AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know you have. And it’s not disgusting. It’s adorable. They’ll all think it’s sweet.”
“I promise you, they’ll gag reading it.”
I say kids, and yes, that means kids. We were all shocked at that first appointment when we heard not one heartbeat, but three. Yes. Triplets. We didn’t just create one surprise baby, we created three. After surviving the first year, we had to have another because everyone said three was a handful and four would be better. So we did. And now we’re blessed with two beautiful boys and two beautiful girls, all under the age of four. Leandra says she was lucky. She always wanted a big family and she only had to be pregnant twice to do it. The triplets weren’t an easy pregnancy, but the fact that she was willing to roll the dice on multiples again, go through the feeling sick, the being tired, the not having her body to herself for nine months, and the whole giving birth thing, says just how much she loves her children.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that you can’t write down how horrific it is when everyone gets together,” Leandra goes on, grinning despite what she’s saying. “You can’t write about the tears and the blood, who pushed whom, who bit whom, who took off their diaper and painted poo on the wall, what shenanigans my cousins egged my brothers into or vice versa. You can’t write how Milo is the sweetest and everyone’s favorite, or how Trent and Lindy’s daughter is baaaaad with a capital BAD, or how- well- I’m just going to cut myself off there before I get going on all the dirty things that come out of Granny’s mouth, since she still hasn’t learned how to filter.”
“I don’t know about bad. I’d say maybe that she’s more of a strong willed woman, and the world always needs more of those, or an anti-hero and there isn’t anything wrong with anti-heroes.”
“What two year old knows how to use the microwave, let alone use it to microwave a fork?”
“I’m glad ours don’t, but I’m sure they’ve done the equivalent of a few terrible, nearly burn down the house, explode appliances kind of stuff.”
I shift out of the chair, leaving the leather bound journal in the middle of the desk of my home office. Both the greenhouse and the boutique are still going strong, but we do a lot of the management and paperwork from home nowadays, and we have managers and other people in place now so that we can actually enjoy our lives and our children without working constantly and never getting to see them. Given that we were both blessed enough not to have to work if we didn’t want to, and that our jobs were born out of passion for what we wanted to do, it wasn’t hard to learn how to delegate. Well, not as hard as we thought it would be.
“Oh, but I do write all those things down. Nicely, though, nicely. Because I know how to filter. I keep the funny bits, the bits that everyone will love to look back on. You’re right. I don’t put down that Milo is the favorite, and I do try and make Jenny less of a- well- terrible two’s on paper, but the good moments are all there. I should have said I’m just finishing up for now. Not for the day.”
“Ahhh.” Leandra twines her arms around my neck and tugs me close. “Very good. Semantics. They make all the difference.”
I guide her closer, kissing her lush lips firmly. “What do you say to rolling the dice on another set of multiples?”
She pinches me at the back of my neck where my hairline starts. “No freaking way. Absolutely not. I would say you’re crazy, but that doesn’t even start to cover it.”
“You’re right. But it’s fun to try, isn’t it?”
“We can try without trying for another set of triplets,” she responds dryly.
“Why didn’t I think of that? Mark our hot date tonight down on the calendar. Once the kids are in bed, and we’ve cleaned up the mess that is sure to happen this afternoon when all the hooligans arrive, you’re all mine.”
“Keep dreaming. That mess will take weeks to clean up, and that’s not even going down that road of talking about all the damages that are going to have to be fixed.”
“The broken window was a one time deal, I’m sure.”
Her brow arches up. “Are you?”
“Okay, not sure, but what’s a little damage and a little mess? You’re still all mine tonight.”
Leandra lets me kiss her rather thoroughly before she pulls away reluctantly. “I left the kids downstairs with Granny. Contained, but still downstairs. I was just planning on being up here for a second. I’m not sure it’s fair to leave her along with the herd for longer than a few minutes.”
