AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s cool. Connor will make a great dad.”
“So will TJ.” I pick up a magazine off my nightstand and flip it open. “Don’t you think?”
“TJ?” He pauses. “Yeah, sure.”
“You hesitated. Why did you hesitate?” I flip a page and look at him.
“It’s just that Connor will have to do a lot of the heavy lifting. TJ will be the fun dad. You know, the Disney dad.”
“TJ can be serious when he wants to be.”
Tatum throws me a smirk. “Yeah, okay.”
“Well, I think they should foster or adopt. It would be so weird to have a pregnant stranger living with you.”
“They have to have the surrogate living with them?”
“That’s what TJ wants,” I say, stroking Oreo who hopped up onto our bed.
“Do they realize how eccentric he can be?”
“Tater Tot…you love TJ.”
“I do, but you have to admit he can be a bit…extra at times.”
I smile ruefully. “We both know he can be more than extra.”
“Exactly.”
I bite my bottom lip. “It would be fun if we were pregnant at the same time, don’t you think? If you and I tried for a little girl?”
“Kiki, you can’t be serious. We’re so busy right now. We’re going on tour in a couple of months. You were complaining the other day about how you can’t keep up with the demand for your wedding dress designs and manage the style blog.” He looks down at Drew and pulls the comforter closer to his chin. “Besides, the boys require so much attention right now. I feel like Drew doesn’t get enough because of wild-man Chase. Throw in another baby and he’ll be completely forgotten.”
“We could never forget sweet Drewby.”
“You know what I mean.”
“But I’m not getting any younger and I don’t want our kids to be too far apart. And maybe with a third baby, Chase will mellow out and help with his brother more.”
Tatum lifts an eyebrow and gives me a come-the-fuck-on look. “Kiki, we can’t even be intimate anymore without one of them interrupting. Case in point.” He points his index finger at a passed-out Drew. Oreo looks at Tatum and meows. “See? Even the cat agrees with me, for once.”
I toss the magazine to the floor and sigh. “I know life is crazy for all the reasons you said, but there’s this burning in my gut. I feel unfulfilled, like something’s missing. Our family doesn’t feel complete, Tatum. When I hold baby Charleigh, it makes me want a little girl so badly. Sarah says she knows she’s done having babies because she’s happy to hand Charleigh back to Andie. She doesn’t have that urge to have another. But, I do.”
He turns on his side and gently wraps his fingers around my hand. “All I ever want is for you to be happy, CG. I’d give you all the babies in the world if I thought we could handle it, but babe, right now, I’m not sure we can. You are an incredible mom, a smokin’-hot wife.” He waggles his eyebrows and I can’t help smiling. “And an insanely creative businesswoman.” He brings my hand to his lips and brushes a kiss over my wrist. My skin pebbles with goosebumps. “If it happens, then it happens, but we don’t need to be aligning pregnancies with TJ’s surrogate or having a ‘let’s get pregnant party’ with fireworks and sparkle bombs timed to go off when my sperm meets your egg.”
“That’s creepy, Tater Tot.”
“I know. I’m imagining what spins around in TJ’s head when he plans shit like this.” He leans over Drew and cups my chin. “I love you, Kiki. Forever and always, but let’s live in the moment with the wild ones we have under our feet, okay?”
I nod, reminding myself that marriage is about compromise and learning when to push a topic and when to hold back. My problem is that I’m stubborn as hell, and once I get set on an idea, it’s hard to turn that ship around. I’ll let him think he’s won this round for now.
“You’re right, Tater Tot. We do have a lot going on.”
He gently kisses my lips and I close my eyes, relishing the moment. In his sleep, Drew suddenly punches his fist right into Tatum’s jaw.
“Ow, shit,” he grunts. “The kid definitely has a right hook.” We gaze down at Drew, who looks so angelic with his long eyelashes sweeping over rosy cheeks, his plump lips slightly parted.
I reach up to soothingly stroke Tatum’s jaw. “Maybe he’ll be an MMA fighter someday.”
