AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Daddy, you’re going too fast for the little ones.”
I close my eyes as a smile lights up my face, the sunlight resting on my eyelids and turning my whole world bright orange, as though I’m sitting at a warm fireside.
Anna-Lou always calls the five year old twins – Jacob and Liam – the little ones, probably because it annoys them so much.
“We’re not little,” Jacob yells, with that special quirk in his voice that tells me he’s got a smile on his face.
“We’re the biggest big men who ever bigged,” Liam sings.
I giggle and look down at Lacy, my gorgeous four year old angel, who sits on the floor cross-legged with a coloring book resting on her lap. She must feel me staring because she looks up at me, a mirror of my smile showing on her face.
“What, Mommy?” she laughs.
“I’m just thinking about how lucky we are, sweetie,” I tell her.
“Luck-lucky.” She grins. “Luckiest in the world, right, Mommy?”
“That’s right.”
I kneel down and place my hand on her shoulder, looking down at her work so far. It’s so wonderfully messy, so filled with her joy for life.
Everybody says that Anna-Lou looks more like her father – with her deep black hair and wolfish eyes – and Lacy is my little mini me, with her long brown hair and round happy face.
“Good, Mommy?” she asks.
“The best,” I tell her with a smile.
“Is Jer-jer coming next time?”
I smile at the nickname she’s given Jeremy, our youngest bundle of joy. I only gave birth to him four months ago, completing our beautiful love filled family.
We waited between Anna-Lou and the twins, as I got a publishing deal and threw myself full force into it. I worked long hours, writing all the time, hammering out the words between raising Anna-Lou and being the best wife I could.
And my man was there every step of the way, supporting me, coaching me.
“I’m so proud of you,” he says, all the time, and I never get tired of hearing his words. “Your plan worked. You didn’t have to use my name. And now your future’s written in the stars.”
My whole being pulses with warmth when he aims words like that at me, wonderful emotion-flooded words, because I know he’s right.
Except for one thing.
It’s not my future written in the stars.
It’s ours.
“Mommy’s in the clouds,” Lacy giggles.
I smile and softly pinch her cheek. “Mommy’s in the clouds,” I agree. “And I’m not sure, angel, about Jeremy. He’s a little too young for the boat, I think. But he’s happy with Aunt Kelly and Boxcar, hanging out by the pool.”
Kelly has a family of her own, a thriving psychotherapy practice, and the husband of her dreams. She also has a little puppy who’s become Boxcar’s new best friend, despite their age gap.
Because, after all, age is really just a number.
I turn at the sound of my husband approaching, his bare torso glistening from his dip in the ocean, his steel hair messy and pushed to the side. A light iron shadow covers his strong jaw. He looks stronger, sturdier, more secure, and protective and mine each and every day.
He smiles, and my lips mirror his, as Anna-Lou and Liam, and Jacob run around and around the boat that started this all.
“I love you,” my man whispers, pulling me into his arms.
“I love you.”
“And me, Daddy, Mommy,” Lacy calls, smiling up at us.
Madden smiles and reaches down, scooping her into his arms. “And of course you, little lady.”
