Chapter Forty-Three
Kendrick
From his position on the couch, Kendrick leaned forward at the sound of a truck coming to a stop outside the front of the house. When he realized who it was, he was off the couch and hustling to the door with an eagerness he couldn’t contain.
“It’s about bloody time you came to visit. I got a mountain of presents for the girls.” He’d popped in briefly the week before to meet Trey’s daughters, and he had left with the promise of a visit from his friend.
He had no remorse over the amount of money he’d spent on matching little outfits, soft toys and things that could entertain a baby.
And alright, he’d hidden the numerous parcels that arrived daily up in the spare room.
His reasoning was the sheer amount of room they took up, not that he was mortified to have lost all sense on the baby sites with all the cuteness overload—no siree, definitely not!
“It’s been a week, and you’re acting like its years since you last saw them. My precious girls needed to get accustomed to being in the baby seats. Didn’t you, Zinnia?”
Kendrick reached for the bag Cassidy held and ignored Trey’s comment as he strutted past carrying both girls in his arms like the proud daddy he was.
“What was wrong with the car seats?”
Cassidy rolled his eyes at his back and stage whispered, “Nothing at all, it’s just their overprotective daddy stressing when he has to strap them in.”
“I’m not an overprotective, stressing daddy!”
“You’d think he was the one who’d given birth to them,” Cassidy said around several giggles as he entered the house after his mate.
They’d barely gotten into the living room when the girls started to fuss.
“Do they need a nappy change?” Kendrick sniffed and felt a pang of regret when he smelled baby powder and what he assumed was baby body wash.
“They’re getting hungry.”
Trey, who was rocking the girls, stopped and gave Cassidy a pointed look. “You’ll need to express the milk. I packed everything in the bag.”
“Come on, stop being silly.”
“Silly about what?” Kenrick asked, noticing Trey’s pensive gaze.
“Breastfeeding.” Cassidy took the bag from Kendrick. “Can I use your kitchen?” he asked sweetly, throwing a look that spoke to how ridiculous he thought Trey was being.
“Go ahead. I’ll try to talk Trey into letting me hold the girls.”
Cassidy was back to giggling. “Good luck with that.”
Kendrick went and sat on the couch and held out his arms, giving Trey a hard stare, waiting for him to give in and put his daughters in them.
The sound of his sigh said it all, but Kendrick didn’t gloat when he came to him.
“Make sure you support their heads,” Trey murmured, being overprotective, hovering parent, he denied being.
“I have held a baby before,” Kendrick said in exasperation as Trey faffed around so much that Kendrick’s arms started to complain. “Just give me them.”
The girls both fussed, letting them know they were hungry, which was why Cassidy was doing whatever it was to express milk. It seemed Trey had an issue with Cassidy getting his chest out to feed the girls in public.
Kendrick couldn’t say he understood, but he sure hoped to find out.
Monty would go into heat in a couple of months' time, and they’d talked about it and their expectations.
He’d not mentioned anything to Trey yet.
They’d reduced Kendrick’s hours to just three mornings and one afternoon a week, and right now it worked because he was home when Monty and Rue were.
He didn’t see any point in talking about babies when there were no assurances that Monty would get pregnant during his heat, no matter how much he wished for it.
Trey made a few huffing noises as he finally rested first Zuri into the crook of his left arm and then Zinnia into the right crook.
“Hello sweet ladies, your daddy is just being silly. Uncle Kendrick knows what he’s doing, isn’t that right, Zuri?” He jiggled her carefully, hoping to get her to settle while they waited for Cassidy to return.
“How can you tell them apart,” Cassidy asked, strolling back into the room holding two bottles of milk. “Trey still gets the girls mixed up.”
“I don’t!” Trey blustered, going red in the face.
Cassidy kissed him before going to where Kendrick sat.
“It’s easy. Zuri has this tiny beauty spot right at the corner of her eye. Don’t you honey?”
Monty strolled into the room looking windswept. His gaze landed on the girls and a light of delight appeared.
“I thought that was Trey’s truck parked out front.” Monty hustled to the couch, peering down at the girls as he puckered up for a kiss. “I know someone else who needs some honey love.”
After a quick peck on the lips, Monty gave a kiss to each baby's head.
Cassidy perched on the couch next to Kendrick and offered the bottle to Zuri, who instantly suckled and quietened.
