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“It’s alright babies, Mommy’s here,” I coo. I never tire of hearing them happy or sad, always grateful for the chance to remind them.
To always be here for them, any time of the day or night.
Making my way down to the kitchen with Reese, I can hear Carter already coming back up with a couple of bottles.
He’s fully robed and looks like what I wanted has gone back to sleep.
But time with our babies is as important as the time we have with each other, it’s the same level of intimacy but in a totally different way.
He smiles, stroking back Reese’s hair before he does the same with mine and testing the bottle on his arm he hands it to me.
“I’ll get Kyle,” he whispers, noting Reese already starting to drift back off as she starts to suck her bottle.
I go back to our bedroom and in moments, Carlton comes in with Kyle in his arms, half-asleep but always grateful for the same attention his younger sister gets.
We sit up in the huge four poster bed, big puffy pillows behind us as we sit in the semi-darkness, only lit up every now and then by the lightning and the sounds of contented babies scored with a retreating rumble of thunder.
“Did we do good, Mommy Everett?” Carter asks something he always asks.
“Oh, we did okay, Daddy Everett,” I remind him, smiling as he leans close enough to peck my lips.
“I love you baby, more every minute,” he whispers.
His next kiss takes away the single tear on my cheek as I try to tell him the same.
Extended Epilogue
Five Years Later
Carter
She wouldn’t let her dad talk us into buying his house, said it was part of his retirement. But she insisted we get a house by the lake.
Like the one in her photograph of me and her dad after water skiing all those years ago.
She has the same photo in a couple of places in the house, blown up and where she can see it several times a day, so she says.
So here we are.
It took some doing but I actually managed to find the exact stretch of water and the owners who were willing to sell.
One lake house for my Queen coming right up.
I haven’t skied on the water for years, probably more than I’d care to admit, but the thought of a lake house without a speedboat and skis the kids could start to get a taste for was irresistible.
Greg was even keener than I was, and made sure he got the same holiday as we’d planned so he could spend time with his grand babies while Serena and me…
Well.
Let me just say, I finally got it out of her. Or rather, I finally got it into her as well.
Her lake side fantasy of me taking her from behind in the mud turned out to be something that was probably better in the realms of fantasy than reality.
But I’ll do anything to make her happy.
The kids love the lake though.
And it’s not all speed boating and waterskiing.
I spent a summer learning how to make boats, so there’s a little pier with an even smaller boat we all just manage to fit into safely so we can have the kids out on the lake to do some fishing when they’re not catching fireflies in the late afternoon before we all turn in for the night.
Greg and Serena seem closer as Father and daughter now, the grand babies make up for any deficit of having me as a son in law, I try to joke with him.
But he’s still my best friend, next to my wife of course.
We’ve added two more to the litter, so both mommy and daddy, as well as grandpa, have their hands full when we spend a week at the lake house before any of us can call it a day.
It’s a warm June night as Greg and I shoot the breeze out front of the house on the porch.
Serena’s reading the kids a story while nursing our youngest.
Something I’ve been banned from lately because of becoming excited to the point of distraction when she’s feeding our little one naturally.
I can’t help it.
Greg has a couple of beers on the go but I always prefer the iced tea Serena makes up.
“Sounds like you’ll be president of the company before long,” I congratulate him, noting how much it matters to him still what I think of his career. His success.
“Yeah, most likely. Then I can get some proper time off, real holidays. Not just a week here or there,” he adds, looking around and cocking an ear as he hears the kids laughing with their mom.
“You’ve done me proud, Carter. I mean it,” he says suddenly, a little emotion in his voice.
“I was so against you and Serena at first. The very thought… It drove me insane for a while. But now, seeing you two together, and this wonderful family you’ve given all of us to share…”
