ROWDY
Wearing a smile, I owned a hell of a poker face despite feeling like a man drowning. I had two sets of twins depending on me to keep my shit together.
Cavan and Colson terrified me. The two babies silently waited for me to fuck up. Even after they dozed off and returned to their hospital cribs, I felt them plotting. Or maybe I was just tired and assuming too much.
What I did know was Kat needed me to stay positive. She had been so scared during the C-section. Even when she spoke calmly, her green eyes revealed how terrified she felt.
Once the babies were asleep, Kat crashed hard into a nap. Maria sat nearby, reading on her phone. Her gaze flashed to me regularly while I sat in a chair between the two cribs.
“You’re free to walk around or get something to eat,” Maria said softly when she checked on the babies. “Kat will likely be out for a few hours.”
“What about you?”
“I need to stay with my sister.”
Maria didn’t speak these words with added emphasis. She wasn’t hinting that if I took Kat away, Maria would follow. Yet, that’s what I heard. Kat’s happiness was completely linked to Maria’s. I really was responsible for two sets of twins.
The woman sleeping on the bed was worth the stress. Our first two introductions hadn’t gone as well as I wanted. Now, I got a third shot to seal the deal.
Watching Kat sleep led me to doze off. I woke when Colson whimpered while Maria changed his diaper.
“He seems hungry,” Maria whispered. “Do you want to feed him?”
I glanced at Kat to find her still sound asleep.
“She’ll be in pain soon,” Maria said and wrapped Colson in the blanket. “As the epidural wears off, she’ll feel more of the incision. You should be ready for that.”
“They can keep her doped up, right?”
“Yes, but she needs to eat something today,” Maria said and nestled Colson against my chest. “Our mother lost a lot of weight after she gave birth. That sounds good since she was losing baby weight, but she lost it too fast. That made her weak, and she never recovered.”
I smiled at Colson’s hungry sucking at the bottle. “My parents will be here soon. They’re bound to wake up Kat.”
“That’s okay. She’ll sleep later.”
“When will you sleep?”
Maria sighed. “I had planned to stay here with her, but there’s only one of these chairs that turns into a bed.”
“You want me to leave.”
Maria studied me before admitting, “Yes, but just for the night. You only have one set of clothes. It makes sense for you to leave and figure out what happens next.”
“How long will they stay in the hospital?”
“Three days if Kat does well. If she has any issues, she might stay several extra days. I plan to have the nurses keep the boys in the nursery overnight to allow Kat to sleep.”
“You have everything planned out.”
Maria smiled softly. “I’ve had eight months to consider every contingency.”
Studying Maria, I decided against playing coy. “I’m planning on claiming Kat.”
“Is your condo one story?”
“Like the entire building or my unit?”
“The unit. Are there stairs?”
“My bedroom is in the loft, so there are stairs.”
“She shouldn’t use stairs for a week at least. You can claim her after she’s healed.”
“I can’t wait that long,” I insisted, poking at her.
“You’ve waited for months.”
“Because I had no choice. If I knew where she was, I would have stalked her.”
Maria cocked a brow and muttered, “That’s not as charming as you think.”
“Kat’s the woman for me. Not just because of the boys. I’ve wanted her for months.”
“Well, that’s nice,” Maria said and glanced at a still sleeping Cavan smacking his lips. “But you can’t claim Kat until your place is ready, and her body has healed.”
“Fine. I’ll move into your house until she’s ready to visit Little Memphis.”
Though Maria looked annoyed, she didn’t disagree. She watched me warily until I successfully burped Colson. Her gaze quickly warmed, and she glanced at her sleeping sister.
“Kat will be my wife one day,” I told Maria. “I don’t want you to become a third wheel, so I need to hook you up with someone. What are you looking for in a man? Or are you into women? My sister bats for the other team. It’s all cool.”
“Which sister?” Maria asked rather than answer my question.
“Sabrina.”
“She’s older than you, right?”
“I’m the youngest. All my sisters outrank me.”
Maria smiled. “Supposedly, I was born first, but it’s not like anyone can be sure. We’ll no doubt switch Cavan and Colson more than once before they’re old enough for us to tell them apart.”
“Oh,” I said and frowned at my sleeping sons. “I don’t like that. Can’t we mark them somehow?”
“We decided to color coordinate them,” Maria said and stroked the beanie on the nearest boy’s head. “Colson is blue. Cavan is green. Kat hopes we can keep track of them that way.”
I smiled at Kat curled up in bed. I still couldn’t believe I didn’t know where she had been twenty-four hours ago. Now, I was holding my son.
I was still struggling with my new reality when Kat woke up. She had her first trip to the toilet, which was apparently a big deal since the nurse came in to supervise. After pissing, Kat washed off and fixed her hair. She was likely nervous about meeting my parents.
Shuffling out of the bathroom, she walked to the cribs and smiled at our boys.
“That green and blue beanie plan sounds smart,” I said, standing next to her.
When Kat glanced up at me, the air got knocked out of my lungs. The woman was so fucking beautiful. Her nap had also left her in a good mood. Her gaze was bright. Her lips curved into a smile. She was everything I needed to be happy.
