Three months Later
“Come on Mommy!” Val demands and I groan.
“Val, don't rush. They literally can not start without us!” I assure her, but she is still dancing around impatiently. “If you do not stand still you are going to mess up your pretty hair. Or even worse.. your dress.” I threaten her and she immediately goes still. There is nothing she takes more seriously than the protection of her flower girl dress and her recently finished hair.
“Has the nausea passed?” Wilder asks me gently, rubbing my back in comforting motions.
Christmas Eve Eight Months Later “Die Hard is not a Christmas movie!” I shout at the boys but Wilder and Wyatt both laugh. “I think it should count.” Ricky says, teaming up with the guys against me. “Ricky.. It's not too late for me to call Santa and tell him that you've been a horrible kid, not to bring you any gifts.” I tell him with a wink and he laughs, throwing up his hands. The twins laugh at him, teasing him about getting coal.
Summer I was sitting cross legged on my bed, a cosmopolitan magazine opened on my things. My best friend Katie laid beside me on her stomach, chin propped on her laced fingers. Her white blonde locks fan around her, shiny and smooth. I always envy her for her gorgeous hair, which go so well with her laughing blue eyes and stunningly white smile. She is so beautiful that you could easily mistake her for some glamorous model or fabulous actress. I smile at the thought, because that could not be further from her personality. Katie is a down home country girl, through and through. She is only happy when she is ankle deep in mud with one of her many animals. She does not dream of fame and fortune; her only dre
“I did not!” “Watch her a minute please.” I say to my friends before I take off out of the room and down the stairs to the living room. “What the heck is going on?” I demand before I am even in the room. The boys can sometimes get a little rowdy, but they are rarely 'bad', so this kind of behavior isn't something that I have to deal with often, thankfully. “Ricky said that I threwed a rock at him!” Van says, tears welling in his eyes. “Threw.” I automatically correct him, but it's drowned out by my younger brother rounding on him in anger. “Because you did, you little jerk!” Maverick yells at him. He pulls up his shirt and shows me a bruise on his back,
A few hours later it is finally four o'clock in the afternoon. My friends have been gone for ages, both of them sending me texts as if we didn't spend the whole morning together. Wilder and Wyatt are off in his room doing who knows what. Wilder has to leave for work in a few minutes. He has to be there at five, which is the time that the first of the kids should be arriving. It's almost as if he planned it that way to avoid the house full of screaming kids. I have just finished giving Val a bath since she came in from outside completely filthy. She is now sitting in the living room floor with the baby, watching Beauty and the Beast on dvd for the third time today. Van is in their room, cleaning up his side. Ricky is in the kitchen washing dishes to try to cut down on his time being grounded. I lift the clothes basket up and walk through the upstairs hallway, noticing not f
An hour and a half later everyone has been fed. The older kids went back to playing while you cleaned up the toddlers. They got spaghetti EVERYWHERE. Wyatt volunteered to clean the kitchen up, which you gratefully accepted after a half-hearted protest. I left the baby on a pallet of blankets in the floor and she plays on her tummy, chewing some toys I found in her diaper bag. Wyatt is sitting on the couch holding her when I lead the two freshly bathed toddlers into the room. “Movie time?” Val asks. “Sure.” I agree. It's after seven thirty, time for the kids to start settling down anyways. “With snacks?” Van and Adam ask at the same time, as if we didn't just eat supper a little while ago.
“I had no idea that you knew my full name.” I remark inanely, moving to lay against him. My head is on shoulder, my arm on his chest and my legs pressed tightly to the side of his. “Yeah, well, you would be surprised by what I know about you.” He tells me. I'm staring over his chest at my wall, the room pitch black dark, as I try to adjust to the newness of the position I am currently in. “Anyways, I need to hear about all the names again. Wilder has told me them all before, a long time ago, but I forgot all but yours.” Wyatt says to me, his hand rubbing my back. “Ugh, horrible names. Seriously, after me, the hospital should have realized that Isolde sucks at naming children and they should have invoked veto power or something. Revoked her naming rights.” I mutter angrily. It's like she went out of
The sun filtering into my room is bright when I first open my eyes. I quickly close them, waiting until the sting has dissipated before I peak one eye at a time until my eyes adjust to the light. When I am fully awake I realize that I'm not alone in the bed. It is then that I notice that I have a big, muscled arm thrown over my waist and a pair of legs pressed flush against the back of my thighs. Wyatt is in bed with me. After Rebecca was picked up, I came back up to my room. I checked on all the kids, brushed my teeth and then laid down. Wyatt joined me, so we could talk some more. We had already laid out pillows and a blanket for him in the living room, so he meant to go back to the couch. Instead, we talked until we feel asleep and he apparently ended up staying here with me. “Kyle keeps texting you.”
Later that night, the guys are taking the meat off of the grill as I finish up in the kitchen. I laid out a blanket in the yard, so that Ricky, Val and Van could have a picnic as they requested. I fix their plates and then carry them outside to them, passsing them out. Ricky runs and gets them each a can of Dr. Pepper that Wyatt bought. I make sure they have everything they need before I move over to the guys at the grill. I watch as Wilder flops the last burger on a plate. “Let's eat.” Wyatt says, giving me a smacking kiss on the lips, before he heads into the kitchen. I shoot a startled look at Wilder but he looks unfazed by it. He just grins and gestures for me to go before him. Wyatt just kissed me in front of my brother! What does that even mean? I kind of thought what we were doing was more of a casual, don't let anyone know type of deal. Yet, here he is, kissing my