Chapter 32
Rob
We parked on the street and made as little noise as possible as we approached the house.
“Okay, we’re just going to slip in, check on the kids, and crash on the couch.” Danny whispered the instructions.
I gave a momentary thought to just how much damage could be done to a very expensive cotton shirt while sleeping on the couch before remembering how much I wanted to see my babies. “Perfect.” I slid the key in the lock, turned it slowly and held my breath as the mechanism gave way. “Okay.” Gently, I pushed the door open.
Only to be met by the most God-awful howl followed by full-throated barks that would, I’d swear, wake the neighborhood.
Oh, sure. You never bark like this when I come home alone. Except Trouble had her other person at those times. Danny. She hadn’t had him tonight, and she was, clearly letting us know what she thought of the two of us abandoning her.
Danny brushed past me, hustled over to the dog, and tried to shush her.
She was having none of it.
I closed the door in some vain attempt to keep her from waking everyone in Gaynor Beach.
“Papa!” Hallie ran into the room and barreled straight for me.
I caught her up in a big hug.
Next, the sound of Thomas’s wail hit me. Sure…the kid who could sleep through everything chose this moment to show some normal reaction.
“I’ve got him.” James yelled the words from down the hall.
Apparently while he did that, Colin wandered down to us and entered the living room. He rubbed his eyes and blinked several times. He looked healthier each time I saw him. Even clearly tired, he glowed in comparison to the wan man I’d met before the surgery. Again driving home how much of the gift of life Danny had actually given him. “Problem?”
I tried to shush Trouble even as I met Colin’s gaze. “I, uh, missed the kids.”
He chuckled. “I win the bet.”
James entered the room behind him with a wailing Thomas in his arms.
Danny was there to rescue his brother and scooped up my screeching child.
As soon as Thomas realized whose arms he was now in, he stopped.
“Oh, so that’s how it is.” James chuckled, clearly not upset. “That’s okay, I’d be calmer in Danny’s arms too.”
Colin guffawed.
Hallie continued to cling to me. “Thought you’d stay away all night.”
James crouched to meet the dog’s gaze, which completely derailed her. “Thank you for being a superb guard dog. Would you like a treat?”
Trouble sat. She associated sitting with treats. Hopefully Jordan could help her obey the rest of the commands we needed her to. I wasn’t certain shut up was a viable command or something I wanted to teach my children. Quiet, perhaps? Anyway, she followed James into the kitchen in search of treats.
“Papa, I’m hungry.”
“Really?” I gazed into her bright-blue eyes, not a sign of sleep anywhere.
“I am too.” Colin grinned. “Ice cream?”
I should’ve glared because sugar in the middle of the night really wasn’t the best idea, and they’d had some earlier—but Hallie’s grin had me smiling as well. “Just this once, sweetheart.”
“Yep.” She put her arms around me. “You’re the best Papa.”
“I try.” I eyed Thomas who had his arms around Danny’s neck. “He okay?” I whispered the question.
Danny nodded. “He’s a little warm, but I think because he was worked up. If I keep holding him, he should be fine.”
My chest tightened. In a good way. I had someone in my life who could calm my child as well as I could. That…was amazing. “You want ice cream as well?”
“Of course.” He gave me a mock-indignant look. As if daring me to suggest otherwise.
“Okay.”
Colin had headed into the kitchen, so Danny and I took the kids there as well.
Between Colin and James, they had five bowls organized and the ice cream was nearly entirely scooped.
“You work well together,” I observed.
The men exchanged a look in question, as if they’d never really thought of it. Finally, James grinned. “Yeah, I guess we do.”
“That helps a lot when you have kids.” Danny maneuvered himself into a chair, still holding Thomas.
Does he realize how easily he says those things? How easy he makes this all look?
I managed to sit, still holding Hallie in my lap. I rotated her so she faced the table just as James set a bowl with a small scoop of strawberry ice cream before her.
“Thank you.” She grinned.
“You’re welcome.”
She poked her spoon in, scooped out a strawberry, and showed me. “Real strawberries.”
