And she told you to have a baby with your husband if that’s what he wants. She’s a real pushover nowadays. Dad says jump, she asks, how high. I don’t know when she got so soft, but she’s not in her right mind to give marital advice at the moment.”

“You might be right, but then again, have you ever seen our parents more in love?” Cait asked.

Kel had never seen their parents act the way they’d been acting in the last five years. They were nearly inseparable. Both had made miraculous changes in their bodies and their attitudes. But she still wasn’t sure about giving in so quickly to one’s husband.

“Anyway, I need to go and make sure I’m all spiffed up for Ethan’s return. Fighting about where we live or not, I’ve missed the brute and want to pretty myself up for him.”

“I guess I’m on my own with Phoenix,” Cait moaned. “Bye.”

“Bye, good luck,” Kel said then ended the call, thinking about what her sister and mother had said about doing what Ethan wanted her to do.

But her mind was too strong to bend so quickly.

---

Cait looked over her shoulder, once she’d ended the call. She found her five-year-old daughter, Rosaline standing in the far corner of the room. She’d obviously been eavesdropping on her. “Rosaline, what are you doing?”

“Daddy wants you to have another baby, Momma?”

They’d kept the last three month’s major topic of discussion hidden from their daughter. Phoenix had wanted to ask Rosaline if she wanted a baby brother or sister but Cait refused to pull her into it. She foresaw both of them teaming up on her, making her do something she wasn’t up for.

The truth was motherhood hadn’t come naturally to her the way it had for her sisters. Jess and Griff had five kids, and they seemed deliriously happy. Jess and Kel seemed born to be mothers. They never gripped about the sleepless nights that came with having babies. The puke that they smelled like for the first year of their babies’ lives. The fat their bodies had accumulated with the pregnancies.

Cait’s weight didn’t all go away, the way her sisters’ had. She kept a spare tire around her middle. It was stubborn, and she wasn’t about to add even more weight with another kid.

But the way her daughter was looking at her with big brown eyes was making her hate herself. “Daddy does want me to have another baby. But I don’t want to, Rosaline. You’re momma’s only baby. I like it that way.”

The little girl walked slowly toward her. “Momma, why don’t you want to have me a baby sister?”

“For one thing, you have no idea if it will be a baby sister or a baby brother,” Cait said then picked up her daughter and carried her to sit on the sofa. She looked out at the waves that were crashing on the beach of their mansion in Malibu.

Cait was a consultant for many of the farmers in California. Thanks to her, many new kinds of food were being raised and sold in the California market. She once was a busy woman. Phoenix never had been busy. His money just poured up from the ground, he did nothing to make that happen. It was he who took the most care of their daughter when she was a baby. Cait had gotten busy so quickly with the company she worked for that she had little time to do the day to day things with Rosaline.

Only a year after Rosaline was born, Cait was offered the consultant position in California and Phoenix acted as if it was a no-brainer. Of course, they’d move to where Cait could do her work. And the care of Rosaline fell even more on his broad shoulders. A thing he never complained about even once.

Rosaline took her mother’s hand and gazed up at her. “Momma, are you afraid to have a baby?”

Cait could only nod. The truth was that she was afraid. She didn’t have to work nearly as hard as she had in the beginning. She mostly used the internet to talk to clients. Only on occasion did she need to actually go to a site. If she had another baby, she’d be the one expected to care for it, and the truth was, she didn’t know how to do that.

---

Jess wrestled with Peter and Patrick, their one and a half-year-old twin sons. “Please stop wiggling, Pete. Momma needs to get this diaper on you before you leak all over the house.”

The toddler got out of her grasp and ran, laughing like a hyena until his oldest sister, Darla caught him. “Got ‘em, Mommy!”

Jess wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. “Thanks.” She was sitting on the floor of the boy’s bedroom, trying desperately to get them dressed for the day. They were supposed to attend a family reunion picnic that afternoon. Griff was away for the morning with his parents, helping them to get the park ready for the huge amount of people who would be going to the reunion. That had left Jess alone to get five children dressed for the event and then herself as well.

The three-year-old twins, Joyce and Loyce, came tearing into the room. Both already had red stains on their matching pink shirts. “What happened?” Jess asked as she pulled Pete back down and quickly put the diaper on him. Darla helped her wrangle the kid, and she was able to get his short set on him too.

Darla began to tell her mother what her younger sisters had done. “I found them with suckers from Valentine’s Day. I told them they were really old and they started spitting them out. That’s how they got all sticky and dirty.”

“Well, now they have to be changed too,” Jess whined. “Why did Griff have to leave me to do all of this on my own today?”

