Chapter Seventeen
Owen
By the next evening, it seemed like half of Willa’s family had descended on the house.
When I’d gotten back from work, someone I didn’t recognize—a woman with lilac hair, pale skin, and a long black dress—was walking down the street with Tuna happily prancing alongside her.
One man was in the driveway, hosing out the bins.
Inside, the countertops were full of dishes that, I imagine, had been dropped off by more family members than were currently in the kitchen working on what smelled like chicken noodle soup.
Women’s voices seemed mostly in the kitchen, laundry, and living room, while I could hear male voices in the family room and upstairs.
“Owen!” Willa’s mom greeted me, shooting me a beaming smile.
“Hey, Elsie,” I said. “Guess I didn’t need to bring anything back,” I said, waving the bag in my hand.
“Willa had some pretty bare cabinets. I’m sure it won’t go to waste. What’d you get?”
“The makings for soup. And a few different teas. Though, this is for minestrone, not chicken noodle. Which is the more traditional sick day food.”
“He cooks?” another woman asked.
“This is the contractor too, right?” another woman wondered.
“You didn’t mention how handsome he is,” a third said.
Elsie shot me an “uh oh” wince.
But a fourth woman appeared out of nowhere, taking my bag from me and passing me a cup of hot tea. “Bring this up to Willa for me. She needs to stay hydrated.”
“Bless you,” I murmured, getting a little wink out of the short, slight, dark-haired woman. “I’ll be back,” I announced to the rest before making my way upstairs.
I passed a man in the hallway who was a copy-paste of his father, minus a few years. The brother. He had a wiggly Adelaide in the crook of his arm.
“Owen,” he said, giving me a nod.
“Jackson,” I said giving him a nod back.
“Fair warning, she’s grumpy,” he told me before disappearing down the stairs to, I imagined, let someone else try to coddle Adelaide.
“I hear you’re grumpy,” I said, leaning in the primary bedroom door where Willa was curled under several blankets. Her hair was up in a messy bun, her nose red from blowing, her lids heavy from exhaustion.
“Jackson was being annoying,” she said, pulling herself up against the headboard and giving me a tired smile.
“Brothers can be that way. You have a house full.”
“It sounds like it. Mom has mostly been keeping them downstairs so I can ‘rest.’”
“But it’s hard to rest with a bunch of people in your house.”
“Yeah. Is that for me?” she asked, looking at the tea.
“It is,” I said, handing it to her so I could move the four empty cups already sitting on the nightstand.
“Thank you. It’s the only thing that makes my throat feel better.”
“Bad, huh?” I asked, toeing off my shoes then moving onto the other side of the bed beside her.
“The fever broke, so that’s good. But the sore throat and stuffiness are at their peak. I hope.”
“How’s Adelaide?”
“A lot less fussy with some medicine to keep the fever down and help with the aches. Though she absolutely hates the booger sucker.”
“Can’t blame her for that. Sounds uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, but she immediately breathes better. She’s had two baths and steams today. And nonstop rocking and singing. She’s being so spoiled she’s going to be miserable to go back to just me.”
“Nah. They’re just keeping her distracted from feeling miserable. She’s always going to want you.”
“You should be feeling pretty dejected right now too.”
“Why’s that?” I asked, pulling the covers up over her and tucking them.
“Tuna has fallen more in love with each new person he’s met today.”
“Oh, I have no delusions about my dog. He would lead a burglar to my valuables, help him carry it out, then leave in the van with him. He loves everyone. But that’s what I was looking for in a dog. I saw a goth-looking woman walking him when I drove up.”
“That’s Kit. She’s the one with a farm. And two giant Great Pyrenees dogs of her own.”
“She does not strike me as a farmer.”
“I know, right? She and Ariah used to be travel vloggers. Really popular ones. Then when they got tired of that, they decided to shift into homestead content.”
“Do either of them belong to the short, small, black-haired woman downstairs who saved me from a million questions by sending me up here with tea?”
“That’s my Aunt Janie. And, no. She only has a son. But don’t let her fool you, she’s not asking questions because she already knows everything about you from your shoe size to who you lost your virginity to.”
“You have a really interesting family.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
“I’d like to.”
“I don’t think you know what you’re getting into,” she said.
Then she launched into it.
It turned out none of her family was actually related by blood, but rather extremely close bonds forged by the women and their husbands. People who ranged from normal businesswomen—like her mother—to hackers, outlaw bikers, and self-defense experts.
“I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that you’ve been doing martial arts all your life,” I said when she took a break to nurse her sore throat.
