Page 56 of Anything for You (Veterans of Silver Ridge #7)

A few years later

Bruce

Leo snuck up to me, dark curls springing from his head since he’d been refusing a haircut, and peered into my arms.

“You see your little sister, buddy?” I asked my strapping little toddler. He was three and a half, and so gigantic, people sometimes mistook him for older. Almost a preschooler, but they often thought he was kindergarten or more.

Well, unless he was standing next to Will Rawlins, in which case he looked normal-sized since Will already looked about seven at nearly five years old. No one was surprised Beast’s child had turned out to be a giant just like his dad.

“She’s nappin’,” Leo said, his personal lilt making him sound a bit like a tiny Southern gentleman, and it killed me every time.

“She is. You can play with her later, after school, okay?” I hooked an arm around his waist and hauled him in for a hug.

He pressed a kiss to my cheek, then blew one to “RoRo,” as we’d all ended up calling Kiley Rose, and ruffled her auburn wisps of hair.

I released him, and he bolted across the space back to the little child gate where Nikki waited.

My heart leapt and my stomach clutched low.

It’d been a busy few weeks and we hadn’t had nearly enough time together.

But soon. I had some time off coming up, and she was taking it, too, so we could all just relax.

Kiley would come home for the break between semesters, and I’d breathe easy with all my people under my roof.

Though times like these—visiting the daycare for “Afternoon Snuggle Time”—felt pretty damn perfect, too.

Nik winked and gave a little nod. She mouthed “I love you,” and I just grinned at her, the ridiculous reality of my love for her causing her cheeks to flame.

“Oh, for crap’s sake, will you guys never get over each other?”

My head snapped in the other direction to see Kenny snuggling his twins, one in each arm, in a rocking chair in the corner.

Their IVF had finally worked and there’d never been a happier human being than Kenny Carmichael the day those babies were born.

Except maybe every day after, since that was just him.

“Like you’ve gotten over Elizabeth?” Adam asked, changing his youngest’s diaper on the other side of the room.

Tristan peeked in where Nikki had just been standing. “Is he really hassling you? This from the man who tears up anytime he so much as looks at his wife these days?”

Kenny scowled back at Tristan. “You’re one to talk.”

Tristan remained unmoved. “I’ll cry as much as I want to when I look at the woman who just carried my child for nine months.” Then he dropped to one knee, his boy Tommy just behind him with energy absolutely vibrating off his little frame. “You want to say hi to the Uncs before we go?”

Tristan stepped out of the way so Tommy, the same age as Leo, could say hi to the men he affectionately called “the Uncs.”

We’d all done it, this natural thing that when any of us had kids, we called each other aunts and uncles instead of Mr. or Mrs. It just fit in the context of being people who had chosen to function as family, and as our kids grew, we saw the value more and more.

“Hi! Unc Barbie, tell the babies I love them, and Unc Doc, you’re doing great. And Unc Jaws, she’s really cute and I’m gonna marry her when we’re both big, and now I’m going to Unc Beast’s to play with Will, bye!”

He darted away down the hall, and Tristan shook his head. “He was recently devastated to learn he can’t marry Winnie.”

We all chuckled, familiar with Tommy’s lover boy nature.

“She doing okay?” I asked, glad to see my friend after he’d been out for the first part of his parental leave.

He beamed. “Amazing. She’s in the car—wanted to get out of the house, so we’re taking Ally for a drive after we drop Tommy with Jess and Will.” A screech and then a cackle had my calm, steady friend’s head snapping to look down the hall, then he hollered, “Gotta go!” and jogged after his son.

We all shared a look, enjoying the chaos for our friend. One wild part of parenting alongside friends was our different methods for caring for our kids, but also the varied personalities. Since Tommy and Leo were nearly the same age, we often saw the intense divergence between them.

Apparently, Tommy had gotten Tristan’s mom’s fire, and Leo seemed to have a huge amount of Nikki’s quiet, thoughtful nature.

She claimed he was more like me, but whatever mix he was, I loved him.

And I couldn’t wait to see what this little spitfire in my arms turned out to be.

At just shy of twelve months, she was a mini boss and I suspected we were going to understand Tristan and Winnie’s lives with Tommy a bit more.

“Hey.” Beast stepped through the door, Cookie behind him, and extended his arms to Kenny. “Gimme.”

Barbie scrunched his nose, but happily handed over one of his babies, right as Cookie held out his hands for the other.

The daycare and preschool we’d built not long after Will was born and two other Saint employees became pregnant had become one of the best parts of the business.