“Cause, Daddy has to help…” Darla set out to remind her.

Jess was well aware of why. “I know why, Darla, honey. Mommy’s just cranky.”

“I can see that,” Darla said then got up and took her sisters by their little chubby hands. “I can help them if you want.”

Jess knew Darla was too small to be of any actual help. “That’s really sweet of you. I tell you what, you get the boys to the playroom, and I’ll get the girls changed and bring them in there too. Then do you think you can make sure they play nicely until Mommy cleans herself up? Then we can go.”

“I can do that, Mommy,” Darla said with a huge smile. “Come on boys. Chase me to the playroom. The boys couldn’t help but chase their sister, and Jess took her other daughters to their bedroom.

Her cell rang in the back pocket of her jeans. She took it out and saw it was Griff. “Hey,” she answered.

“Hello, baby. Are you on your way yet?”

“Not a chance. I have to change the girls and get myself ready. Maybe in an hour, I’ll be on my way.”

“Crap,” he said.

“What’s that about?” she asked.

“I forgot my camera, and I wanted to get some pictures before everyone arrives. I was going to see if you could bring it.”

“Damn, Griff! You left me to get five kids ready and myself. And you want me to hurry so you can have your fucking camera!” she shouted.

“Language in front of the kids, Jess! I’m sorry I had to leave so early.”

“You’ll get your camera when I get there. Take pictures with your phone until then. Bye!” She ended the call and barely noticed her daughters looking at her with wide eyes.

Loyce asked, “Are you mad at Daddy?”

“Yes!” Jess shouted then came back to reality. “No, no, Mommy’s just feeling overworked and under-appreciated. That’s all. Come on, let’s get you two changed.”

Jess was not only those things but sex deprived as well. In the last year, she could count on one hand how many times she and Griff had been intimate. To add insult to injury, they’d both been lackluster at best. Tired beyond all reason, neither could seem to function properly.

The kids had taken over their lives. Although they were all put to bed in their own beds, one by one, they’d end up sneaking into Jess and Griff’s bed each night. It was a habit they both vowed to break soon but soon hadn’t come for the battered couple yet.

***

Ethan was set on getting his wife’s approval to move to Scotland. A dozen roses in one arm, a bottle of bubbly in the other and a diamond necklace that rivaled the Crown Jewels was in his jacket pocket.

He’d tried strong-arming Kel, and that hadn’t worked, now was the time to use charm and charisma. The kids were in bed already when he’d finally arrived at their New York home. The weather was terrible in town that night, it affected the jet’s landing, making him a few hours later than he’d told Kel he’d be.

Slipping into their dark bedroom, Ethan found his wife in bed already. He placed the things he’d brought for her on the dresser and proceeded to undress. It felt glorious to slip into his own bed, next to his beautiful wife.

Brushing her blonde hair off her face, he watched as her eyes fluttered open. “You’re finally home.”

“That I am, Kel Southern. Did ya miss your husband?” he kissed her forehead, and his cock stirred.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, unable to keep her hands off him. “I did. Did you miss your wife, Mr. Southern?”

“I did,” he said then kissed her.

It’d been weeks since he’d touched his wife. Too damn long and he’d vowed never to let that amount of time separate them again. His hands roamed all over her body as hers did the same to his. He was home.

Kel had been so lonely with Ethan gone. She wanted to talk about his lunacy at wanting to move away from the only home their children had ever known, but her body wanted her husband.

She groaned as he slid her nighty off her then ran his hand over the waistband of her panties, ripping them off her. In one swift movement, he had her flat on her back, and he was kissing her pussy that had already gone wet for him.

Kel fisted the sheets as Ethan gave her his full attention. In no time, she was begging him to end her agony as she climaxed, “Ethan, please. I need to feel you inside of me!”

“As you wish,” he groaned as he slid back up her body and thrust his hard cock into her hot wet cunt. “Yes! God, how I missed this!”

Her hands moved over his muscular back as she took him all in, pulling her knees up to allow him to penetrate her further. “Damn, I needed this!”

Ethan began with slow and easy strokes as he looked at his wife. Her eyes were sparkling, and he knew he could get her to see reason, but first their bodies had to be tamed. The want was overwhelming for them both.

In and out he went, over and over they moaned until they found their release together. Laying on their bed, holding one another, they panted and tried to catch their breaths as the orgasms calmed inside of them, leaving them both satisfied.

Ethan rolled to one side, stroking Kel’s tight stomach as he leaned his head on his hand. “Kel, there’s something I have to tell you. Something my mother begged me not to. See she doesn’t want to be the reason we move to Scotland.”