I pressed my lips against hers and breathed her in. The world made sense again. I was no longer overwhelmed. I had a very clear plan.
Maria encouraged Kat to return to bed. The nurse brought orange jello and coffee. I heard them talking about how she could eat soup at dinnertime.
Kat had finished her snack and was feeding Cavan when my parents texted to say they were downstairs.
I soon strutted my ass to the elevator and headed down to meet them. I saw Bebe first. My mom was such a beautiful woman with her dark hair cascading down her shoulders. Her big brown eyes spotted me and lit up.
My dad stopped fiddling with his boot strap and stood up next to her. His blond hair had gone gray, as did his bushy beard. Pax enjoyed freaking people out with his wild man appearance.
“Is this real?” Bebe asked me as I hugged her.
“Absolutely. Kat wouldn’t lie about something like this,” I said and kissed the top of her head. “My boys’ names are Colson and Cavan.”
My dad tilted his head and muttered, “Might want to run a few tests first.”
Ignoring Pax’s reasonable suggestion, I asked, “Are you ready to meet Kat, Maria, and the boys?”
“This girl hid the pregnancy from you for all these months,” Bebe said, struggling between a grandmother’s excitement and a mother’s duty to keep her son safe from an evil woman.
“She was scared. I’m a dangerous man, you know?” I said and shrugged. “I think she might have been more scared of your daughters.”
“Our daughters bought you clothes since you ran off with none,” Pax said and handed me a shopping bag. “There’s also hygiene shit and nicotine patches in there.”
“What’s happening exactly?” Bebe asked, gripping my hand. “When are you coming back home?”
“There isn’t enough sleeping space in the hospital room for Maria and me, so I’ll need to get a hotel room. But I’ll be back at the hospital every day until Kat and the boys are ready to head home. I’m not sure what’ll happen afterward.”
“This is really happening?” Bebe asked and looked at Pax. “I’m scared to get excited.”
Pax’s icy blue eyes gave me a cranky glare. “Your mom has been in a low-key panic since last night. Hug her again.”
Comforting my mom, I promised Kat was a good woman with only a few screws loose.
“You’ll love her if you can give her a chance,” I said and stroked my mom’s back. “Now, let’s go introduce Grand-dude and Grand-fox to their newest grandbabies.”
Bebe didn’t often get rattled, but her heart had been hurting since two foster kids went back to their family. She had let herself grow too attached to them despite knowing they would likely return to their old home. Now, she feared embracing the babies if they might be snatched away.
Meanwhile, my dad kept eyeballing me. I smiled at him until he relented in the elevator.
“Women lie, son.”
“Kat expected me to ask for a paternity test. What would be the point of her lying?”
“She could want money.”
“She has a job and a home. Kat and Maria seem to live comfortably.”
“What job?”
“She’s a nurse working at a butthole clinic,” I said, knowing the wording would crack up my dad.
As Pax chuckled and the people behind us in the elevator snickered, Bebe frowned at me.
“Are you messing with me?”
“No, she works at a colonoscopy clinic. So does her sister. They’re nurses. Smart chicks. Very cool. Twins, too. You’re going to love them.”
By the time we left the elevator, Bebe’s panic had switched to an irritable uncertainty. She entered the room, wearing a steely expression. Kat and Maria turned to her in unison. Their eyes widened in the same way. It was crazy how similar they were.
“What do you do for a living?” Bebe blurted out.
While Kat remained silent, Maria answered, “We’re nurses at an endoscopy center.”
“See?” I told Bebe. “I wasn’t messing with you.”
My mom’s expression softened as I introduced Pax and her to the twins, but she remained on edge.
“Is Rowdy really the father?” she asked Kat. “If you lie and break my heart, I’ll send my daughters to kick your ass.”
The twins’ eyes grew huge again before Maria insisted, “My sister wouldn’t lie.”
Kat took Maria’s hand to calm her. “I am not lying. Rowdy is the father. I haven’t been with anyone else since my second year of college.”
“How was he?” I asked Kat. “Was the college guy hotter than me?”
Kat looked at me like I was nuts until she realized I was fucking with her. She suddenly grinned. “He was so bad that I didn’t have sex for nearly a decade.”
“I’m glad I could woo your panties off after such a devastating experience.”
Kat and Maria snickered to each other while I took Bebe’s hand. “Come look at my boys. I burped Colson earlier. He’s the screamer.”
Bebe’s wariness melted away when she looked at the boys tucked into their cribs.
Pax helpfully asked, “Who chose these names and can we negotiate new ones?”
Before Kat could get rattled by his words, I lied, “They came to me in a dream. They’re nonnegotiable, but we’re open to middle name ideas.”
Pax rubbed his beard and nodded. “Deal.”
With that, my dad joined a crying Bebe at the cribs. I smiled at Kat and gave her a thumbs up. She laughed at my enthusiasm. Her entire demeanor was different now that she’d safely delivered the boys and enjoyed a nap.
I didn’t know how the rest of the evening would go—especially the visit by my meddling sisters—but I felt like a million bucks as my parents met their first grandsons.