Nestled on a corner of the property in a separate building, there was a huge outdoor play area with a ridiculous series of playgrounds geared toward different ages that Cookie spared no expense on.

As the kids got older, we’d added a preschool, which had been hugely popular, especially due to the ever-present need for quality childcare.

Now we had about half community families and half Saint families using the facility.

But this? Snuggle time? It’d been Kenny’s idea, and it was maybe the best thing we’d ever done.

Any afternoon parents were welcome to come in and snuggle their babies.

Of course, anyone could do this anytime.

But to someone who’d never had this closeness, never had doting parents or even the chance to be near his sibling until far too late, it embodied how sweet our lives in Silverton were .

As Beast and Cookie settled into their seats and tucked their given Malcom-Carmichael twin into their arms, I sighed.

“I think coordinated snuggle times is a real triumph,” Kenny said, leaning back and tucking his hands behind his head, eyes closed.

“So you can nap while your friends hold your babies?” Cookie asked, no malice in his tone.

He and Beast came to our weekly scheduled time to get their baby fix, as Beast had once explained. Jess’s pregnancy had been miserable enough they’d decided one was the perfect number, and Cookie and Elise had recently started fostering to adopt two amazing kids who were in elementary school.

Barbie snorted. “Let’s not pretend you don’t love it even more than I do, Sir Beast-a-lot. We both know you’re obsessed with the twins.”

Beast grumbled but then traced one of the baby’s eyebrows with an expression so protective and reverent, there was no arguing Barbie’s point.

“I don’t pretend I don’t love it,” Cookie said, smiling down at the twin he was holding. Honestly, when they were bundled, I had no hope of telling them apart.

“Where’s Stone?” Adam asked, settling into his chair with his tiniest little person, Darcy Jane.

“Right here, sorry.”

Stone showed up in the doorway, bending to unlock the gate while his gaze remained on the eighteen-month-old in his arms.

Barbie popped up and jogged to the gate, unlocking it so our friend could get in.

“Daddy late. But Daddy here.” Sweet little Lila snuffled and repeated herself. Her hair sprouted from two dark little pigtails on either side of her head and her bright blue eyes were even more startling than usual thanks to the tears tracking down her full, red cheeks.

Dorian hustled in, dropping a bag and settling into the sofa next to me.

“I’m so sorry, little one. Daddy’s car broke down, so I was late. I didn’t mean to make you worry.” He clutched her to him, snuggling his tearful daughter, before pulling back. “I’ll try my best not to be late again.”

Those big, bright eyes blinked and she said, “Bear help you.”

We all chuckled, and Dorian did, too. It was possible his little angel of a child loved his dog even more than she loved her parents. No doubt she’d love the new little baby who’d arrive in a few months ferociously, too.

Apparently, her faith in Bear couldn’t be shaken, even if her faith in her dad temporarily was.

He grabbed a book from the basket set on the low coffee table in front of us and showed her. She beamed, and after wiping the lingering tears from her face, she turned to me.

“Oh hi, Unc Bwooss.” Her little voice was so precious. “Babies are sleeping.” Though it sounded more like sweeping.

“Yeah, the babies are tired. Are you?”

She yawned but shook her head. “No, I not.”

I grinned at her right as Dorian did, and then he started reading.

I took a beat like I tried to every time we did this, stepping back from the hassles and harried schedule of work and life and obligations to soak in this moment.

Wilder, no longer a daycare daddy now that his youngest had reached kindergarten, held the fort at Saint Security in such moments.

These men had been my family for years now.

We’d been through untold challenges while active duty and an incredible adventure since.

Sitting in this peaceful space with the chatter of kids and a baby crying somewhere down the hall, for a moment I could hardly breathe past the enormity of it all.

We’d all made it out, made the transition to the civilian world, and we’d all found what we’d been looking for. Purpose, family, home, community.

Here we were. In the throes of wiping noses and changing diapers and teething babies and figuring out what it looked like to parent, we were doing it together.

“Love you guys.”

Barbie’s words came, putting my thoughts into words. A chorus of “you, too” rang out, even from Beast, and then Lila’s little voice came again. “You, too, Unc Barbie.” Bahhby.

Stone’s hand ran over Lila’s head in a gentle caress, tucking her closer as her blinks grew heavier.

We exchanged glances, somehow connected in this moment of surreal peace and gratitude.

We were the veterans of Silver Ridge, the men of Saint Security, and we were home.