“Your mother?” Kel asked with surprise. “Is she okay?”

Ethan struggled with his emotion then gulped and said the words that hurt as they came out of his mouth, “My father has cancer. He has six months to live.”

Kel was struck by what he’d said, and tears pooled in her eyes. “Ethan! How long have you known about this?”

“Since I went back to visit my sick aunt, and found out that was a farce. I had no idea that’s why they wanted me to come all alone for. See, I don’t want my mother to be all alone. None of the rest of my family seems to care about her being alone. And she claims she’ll be fine. But I know better than that. The place will be empty without my father in it. That’s why I want you and the kids and I to live there with them until my father passes and then stay on with my mother.”

Kel’s heart was in her throat. She had no idea. No inkling things were such as they were. She nodded as she took Ethan into her arms, comforting him as best she could with such tragedy happening in his life. “I love you. We are with you, Ethan. If I’d known, I’d never have fought you on this. We’ll leave as soon as you want and stay for however long you want. Forever, if that’s what you want. I’m sorry for being so bull-headed.”

Ethan kissed his wife as they both cried for the loss they were about to endure. He knew he’d married the right girl for him. She was a handful at times, but she was always there for him when he needed her to be.

“I love you, Kellie Southern.”

“And I love you, Ethan. I always will.”

---

Cait was face to face with her little girl, and she knew things were about to get out of hand when the child placed her hand on her hip and wagged her finger at her. “I want you to tell my daddy that you do want a baby, cause being scared isn’t a thing we run away from in this family!”

Cait almost laughed at how her five-year-old was talking. But the serious expression Rosaline wore kept her from it. “Perhaps you could go play with Ruby down the street for a little while so Mommy can talk to Daddy.”

With a nod of her little head, it was agreed that she’d go play with her friend while her parents got to work on giving her a baby brother or sister.

After Cait had walked her daughter down to the neighbor’s house and told Ruby’s mother about what she was about to do, she was given an afternoon of freedom with her husband. Rosaline was welcome to play all afternoon at the neighbor’s.

Phoenix stood at the door when Cait walked back up the long drive. “I was just about to go looking for you, Caity-cat. You left your cell here. Where’s Roro?” he asked, using the nickname he’d given her.

“I took her to play at the neighbors for the afternoon. You and I have to talk, per Rosaline’s orders, Phoenix.” Cait took his hand and led him inside.

“About?” he asked, utterly confused.

Cait took him to the sofa and sat down with him, then climbed up on his lap and ran her hands through his long hair. “I was talking to my sister about you and I arguing over this baby stuff and our daughter heard me.”

“Oh,” he said as he looked into her eyes. “And what happened?”

“Our daughter had a little talk with me. And I confessed that I was afraid to have another baby.”

“Was the pain that awful?” he asked.

“No,” Cait shook her head and smiled at him. “You were just a fantastic father and I was barely a mother at all. I worked so much and you did so much with Rosaline that I’m more than a little afraid I won’t be as good as it as you were.”

“Wow! Really, Cait?” He held her hands in his as he saw the truth in her eyes. “I had no idea. I can help you, now that you’re not so busy with work. But I can also let you handle the next kids we have. You should’ve talked about this with me sooner.”

She nodded. “I know that. It’s just that it didn’t come bubbling up to the surface until our little girl brought it out of me. She’s something, you know.”

“I do. And we can have more than one kid who’s special. So, does this mean we can start trying to get prego?”

Cait looked at him long and hard then nodded and he laughed as he picked her up and swept her away to their bedroom. “Get ready to be made very happy, Mrs. Nelson!”

Cait and Phoenix stripped down as quickly as possible after flushing Cait’s birth control pills down the toilet. They knew they weren’t going to make a baby at that time, but it never hurt to practice!

Both were already breathing hard as Cait climbed up on their tall bed, on her hands and knees. Phoenix growled as he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back to meet his hard cock from behind. He smacked her ass a few times before he pressed his cock into her. He moaned with the sensation of her wet pussy closing around him, “Yes, baby…mmm.”

Cait’s stomach clenched as he made a hard thrust. She moaned as he bottomed out inside of her. She let it all go, the worry and the fear of it all. “Fuck me, Phoenix. Pour your seed into me…yesss.”

It took no time for the animal to come out in the man. He pounded into her and when he was almost ready to cum, he pulled out and turned her over, slamming into her as he looked into her eyes and said, “Every time I cum inside of you I want us to look into each other’s eyes. I want us to connect completely when we make this baby.”

