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His body shudders with aftershocks before he pulls out and falls onto the bed next to me. His arms wrap around me and he kisses me sweetly. A complete contrast to what just happened. “You’re trying to kill me on our wedding night,” he says as he sucks in air, trying to even out his breathing.
“Wh-When can we do it again?” I ask, making him laugh.
“Give me a minute to recover, then we’re going to shower, and I’m going to make love to you like I was supposed to.”
“Oh, yeah?” I ask, rolling over to climb on top of him. My hips straddle his waist, and his cock that’s still half hard twitches at my touch. “What if I wanted to make love to you?” I ask, stroking him.
“Baby, I’m yours. You can do with me as you wish.” He sits up and kisses me, fusing his mouth to mine. “But first, we shower.” He moves to the edge of the bed, me still in his lap, and places his feet on the floor. Never missing a beat, he carries us to the shower.
We take our time cleaning up and exploring each other’s bodies. Which sets the tone for the rest of the night. Sex, shower, repeat. Not that a shower was necessary, but ours is huge with a bench that we’ve been meaning to get more use out of. I’m happy to report that tonight, we gave it a workout.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mark
Married life is fucking fantastic. I’m not sure why that is. All that has really changed is her last name, the title we have in the eyes of the law, and the rings on our fingers, but it’s bliss. I love her more today than I did yesterday, and to me, that’s all that matters.
“You ready for today?” I ask my wife.
It’s our annual Friendsgiving and we have some big news. Not just that, but it’s the one-year anniversary of her parents’ death. The actual date was yesterday. We drove to Mason to put flowers on the grave, and drove past the house. It finally sold a week after we were married. A younger couple with two small girls. Dawn cried and said it was perfect. I happen to agree with her. Give the house life again and a new family to build memories within the walls.
“Yes. Besides, it’s about celebrating life, theirs and Miss Everly’s. I can’t believe that she’s two already.”
“And this one,” I say, bouncing Daisy in my arms. “Six months,” I say, and she giggles when I make a funny face. “You can stop growing any day now,” I tell my daughter.
“You can’t stop it.” Dawn laughs.
“I know.” I sigh. “However, we can make another one.” I shoot her a wink.
“We can do that.” She smiles.
“So, does that mean we’re going to?” I ask.
“Let’s let her get a little older before we start adding to our brood.”
“I want them to be close in age.”
“Fifteen months is too close,” she counters.
“Fine,” I say, tickling Daisy’s belly. “Mommy says we have to wait,” I say theatrically.
“Oh, hush. Did you load the Pack ’n Play?” she asks.
“Yes, and the diaper bag is all packed and ready to go. All we need is the dish you made.”
“I was on desserts this year. I made cookies for the kids, and then three pumpkin pies.”
“Um, make that two pumpkin pies.”
“What did you do?” she asks.
“I was hungry and they smelled so good,” I confess.
“When?”
“I got up with Daisy in the middle of the night.”
“When?” Her voice turns suspicious. “I didn’t hear her.”
“Okay, I got up to check on her, and I had to walk past the kitchen, and I couldn’t resist. I just ate one piece. We can still take it.”
“How big of a piece?” she asks.
My wife knows me so well. “Umm, a big piece,” I say, not wanting to tell her it was half the pie. I very easily could have eaten the entire thing. I had to tap into my self-control. She should be proud.
“Lucky for you I made four.” She grins.
“What?”
“I know you and pumpkin pie. I just hid the one I made for you. I was going to give it to you when we got home.”
“Damn, I could have eaten the entire thing,” I mutter, and she throws her head back laughing. Daisy laughs too just because her momma is.
“I’ll grab the other pie and the cookies. You get the munchkin strapped in,” she tells me.
“Did you know about the fourth pie?” I ask my daughter as I carry her out to the garage. I lifted the door and started the engine earlier, so the car would be warm and ready for us. “You have to let Daddy in on this kind of information.” By the time I have her strapped into her seat, Dawn has the pies and the cookies loaded, and we’re off. This year, even though it’s Everly’s birthday, Tyler and Reagan are hosting.
