He lifts his head with a laugh. “I love you, Princess.”
“I love you more.”
“Can you two quit kissin’ for five minutes and help me with this?” Finn grouses. He straightens from trying to open the tote of ornaments, putting his hands on his hips while he looks at us with mild annoyance.
It cracks us both up, and much to his frustration, Finn starts to laugh too. I let go of Knox to help Finn open the ornament box.
The three of us get the tree put up and the living room decorated. Whiskey is more of a hindrance than a help. He’s quite infatuated with the ornaments and lights. The three of us resign ourselves to the very likely outcome of Whiskey knocking the tree over soon.
We decide to finish the rest of the house tomorrow because we’re too hungry to keep going. Knox makes us dinner like he does most nights, and we end the evening piled on the couch with hot chocolate as we watch a Christmas movie. Knox grumbled about our choice, but I’ve caught him chuckling no less than three times throughout the movie.
“Do you think Santa would bring me a baby sister for Christmas if I put it on my list?” Finn asks out of nowhere.
Knox chokes on an inhale. I start to laugh, and Finn looks at the two of us like we’re crazy.
“Sorry, baby. That surprised us,” I say once I get myself under control. “Santa mainly brings toys for Christmas. Having babies is a decision grown-ups make when they’re ready.”
“It’s a big responsibility,” Knox adds.
Finn frowns. “My friend Willow got a puppy last year. Isn’t that the same?”
I roll my lips between my teeth as I raise my eyebrows at Knox. Neither of us was prepared for thewhere do babies come from discussiontonight.
Knox takes over. “It is not the same thing. When grown-ups decide they’re ready to have a baby, they have to make thatbaby. There are a lot of ways they can do that, but babies are created, not bought from the pet store.”
“Oh, well, can you guys decide to have a baby now, then? I really want a baby sister.”
I pull Finn onto my lap. He’s getting too big to cuddle with me, but that doesn’t stop him from settling in to snuggle. “It takes months for a baby to grow big enough to join the world, so even if Dad and I did decide to have one, they wouldn’t arrive by Christmas.”
He sighs. “Okay.”
I kiss him on the forehead, and he falls asleep before the movie ends. Knox carries him to bed while I clean up our hot chocolate mess. When he comes back downstairs, I’m putting away our clean dinner dishes.
Knox handles the last couple on the drying mat before he leads me back to the couch. He pulls me onto his lap the same way I did to Finn.
“I was not prepared to have that conversation with him tonight,” Knox says.
“You handled it well. Thank god he didn’t ask more questions about how babies are made.” I giggle.
“No fucking joke. I am so not prepared to have the sex talk with my seven-year-old.”
“I’m not sure anyone is ever truly ready to have that discussion.”
“Is that…something you might want someday?”
“A baby or having the sex talk with Finn?” I tease.
He tickles me in the ribs. “Brat. You know exactly what I meant.”
“Someday, yes. I’d like to have a baby.”
“You’d look really fucking hot, and I’ll be honest, imagining it beingmybaby in your belly does something to me.”
I bark out a surprised laugh. “You’re ridiculous. Do you actually want another baby?”
Knox looks at me with heat in his eyes. “I’d happily put a baby in you tonight if that’s what you wanted, Princess.”
My eyes widen. “Are you serious?”