Cait held his face between her palms and felt the tears running down her cheeks. “I love you, Phoenix Nelson.”

“And I love you,” he said then exploded into her and her body reacted too as she came right along with him.

Cait didn’t feel like Phoenix had won, she felt like they both had!

---

Pulling the clothes off one another, Griff said, “I wish we’d thought about talking to Mom and Dad a long time ago. This deal of one night every weekend letting them take the kids overnight is a dream come true!”

“I know!” Jess said as she dropped Griff’s underwear to the floor and took his erect cock into her hand. “I want to kiss this all over. It’s been forever since I gave you a blowjob.”

With an excited laugh, Griff hoped on the bed. “Have at it, baby. Then I’ll do you. I’ve forgotten what you taste like, it’s been so damn long.”

Jess was over the moon with finally being free to give her husband all of her attention and have his. “Oh, yeah, baby!” She licked her lips and kissed the tip of his large appendage.

“Sweet Jesus, that feels amazing, baby!” He put his hands behind his head and watched his wife’s head bob up and down, making his cock swell even more.

Jess was loving the way his dick tasted. She cupped his balls and gave them a gentle massage as she took him all the way in, deep-throating his dick as she let her tongue run up and down the underside of his wide shaft.

With the taste of a few drops of his come, Jess was ready to drink him down. But he’d suddenly pulled her head up and threw her on her back. “Your turn!”

She wasn’t about to protest, she laid back and watched Griff’s face light up as he kissed her hot folds then licked them up and down. She moaned and ran her hands through his hair, hanging on to him as he devoured her.

Her clit was pulsing as he teased it, mercilessly. “Please, Griff!”

He ignored her pleas and kept taking her to the edge then easing up on her. She was shaking with need when he finally unsheathed her clit and tapped at it then ran his tongue up and down her pussy. She screamed as he let her cum, “Yes! God, yes! Ahhh…”

With her primed and ready, Griff slammed his aching cock into her soaking wet cunt and groaned as he did. It’d been what seemed like forever since his cock had been inside those pulsing walls of pleasure. “Damn! Fuck! Shit!” He had to hang on, he wasn’t about to let it all end just yet.

He gritted his teeth and thrust into her as she writhed and ran her nails across his back. Her orgasm was intense and showed no signs of letting up. Griff wanted her to experience every last drop of the sweet relief that was washing over her.

Her screams went even higher, and she arched up to him. “Cum with me!”

Griff was helpless. He had to give her what she wanted. His body went stiff then he howled as he came inside of her, “Shit! Shit! Fuck, baby!”

Both of their bodies were shaking as they held on to each other. Huffing and puffing were all they could hear as they eased out of the intense orgasms they’d both had.

Griff rested his weight on Jess, and she cooed as she ran her hands over his back, easing the burning the raking of her nails had left. “Daddy’s going to look like a tiger got after him.”

Griff kissed her neck then sucked it a bit. “Mommy’s going to look like she got into a fight with a vacuum cleaner.”

Jess’ neck was her weakness, and she moaned as he licked and nipped her between the occasional suck. In no time, they were both ready to go again. Dead set on making love for as long as they could.

Both had piece of mind that they’d get to focus only on each other at least once each week. And that was more than they could’ve ever asked for!

---

“They’re all coming, Ethan!” Kel shouted as she put the phone down. “Mom, Dad, Scotty and his new wife.”

“And the guys?” Ethan asked. “Am I going to get to see the old gang?”

Kel nodded, enthusiastically. “Phoenix, Cait, Darla, little Taylor, and Colby are coming for the summer too. Even Jess and Griff and their little mob will stay with us, here in Scotland for the entire summer. I cannot wait!”

Ethan took Kel in his arms and rocked with her as he rubbed her swollen belly. “Mother is so excited that she’ll finally get the chance to have a baby around. James will be here in a month, and then a couple months after that your family will join us here, and things will be great!”

It’d been nearly two years since Ethan’s father had succumbed to cancer. But he’d lived longer than six months. With the joy of having his son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids around, the man hung on for over a year. Kel was overjoyed that the kids got to really know their grandfather before he left the world.

Ethan’s mother was a wonderful grandmother, and Kel often found herself feeling guilty that they hadn’t spent more time with them in the beginning. But Ethan would tell her again and again that it didn’t matter. All that mattered is they were there now, and he was thankful Kel agreed with him that Scotland was the right place for them and their growing family.

The tense times were behind them all, for the time being anyway. Life being what it is, they all knew trials and troubles would come for them all, from time to time. But for that time, the troubles were behind them, and only bright futures were ahead.

The End