Madelyn jumps up and motions to one of the free inner tubes. “Saved you one, Lainey!”
At eight years old, Madelyn knows how to give me as much hell as her mother and now Josephine do, which I should have expected, and I love her all the more for it. She might not have gotten Josephine’s talent for art, but she makes it up by being a math whiz. Watch out, world, that kid is going to take over Wall Street.
It’s game over, since Grayson immediately bounds after Lainey and Miles, kicking up a spray of water. Whether or not it was his intention—I bet good money that it was—he kicks the back of Miles’s knee, sending him sprawling in the water.
Lainey helps Miles up and shouts at Grayson, “Stop following us!” She tries to shove her adopted brother backward. I don’t know why she keeps trying that move since sheknows better than anyone else that, at six-foot-two, he’s an immovable statue.
Grayson twists when she shoves him again, then darts forward to tug one of her two long, wet Dutch braids. “I’m not following you.”
“Yes, you are! And quit pulling my hair!” She grabs her braid and tries to yank it out of his hands, all while Miles stands there like a lump on a log. I might not be a fighter by nature, but I’d never tolerate someone doing that to Autumn.
Grayson bends to say something in Lainey’s ear, and still, Miles does nothing. Those two wouldn’t last even if they weren’t going to different universities.
A swell that none of the three notices crashes against Lainey’s side and sweeps her away. Grayson lunges and immediately yanks her up high out of the water, her feet dangling above the surface. For a second there, it looks like she’s going to thank him, then suddenly grabs the back of his hair and yanks viciously. As soon as she’s back on her feet, she shoves him again, finally breaking free, and dives under the water to get away.
Grayson curls his lip at Miles, shoulder checks him once again, then dives in after Lainey.
“Jesus, it’s never-ending with those two,” Autumn says, slipping her sandy fingers between mine. “They should have applied to different schools. They need a break like Bailey and I did. We’d have killed each other without Mom’s supervision.”
“She won’t be able to go anywhere without Grayson watching her every move and bossing her around,” I say.
“Bless her heart,” Autumn says sincerely, then purses her lips. “Might not be a bad thing, though.”
“Yeah, it is. For her, at least.”
I squeeze Autumn’s hand as we trudge through the sand to where we have our vehicles backed up toward the water,having been able to drive and park directly on the beach. We have a sun sail strapped to the corners of our open trunks to create a shady canopy where much of our family is lounging, eating lunch, and watching the younger kids build sandcastles.
“I’m sure James and Shayla will appreciate it,” Autumn says, which makes sense. Lainey has had her fair share of trouble with boys hounding her throughout high school, just as her aunts did.
Though I appreciate it, too, from a father’s perspective regarding Josephine, who Brady and Grayson are also protective of, I hold my tongue as we load up our paper plates with hot dogs and chips. No one seems to see what I do when I look at Lainey and Grayson. In case I’m wrong, which I doubt I am after years of observing the pair interact, I don’t need the whole family turning on me should I share my concerns.
I get two bites of my hot dog before Sebastian trips while kicking the soccer ball to Benjamin, and accidentally sends it flying beneath the canopy.
“Heads up!” Benjamin shouts, but not in time for me to avoid the ball slamming against my forehead.
“Sorry, dad!” Sebastian yells, then takes off running with the ball again after Sherman kicks it toward him.
“Oooh, that’s gotta hurt,” Autumn says when she lifts a bag of ice from the cooler, and presses it to my forehead after bending to kiss my new bruise.
“That’s not the only thing that hurts,” I mumble quietly as her tits swing directly in my face.
“Sorry,” she whispers, flicking her eyes down to my erection when I grab a towel to cover my lap.
“No, you’re not,” I huff.
“You’re right, I’m not,” she says, angling her back to her family so she can shimmy her shoulders, and thus her tits.
“Angel, please,” I groan, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Don’t worry, sir. I’ll make it up to you tonight,” she whispers in my ear before tugging on my lobe with her teeth.
“Deal,” I say, then grab her around the waist to haul her onto my lap, making her squeal. Never a dull moment with my angel.
As the sun begins to sink over the horizon, the family packs up our vehicles, and we caravan back to the beach house we’ve rented for the weekend. One by one, we hose the sand off ourselves on the patio beneath the house, which sits high up on stilts, then make our way upstairs, going to our separate bedrooms.
All the kids except for Isaiah and Bailey’s twins, DJ and Jinx, are bunking on the second floor. The twins took the whole family by surprise, considering Isaiah had a vasectomy, which ultimately failed. As soon as we found out about their unexpected pregnancy, Autumn and I did nothing short of freak out, even though she’d had a tubal, which Bailey hadn’t. I now have a standing bi-annual appointment with my doctor until the day I die to make sure I’m still shooting blanks. Autumn and I love our four children more than anything or anyone in the world, but that doesn’t mean we’d be able to cope with a fifth. No, thank you.
Funny enough, Isaiah and Bailey hired Mrs. Schwartz to be their nanny the day they brought the twins home. Autumn has been much kinder to Mrs. Schwartz in the years since, but the women still kept their distance from each other. My wife sure does know how to hold a grudge, even if it’s unfounded. It’s a lesson that I never plan to learn the hard way again.
