Logan — 9
“It’s early yet; do you want to go to bed?” I asked Rhett several hours later after our family had all left. The babies were in a crib upstairs, fast asleep, but it was still earlier than we normally went to bed.
“What time is it? It’s only nine? You know, maybe we could watch a movie?”
“You want to watch a movie? Seriously?” I couldn’t believe he’d want to watch a movie. Rhett didn’t care for movies. Ever.
“No, not really. Hell, what did we normally do?”
I cleared my throat and gave Rhett a pointed look. He at least had the decency to blush. Which was a bit shocking since we were about to have our second wedding anniversary.
“Okay, fine. So we’d go and fuck each other’s brains out. Got it. And you’re right. We would normally do that. Why does it feel different now? Why isn’t my first thought getting you naked and seeing if I can make you come before me?”
I pulled Rhett down onto my lap and wrapped my arms around his waist before I looked into his eyes and smiled. “Because, we’re daddies now and you’re thinking about someone other than just you or me. It’s only been two days. Give it a few weeks and I’m sure things will seem more relaxed. Right now, it’s all new, different, and I think your mind is simply trying to process it all.”
Rhett sighed, and since I wasn’t wearing a shirt with buttons, he instead gently flicked my nipple with his finger.
“Munchkin, you’re playing with fire there.”
“Sorry. I didn’t even realize,” Rhett said right before he blushed.
“I’m aware. You have this nervous thing you do where you play with my buttons. I don’t mind, honestly. Are you okay? I know I’m overwhelmed, so I’m worried about you.”
“You are?”
“Of course I am. We’re parents now. To twins. Not only that, this is our first night completely alone with them. Up until now, if something happened, we could call a nurse. But now we can’t.”
I watched as Rhett seemed to deflate. Somehow, I figured that might be part of his worry, and I didn’t blame him one bit. I cupped his face and gave him a smile that I reserved only for him and now our kids. “Sweetheart, I’m sure we’ll be okay. There’s two of them and two of us. And we’ve gotten through rougher things before. Now, how about we go shopping?”
“Shopping?”
“Yeah. Why don’t we go online and order some clothes for the babies, and while we’re there, some more flowers for Allison.”
“Oh! She’d like that. She gushed about the flowers we had sent to her in the hospital. I texted her earlier, but it was Wendy that replied.”
“I know, I did the same thing. We have to respect her wishes and cut ties. I would imagine that it might be difficult for her, even if this is her choice.”
“You’re right. I know you are. It’s just that we’ve been in each other’s lives for so long now. It’s hard to believe she doesn’t want… You’re right. I know you are. I’m sure it is hard for her. But she did go into our arrangement making sure we knew it was the way she wanted things.”
“Yes. But we can send flowers. Also, possibly schedule delivery for the two of them tomorrow. Just a nice, small gesture for them,” I said as I gave Rhett’s waist a squeeze.
“All right. So, to the office, then?” Rhett asked.
“Unless you want to go get the laptop and bring it out here. My tablet is upstairs,” I told him as I patted his hip and he got up off of my lap.
“Speaking of upstairs. I assume that’s where Scarlett is?” Rhett asked ask he looked toward the stairway.
“Last time I saw, yes. She doesn’t want to leave those babies. I’m beginning to worry about her behavior, actually.”
“Me too. She’s supposed to be with me.” Rhett just stood there, staring off toward the stairs. I knew all of the changes were having an impact on him and I needed to be sure he was taken care of as well.
“Yeah. We can call the trainer tomorrow and see if they are around. It’s bad timing with it being in between holidays.”
“I really hate to ask, but do you think I can get you to carry that bassinette upstairs and into our room? I’d really like the twins in there with us tonight. Is that okay?” Rhett asked as he turned and pointed to the bassinette that was brought over earlier and placed near the fireplace.
“That’s perfectly okay. I don’t mind them with us for a while. They will eventually outgrow the bassinette though.”
“I know, but for now, they fit,” Rhett said as he shrugged.
