Chapter 27
“I wanted a nursery. But I think I need a bigger house.”
Zane
I roll over and reach for Sloane but encounter cold, empty sheets instead. I grunt. I want to wake up to her in my arms every day.
Sloane had other ideas. She thinks we should slow things down. She doesn’t trust my feelings yet, but she will. In the meantime, she’s sleeping in the guest bedroom down the hall.
“Wah.”
Adele’s awake. I quickly dress and use the bathroom before making my way to the nursery.
I frown at all of the boxes filling up the space. This isn’t a nursery. This is a storage space with a crib and a changing table. It appears temporary. As if I’m not prepared to keep Adele.
The custody trial is next week. What if the court decides they want a home visit? The judge will never believe I’m serious about my daughter if she sees this.
Sloane stumbles into the room thirty minutes later. Her eyes widen at the mess I’ve created.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m getting rid of all the boxes.”
She pushes her hair out of her face. “Why?”
“This room wasn’t a nursery. It was a storage space.”
“It wasn’t too bad. All of the boxes were piled up against the one corner.”
I scowl. “Not good enough.”
“Zane, what’s going on? You didn’t have a problem with this setup yesterday.”
“Yesterday, I didn’t know the judge from the custody hearing can stop by for a visit to ascertain whether the house is good enough for my baby girl.”
I reach for the next box but she steps in my way to stop me. “You’re worried about the custody hearing?”
I thread my hands through my hair and pull on the ends. “Of course, I’m worried. Some judge I don’t know can decide I’m not good enough to be a father.”
She wraps her arms around me. “You’re good enough. You’re a great father.”
“A judge doesn’t know that. They’ll take one look at this room and think I don’t care for Adele.”
“Bullsh—” Her eyes catch on Adele playing in her bouncer and she cuts herself off. “Wrong. It’s plain to see how much you love your daughter.”
I drop my chin to my chest and enfold Sloane in my arms. “Maybe I should let Daisy have Adele. Babies should be with their mothers.”
Sloane glares up at me. “Daisy is no more a fit mom for Adele than my mom was for me.”
She’s right. The way Daisy abandoned my girl…I blow out a breath. “I know. I’m just worried.”
“You can be worried. This is a big deal, and it’s scary. But I will not allow you for one second to think Adele would be better off with Daisy.”
My lips twitch. “You won’t allow it?”
“You heard me, buster.” She pokes me. “I won’t allow it.”
I grin at her. “Thank you.”
“Why are you thanking me?”
“For calming me down.”
“You never have to thank me for calming you down. You thanking me would mean I have to thank you whenever you calm me down, and let’s face it, no one has time for the amount of thanking that would be necessary.”
I bark out a laugh. Adele giggles in response.
Sloane smiles before pulling out of my arms to go to my baby girl. She picks her up from her bouncer.
“Good morning, sweetie pie. How are you this morning?” Adele gurgles. “You are going to break all the boys’ hearts.”
I growl. No boy is going to get near my baby girl. “Adele will not be dating until she’s thirty.”
“Daddy is crazy, isn’t he?” Sloane coos to Adele.
Adele claps her hands. “Ba-ba!”
“Can you say da-da?”
“Ba-ba!”
I watch the woman I love with my baby girl, and I know I made the right decision to keep them both. I will not let anyone take either one of them away from me. I will fight to the bitter end for my girls.
Adele launches herself at me and I catch her. I will always catch her. Whatever she wants, she can have. Including a nursery.
“Can you watch her while I deal with these boxes?”
“Why don’t you call your brothers? You’ll have the boxes emptied and the contents squared away in no time with their help.”
“It’s New Year’s Day. I don’t want to disturb them.”
She checks the time. “It’s only nine. The Salty Dip doesn’t start until noon.”
“And last night was New Year’s Eve. My brothers were probably at the Smugglers’ Blaze until it closed down.”
“Wrong. Eli and Rhett left when you did. They wanted to get their families home. Jaxon used the excuse to sneak away since the activity was no longer a Raider brother activity. Whatever that means. Miles snuck off about an hour after they did. No idea where he went.”
“Did you notice Hazel around? If she’s around, you’ll find Miles mooning over her.”
She rolls her eyes. “Only Kai and Harper stayed until the end because they were helping me at the booth.”
