I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. “We have to leave in thirty minutes. We don’t have time for him to watch a movie. We have to drive the kids all the way to your parents’ house, and Clare is going to lose her mind if we’re late!”
Roman took another step up. “A movie could buy us fifteen minutes alone before we have to leave.” He smirked. “The baby’s asleep. Li’l man is watching Lego people save the world. We could shut the door and discuss your attitude the proper way.”
“The proper way?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.
“Mmmm,” he groaned, taking the last four steps two at a time.
I backed away, but I did it wanting to be caught.
And Roman was never one to disappoint. He shoved his hand into the back of my hair just as my back hit the wall. His lips went straight to my ear, where he explained, “Naked. With you apologizing by coming on my cock.”
A shiver traveled down my spine.
He traced a hand up my thigh and under my skirt. My breath hitched as his finger brushed over my core, igniting me.
“What do you say, Lis?” His teeth raked over the base of my neck. “You got fifteen minutes to spare for your man?”
I was sleep deprived, cranky, and in a rush.
But it was Roman.
“Yes,” I breathed.
“Get out!” I barked at all four of my sisters as I herded them to the door.
“That is not fair. Clare loves us,” Melanie defended, flashing a smile at Clare.
Clare did love them. But she also loved to join them in their ruthless attempts to harass me. It was never a good day for me when the five of them got together. Or so I pretended as I smiled, secretly listening to them laugh like a bunch of old hens.
Maggie moved to the front of the huddle, her engagement ring twinkling on her finger as she patted my chest. “We got it. You’re a big, bad tough guy and she’s your wife. But I’m going to need you to put away your loin cloth and let us give her a hug before we go.”
I had proposed to Clare about two months after Noir died. I would have done it sooner, and it had killed me to watch her stomach swelling without my ring on her finger, but I hadn’t wanted her to associate that happy moment in our life together with the memories of that day at his house. So I’d performed the damn near heroic feat of waiting.
One day, after she had come home from a day of shopping with Elisabeth, Tessa and I surprised her with a homemade version of Wheel of Fortune—complete with me in an ugly brown Pat Sajak suit and Tessa dressed in a gown, acting as my Vanna White. On a poster board covered with sticky notes were the words Will You Marry Me. Per the game rules, I’d given her R, S, T, L, N, and E, so it wasn’t exactly hard to figure out. However, as she cried, staring at me through bright-blue eyes, she guessed every single letter that we both knew was not on that board. After she’d gone through most of the alphabet and finally guessed an X, I laughed and dropped to a knee, muttering, “Jesus, you are terrible at this.”
She said, “yes.”
And, one month later, in a small ceremony at the botanical garden, we both said, “I do.”
And, then a few months after that, a doctor announced the magical words that changed my life all over again: “It’s a girl.”
Shelby Grace Light was born via C-section, looking just like her mother. While she hadn’t exactly been planned, in a lot of ways, she healed us all. She was beautiful, and the way Tessa’s face lit up when she held her baby sister made me believe in divine intervention.
They shared not a strand of the same DNA, but those were my girls. Through and through.
I tore my gaze from my sisters and looked over my shoulder to Clare. An infectious smile split her face, and her eyes danced with a heart-stopping combination of happiness and love. It was everything I’d ever wanted for her. And, because she was my wife, I got it all too. I clenched my jaw to suppress my grin and stepped out of the way for my sisters to pass.
After hugs, jokes at my expense, and then more hugs, they finally left.
But, no sooner had my shoulders sagged in relief than the door swung open again.
“We’re here!” Elisabeth called, rushing into the room, her heels clicking on the hospital floor.
“Oh, thank God,” Clare sighed. “I didn’t want them to start without you. I literally had to fight off the doctor a minute ago.”
“Aunt Elisabeth!” Tessa exclaimed, jumping off the edge of the bed. “Can you take me to the barn? Pleeeeeease! There’s a baby goat that’s about to have a baby. My horseback riding trainer said she’d let me watch!”
I groaned. “For the seven billionth time, you aren’t going to the barn today, sweet girl.”
“Dad!” She stomped her foot. “That’s not fair!”
“Sweet Jesus.” I stared up at the ceiling. “Deliver me from the estrogen.”
Roman sauntered into the room. “I can take her.”
“Yes!” she shrieked.
“She’s not going to the barn,” I declared. “Your mother is having a baby, Tessi. I’m not really concerned with goats today.”
“Heath, honey,” Clare called, her voice filled with humor.