I caught Colin’s eye. He shrugged. “Danny said she loves strawberry.”
And so they’d picked up the more expensive brand with real fruit chunks.
My heart squeezed and then expanded.
“You’re spoiling your future niece and nephew.” Danny held out a small spoon of vanilla ice cream and Thomas accepted. Apparently his tears and upset were a distant memory.
James and Colin stilled, looking back and forth between Danny and myself. I held in the grin.
Barely.
Danny turned to Hallie. “I have something very important to ask you.”
She nodded solemnly.
I held my breath.
“I love your papa.”
Hallie nodded.
James grasped Colin’s hand and squeezed.
“I would like to be here all the time. With you, Thomas, and your papa.” He was always so careful with any derivative of the word daddy. “Might you want that?”
Hallie glanced back toward me. “Papa?”
“He’s asking you, Hallie. It’s okay for you to be honest.” If she said no, we’d deal. We’d figure out a way to make things work and to gradually ease into things instead of the more abrupt?—
“Are you happy?” She whispered the question to me.
A question she’d asked more than any four-year-old should. That she’d seen my unhappiness and was able to articulate the question terrified me. Still, at least here I could reassure her. “I’m happy, sweetheart. As much as I love you and Thomas, I think I have room to love Danny too.”
“Okay.” She stroked my cheek. “Okay.” She turned back to Danny. “You move in?”
“That was my hope, yeah. So I can be here all the time. So I can take care of you and Thomas and your papa.” He stretched his large hand across the table.
Hallie gently laid hers against his palm.
“I’ll always be here for you.”
She scrunched her nose. “Will you still be Danny who takes care of me? You won’t be different?”
Danny blinked several times, tried to speak, cleared his throat, and then managed, “I would like to be the same Danny…if that’s okay with you.”
Thomas grabbed for the bowl of ice cream which James deftly managed to nab first. He snagged the spoon from Danny’s loose grasp and put some ice cream on it. “Are we going to play choo-choo train, or are you just going to eat it?”
My darling son gave him a you think I’m giving you a hard time about ice cream? Then he obediently opened his mouth.
Colin laughed, drawing my attention to him. His eyes were suspiciously wet.
I smoothed Hallie’s tangled hair. “I love you, sweetheart. Just like I love Thomas and now…” I swallowed hard. “I love Danny.”
Hallie gazed back at me. “I love Danny too. He takes care of me.”
“I love you too.” Danny gently squeezed Hallie hand. “I’ll take care of you. And protect you.”
“From the bad people? People who make Papa cry?”
We all stilled.
Well, except Thomas who pounded his little fist on the table.
James gave him more ice cream.
“Bad people?” Danny kept his voice steady.
Hallie leaned over and beckoned him close.
I worried I might not be able to hear, but her whisper of, “Daddy,” carried.
Danny held her gaze. “He’s gone far away. He’s never coming back. Your papa was brave, and you don’t have to worry.”
“So you’ll protect Papa too?”
“Of course I will.” Danny’s gaze flicked to mine before returning to Hallie. “It will be my honor.”
We’d need more counselling sessions in Hallie’s future—as well as for me—but this felt like the optimistic, hopeful, new beginning we all deserved.
Colin yawned loudly. “As much as this deserves a celebration, this old man needs his rest.”
James snickered. “Wait until we have kids and you’re up all night.”
I stilled, waiting for Colin’s response.
He smiled softly. “Fair point well made. Guess I’ll figure it all out when I have to. But right now…” He rose, then placed a hand on James’s shoulder. “We’ll organize a celebration for you. With Mama’s help, of course. But for now, we’ll leave you in peace.”
Danny groaned. “I have to tell Mama.”
A stab of pain went through me. Danny doesn’t want to tell his mother about me? About us?
“Mama’s going to go over the top.” James’s gaze met Danny’s and then he flicked his head over to me.
Danny glanced my way and winced. “Sorry, right. I didn’t mean that in a bad way. Mama’s…going to be excited.”
“I like Mama.” Hallie grinned. “She gives me treats.”
