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Fifty-One
“She was ok when I left. Trailing after Pan, wanting to hold Griffen,” Robin explained an hour later as she heated up the plate of food for him in his microwave.
“She loves the babies. That’s for sure.”
Nova treated Phil’s grandbabies like living dolls. They had to watch her so she didn’t hurt them, but it was so sweet to see how she tried to mother them.
She even used some of the same phrases Robin used with her and the other kids.
“Noah, too. Although he’s too cool to say so. He’d come downstairs and was holding Marlowe when I got in the car. And was searching for cookies, I think. He and Patton needed fuel for their gaming. Their project keeps getting bigger and bigger, Nick. I think he’ll need his own laptop eventually.”
“He feels protective of the babies, I think.” A frown crossed Nick’s gorgeous face. Worry.
“That’s a good thing, right? Making connections with people he can care about?”
“I just worry he’s going to think it’s his job to take care of all of them all the time.”
“He’ll find balance someday. He…hugged me. I just about cried.” She set the plate in front of Nick. Robin was enjoying fussing over Nick a bit, though she’d just keep that as her little secret. The man just looked like he needed it today.
“He did? That’s…both awesome and makes me jealous.” Nick started eating like he was starved.
He probably was.
“I think it’s easier with me. I’m not the parent he’s dependent on. He did say something about his mother lashing out a lot. And…I think she blamed Nova for ruining a relationship she truly valued. While she was pregnant. He implied that he just tried to keep Nova away from her mother as much as possible. Which makes me want to find her spirit in the afterlife and tie a knot in her tail for what she did.” She’d probably always be angry with Noah and Nova’s mother for how she’d treated her children. And for what she’d robbed Nick of.
Always. Robin didn’t know if she’d ever understand Selena’s actions fully.
“The counselor said something similar. We’re working on that.” He shook his head, ruefully. “I never thought I’d find myself in twice a month family therapy, but the counselor recommended it. To help us…bond.”
“I think you are bonding just fine, Mr. Tyler. Those kids…I think they are starting to know right where they belong.” She looked at him. He’d changed into jeans and had them rolled up to his knees, still. Even though the floor wasn’t that wet any longer.
His nephews had removed the offending expanding toy rather quickly. Now they just had to dry out the floor, disinfect it, and then he and his nephews would pull up the boards that would probably warp and replace them.
Just one of life’s little hiccups.
Robin felt for him, she truly did. He was trying so hard. But... "I'll take the kids for the night, if you want.”
"That's probably a good plan." He just watched her, his plate half empty.
With another kind of hunger in his eyes.
"I had a Harry Potter Lego Set—the entire set—fall in one of my toilets. I have no clue why anyone would assume Legos in the bathtub would be a good idea. Usually, a kid drops one or two Legos in there. And they just go on their merry way next time someone flushes. But mine? My kids are overachievers. I’m talking hundreds of tiny colored blocks. And then my child…flushed…to hide the evidence.”
“I couldn’t have dealt with it as well as I did without you, you know that, right? I couldn’t have made it through the past month without you at all. You…are my goddess. And always will be.”
“I just wanted to help where I could. At first…for Nova’s sake. To pay it forward, maybe. Phil…was there for me when I needed him most. He taught me to do the same for those who came after.”
"You would have made a master general, woman." He reached out and wrapped one hand around her forearm, pulled her closer suddenly. "And I don't know if I've said it enough yet—but thank you. Thank you for helping me be a dad to my kids.”
Robin looked up into his dark Tyler-blue eyes and felt a curl of heat shoot straight through. She was surprised it didn't dry out the wet floorboards instantly.
Oh, no. Not this again. She was going to be kissing Nick again. Real soon.
"Nick, what are you doing?" The man had things to do, after all. Like…finish the plate of food Glenna had packed for him, and the cookies his nieces had insisted he’d need tonight. All seven of Phil’s girls, from Phoebe all the way down to Elleanor.
Not look at her with that kind of fire in his eyes.
She shivered. Her hands trembled.