“Everly is going to be so excited,” Dawn says once we’re on the road. “We turned Ty and Reagan’s place into a princess fairy tale.”
I chuckle. “I’m sure Ty and the boys loved that.”
“The boys actually did, much to Ty’s dismay. It was pretty comical actually. He kept telling them that the men needed to stay together and that they couldn’t let the women rule. The twins laughed so hard they had us all smiling. He’s really good with them.”
“Is that a dig at my daddy skills?” I tease.
“Never, you know better,” she says adamantly.
“I know. I was just giving you shit,” I tell her.
“You need to watch what you say. Our daughter is going to be the little girl who cusses like a sailor if you don’t.”
I shrug. “There are worse things she could do.” I don’t say anymore. I know that we’re both thinking the same thing. She could turn out like Destiny. Her birth mother.
“This is true,” she agrees, and the rest of the ride we chat about Christmas shopping and what to get my parents this year. We like to get them bigger gifts because no matter how many times we offer, they refuse to let us pay them for watching Daisy.
We’re all sitting around the many foldout tables at Tyler and Reagan’s, getting ready to dive into our plates that are overflowing with delicious food when Reagan stands. “This year, we thought”—she glances over at Ty—“that it would be a good idea as a family to say what we’re thankful for. I tried to convince Ty we could do it individually, but he said that would take too long and the food would get cold.”
“My man,” Seth says, and we all laugh.
“So, we’ll start. Ty and I are thankful for our boys. They’re happy and healthy and that’s all we could ever ask for.”
“We’ll go next,” Kendall says, standing. “We didn’t plan for this.” She looks down at Ridge. “But without discussing it, I know Ridge would agree that we’re thankful for our support system. Life is messy and unplanned, but having all of you in our corner, it makes things easier. So we’re thankful for each of you.”
“I’m thankful for the women in our lives that feed us like they do,” Seth says, not bothering to stand. I swear if I looked hard enough, there would be drool on his chin as he eyes his plate.
Kent stands and clears his throat. “Pumpkin pie,” he says, and I hold my fist out for him.
“My man,” I say.
“I guess it’s my turn,” Amelia says, standing. “All the moments. I’m thankful for every single one of them. I’ve missed you all, and I cherish all we’ve had and those we will have,” she says, looking around the room at all of us.
I look over at Dawn and she nods, so I stand. “The list is too long,” I say, looking around at our family. “We’d be here all day, and for the sake of my stomach and yours, Dawn and I would like to narrow it down this year.” I look down at my wife and her smile is blinding. “This year, Dawn and I are thankful for our daughter. Daisy Elizabeth Adams,” I say, not sure if they’ll get it, but I should have known better.
“It’s official?” Kendall asks.
“She’s yours?” Reagan questions.
“Did you get the final word?” Amelia asks.
“Y
esterday.” I nod. “We had our court hearing, signed the papers, and it’s official. We’re her parents,” I say proudly. I thought when we got the letter that our application was approved and that was the end. However, it wasn’t. We still had court hearings and classes we had to take. That letter basically just told us they were willing to let us adopt her. Regardless, it made the day special.
Chairs are pushed back, and full plates temporarily forgotten as we accept hugs of congratulations. My face hurts from smiling. I was pretty sure that the adoption was going to go through with Dawn being the only living relative, but in the back of my mind, there was always this fear the sperm donor, whoever he may be, might find out and fight us for her. Unlikely, I knew this, but it didn’t keep me from worrying about it. She’s my little girl after all. I suppose there will always be worry when it comes to her. That’s what dads do.
“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t bring this up, but you found out yesterday? On the anniversary…,” Kendall asks, letting the anniversary hang there for interpretation. We all know what she means.
“Yeah.” Dawn nods. “I know it sounds crazy, but could it be possible?” she asks.
“I say you believe what you feel,” Reagan says.