“Oh, really?” I’d suspected, and it didn’t bother me, but it did amuse me. Then I turned to Colin and James. “You go back to bed. Danny and I can crash on the couch.”
Colin snickered. “Uh, no. But thank you.”
James grinned. “He has this super expensive orthopedic mattress set to his exact specifications. As nice as your mattress is, my husband likes his creature comforts. Old man.”
Since I knew there to be less than ten years between the two of them, I chuckled. I wondered about James’s assertion, but clearly they were keen to leave us alone. I appreciated that.
“You get the two munchkins into bed while Colin and I make up your bed with fresh sheets. Then we’ll get out of your hair.” James rubbed his nearly bald pate. “At least you have some.”
Danny laughed. “You shave by choice. Nice try, though.”
“Why does James have a bald head?” Hallie asked me the question in what she considered a whisper. We’d really have to work on her quiet voice.
“Uncle James was going bald prematurely,” Danny quipped. “He didn’t want to look funny, so he decided to look like that.” He pointed.
Hallie smiled. “It’s soft.”
James did a little bow. “Thank you.” He rose and snagged the empty bowls. Then he caught Colin’s gaze.
“Yeah, I’ll find the fresh sheets.”
“In the linen closet.” Danny and I spoke at the same time.
Colin rolled his eyes. “I did used to live here.” With that, he left the room.
James wet a clean washcloth and brought it over to hand to me. “Ice-cream faces.” Then he left.
I gazed between each of my children who did, in fact, have ice cream faces. As I wiped Thomas, I chanced a glance at Danny. “You okay with this…chaos?”
He cocked his head. “Of course.” He grinned. “I just think we should tell Mama in person. Otherwise she might fry the wire in her excitement.”
We had a cell phone, as did his mother, but I understood what he was trying to say. He wanted to be there in person. Perhaps to curtail her excitement. She had a heart condition after all. “You realize this leaves Whitney and Gracie as the two last Reynolds singles.”
Danny grinned. “Oh yeah. I can’t wait.”
The next day, we drove to Huntington Beach to tell Mama and Daddy. Who promptly commanded all the Reynolds children, their spouses, and their offspring, to descend unto the house where we had a huge barbecue.
Mama sat at the head of the backyard table, beckoning me to her. Rashon and Bryan had been tasked with watching all the mobile children. Theirs and everyone else’s. Danny and James held Leticia’s twins while Daddy held Martin’s newborn son. Leticia, Felicia, and Shondra were talking Whitney and Gracie’s ears off about the joys of motherhood. To my best estimation, Gracie wasn’t even trying to be interested while Whitney, to me, looked a little bewildered. Much how I must’ve looked when the nurse placed Hallie in my arms that first time.
“Now.” Mama gestured to my hand.
I extended it and she grasped it. “What’s this nonsense about you boys wanting a small wedding?”
“Mama.” Danny’s tone might be warning, but I doubted his mother would listen.
I was right.
“Hush, you. James and Colin had a big wedding. Would’ve been bigger if we’d had more notice.”
Colin, whose lap had been co-opted by my son who apparently felt right now was the time to nap, grinned. “I couldn’t wait any longer.”
“Mama.” This time James spoke. “We don’t need all three hundred and ten relatives.”
Daddy held Jeremiah up. “Thee hundred and eleven.”
“Oh, three hundred and thirteen. Felicia’s twins will be born by then.” Colin grinned.
The father of Felicia’s twins, who was chasing a wayward son, hesitated, looking a little peaked. “Yeah, don’t remind me.” Bryan put on a brave smile for Mama. “Can’t wait.”
She rolled her eyes. “You, my boys, are getting snipped.”
Neither Rashon, nor Bryan were her actual boys. And I wasn’t certain she meant Martin as well, who only had two. Two was plenty, as far as I was concerned. With our finances and Danny in school for the next however many years, we wouldn’t be expanding our family. We were okay with that.
“Got the surgery booked.” Bryan now looked a little queasy. “Gotta go. Rashon looks swamped.”
“You’ll be fine.” Daddy grinned. “No complications.”