I frown. “I hate that you had to work all night and I wasn’t there.”
Her brow wrinkles. “This is what I do. I’m a bartender. I usually work all night.”
“Harper gave you the night off.”
“She needed help. I wasn’t letting her and Kai work the booth on their own. Truth be told.” She pauses to yawn. “We could have used at least two more bartenders. The lines were obnoxious. Kai had to run to Rumrunner for another case of moonshine at one point.”
I can’t argue with her. Sloane is loyal. She’d never abandon anyone who needed help. Thus, her becoming my nanny even when she didn’t trust me.
“Go ahead and ring your brothers. I’ll deal with Adele.”
Deal with Adele? I glance down and notice how her face is straining. Uh oh. This is her poop face. I don’t hesitate to hand her off to Sloane.
“You still hate changing poopy diapers.”
“I’ll get used to it by the time we have our third child.”
She gasps. “Third child?”
I’m not about to tell her I want to give her the family she’s always longed for. She’s still getting used to the idea of us and wants to take things slow.
I do the only thing I can think of. I hurry out of the room.
Eli, Jaxon, and Rhett arrive within thirty minutes. Kai begged off since Harper’s dad is having a bad day. He had a stroke some years ago and struggles with mobility. And I couldn’t reach Miles. I hope he’s not somewhere making bad decisions.
“What’s happening? What do you need?” Eli asks when we gather in the living room.
“The nursery. It’s a bit of a mess.”
Rhett grins. “Dakota has been dying to get her hands on your nursery for weeks. I’ll phone her.”
“I can watch Pearl and Mira,” Sloane offers.
“Thanks, sis.” Rhett strolls out of the room with his phone to his ear.
Sloane stares after him. I squeeze her hand. “You’re part of this family, sweetness,” I whisper to her. She smiles up at me and I can’t resist. I meld my lips to hers.
“Hell yeah!” Eli shouts and I tear myself away from Sloane to glare at him.
“You can’t be mad at me for being happy for you.”
“I can be mad if you’ve been making bets about us and are happy because you won.”
Before Eli can respond, Rhett strolls back into the room. “Dakota’s on her way with the kids. And Mom will be here in an hour with lunch.”
Jaxon fiddles with his glasses. “I’m uncertain why I’m here.”
“I figured you could put the bookshelf and cupboard together faster than anyone else.” I shrug. “I guess I was wrong.”
Jaxon narrows his eyes. “You’re not wrong.”
Sloane smirks. “I have an idea. Why don’t we have a little competition? Jaxon can put the bookshelf together while Eli does the cupboard. Whoever loses has to babysit Adele on five different occasions.”
“No fair. A bookshelf is way easier to put together than a cupboard,” Eli claims.
“Not for me. I’m in. I’ll put the cupboard together faster than you can do the bookshelf. Unless you’re too scared?” Jaxon raises an eyebrow.
Eli glares at him. “You’re on.”
They shake hands before sprinting to the nursery. “Hold on,” Sloane chases after them. “We need rules.”
Rhett barks out a laugh. “Rules? Sloane should know better than to impose rules on Raiders.”
He’s wrong since when Sloane returns with Jaxon and Eli, they’re nodding in agreement to whatever she’s saying while they each carry a large box.
“I’ll get my toolbox.”
By the time I return from the garage, the furniture has been moved out of the way. I set the toolbox in between the two large boxes before backing away. I don’t want to be anywhere near Eli or Jaxon when they begin.
“Ready! Set! Go!”
As soon as Sloane says go, they break into the boxes. The door opens and Dakota enters with Pearl and Mira.
“Unka Eli!” Pearl shouts and rushes to him.
Sloane scoops her up before she reaches him. “Do you want to play with me this morning?”
“Mom! I’m going to play with Aunt Sloane.”
Sloane’s eyes well with tears. But she sucks them up and smiles at Pearl. “What do you want to do first?”
I watch as they walk toward Sloane’s bedroom. I know I’m going to screw up with her a lot. One thing I did right, though, is to give her a family. I can’t repair her relationship with her mom or find her dad, but I can share my brothers and their partners with her.
And I can give her children. I already consider Adele hers but she needs more children. A big family is what she’s always wanted and I’m ready to give it to her.
I need a bigger house.