“Can I feed Zinnia?” Monty’s eagerness got a nod from Cassidy and an arched look from Trey when Monty clearly knew which twin was which.
“Sit next to Kendrick and I’ll lift her into your arms.” Cassidy moved to allow Monty to take his place.
Eagerly taking off his suit jacket, Monty threw it in the direction of one of the large chairs, not noticing as it slithered to the floor in a heap before he’d even sat down.
Arms outstretched, he wiggled his fingers in Cassidy’s direction, making him laugh.
Messy Monty would never change, not that Kendrick had any issue with it when he was so fucking adorable.
“I can see we won’t have any problem finding a babysitter when we need one.”
“Why do we need a babysitter?”
Trey’s seemingly silly question got a headshake and the comment, “Alphas!” while Cassity effortlessly moved Zinnia from Kendrick’s arms into Monty’s.
“Who’s babysitting? And are we having a baby party that no one informed me about?” Rue stood leaning against the doorjamb looking handsome, arms folded over his chest as he watched Monty with a longing he didn’t hide.
Monty didn’t take his eyes off Zinnia as she noisily gobbled down the milk, her gaze fixed on Monty. “I was with you, so you have to blame Kendrick,” Monty answered absently.
Kendrick winked at Rue and blew him a kiss. “How could I resist these two darlings?”
A week after claiming each other, conversation had somehow turned to children over dinner.
That was when Kendrick had discovered how much Monty wanted them and how conflicted he was about not wanting to be the stay-at-home parent.
It had taken very little—nothing at all—to assure Monty that he would be more than willing to fill that role in their babies' lives.
He was happy to be a stay-at-home parent.
If they were lucky enough to have children.
Our little otter is very fertile, we’ll have more babies than we know how to handle.
Please do not wish that on us! Secretly, he was thrilled by the idea.
“By the number of packages in the spare room from the baby website you’ve been visiting frequently, I’d say you can’t.”
Kendrick felt the heat warm his cheeks as he gave Rue a sheepish grin. “I’ve no buyer's remorse, none.”
“What did you buy?” Cassidy wore an eager smile.
“Rue can take you upstairs to see, if you want. Or you could wait until tomorrow, when I planned to bring it all when I came to help move the furniture in.”
“Bring it all? What did you do, buy out the shop?” Trey’s alarm was real.
“He did,” Rue answered, eyes gleaming with mirth. “He’s a baby shopper's dream. Unable to resist all the pretty things.”
Kendrick sniffed indignantly at being called out so blatantly. Was it his fault there were two babies to buy for and everything was so damn cute? No, it wasn’t.
“What time?” he asked, ignoring Rue, who didn’t contain his laughter.
They were finally moving into the lake cabin Trey had been having refurbished after he’d bought it. “First thing, if that works?”
“I can help,” Rue offered. “Take a couple of hours off.” He glanced at Monty. “Monty could have the girls up at the ranch house.”
“I’d love that,” Monty murmured in response, staring at a droopy eyed Zinnia, whose slurping had slowed considerably.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Cassidy had come to an agreement with Ethan about working on the ranch and bringing the babies in a stroller with chunky wheels that could manage the terrain, so Trey mentioned. Cassidy had only gone back the week before.
“Not at all. Office work… baby cuddles… it’s a no brainer. And I have to confess, I’ve been missing my time with Emmy.”
The honesty worked its magic on Cassidy, who nodded in agreement. “It would only be a couple of hours, but I’d very much appreciate it. And if it’s too much having them both, just call me and I’ll come straight back to the ranch.”
“I’ve got Ivo, Otis, Eric and Cace. They’ll be more than eager to help. Heck, I’ll be lucky to get a hold of the girls with how much they adore them.”
“They do.” Cassidy wore such a gleeful grin that, in the next moment, Trey had his arm slung around his shoulder, kissing him soundly.
When Trey pulled back, he was decidedly flushed. “Yeah, babysitters would be good.”
Everyone laughed as he finally caught up with Cassidy’s earlier comment.
“Should I order pizza for dinner?” Rue shifted upright, looking around the room.
“I’ve made meatball subs, and there’s plenty for everyone.” Kendrick switched his attention to Trey and Cassidy. “If you wanna stay?”
“You just want the girls to stay so you can get baby cuddles,” Trey accused, with some hilarity.
“And?” Kendrick replied, not looking at all abashed at being called out so accurately. And if he considered it practice, then what harm did that do?