21. Chapter 20
Richard
The last two weeks were a blur. Jo and the kids stayed at my mom’s. We got through the funeral for her dad and Johnny’s still in jail.
Christmas was two weeks away, and today the entire family was together at the mall to do some shopping.
Big surprise, it’s full of idiots.
We’ve run into Ethan, Vivi, and their kids. Henry and Miranda were out doing their thing. And we even saw Edie, Frank, and Matthew.
Harrison and Matthew were in the same class, and the boys were trading Christmas wish lists.
Jo leaned against me, and I pressed a kiss to her head. “Me and the boys want to go check out a couple of stores, just us.”
She tilted her head up and narrowed her eyes. “What for?”
“Don’t be so nosy.” I chuffed. “We have special man things to do.”
“Me and Coop will be back.” Sammy said as she grabbed his hand and drug him off.
“Well, fine.” Olivia linked arms with Jo. “Let’s go get your eyebrows done while they do whatever without us.”
“What’s wrong with my eyebrows?” Jo looked offended.
“Girl, they shouldn’t look like caterpillars crawling across your face.” She tugged Jo’s arm. “C’mon.”
I watched them walk off, and then I led the boys to the food court. We got pretzels and found a corner where we could sit together and talk. Clearing my throat, I looked at them all.
Grady offered me his drink.
“No thank you, son.” I took a breath. “I wanted to talk to you three about something very important.”
The three boys put their heads together, talking amongst themselves, and then they looked back at me.
“We’re ready, because we have something we want to talk to you about, too.” Harrison informed me as he folded his hands on the table, businesslike.
I felt a proud smile spread across my face. “Would you boys like to go first?”
They put their heads back together and this time Tyler spoke when they moved apart. “We’d like to hear what you have to say.”
I rubbed my hand over my beard, took a deep breath, and folded my hands on the table. “As you boys know, your mom is no longer married to your dad.”
“Thank. God.” Tyler dramatically sighed before popping a bite of pretzel into his mouth.
Trying to stifle the laughter I felt, I continued on. “How would you boys feel if I asked your mom to marry me?”
“What about us?” Grady tilted his head.
“Well, I’d be marrying you boys along with your sisters.” I broke off a piece of my pretzel. “It’s a package deal.”
“So, what you’re saying is you want to marry us all?” Harrison narrowed his eyes and twisted his lips.
“Yes.”
The three boys put their heads together again and talked amongst themselves. I’d never been more nervous in my life. My heart was in their hands.
I watched with bated breath as they broke apart, and Harrison nodded. “We like that idea. We were going to ask if there was a way you could be our dad.”
“It would honor me to be your dad. We can look into how to make that happen, but I want you to know. I don’t need a piece of paper to love you or be your dad.”
“You should ask mom for Christmas.” Tyler nodded
“Think so?” Reaching into my inner coat pocket, I take out the ring box and set it on the table.
Cooper and Sammy walked over and joined us with their drinks.
Sammy narrowed her eyes. “What’s in the box?”
“What’s in the box?” Cooper imitated Brad Pitt from Seven .
Sammy looked over at him and shook her head. “Something is seriously wrong with you.”
“Richdad is gonna be our dad.” Grady sat forward and loudly whispered it as though it were a secret.
“That’s really cool, little man. Everyone needs a good dad.” She half smiled as she leaned her head against my brother’s shoulder.
“You boys can open the ring box.” I nodded to it.
Harrison picked it up and lifted the lid. “Oh, mommy loves green.”
“Lemme see?” Sammy leaned around and gasped. “Holy hell, that’s cool!”
“Hell’s a bad word, Sammy.” Grady twisted his lips.
She shrugged and looked at Cooper. “Nothing?”
Coop shrugged. “You could say worse.”
“It looks old timey.” Tyler scrunched his nose.
“It was our grandma’s.” My brother offered me his fist for a bump. “I think Jo’ll really like it.”
“Will that make us related to you?” Grady smiled and batted his eyes at Sammy.
Sammy sat back, deep in thought for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah. We’d be cousins. Right, dad?”
Cooper’s mouth fell open, and I laughed. “Well, now we know how to shut Coop up. Yes, Sammy, you all would be cousins.”
“Shit.” Tyler shook his head. “Now I can’t marry you.”
We all busted out laughing and finished our snacks. There was shopping to be done, and after we planned a movie night. Time to get back to it.
Jolynn
“I’ve had five kids. I cannot wear that.”
Libby tilted her head. “Why not?”
“This body is not meant for sexy lingerie anymore.” I shook my head.
“Ugh.” Libby pulled me into the store, then took over the stroller. “Pick something festive.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“The hell I’m not.” She cocked her hip out and placed her hand on it. “Richard loves you . Every bump, cut, scar, stretch mark on your body. So honor that. Pick out something sexy and we’ll keep the kids.”
