Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
“Are you ready to go, guys?”
They were going to swimming lessons for the kids.
All of them.
It was good for JP to be in the water; it was good for him to get out of the house. It was good for the kids to swim.
It was a win-win-win.
If he could get them in the fucking SUV.
“Are you sure you want me along to do this?” JP asked for about the eightieth time.
“You can help your son be brave while I keep up with your adrenaline junkie, let me jump in the deep end daughter.”
“I’m just not sure about being in the water,” JP admitted, making a face. “Maybe Peter’ll help me be brave.”
“It should feel amazing. Mike says it’ll be great for you. He’s meeting us there to help you get in the pool.”
JP was going, dammit.
“Oh yeah? Getting in and out were my biggest worry.” JP sighed, then squared his shoulders. “Okay, guys, let’s get going. Your Daddy signed you up for swimming lessons so we’re doing this.”
“The water is fun!” Tori bounced.
“It’s scary…”
“Petey, it’s a big baftub.” Tori glared at her brother. “Be brave.”
“You and me can stick together.” JP grabbed his walker and headed out to the ramp to get down the front stairs.
“Okay…Are you scared, Dad?”
Ian scooped Tori up and put her in her car seat. Then he grabbed their gear.
Thank God he’d told everyone things started half an hour earlier than it really did.
“Not scared, but I haven’t been in the water since I got hurt, and I’m worried about how it’s going to feel, how it’s going to work.” JP put Peter in his car seat next to his sister.
“Oh. I will hold you and help you.”
Ian’s heart fluttered. His little boy was so sweet. Thank goodness, he needed one who was…
“Thank you, Peter, I appreciate that.” JP kissed the top of Peter’s head and closed the door before hauling himself up into the passenger seat.
“Thank you, love. You’ll have a good time. I know it.”
“We’ll see.” JP gave him a wink, though.
“Uh-huh.” He headed to the pool, tickled to see Michael already there. “Mike’s here, so we can all have family swim tine.”
“YAY!” Tori sounded utterly overjoyed.
JP chuckled and undid his belt. “Here we go. A new adventure.”
“Hey, fam.” Mike grinned at them. “I have my swim trunks on, and my towel.”
“We’re doing swims, Unca Mike!” Tori pumped her arms in the air again.
“I helping Dad in the water.” Peter held his hands up to be lifted out of his car seat.
“Are you? What a helpful boy. Thank you. Your daddy is going to keep your sister from drowning.” Mike shot JP a wink.
“Let’s hope so anyway,” JP cracked back. He grabbed his walker from Mike and followed the rest of them into the facility, Peter holding onto one of the legs of the walker.
Everyone had their suits on already, and Ian carried the bag with dry clothes and towels for afterward.
“It’s going to be so much fun, Daddy!”
“Let’s hope so.”
“Don’t worry about JP and Peter – I’ve got them.” Mike gave him a thumbs up and a reassuring smile.
“I trust you.” He held the door open for them. “Tori, stay here with me.”
Tori pouted at him. “But I wanna help Dad too.”
“Dad has Peter and Uncle Mike. How about you help on the way out?”
She frowned for a moment and then nodded. “Okay. Let’s swim, Daddy!”
“Yay!”
It was a thing, but Ian took both kids — it wasn’t as if he didn’t know how, after all — while Michael helped JP into the water.
JP laughed as soon as he was in the water, bouncing a little. “Oh wow – this is awesome!”
“Right? You’ve got permission to do up to an hour a day. It’s great and no impact.” Michael was explaining, and Peter was clinging to Ian, and Tori was trying to swim to the deeper end.
“I feel like I’m not even hurt.” JP laughed. Then he turned to Ian and Peter. “Come on, Peter. You have to come in with me. It’s wonderful.”
“Go, Petey.” Tori waved him off. “Go. Go. Go.”
Petey gave Ian a look and he nodded. Then his son turned and went over to JP and Mike, leaving him with Tori.
“Okay, Daddy! Let’s GO!”
Ian took her, letting her swim and kick and wear herself out.
She managed not to drown herself, having the time of her life.
Every time he peeked over toward JP, the man was smiling, and Petey seemed to be having fun in the water too.
Tori was focused, little body moving furiously, legs kicking so hard.
“Are you having fun, honey?”
“I winning, Daddy!”
“You’re winning? Go team you.” How did someone win at swimming? Staying alive?
“Yay!” She pulled herself out of the pool, then turned around and leapt back in, water splashing everywhere.
He shook his head and followed her, glancing over to see JP helping Peter ‘swim’, and suddenly his mouth went dry.
JP was built like a Greek god, muscles defined still, the big, beautiful body stealing his breath.
And that smile as he cheered Peter on… was it any wonder he’d fallen in love with the man?
“Daddy! Jump in with me!”
He nodded and sat down on the edge of the coping before sliding into the water.
She cheered and swam right up to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and laughing.
He hugged her neck and danced her around in the water. “I love you, ladybug.”
“Love you, Daddy!” She kicked with her legs, hitting his thigh and narrowly missing the family jewels.
“Careful girlie. If you do that with Dad, you could really hurt him. All right?” He thought that might get in her brain.
“Okay, Daddy. I no swim us – you swim us. Go, go Daddy!”
“Go, go Daddy!” He was so going to have a pre-supper nap.
By the time Tori was showing any signs of being tired, Mike, JP and Peter were no longer in the pool area, and Ian was exhausted.
“Come on. Time to change, baby girl. Dad needs a snack.” Maybe by the time they got home, the guys would be done with the stair lift.
