AllFreeNovel
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I wave over to the ladies. “Hey, got the stuff. It’s in the house.”
“Took you long enough. It’s time to dress up the horses for the pictures.” Alex picks up Lena and walks over to us. Samantha follows and stands at her side.
Fee saunters up to us wearing a black cowboy hat over two bright-pink pigtails. “I can’t get over how cool you are, Alex. This liberty horse stuff is fucking awesome.”
“Well, I can’t even boil an egg, so we’re equally badass, just in different ways.” Alex rubs her nose against Lena’s. “Right, Lena? Girls are badasses.”
I take Lena from her, laughing. “So, we’re just embracing the curse words now?”
“I started swearing at a very young age, and I turned out pretty good.” Fee winks at me before planting a big kiss on Zane’s lips.
He hooks his thumb into the beltloop of her jeans and tugs her toward him. “One more of those, wife.”
As they kiss again, Alex glances at me and looks away. Fuck. I’m so goddamn horny. Ever since that fateful doctor appointment, we haven’t had sex. Nearly three whole weeks. Nothing. Nada. She hasn’t even wanted me to give her the cure.
It’s not for a lack of me trying, either. I mean, I want Alex literally all the time. Ever since we saw what was growing inside her, she’s pulled away a bit. She said she’s just not feeling sexy.
Which sucks.
At least today, she’s back to herself. She’s always at her most grounded when she’s working with the horses. Well, that and spending time with the girls. In any event, it’s the happiest she’s been since we got the diagnosis.
“Okay, ladies. Should we go get the ribbon?” Alex dances and sashays toward Samantha. “Mia and Lena, let me show you.”
Fiona, Zane, and I sit on stacks of hay and watch her patiently teach the girls how to brush the horses’ manes and tails. Carefully, she demonstrates how to wrap red, green, and gold ribbon around sections of the mane and secure it in place with a colorful rubber band. She repeats the process with their tails. The girls giggle when they copy what she’s doing. One thing’s for sure, they’re mesmerized by Alex and her way with animals.
“Da Da!” Lena jumps up and down and points to Samantha’s completed mane. “Smantha hath cwithmith wibbon!”
“It’s beautiful, sweetheart.” I circle around to inspect the decorated horses.
Zane shadows me with Fee close behind. “Dude, this is awesome.” He runs his fingers along Gloria’s mane.
Fiona flings her arm around Alex. “You are such a natural mother, Alex. You’re so wonderful with the girls.”
“Ah, thanks, Fee,” Alex says quietly. She coughs and looks away, but I see a bit of sheen in her eyes. I run my hand along her back and kiss her head. “I’ll take them outside if you want to get them ready for our holiday pictures.”
While Alex and Fiona take the girls inside to change, I lead the horses out to the pasture and snap some sample shots facing the house and then the woods to ascertain where the best location is. Zane, my interim model, cheeses for the camera and flashes rock horns with his ringed fingers.
“You’re going to have more kids, aren’t you?” Zane pats Gloria’s cheek. “It’s like you two were born for this.”
I don’t answer for a minute, probably a minute too long. “Uh…”
“I get it. I can’t wait, though. I want Fee and me to have a baby. She keeps putting me off, though. She won’t go off birth control. Says the restaurant is her baby for now. It sucks because now that Ty and Zoey are trying, I thought it would be excellent timing for us too. Think about it. We could all have kids who grow up together. I loved Connor’s idea of bringing the families with us when we tour. LTZ could have our own traveling elementary school,” Zane rambles.
“Uh, yeah. That’d be cool.” I’m not going to divulge anything about our situation to Zane. Not that I don’t trust him, but I don’t know how much she’s told Fee.
Zane toes the ground. “Tell me the truth, you’re not going to quit the band are you?”
“What?” My head whips around to see if he’s serious. He is.
“You’re just so blasé when you used to be so into it.” He meets my gaze. “I get why Connor is hesitant. His dad isn’t doing well. He has twin babies. Same with Ty, he’s newly married and trying for a kid. I even get why me and Fiona need time because the restaurant is a bit all-consuming and Mia’s in school now. But you? Becca and Jen can watch the ranch. Lena’s not quite two. You guys could easily mobilize and globetrot as a family.”
His assumptions about our lives annoy me, even though he’s partially correct. “You’ve got it all figured out, huh?”
“C’mon.” He furrows his brow and crosses his muscled arms over his chest.
I’m saved from answering by Mia and Lena running toward us in green-and-gold Christmas dresses, white tights and black patent-leather shoes. “Don’t you ladies look beautiful.” I scoop up my daughter and Zane picks up his.
Alex and Fiona wear matching black-velvet V-neck shirts and jeans. I help position the girls on each horse and Alex and Fee beside them. I snap a bunch of pictures with distinctive setups so we have a lot to choose from.
