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ORIN
My brothers and I are all up at the butt crack of dawn. Bodie and Silas both decided to call off today, so we could get ready. Bodie started cooking around five a.m., while Odin and Callum started checking all the fishing equipment, and getting everything else we bought yesterday packed up that needed to stay cold. Me? I’ve been getting all the stuff ready for a tea party, with the help of Google, of course.
I haven’t even met Isla or her kids, but after everything they’ve been through they deserve to be spoiled a bit, definitely Vivian. I don’t understand how someone can father children and treat them that way, but it's something me and my brothers learned the hard way.
Now that I look at the back of Bodie’s truck, I realize we are probably going a little overboard with all the stuff we got for the kids. There’s fishing poles, life jackets for the kids, and a two person canoe so we can take them out on the pond if it’s okay with Isla. We also packed a folding table and matching chairs, a pink tablecloth for the tea party, as well as pink paper plates and cups and everything.
I go find Bodie in the kitchen and he’s pouring up his homemade lemonade, and he even made some home made ice cream for the kids.
“What all did you end up cooking?” I ask as I start to pack stuff in an ice chest.
“Well, for the adults I made some roast beef and shrimp po boys, with all the dressings on the side since we all like different things. For the kids I made homemade pizza, one pepperoni and one cheese, and cajun and curly fries as well. I also made some fruit salads.”
Why does that fruit salad look funny?
“Bodie, where are the strawberries?” I ask, frowning at the offending bowl. “Those are the best part.”
He grunts. “No more strawberries if we will be around the kids, Vivian and Arden are allergic. Also you can’t give them candies without checking the ingredients, since they are all allergic to red dye. I made some fruit gummies, and some fruit roll ups as well.”
“Okay, dad, are you gonna make their lunches for school special, too?” I chuckle at the fact he looks like he’s considering it.
“I might, actually. All those dyes are bad for kids anyways.”
“Okay, snob, what else did you make? I know that’s not all.”
“Nope, I made some different muffins, little cakes, deviled eggs, potato salad, and barbecue mini weenies. I wanted to make sure there was plenty to snack on, and I also made homemade apple juice and sweet tea of course. For Isla I packed plenty of booze pops.”
“That sounds great man, I’m sure Isla and the kids will love it.” Grabbing a thermos that’s on the island I ask, “What’s this for? It’s too hot for hot chocolate.”
Grinning, he takes it from me and packs it in his bag. “Gumbo, Isla's favorite. She devoured it when Silas brought her to eat, so I made some and froze the rest.” He looks around for a moment and says, “I think everything is together, so let's take it to the truck. It’s almost twelve now, and if we head out soon, we can get there early and have everything set up.”
* * *
ISLA
After finally gettingmyself and all three kids dressed, we meet my grandmother at the back door. She has a golf cart ready, so we load up and follow the little gravel path all the way to the back of the property. When we get to the lake–because that thing is way bigger than a freaking pond–I am blown away. It’s beautiful, with all the different plants and flowers around it. There is a dock in the center with flowers hanging off the posts, and I can see turtles and ducks floating around different parts of the lake. The best part? All five very freaking hot men have apparently been busy. They have a princess table set up, with what looks like a tea party and a little crown, a small canoe, three tiny life jackets, a whole bunch of different fishing crap, multiple coolers, a huge picnic basket, and a couple folding chairs with umbrellas.
“MOMMY!! A TEA PARTY!” Vivian screeches as she jumps off the barely stopped golf cart, not even caring about the strange men standing there, and the boys haul tail after her. I follow after them, trying to catch up to my kids because regardless of the fact they have Maw-Maw’s trust, I don’t know these men yet and it makes me nervous. I walk up to where Silas, Odin, and Bodie are watching the kids run around looking at everything, with who I’m guessing are Orin and Callum. I take a minute to study the two I don’t know. There is no question which one is Odin’s twin; although they may have different hair and eye colors, they are identical .
Orin has jet black hair and beautiful dark green eyes, above his right eye he has an eyebrow ring, and on the front of his throat is a butterfly tattoo. Odin is wearing shorts unlike when I first met him, and I can see he has tattoos covering both arms and legs, has white blonde hair, and blue eyes. They are both right at six feet, with slim waists, muscular arms and legs. Gah, I wanna be the meat in a twin sandwich.
Looking at the last, but definitely not least of the bunch, is the one man whose face I couldn’t picture in my dreams. Holy fucking hell, I swear I entered a whole new dimension. How are all these guys so sexy? Callum is the tallest of the group, about 6’4 and towering over my 5’3 frame. He has long brown hair pulled back in a man bun, golden brown eyes, full sleeves on both arms and legs, and a full moon tattoo on his neck. He has a scar by his left eye that makes him look even hotter, and he is HUGE. His arms and legs are massive… I wonder if everywhere is big…. I’m yanked out of my thoughts by my kids.
“Mommy, look I get to wear a crown! I’m a princess!” Vivi runs up to show me, and I bend down to her eye level.
“Oh my gosh, baby that’s so beautiful! I love it!” As I’m admiring my little girl, Lochlan walks up and tugs on my hand.
“Momma, who are they?” he whisper-yells. Silas steps up to him and crouches down, and talks where all the kids can hear him.
“Well bud, these are my brothers. The really big one there is Callum, and the one beside him with the really dark hair is Orin; they are firefighters. The one right there with the red hair is Bodie, he’s a chef and makes all kinds of good food, then the last one there with the white hair is Orin, and he’s a police officer.’’
All three kids say hey, then Arden steps up. “Can we go fishing now?” he asks pleadingly.
Callum walks up to him grinning. “Sure little man, let’s get your fishing pole ready. We also brought a canoe we can take out later, once you get the hang of casting your line, okay? Lochlan, do you want to fish right now, too?’’
Lochlan looks between me and his brother for a second and nods his head. Callum leads the boys, along with Odin and Silas, to where they have the fishing stuff set up. I walk over to the princess table where Vivian is sitting in one very child-sized chair, while Orin is sitting in the other, also wearing a princess crown. Bodie is standing next to them serving them little finger sandwiches and snacks.
I notice she is about to put a red fruit gummy in her mouth, and I start to panic. “Wait baby, you can’t have that!” I go to get it from her, but Bodie stops me.
