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“Baby, you shouldn’t be moving around so much,” Mom chided. “You look like you’re going to pop any minute, and your poor feet are as big as watermelons.”
I glanced down at my feet, but of course, I couldn’t see them. My feet and I hadn’t seen each other in over two months now, so I had no idea what they even looked like these days. “I’m fine, Mom,” I assured her as I tossed the trash. “Honestly, you’re more of a pain than Daddy is lately.”
“You’ve been so tired recently.” Nat tried to soothe me. “The last few weeks have taken a lot out of you, sweetie.”
I grimaced, knowing she was right. Sleep had been basically nonexistent, so of course, I’d been half dead on my feet most days. But today, I was feeling like I could conquer the world, and I didn’t want anyone to bring me down.
“Take this and go out and sit on the porch for a little while,” Mom urged. “Nat and I will clean up in here.” She kissed my cheek as she pressed a glass of lemonade into my hands then pushed me toward the door that opened up onto the huge, covered back porch. “And put your feet up!”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled as I walked over to the swing and slowly eased down onto it. I stuffed one of the weatherized pillows behind my back and carefully propped up my feet on the little footrest Dad had brought over when I was just six months pregnant.
It wasn’t until I was off my feet that I realized how badly they were aching. Groaning, because my toes had started to throb and I hadn’t even realized it, I took a refreshing sip of the lemonade and closed my eyes.
Out on the beach, the kids were playing. Some were helping to build a sand castle or chasing each other. They were all laughing and having a good time, and I tried to pick out who was where without looking.
I heard Violet squeal and knew one of the twins had dropped her into the ocean where they had been playing for the past hour. Bliss screamed in frustration, and I could picture her three-year-old brother smashing the little castle she had been painstakingly working on with her three older sisters for the tenth time that day. Damien was always into something and chasing after his sisters with the kind of mischief only a spoiled little brother could experience.
“Damien, that’s mean!”
“Don’t yell at him, Bliss,” Arella scolded the younger girl. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing is wrong.”
“But I just explained to him it was mean ten minutes ago,” Bliss whined. “He destroyed the stables I was making for our horses.”
“It’s okay, Blissy,” Nevaeh soothed. “I’ll help you remake them. Okay?”
“But they were almost perfect!”
“We can make them even better,” her eldest sister promised. “See?”
“You are the meanest boy I ever met!” Piper screamed, and I didn’t have to look to know Liam and Gabriella’s daughter was getting in Cannon Cage’s face. “If I were bigger, I’d punch you in the face.”
“So do it!” He sneered then howled in pain. “Ow! You hit like a boy!”
“No, I hit like a girl. And the next time, I’m gonna break your nose!”
“Piper?” Lyric called from the ocean. “Piper, where are you going?”
“Home!” She yelled at my baby brother who was just as tall as our dad was now. “I don’t want to play anymore.”
“Okay. Hold up. I’ll walk with you.”
I bit my lip as I opened my eyes and watched Lyric take Piper Bryant’s hand to walk her down the beach to her own house. No one was home, but Lyric was a regular down there these days. Whenever he and Luca drove over to visit us, nine out of ten times, he ended up at Piper’s house instead. Liam was a hell of a lot more understanding of Lyric being around his house than Shane was Luca at his own. Or maybe it was because there was a more brotherly vibe that Lyric gave off with Piper, who was considerably younger than him, whereas Luca’s screamed, “Violet is mine.”
As I watched, I saw Cannon glare after the two and nearly groaned out loud. I didn’t need a crystal ball to predict the trouble that was stirring up. We all knew Cannon was so mean to Piper because he liked her. The kid was just too stubborn to admit it. And while Piper had stars in her eyes for Lyric, I wasn’t blind to the fact that she enjoyed arguing with Cannon just as much as she loved having my brother take care of her.
Jagger put his hand on Cannon’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. “Let’s go find my sister. I bet she needs cheering up right now. That knee brace she’s got is about to drive her crazy. Doc said she can’t dance for at least six more weeks.”
“Yeah, sure,” Cannon gritted out. “Let’s go.”
I watched as they walked around the side of the house in search of Mia, shaking my head at how much they both looked like their fathers. They were heartbreakers already, and I pitied their poor mothers and any girl who fell in love with them.
“Mommy, Mommy.”
I had less than a second to set my glass on the little table beside the porch swing before I had a handful of flowers thrust at me. Grinning, I carefully took the flowers and lifted them to my nose. “Oh, wow. These smell so good. Are they for me?”
Dark curls bounced up and down, little dimples flashing as Hayat smiled sweetly at me. “Daddy helped me pick them for you.” She produced another handful from behind her back. “And these are for Nana and Gammy.”
“How pretty!” I exclaimed as she had expected. “They’re going to love those, baby.”