Once they were changed and back in the foyer, they found JP, Peter and Mike waiting for them, JP sitting, looking tired but happy.
“Hey, guys. Let’s go home.”
“I want ice cream,” Tori said, and he smiled, the expression feeling tight around his lips.
“There’s ice cream at home. I bought some.”
“Good deal. And I was thinking we could order supper tonight, Chou. Today was fun but it was a lot.”
“Sound good? Go home, have ice cream, have some quiet time?”
Tori tried to decide whether she wanted to have a melt down or not.
“Ice cream!” Petey cried out. “I like ice cream.”
“Then let’s go home and have some.” JP started walking toward the parking lot.
“Man, brother, you have a tired little family right here.”
“I’s not tired!” Tori insisted. “I want fancy ice-cream!”
He scooped Tori up. “Let’s go, guys. Ice cream at home.”
“No! Me wants good ice-cream!” She was about to have an absolute meltdown about it, too.
“Victoria, stop shouting right now or you aren’t getting any ice-cream at all.” JP all but growled the words out.
“Michael. Please help JP in the car.” He held the kicking and screaming Tori in one arm and took the now sobbing Peter in the other. “And open the car doors?”
“Yeah, we’ve got this.” Mike got the back doors open first, then helped JP get in the passenger seat.
He put Peter in first, locked him in, ignoring Tori’s screams with experience.
“How are you so calm?” JP asked as he moved around to the other side of the car.
“I’m used to it. She has a tipping point, a temper, and her little body doesn’t understand rest.” Ian winked at JP. “I blame you.”
“Go ahead, I have broad shoulders.”
“Mmhmm.” And he was a little in love with them.
He got settled behind the wheel, and JP touched his leg, which let him focus on something other than Tori who was still wailing in the back.
“Are you okay to drive with that or should we wait until she’s cried it out? I assume she will cry it out.”
“Oh, we’ll just head home. They’ll both be asleep before we get to the end of the block.” Ian winked over. He wasn’t worried. That wasn’t the sound of real distress. That was exhausted anger.
Sure enough, the sounds faded, and when they got home both twins were fast asleep, tears staining their cheeks.
JP sighed. “I wish I could help you carry them in.”
“You can stay in the garage with one while I grab the other, though. That’s a help.”
That earned him a nod. “I can totally do that. I’m extremely good at sitting right now. Like an expert at it.”
“I just hope the workers are gone. Thank goodness Alex was there to clean so that she could watch them.”
“You worry too much, Chou. Take a breath and then move the kids. I’ll be here until you’re done.”
“I will.” He pulled in to the garage, tickled to see the big van gone. “All right. We’re home. I’ll start with Tori. She needs a deep, long nap.”
“We all do.” JP gave him a wink.
The man wasn’t wrong.
He carefully undid the belts on Tori’s car seat and picked her up. She didn’t wake up, thank goodness.
She was limp and heavy in his arms, and the house looked amazing, a folded up chair lift at the bottom of the stairs, a new door waiting for him to paint it and install a locking door handle.
He took her and put her in bed, then headed down to get Peter. “I’ll be back to help you.”
“Challenge accepted.” JP gave him a grin. “To see how far I can get before you’re back.”
“Good deal.” He took Peter up, patted his back until he was sound asleep, then went to get JP.
Nap.
He needed a nap.
First he had to do laundry.
JP had made it out of the SUV and up the first couple of stairs. He was clearly tired, too, though, because he was currently just standing there, catching his breath.
“Hey, you. Let’s go. Your lift is here. That means we’re done with the hospital bed, and they can come get it.”
“So I’m going upstairs even just for naps?” JP beamed at him. “I like sleeping with you, Chou.”
He nodded, barely hiding his smile. “It’s time for me to reclaim my dining room, love.”
“Is that the only reason you want me upstairs?”
“Oh totally…” He chuckled softly. “I ache to dust the light fixture.”
“Butthead.” JP was grinning though, wasn’t he? “Help me get up these stairs, Chou. I need to sit and not get up for a while.”
“Of course.” He helped JP get in the chair, strapped him in, and handed him the remote. “I’m going to carry the laundry up behind you.”
“Give me the laundry, Chou. I have a lap.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you should test it first. Just to get used to it.” There already was a walker up at the top of the stairs.
JP just held out his hands.
“You are a stubborn bastard, you know that?” He handed over the wet, chlorine-smelling laundry. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” JP looked at the remote and pressed a button, jumping when the chair started moving.
It wasn’t fast, but it was quiet and smooth, and it got JP up the stairs.
“What do you think?”
JP’s grin was huge. “It’s great, Chou.”
“Oh, I’m so glad. This will make your days easier.” He took the laundry and tossed it in the washer while JP got to the bedroom.
When he was finished he picked up the kids’s toys, making his way toward the bedroom and JP.
“You need anything, love?” If JP said yes, he was going to cry.
“I do.”
He took a breath and steeled himself.
“Come lie with me, Chou. The kids are asleep, so you can relax for a while.”
“Oh.” He swayed, surprisingly close to falling down.
“I’m not up to hauling myself over there and making you, so you’ll have to bring yourself. Come on, now.”
“Hush, you.” He crawled into bed, snuggling right into JP’s side. “God, my head hurts.”
“Did you take something for it? Because I have a whole pharmacy of shit for pain.”
“Shh. I just need to close my eyes a second, love. With you.” He didn’t want to move.
“Well, I’m not going anywhere, so you can do that. I’m going to close my eyes with you, too.”
“Mmhmm.” He nodded and sighed, sinking into his lover without another thought.