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Spots dance in front of my eyes when she says that and my breath starts rasping out.
“Whoa!” The girls scramble off of me and Raven helps me sit down. “Relax, Rod. It’s fine. He does like her. But he’s too young to know what to do about it. He just watches her.” She huffs and shoves my head between my knees. “You should be thanking him. He watches out for her with the other kids. That boy that was picking on her? Do you know why he stopped? Because Henry made sure that he stopped. I don’t know what he did, but after he talked to him, the boy never even looked at her again, let alone picked on her.”
I turn my head to the side and glare at her. “I am not telling a little boy thank you for liking my daughter. I’d sooner eat glass.”
“Henry isn’t just any little boy. He’s your best friend’s child. Behave yourself!”
She swats me and then smiles at the girls. “How would you girls like to set the table for me? Maybe pull the salad out of the fridge.”
All three of them take off like their feet are on fire, charging helter skelter down the stairs.
I smirk at Raven when she wipes the sweat off her brow. “Ah… tell me that you’re exhausted too. I can’t make it past ten every day. They’re draining me like little vampires.” When she glares at me, I backpedal. “Adorable little vampires.”
She shakes her head and starts to head out the door, but I grab her hand and pull her into my chest. Her plush lips part on a gasp. “What are you doing?”
“I got a hello from everyone but you, princess.”
She wraps her arms around my neck and smiles. “Hello, Rod.”
My lips curl as I tuck her into my chest and catch her lips with mine. “Hello, wife.”
Her lips land on mine and it still feels like all the air is sucked out of my lungs. I moan and close my eyes, lost in the familiar touch of her mouth to mine.
“Mom!” Three voices chorus up the stairs and I pull back with a groan.
“We gotta get downstairs. I’m supposed to meet Marcus later tonight. Maybe I’ll have a talk with that boy.”
Raven shakes her head. “Leave it alone. He’s a good boy. Nothing is going to happen now and maybe never. But he’s your godson. He’s a good kid. I imagine he’ll grow up to be a good man. Don’t you want to have a good man for your daughters?”
“I hate it when you’re all sensible,” I growl.
She chirps out a laugh and runs down the stairs. “Let’s go, daddy. We’ve got to get dinner on the table for our girls. Always family first.”
She’s right. She’s always right and it drives me nuts. But I’m so fucking proud of her that I can’t stand it. Not only is she a great mother but she still has a travel blog. We take mini weekend vacations within a short distance of Hallow Falls and she writes the best family-oriented vacation blog in the world as far as I’m concerned.
She’s more than I could ever have hoped when we married and fell in love. And every day I fall even more in love with her. She’s my world.
Laughter from the dining room has me smiling as I head towards my family. This. This is what I always wanted. What I hoped for and dreamed of.
The happy, loving family that’s giggling at the dinner table when I sit down and look around at them.
Actually…I don’t think I could have dreamt something this good. I can’t believe how lucky I am.
A gorgeous wife, three beautiful daughters and a home in the middle of my favorite place in the world.
Dreams can come true and some can be even better than you ever realized.