Bryan nodded and headed off toward what looked like an impending fight.
I cocked my head. But held my peace. I supposed after seven children, Mama and Daddy had decided their family was complete. I didn’t blame them.
“Be that as it may…” Mama turned her focus back to me. “I want you two to have a huge wedding.”
“It’s my second marriage,” I mumbled. The first had been a lavish affair with all of Gerard’s work colleagues and friends. He, like me, was estranged from his family. He’d put me on display that day. Behind my back, although within my hearing range, more than a few attendees had commented about my age and speculated on the true nature of my relationship with my new husband. If only I’d listened…but then I wouldn’t have Hallie and Thomas. So…whatever.
“Pshaw.” Mama scowled. “You think that matters to me?”
“Mama.” Danny spoke up again. “We want small and intimate. Just the immediate family.”
His mother turned to me. “My sons seem to be speaking for you. I warn you—if you don’t speak up for yourself, a Reynolds will fill the space.” She gave her sons a look. “I’m glad to see Hallie’s learning to speak up for herself. I don’t want her railroaded.”
Martin nodded in agreement, apparently, that Hallie should not be run roughshod over by their very opinionated children. “I’ll remind Rashon and Bryan.”
“See that you do.”
He rose and headed toward the pile of children.
Mama returned her attention to me. “Quiet?”
“Yes, Mama.”
“Six months?”
“California law.”
“You could do a commitment?—”
“That’s enough, Mama.” Danny smiled at his mother. “Don’t overwhelm him. We’re having this…engagement party. That’s enough for now.
She harumphed, clearly not pleased with this turn of events.
Hallie ran up to me. “I’m tired.”
“You want to sit on my lap?” Mama held out her arms.
With only a fraction of hesitation, my daughter managed to settle herself on Mama’s lap. I might’ve worried about Hallie’s size, but Felicia’s middle son—who was about the same age and bigger—had occupied that exact spot earlier.
Mama wrapped her arms around my daughter. “They’re only this age once. You have to treasure every moment.”
Then the five women joined us. Gracie handed me a gift bag. “Danny should be giving you this, but his arms are a little full.”
I was pretty sure he was holding Keyla while James had Malaya. The few times they calmed, I stayed as quiet as possible. Especially since, as Danny suggested, they could sound like sirens when they wailed. Thank God Thomas never hit that decibel level.
“Open the gift.” Whitney gestured, miming me opening the bag.
I did. And pulled out a small album of some kind.
“Oh, you did not.” Danny glared at his sisters.
Felicia rubbed her belly. “Oh yes, we did. You’re marrying him. So it’s time.”
I caught Colin’s eye who grinned widely. “You’re family now.”
I opened the album and the first photo was the one of Danny, Hallie, Thomas, and me on the beach at James and Colin’s wedding. My eyes watered.
“Keep going.” Danny’s glare softened a little. “Because I’m certain?—”
I flipped the page and burst out laughing.
“Jeez Louise, you just had to put in a copy of that picture.”
“Of you naked in the bathtub?” Gracie grinned what I was coming to know as her shit-eating grin. “You’d better believe it.” She smiled. “Lots of family photos with captions so you’ll know who’s who.”
Leticia nudged Felicia. “I’m the pretty one.”
Felicia nudged back. “Yeah, you go on believing that.”
Whitney cleared her throat. “There are some blank pages at the back. To start adding your own memories. But you’ll need to do a separate album for your wedding photos or Mama will howl.”
“You’re asking for trouble, my girl.” Mama glared.
A lot of glaring in this family. But all in fun. Or so I was discovering.
Still, I blinked a number of times, finally finding the courage to look each of the women in the eye. “Thank you.” I held the album to my chest. “This is truly the best gift I’ve ever been given.”
Mama smacked my arm. “You’re one of us now. Don’t forget that. Ever.”
I gazed over at Danny who blinked several times. I’d found my family. My found family. They welcomed me and my children. They accepted me as a partner for their youngest child. They protected us. All of them.
My life felt rife with possibilities instead of narrow with fear.
I couldn’t have been happier.