AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My wife made sure the two messier stands were as far away from my parents’ house as they could get.
We set them up under a pavilion on the lawn, but, unsurprisingly, with over twenty-eight children and their parents, not to mention all the actors and acrobats, getting continuously in and out of here, the sticky mess spread across the patio and most of the house’s ground floor.
I tiptoeinto the living room and smile when I get the full picture that my family makes.
They are scattered all over the place, fast asleep in some haphazard position or the other, which is exactly what I expected since we’re all pretty much exhausted, kiddies and grownups alike. Carina’s parents, my own, and poor long-suffering Mrs. Percival went all straight from the party to their own sleeping quarters in the family wing, too tired to even keep their eyes open, so I’m probably the last one standing –and barely at that– right now.
* * *
I look downat my wife and feel the familiar warm squeeze in my chest, right around my heart.
A decade together.
Sometimes I can’t believe my luck.
We’re so happy together, and every time I look at her, all the love I have inside of me for her rushes forward. If possible, I think I love her more with every passing year.
She’s sitting up on the floor with her chin resting on her chest, dark hair partially covering her face, and her back propped against the foot of the sofa on which Tasha and Di appear to have collapsed in a pile of limbs with one of their kids draped half on one mom’s back and half on the other mom’s legs.
Dora is sprawled against Carina’s left side, Leany is hugging her right one, our little one is half lying on the floor and half lying over her legs while my boys are each curled around their mommy and sisters, both only partially tucked inside their sleeping bags.
The vision is so endearing it makes my heart skip a beat as I look on. Everything that I hold dear, everything that I’ve sworn to protect with my very life, is right here in a colorful, sleepy bundle on the floor.
And to think they called my loving wife anIce Queen.
Madness.
Granted, she is still atake-no-prisoners, kickass CEO, but at the same time, she’s the most giving, sweetest, and the most nurturing woman I’ve ever met.
There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for our kids. She is a wonderful and affectionate mommy, a fun-loving aunt, the most attentive daughter both my parents and her own could ask for, and last but not least, the most exceptional wife, lover, partner, and friend on the planet.
A man couldn’t ask for more.
There are no words to describe how happy she makes me.
I look down at the cup, still clutched in my hand, and take a sip.
I grimace and shake my head.
How on earth can she drink this crap?!
Bleah.
She looks so exhausted that there’s no way I’m waking her up.
I put the cloying concoction down on the coffee table that’s covered in snacks, sweets, and pink sticky stuff and that we pushed near one side of the sofa to make room for all the sleeping bags that are lying on the floor, almost all unzipped and empty and then I pick up my phone –also splattered in pink sticky stuff.
I slowly walk up to my wife, covered in her own veritable kiddy pile, and snap a few pictures. This is too cute not to immortalize. I’m sure she’ll go gaga over it when I show it to her.
The smile on my lips gets bigger as I look down.
She might be bone-tired, and I'm pretty sure a marshmallow is sticking to her hair, but she still takes my breath away. And she's totally rocking her Winx PJs.
Our twins asked for fluffy Winx Club, Sonic, or Crash-related pajamas for everyone to wear at their sleepover. We thought they meant everyone who was a kid. We were, of course, wrong.
I’m presently wearing the most ridiculous orange fuzzy Crash Bandicoot PJs in creation, but eh… what’s a daddy to do when the happiness of his little munchkins hangs in the balance?!
Certainly not worry about dignity or about some Press vulture getting a hold of pictures of me dressed in a giant adult-sized fluffy onesie that we had to have custom-made and that would have me laughed out of any courtroom. Or boardroom, for that matter.
