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He pulls me into a hug, putting his head on my shoulder. “No, just had a really bad call. A car wreck.”
I squeeze him as tight as I can. “Wanna talk about it?” I ask softly.
He sighs heavily. “Not really. I know I need to though or it will haunt me all night. For my own peace of mind, do you mind if I double check the kids’ car seats in both cars later? The crash was bad, babe. It was an SUV with five kids and both parents. They were going through an intersection where they had the right of way, but a drunk driver ran the red light and t-boned them. Both parents and three of the kids died.” He releases me, shuddering at the memory. “Neither parent had on a seat belt, the oldest was six but wasn’t in a car seat at all, the five year old was just in a booster with no back–the kind that sits on the seat, and the two year old was forward facing in a seat too big for her. Only the twin babies–I think they were six months old–made it, since they were in the correct sized seats and were buckled properly.” He looks close to tears as he finishes explaining.
“DADDY!” Vivian has noticed Callum is here and runs towards him with her arms up.
He lifts her and just holds her tightly. “Hey, my sweet girl. How was your day? I missed you so much,” he tells her, kissing her head.
She squeezes his neck, grinning happily. “It was fun! I swimmed, played tea party, and baked cookies!” she tells him excitedly.
“Oh! That does sound like fun!” He smiles, walking over to the pool. “Hey boys! How was y’all’s first day of school?”
Arden swims to the steps, followed by Lochlan, and they climb out, running over and latching on to his leg. “It was so much fun! We got to play outside for recess, and play in centers. Plus, we got to see each other on the playground and at lunch!” Arden tells him enthusiastically.
“I got to color and play with playdough, but the food was nasty. Daddy Bodie is going to make my lunch now,” Lochlan chimes in. The kids seemed to know he needed their attention tonight to get past his demons and he was already visibly relaxing.
“Ohhh! I’m so glad you both had such a good day!” he tells them, setting Vivi down to pull them all into a group hug. He held on a bit tighter than usual but not a single one of them complained.
Arden comes over and taps on my arm, and points to where Lochlan and Callum are talking at the edge of the pool. When I look at him quizzically, he motions to push Callum in the pool. I’m worried about him getting mad and yelling at Arden for it, but when I look over at the rest of the guys they are all grinning and nodding encouragingly. So I nod my head and take his hand, Arden and I walking behind Callum and then both of us pushing at the same time.
“AHHHHH!” Callum hits the water and comes up spluttering.
“You little shits! I’m gonna get you back for that!” He growls playfully as he makes his way to the steps. Before he can reach them, I pick Arden up and toss him into the pool as well.
“MOMMY! That’s not fair!” he screams when he surfaces.
“Ha! That’s what you get for running to the guys before me when you get out of school!” I tell him smugly, when all of a sudden I’m scooped up from behind. Turning my head to see who has me, I only get a glimpse of red hair before I’m launched into the deep end of the pool. Just like Callum, I gasp for air when I breach the water. Bodie is standing on the side of the pool, laughing hysterically. “YOU ASSHOLE! Prank war is what y’all want to do? Well alrighty then! It’s on!” I yell, swimming to the edge.
“Well, I was coming to tell y’all dinner is almost done so you’d have time to dry off, but I caught all that mischief and just had to avenge my brother,” he says smugly.
“Well, looks like you’ll have to take Odin up on his offer then,” I deadpan.
“Oh, that’s cold Angel,” he pouts, before kissing my forehead. “Forgive me?”
“It depends on how good the food is, babe,” I sass, getting out of the pool and winking at him to let him know I’m not actually mad. Wrapping my towel around me, I turn back to the pool. “Okay kiddos, let’s go get changed,” I call to them. After I help Vivi dry off, we all go our separate ways to get dressed.
We meet back at the kitchen about fifteen minutes later, the guys helping set the table and fix plates for the kids, then we sit down to eat. I love having real family meals almost every night. Dinner is a fun affair filled with laughter and jokes. After dinner we all help clean up, deciding to play a couple board games with the kids before bedtime. At the end of the last game of Clue, the guys are all begged to read bedtime stories and for cuddles. While they spend time with the kids I am able to take a shower, and then I fall into bed nestled between Callum and Bodie.
I could get used to this life.
