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And look what we have to show for it now.
Lennox Isle. A beautiful baby girl that looks identical to Roan. I guess I’m in there too, I think she has my nose, but look at her. Isn’t she just the cutest thing in the world>
I guess all mom’s say that.
For days after her birth, when I finally came around, I stared at her. And then I stared at her even longer. Now here we are, celebrating her first Christmas. Okay, second Christmas but I don’t think that first one counts because I was in the hospital and we couldn’t properly enjoy it.
Scarlet sighs beside me. “Maybe I can’t do this.” She holds up the google instructions for how to cook a turkey. “It looks really complicated.”
Amberly takes the instructions from her. “It can’t be that hard. Willa does it every year.”
Willa stares at her, a mixture of amusement and annoyance on her face. “I’m going to pretend that wasn’t an insult.”
Amberly’s eyes widen. “It’s not. I swear.”
Smiling, I keep myself busy chopping vegetables. I spend a lot of time with Scarlet and Amberly these days and it’s nice to be friends with “The Wives” as Willa now refers to us as. Something she tells us she never thought she’d say if you knew our husbands five years ago.
I agree.
Even you had your doubts, didn’t you?
Amberly pours herself a glass of wine, then one for Willa. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, sliding the glass toward her. “Forgive me?”
Taking the wine, Willa moves closer to Scarlet who’s standing at the sink. “It’s not that complicated, Scar.” Then she looks around the kitchen that looks as if Christmas threw up in it. Cookies, appetizers, decorations, you name it and it’s here in attempt to give the little people in our lives a normal family holiday with no drama. We’ll see if it ends that way. “Where’s the turkey?”
“Oh, it’s uh, in its bath tub that Ricky had me put it in.”
“You were supposed to take it out already.”
Scarlet looks as if she’s going to cry now. Blame it on the hormones because any other time Scarlet is a bad ass and can handle anything.
Oh, right, you didn’t know this yet. She’s pregnant again. About six months along with a little girl. Wanna hear something funny?
All the Sawyer brothers have had girls so far. Roan likes to tease me that he’s going to keep knocking my up until he gets a boy, but I know more babies for us might be out of the question. And I won’t be traveling while pregnant, ever again.
Amberly finishes her wine and pours another glass. “Don’t worry,” she says. “I’m not breast feeding. My baby hates me, sleep… pretty much everything but her daddy’s arms.”
I smile, remembering Lennox’s attachment to Roan when she was a newborn. I think because she spent the first few days of her life in his arms.
Amberly sighs when she spots Tiller outside holding their newborn daughter. “There’s nothing hotter to me than a man holding a baby.”
Scarlet and I glance outside where the guys. She’s right. Nothing hotter than our husbands holding babies. Gone are the parties, drugs, women, and now here these glorified tattooed badass men are holding babies. It’s hard to grasp but these guys, they’re come so far. Evolving from crazy adrenaline junkies living on the edge to raising daughters. It’s enough that your ovaries burst. Again.
“Stop staring at them,” Willa grumbles, tying an apron around her back. “One of you is always pregnant.”
We laugh. It’s true. First Scarlet, then me, then Amberly, and now back to Scarlet. I guess it’s my turn again. At the thought, anxiety rushes through me. It reminds me of any time I stepped foot in this house ten years ago when Roan and I were… complicated. Does complicated even do us justice?
Probably not, but I think most relationships are complicated to an extent.
While Scarlet digs through a raw turkey for what, I have no idea, the doorbell rings.
“We’re here!” someone announces at the front door. I recognize the voices. It’s my parents.
Are you surprised they’re still together?
Don’t be. If there’s anything that can test the strength of a marriage, it’s infidelity. And maybe leaving toothpaste blobs in the sink. Just kidding. On the toothpaste. Or am I?
My mama, she’s one tough chick. I’m not saying forgiving my dad for cheating on her was easy, but she also didn’t talk to me about it much. For that, I thank her. She’s always been adamant that anything that happens in their marriage is between them as husband and wife. And she’s right. It is, but I’m happy that they chose to stay together.