“They do. Change of plans. Let’s check the house and make sure everything’s locked up, and then we’ll head upstairs and we can shop on the tablet. When we have to feed Ash and Abi later, we can let Scarlett outside one last time.”
“That sounds like a plan. How did I ever get so lucky? I know I’m a lot to deal with—” I cut Rhett off with a kiss, knowing where he was going with his train of thoughts. Nope, not having that.
“You and I ended up together because we’re meant to be together. End of story. You survived a living hell because you were meant to be mine. I love you, Rhett. Every inch of you. Every freckle, every scar, every inch. You’re mine, and have been since I first saw you, even though it took us a long time to admit it.”
“I love you, too. We’d better get moving, or our kids are going to start demanding food before we have a chance to spend money,” Rhett said as he climbed off my lap. He was right though. I climbed up off the couch and checked the front door and then the back one in the kitchen. Once I was sure they were both locked, I went to the living room and retrieved the bassinette to carry upstairs. I had to concentrate harder than I should because I was trying not to trip since I was distracted by Rhett’s ass in his sweats.
“Stop staring at my ass. You’ll hurt yourself.”
“How did you know I was?”
“Aren’t you always?”
“Well, yeah, but I can’t help it. I’m quite fond of your ass,” I said as I arrived at the top of the stairs and looked down at my husband with a smile.
“I’m not complaining. Don’t think I was. I simply didn’t want you to get hurt. That’s all.”
“I appreciate that. Now, go check on the babies since I know you’re anxious to, and I’ll take this to our room for later.”
Rhett smiled and reached up for a kiss. I leaned down and obliged, and then he was gone. I got another view of his backside as he walked down the hallway and then made a left turn into the nursery as I followed, heading straight into our room. I figured it was a safe assumption to put the bassinette on Rhett’s side of the bed, so that’s where I placed it. I was greeted by Scarlett, who jumped up on the bed and let out a loud sigh, like she was relieved.
“What’s up, girl? Huh? You stressed-out? You don’t have to guard the babies. They’re okay if you don’t,” I told her as I scratched behind her ears. She groaned and then rolled over, hinting and hoping for belly rubs. Of course I had to give them to her. That was how Rhett found us just moments later.
“Hey, girl. You tired? Huh? You going to cuddle with us, or are you going to go check the house?” Rhett asked Scarlett as he came into the room.
“Twins okay?”
“Yep. Sound asleep. You ready to spend some money?”
“Sure,” I said as I walked over and picked up my tablet from my top dresser. It was fully charged, so we had hours and hours of use, but I knew we would probably be finished within an hour. I sat back down and propped myself up against the headboard, and then Rhett curled up into my side.
Forty minutes later, we’d ordered an obscene amount of baby items, flowers for Allison, chocolate-covered strawberries for Wendy, and dinner for two for the following day. Rhett was starting to show signs of tiring, so it was time to get up from the warm and cozy bed before he fell asleep right before the twins would probably be waking up.
“Come on, why don’t you go hop in the shower, and I’ll go let Scarlett out. Abi should be wanting to be fed soon, and I’m going to wake Ash up at the same time. James said he had to do that with Jasper and Sean, and I’m not above doing the same.” I patted Rhett on the shoulder. He was entirely too comfortable curled up next to me.
“Hmm, sounds good, although I’m not sure I need another shower. Do I smell? I showered this morning at the hospital, this afternoon, then we had an almost bath.”
“No, you don’t smell. I thought it might wake you up. That’s all.”
“You’re right. It would. I’ll hurry and then you can go through.” Rhett yawned as he sat up and started to crawl off the bed.
“No. I’ll shower after we feed Ash and Abi. Take your time.”
“You sure?” Rhett asked. The sleepiness could be heard in his voice.
“Positive. Enjoy and I’ll see you in a bit.”
“’Kay.” Rhett walked off toward the bathroom, and I got up to let Scarlett out. It was only ten at night, but I knew we were going to be up a couple more times tonight, and if Scarlett needed out, she would have plenty of opportunities to let us know.