“It was non-negotiable growing up.”
“You still practice?”
“Not as often as I used to, but my cousins and I all take classes here and there. And spar.”
“I’m not ashamed to admit that I would like to see that. Or spar with you.”
Willa glanced over, a little smile tugging at her lips. “I wouldn’t go easy on you.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
“I’d wipe the floor with you,” she said, sliding down on the pillows.
“I have a feeling I would enjoy every second of that.” I moved down on the pillows to stay eye-to-eye with her as we both rolled onto our sides.
“With you on your stomach with my knee in your neck?”
“Well, from that position, all I would need to do is turn over, and my face would be right where we both want it to be.”
Up so close, there was no way to mistake the way heat warmed her eyes and a flush moved across her skin as both our minds wandered.
“I have really crummy timing for getting sick,” she said, exhaling hard.
“Not like it was something you could control. Besides, I’m not going anywhere. We can make up for lost time once you’re feeling like yourself again.”
“You should start loading up on electrolytes now,” she warned.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked, trying to ignore the way my body responded to the promise in her eyes, in her words.
“By my estimate, by the time I get well again, we will have missed out on at least four days and at least five or six times of very adult playtime.”
“Think I’m up for the job.” I’d been in a long dry spell before being with her. I imagined she hadn’t been with anyone since finding out she was pregnant. We both had more than five or six adult playtime sessions to make up for.
“I have no doubt,” she said, her gaze slipping away. A little shy, maybe. She’d get past that. We just didn’t have enough time together to show her that she had nothing to feel shy or embarrassed about.
Someone cleared their throat, making us both turn to find her mother standing in the doorway with Adelaide.
“Someone is getting hungry. I just wanted to see if you wanted to nurse or skip this feeding.”
“No,” Willa said, pulling herself up. “I’m starting to get uncomfortable anyway.
Her mother handed over Adelaide and a cloth. “Just give me a call when you want me to take her back,” she said before making her way out of the room, mostly closing the door as she went.
“You can stay if you want. But no pressure. Some of my family gets a little uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, but that’s family,” I said as she undid a button up by one shoulder, making the front of her shirt spill open. “I’ve been between your thighs,” I reminded her. “And inside you.”
Her eyes flicked up, her lips parting as her gaze went momentarily blank.
“Sorry,” I said, not sorry at all. “Not fair to do that to you when you’re indisposed.”
Willa drew in a snuffling breath as she pulled Adelaide closer then reached to undo her nursing bra.
“She sounds snuffly,” I said as Adelaide kept latching and unlatching so she could breathe through her mouth.
“Yeah. I think another booger sucking session is in her future. Poor thing,” she said, running her finger down her daughter’s pudgy cheek.
“Couple more days and it’ll be all over.” I paused. “Then maybe we can have a day out. The aquarium, maybe. I think Adelaide might get a kick out of that. What?” I asked when she shot me a look I couldn’t parse.
“I like how you think about Adelaide.”
“Of course I think about Adelaide. If we’re doing this, she’s going to be the biggest part of our lives. Well, her and whatever breaks in this house next.”
“God, don’t even say that.”
“I should be done with this current job in two more days. Then I can get back to this bathroom.”
“There’s no rush. I think if the choice was getting my bathroom finished or spending some time with you, I’d choose the latter.”
“My schedule is much lighter next week. We should have plenty of time for both. This bed is too nice not to be sleeping in, and the hall bath is too far. Plus, the soaking tub. And a shower big enough for two.”
“I like the way you think. Do you mind?” she asked, holding a heavy-eyed Adelaide out to me so her hands were free to put her clothes back to rights.
I grabbed the cloth, put it over my shoulder, set Adelaide there, and attempted to emulate her father’s burping technique. Within a few rubs, I got a big burp and Adelaide’s squirming legs stilled.
“Look at you. You’re a natural.”
“Stole it from your father.”
“How’re we doing—oh, that’s a picture,” Elsie said, pausing in the doorway, her smile warm.
“She got a decent amount in,” Willa said. “And a good burp. She should be ready for a nap. But she’s super congested.”
“I have a steamy bathroom and a booger sucker ready. Then Grandpa is going to rock her to sleep. How are you doing?”
Willa made a grumbling sound.
“Try to sleep,” Elsie said. “I’m sure Owen is taking good care of you.”
“He is,” Willa said, even though I hadn’t really done anything. She waited until her mom was gone before speaking again. “What do you say about a nice little nap while my family takes care of everything else?”
Her, in bed, cuddled up next to me?
It sounded like the best way to spend the evening.