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My own experience taught me to be patient when it comes to those things and keep an open mind because love rarely comes without obstacles, so why complicate it even more?
“And we stayed out of trouble,” Jacob adds, adjusting his collar and grinning as mischief dances in his eyes. “Mostly.”
Yeah, I think this is the most appropriate word when it comes to our oldest son because trouble should have been his middle name for all the shit he’s pulled over the years and dragged his brothers into.
Impatient, temperamental, loud, and always seeking new ways to play on people’s nerves, he barely has anything in common with his grandfather that he was named after.
Compared to Tristan, he has zero interest in art and finds it so boring that he avoids conversations about it at all costs. He lives and breathes hockey and already plays on the junior team. According to his coach, he shows potential to be an amazing athlete if he learns to play by the rules.
He loves company and people, despises silence, and only tolerates it when Tristan asks him to.
A genius when it comes to academics, though he refused to move classes and leave everyone behind. His favorite pastime is reading classic literature.
On the rare occasion he can stay put, that is.
If it wasn’t for him being so smart and winning various school awards, they’d kick him out because even our money is not enough to make up for his less-than-stellar behavior.
We tried talking to him about it, and while he never hurts or disrespects anyone, he has a hard time with authority for whatever reason.
The only people who can somewhat rein in his temper are my wife, Kian, and me. He’s really attached to his uncle, which doesn’t make me feel optimistic about the future, all things considered.
I shudder when I think about what Kian pulled in college with a certain girl who should have never been on his radar. Apparently, our genes produce some obsessive men who won’t stop at anything until they get the women they want. Even if it means locking her up.
That’s a story for another time, though.
“Jacob took my diamond cuff links. Accidentally.” Matías clears his throat, and my brow lifts. “I designed them with Grandpa Atlas. They’re mine.” He gives his brother the side-eye. “He was just about to give them back to me.” He extends his hand. “Right, Jacob?”
A second passes in silence, and Jacob fishes inside his pocket, dropping the cuff links in his brother’s palm, and he clips them to his sleeves right away.
My lips twitch in amusement at how Matías always manages to play Jacob, who likes to mess with him because he’s the only “normal” one among the triplets.
For a seven-year-old, my middle son has an old soul and a deep interest in history and science. Most of the time, he’s holed up in the library. His curious nature wants to know everything, so he visits both of his grandparents often at their workplace and goes with them everywhere.
His mind constantly searches for new challenges, and he loves to create designs, although he thinks several steps ahead, brainstorming first how he can sell them, and only then wanting to draw them.
According to him, if his art doesn’t make him money, it has no point. He constantly argues about it with Tristan, who disagrees with him.
Always polite, on time, and well-behaved. The only one to talk to his great-grandfather for hours as they discuss the future of the empire. He wants to rule it one day because his brothers have no interest in that.
Grandpa Atlas calls him a true Price, except when Uncle Lucian is around because my godfather likes to remind him that no true Price has blue eyes, so he’s a Cortez and he better remember it.
Needless to say, these arguments end up being epic.
Matías is also the most responsible among the three, protecting his brothers and covering their asses if they mess up. He’s planning to study hard so they can focus on their talents and dreams and not have to work at the family business.
Sometimes I ask my wife if the doctors made a mistake and he was actually born first, and we just somehow missed it because our middle child has the energy of the eldest sibling.
You’re the middle child of your family, Florian. Our son is just like you. Character traits is what shapes a person, not their status in their family hierarchy.
I never thought about it this way, and from that moment on, I made sure to watch over Matías so he wouldn’t burden himself more than he has to. Taking care of his siblings isn’t his job.
It was and always will be ours.
“So you see, we are on our best behavior, Daddy,” Jacob tells me, and in a second, all of them wrap their arms around my hips, creating a circle around me.
I never thought a man like me who kills people as frequently and coldly as I do was capable of having a family, yet…I can’t imagine my life without them.
They’re my saving grace, and whenever I look at them…I remember the carefree little boy I used to be who got hurt so badly he forever lost his innocence and mischief.
