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My eyes narrowed. “You can point this woman out to me at Josh’s next lesson.”
“I didn’t tell you so you’d go beat her up.” He actually looked worried for a minute and I lifted my shoulders.
“I’d smack her for making you feel so uncomfortable. But—” I held up a hand before he could dive back in. “I get it. I know I’m not always the sharpest when someone is hitting on me. You guys have had to deal with that for years. I’m better now… but…”
“Yeah,” he said and the affection in his eyes tempered the exasperation. “Still, I hate that for an instant this woman thought I was available. I am very much not.”
“No, you’re not and I adore you that you were worried about telling me and yet decided to tell me anyway.” I closed the distance. “I love you,” I said as I put my hands on his chest and he covered my hands with his. “I love every part of you and I love you even more for telling me. But you know what I’ll love more?”
“I promise if she does it again, I will absolutely let you kick her ass.”
“Hmmm.” I considered it. “We are supposed to be setting a good example for the kids.”
“We are,” he said, then he cradled my face. “We can’t start the fights.”
I supposed not. “It won’t be a fight. It’ll be a knockout.”
I rose on my toes and he dipped his head to give me the sweetest of kisses. A moment later, shouting came from upstairs and there were deeper voices and high-pitched ones.
All of the earlier loneliness and dark thoughts evaporated. It was Christmas and we were all together.
“Merry Christmas!” Izzy yelled as she raced into the kitchen. Josh was right behind her followed by the other three loves of my life and Charlie.
The shouting. The chaos. The love.
It was perfect.
CHAPTER 12
CATS IN THE CRADLE
ARCHIE
“So we still don’t know?” Dad asked as he brought our drinks over. We were at his apartment in the city. Even though it was the week after Christmas, he was still working despite giving most of the staff the week off.
“No,” Frankie said with a half-smile tossed in my direction.
“Yeah, yeah,” I teased her. “I know I’m impatient. But we still have a very shy one.”
“Or…” Frankie prompted me before she accepted the glass of water from Dad. “Thank you, Eddie.”
“More than welcome.” He passed a soda over to me. Normally, we had cocktails when Frankie and I came to dinner in town, but since she couldn’t have them, none of us were.
“Or, it’s two girls.” Anticipation threaded through me.
“You don’t sound thrilled?” Dad frowned as he reclaimed his seat. Frankie rubbed her hand up and down my arm. I let out a huff. She was the one growing rounder by the day. She shouldn’t have to comfort me.
“It’s not about being thrilled or not, it’s about—not knowing for sure. I want—I want to plan. I want to get everything ready, and the nursery redesign is just waiting for the final colors.”
“You know, we discussed that we could just go with blue. We all like blue and blue is soothing.” It would save us some time. The blue sky paint was still on the ceiling. We could do some touchups.
“I know, but in my head blue is for boys.”
“How very traditionally sexist of you.” Yeah, I deserved the tweak. “But I do understand. The fact we’re decorating for two and doubling up on everything.”
We’d used the same crib for all three of them, this was the first time we’d actively gone in search of a new crib. Then we weighed our options on matching or not.
“I’m sorry,” I told her, putting aside my drink and covering her hand on my arm. “I know I’m obsessing…”