“You’re like the sister I never had.” I sniffled as I looked around the store.
“I love you like one.” She held up a pink babydoll. “What about this?”
I crinkled my nose. “Too cutesy.”
The store was moderately crowded, and I laughed when I saw Libby struggling to stop a table display of panties from being pulled down by Emma.
Along the back wall, a rainbow of colors caught my eye, and I made a beeline for the emerald green babydolls.
Sheer, trimmed in something soft and fuzzy, under wires to hold the girls up.
“Hey, Libs!” I held one up and her eyes grew wide as she gave me a thumbs up.
Giggling like a schoolgirl, I found my size and made my way to the checkout. From behind me, a voice startled me.
“He’ll choke when he sees you in that.”
“Jeremy!” I snickered and linked my arm into his. “What has you in here?”
He gave me a shy shrug. “There’s these silky boxers that I love.”
“Maybe I should get Richard some?” I leaned into him. “Stocking stuffer?”
He nodded. “I would love to see his face on Christmas morning pulling out lingerie in front of everyone.”
“Hold my place.” I dashed over to the men’s section and Jeremy pointed me to the ones he liked and I found a pair in dark green. “Perfect.”
Weaving my way through the crowd, I rejoined him in line, and we chatted easily until we paid and made our way to the next store.
The three of us took turns pushing the stroller and helped each other shop. When he went into a shop alone, I looked at Olivia and she narrowed her eyes at me.
“What?”
I took a deep breath and let it out.
“Seriously. What?”
“Is he …” I cringed.
Libby nodded. “I think we all know, but he doesn’t yet or isn’t ready to tell us.”
“He fits with us girls so well. But he’s still … manly.”
She threw her head back with laughter. “He talks about girlfriends, but we’ve never seen any.”
“His dad …”
“Oh. That son of a bitch? Fuck him.” Libby growled.
“Duck ‘em!” Briar yelled from the stroller, and both of us had our eyes wide open.
Libby covered her open mouth with her hand. “I’m so sorry.”
Jeremy came back, looking between the two of us. “What’d I miss?”
“Duck ‘em!” Briar yelled out again.
“Did she just …”
Libby shrugged. “Oops?”
“And you give Cooper shit.” He laughed.
“Dit!” Emma yelled, clapping her chubby hands.
Throwing my hands up in the air, I let the laughter take over. “I give. My kids are now heathens.”
“As if that’s a bad thing.” Jeremy pushed the stroller, and we followed along to finish shopping.
By the time we met back up with the others, we were running out of hands and arms to carry packages.
“I declare this adventure a stunning success!” Cooper wrapped his arms around Libby and Sammy.
“Agreed.” Richard came over and kissed me. “Let’s head home. There are movies to watch and cocoa to drink!”
Cheers came from everyone, and we made our way to the cars and loaded up our haul.
We sang songs on the way home and when we arrived, everyone ran in different directions to hide gifts.
Since Cooper and Olivia had their house, I’d been staying in his old bedroom. As I put packages into the closet, I held back my special purchase.
I can’t have sex at his mom’s house.
Sighing, I turned to put it into the closet and then stopped.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
Giggling to myself, I tossed the bag on the bed. “Just a little teaser.”
“Jo?” Richard tapped on the door. “You hiding in there?”
I ran over and opened the door a crack. “Think we could hide in here for a little private time?”
He looked over his shoulder and then dropped his voice low. “You wanna get frisky?”
“I just wanna show you something.”
“Lemme in.” He growled playfully.
“Gimme five.” I laughed. “Go get the kids settled in.”
“Bossy woman.” He winked and turned away from the door.
I stripped down and set out some comfy clothes for later, then donned my new lingerie. The material was soft on my skin, and it made me feel sensual.
Taking a look in the mirror, I adjust my tits into the cups and tied the bow between them pretty. The panties weren’t covering much up, but enough.
I let my long hair down and shook it out to enhance the waves, then got on the bed, propping myself up on my side.
The wait for Richard to join me felt like forever, but when he arrived, he slipped into the room and his jaw hit the floor.
“Jo …”
“You like?”
His head nodded slowly. “Oh yeah.” Like a predator stalking its prey, he crept towards the bed. “How quiet can you be?”
“How quiet do I have to be?” I brought my finger down my neck to my chest and let it play with the bow.
“There’s six kids, five adults and two dogs in this house.” He pulled his shirt off, exposing his abs. “We’re two consenting adults.” He unbuckled his belt. “Alone.”
My nipples were hard as he put a knee on the bed and rolled me onto my back. His mouth was hot as he covered one through the material, sucking and teasing it with his lips.
“Mmm, Richie.” I felt my panties dampen as he settled between my legs.