“Let’s go, girl. You can go out and run in the snow for a few,” I said as I walked out of the room. I heard Scarlett’s cadence behind me as she pranced down the hallway with me.
“What time is it?” Rhett’s muffled voice asked from beside me. When I glanced over at him, his face was buried in my pillow, his head in between his and mine. I tried to focus on the clock but gave up.
“It’s time to feed the babies o’clock.”
“’Kay.” Rhett and I both got up, and after we trudged to the nursery, we found a whining Scarlett and a crying Abi. Ash was moving his arms around, so it probably wouldn’t be long before he was awake anyway. After the eleven-o’clock feeding, we put them in the crib because they had more room and we hoped they would sleep better. We’d been right it seemed.
“I’ll go heat the bottles. You want to change her diaper?”
“Sounds good,” Rhett said as he reached in and picked up a very fussy Abi.
I left the nursery while he was talking to Abi as he laid her down on the changing table. I hurried down the steps as fast as I could while still being mostly asleep. Bless my mom. There were eight bottles in the fridge, and I put two in the warmer and hit Start. A minute later, they were warm and I gently shook them while climbing back up the stairs.
Rhett was in the chair when I returned, Abi in his arms, sucking on her fist.
“We should put a clock in here.”
I looked around and realized that we didn’t have one. That was something we needed to fix, I agreed. “Test it again, but it should be fine.”
Rhett dropped a few drops of formula on his wrist and then in the mouth the bottle went. Abi greedily sucked, which was a good thing.
“I’ll wake Ash up and feed him now.”
“Good,” Rhett replied as he laid his head back on the chair. He looked entirely too comfortable. “I’ll be sure to wake this young lady up if she dozes off. Maybe that way we’ll get to sleep until morning.”
“I thought it was morning? It’s a little after two, so that means morning, right?”
I got a glare from my husband, which only caused me to blow him a kiss. That had Rhett smiling at me before he looked down at our daughter.
I had Ash changed in no time, and even though he wasn’t happy about being woken up, he eagerly took the bottle.
“You ready for their first checkup on Saturday?”
“Not really. I’m not sure I can handle them getting more shots,” Rhett said and cringed a bit.
“I don’t think they get more vaccines until a month or two.”
“Oh, good. Then yes, I’m ready.” I looked at Rhett and saw him visibly relax. I hadn’t realized he was so stressed about the kids getting their vaccines.
“What do you want to do for our anniversary? It’s coming up on Monday.”
Rhett’s eyes were huge when he looked at me. “You mean you still want to do something?”
“Munchkin, why wouldn’t I? It’s still our anniversary, even if we’re parents now.”
“Order pizza? Can we do that? Just the thought of taking the babies out at only a week old makes me worry. Especially on New Year’s Eve.”
“We don’t have to go out. Pizza in sounds good. Maybe we can call Chad and have him bake us a cake or something to celebrate? Something small?”
“Possibly. He’s probably already booked though.”
“I know, which is why I said something small. I’m not even going to ask you to bake something.”
“Why not? I wouldn’t mind.” Rhett put Abi up on his shoulder, and when she burped, he smiled. I watched as he tickled her tiny feet to wake her up. When she did, he put the bottle back in her mouth and she went back to sucking.
“You’re busy, that’s why. But look at you. She’s only two days, almost three days old and you’re already a pro at this,” I said. I noticed that Ash’s bottle was almost empty and kept a close eye on it. I didn’t have to worry though. He spit out the nipple just before he started sucking air. Once he was burped, I sat and held him for a few more minutes while Rhett finished feeding Abi.
“I know we should put them back in bed, but I don’t want to.”
“How about we put them in bed, and then we can go cuddle? Will that work?” I asked.
“Deal,” Rhett said as he got up, and after redressing Abi, he put her in the crib. I gently laid Ash down beside her before we snuck out of the nursery.