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"Come down now," he orders her.
"'Kay." Like the little daredevil she is, she drops to her bottom right where she stands, and then hands Damon the box of cereal before wiggling her way back to the floor. She lands beside him and then stumbles forward a step, kicking one of the pans at her feet.
"Gemma," Damon says when it rattles across the floor. "You hab to be quiet."
"Sowwie." She kicks another pan, making Damon shake his head. He doesn't remind her to be quiet again. He knows it's no use. You hear Gemma coming long before you see her. She's her own band, incapable of doing anything quietly. Damon doesn't mind. He adores his little sister almost as much as he adores his mama.
Like me, Damon is protective of Charlotte and Gemma. He's been helping me watch over the two of them since Gemma was born. He was barely a year old when we had her, but no one touched her without permission, or he would raise nine kinds of hell.
Thank God he grew out of the biting stage.
We almost had to find a new pediatrician the one and only time he went with Charlotte to get Gemma's shots. When Gemma cried, so did Charlotte. Damon reacted to their distress by biting the pediatrician, which only made Charlotte feel worse.I felt like an asshole for not being there when she told me what happened.
I haven't missed an appointment since. We make a point to schedule them when I can be there. Gemma no longer cries when she has to have a shot, but Charlotte always does. It breaks my heart every damn time, so I hold her close and remind her that the shots protect our little girl. When it's over, I take them for ice cream. It usually cheers Charlotte up. If it doesn't, I fuck her happy once the kids go down for the night.
Charlotte is an incredible mom. She adores our kids and makes sure they know it every single day. We planned to wait until she was out of college to get her pregnant, but it didn't work out that way. She got a bad ear infection a little less than a year after she moved in with me and was on antibiotics. I can't keep my hands to myself, so neither of us were entirely surprised when she started throwing up every morning six weeks later.
Truth be told, by that point, I was fucking dying to put my kid in her. I know she wanted it just as bad. By then, half the fucking team was having kids. Every time Charlotte held one of the babies, she fell in love. My job will always be to make my wife happy. So putting a kid in her was no hardship. I worked my ass off to make sure she was able to continue her education. If I had to fly out for a game, my mom came and stayed with her to help take care of Damon so she could get to class. Her mom flew out a few times to help out, too.
Not long after Charlotte moved in, her mom showed up on our doorstep to see my girl. I don't know what John said to her, but she apologized profusely for making my girl feel unwanted. Charlotte was quicker to forgive her than I was. I made sure she knew that shit wouldn't fly a second time. She may be Charlotte's mom, but Charlotte is my world. You don't hurt my wife without answering to me. Don't give a fuck if her mom gave birth to heror not. If she can't treat my wife like the treasure she is, I don't owe her respect. That, I owe to my wife.
But things have been good between them for a while now. Not long ago, her mom actually thanked me for loving her daughter the way she deserves. I think she genuinely feels guilty for ever making Charlotte feel the way she did. We're good now. More importantly, they're good now. Charlotte is happier than she's ever been. Which means I'm happier than I've ever been.
"Uh-oh," Gemma says when she notices me standing in the doorway. "We in twouble now." Her giggle lets me know she isn't concerned about it. She rarely is. Gemma is unapologetically, unflinchingly herself. And she knows damn well that I'm wrapped around her little finger. One thing I never tell my wife or daughter is no. If they want something, I will move heaven and earth to make it happen.
"Sorry, dad," Damon says. "We'll fix it."
"Nah, buddy," I murmur, pushing away from the door and striding toward them. I pick Gemma up, kissing her on both cheeks, and then rub my hand across Damon's head. "You guys eat, and I'll clean up the mess."
If they do it, they'll make enough noise to raise the dead, and my little fairy is pregnant again. Which means she's happy. And when she's happy, she keeps my dick hard. I kept her up half the night, wringing out every orgasm I could get from her. There isn't a spot on her body I don't know. There isn't one I don't fucking love.
Being inside her is still the greatest feeling in the world. I've helped bring home the Cup and won more games than I can count. I've won awards and accolades and had my face splashed across magazines across the world. None of it feels nearly as good as making love to Charlotte.
When it comes to her and our kids, I'd give up everything, down to my soul. Wouldn't even have to think about it. Theworld can take whatever it wants to take from me, and I wouldn't bat a lash so long as I had her and our kids. They're my peace, my happiness. Loving them is my glory.
I made a vow the day I found out about the fire to keep Charlotte safe. I've done it every day for the last six years. Her landlord spent nearly a year in jail for breaking into her apartment. The story leaked exactly like I knew it would, but by then, everyone knew Charlotte. Everyone loved her. They treated her with the respect she deserved. I think they all knew by then that I would destroy their fucking worlds if they overstepped.
Chad pled guilty, so there was no day in court for them to salivate over. He went away quietly. I kept tabs on him after he got out of jail. He died three years ago, drank himself to death with the money he got from the sale of the complex. But he didn't fuck with anyone else. I think he knew I was watching, just waiting for him to fuck up. When it comes to my wife and kids, I'm not reasonable. And I'm not sorry about it.
I will protect them with my life, love them with my whole heart, and remind them with my dying breath that they're everything to me. They are. Nothing and no one will ever take them from me or hurt them so long as I have a say.
I find myself lying awake at night sometimes, just staring at my wife and thanking God for bringing her into my life. I was never entirely sure if he was real until I met her. She was no accident. She was no coincidence. She was made intentionally, every cell carefully selected and combined to forge perfection.
And make no mistake about it, Charlotte Anne Kline, my magical little fairy, is perfect.
"Where's mommy?" Gemma asks when I set her in her booster seat at the table. Like Charlotte, she's short. Without the seat, her little head barely rises above the table.
"She's still sleeping, baby girl."
"Oh. Did da baby wakes up her again?"
No, your daddy kept her up all night.
"Yeah," I lie instead of telling her that. Some things, my baby girl will never be old enough to hear. She's going to stay tiny and innocent forever. I'm going to make sure of it. Charlotte laughs when I tell her that, but I'm serious as a heart attack. Gemma isn't ever allowed to date, marry, or otherwise associate with boys. They're assholes unworthy of my little girl.
Un-fucking-fortunately for me, she doesn't agree. Wes and Laney's youngest, Deacon, is a year younger than she is, but they're two peas in a fucking pod.
Wes, Gray, Kris, and I have all retired. I think we all got tired of spending so much time away from our families. I love hockey, always have and always will, but this is where I want to be. Right here with my kids and my wife. I help run the training camp and Wes is an associate mentor for the team, so we see each other frequently. Kris and Wes too. I'm still close with Jonas, Logan, and Kellan too, though Jonas plays for the Penguins now and Logan with the Capitals. We're brothers in every way that counts.
