Page 66 of Unscripted Love
“Want to make it three more?” Deanna asked her husband.
“Damn, she hears everything,” he mumbled then turned to go inside.
We were once again alone, and Gabe took advantage of the moment to back me up against the SUV. “Do you have any idea how happy you’ve made me?” He cupped my face in his big hands just the way I liked. The only thing that made me melt even more inside was when his strong hands cradled our babies safely against him.
“It sounded like you were complaining about the lack of sex a minute ago.” I looped my arms around Gabe’s neck and rose on my tiptoes. “I’ll settle for one of your toe-curling kisses for the time being,” I whispered against his lips.
Gabe lowered his head to close the tiny distance between us and kissed me just the way I liked. Slow and tender at first followed by hot, wet, and hard as our passion built. If I wasn’t careful, something else was going to get wet and hard, and we had a house full of people to contend with before we could even think about sex. Still, I didn’t want to let go of the moment, so I kissed him until someone cleared their throat to remind us that we weren’t alone.
I turned my head and saw that my mom was standing in the doorway. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Your father still corners me…”
“Mom, please don’t finish that sentence,” I begged.
She smiled broadly at my discomfort. “Diaper bags, please.”
Gabe hoisted the bulk of the luggage while I grabbed the rest plus the diaper bags, and together we made our way inside the house. We dropped our bags in the kitchen and followed the sounds of the cooing until we found everyone gathering around the two car seats they’d propped up on the coffee table. Like it had every day for the past two weeks, my heart stuttered to a stop in my chest for a brief second when I looked at our children. We’d been parents for a whopping fourteen days, yet I could hardly remember a time without them. That’s how fast we fell in love with our kids.
“You know, I wasn’t sure I could do it,” I said to Gabe.
“Do what, Sunshine?”
“Love another living soul as much as I love you, but there are two more that I can’t imagine my life without now. It’s like you’re all tethered to me by an invisible string; a part of me.”
Gabe wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. “You’re just tapping into the well of love you have inside you.”
Normally, I wouldn’t have liked getting so personal with a large gathering around, but they didn’t know we existed. At least our friends were waiting patiently for our sleeping beauties to wake instead of just snatching them out of their seats. I knew how hard that was to do and sometimes I was guilty of lifting them out of their bassinettes while they slept because I just needed to hold them and know that it was all real.
I looked at the faces of each of the people smiling down at our infants. They all brought something unique to our lives and made us better people. John and Adrian started out as Gabe’s co-workers, but we couldn’t love them more if they were our flesh and blood. Emory and Jonathon were the newest members of our group, but it felt like I’d known them my entire life. It seemed to me that their sadness faded a little bit more each time they came around, but I thought it had more to do with the undeniable attraction between them rather than anything Gabe or I had done. I hoped one day they’d stop pretending and start accepting that something special could develop between them. Mere and Chaz were the brother and sister I never had, and I was so happy to see them in love and planning exciting futures. Mere and Harley were engaged and planning a wedding. I expected to hear news out of…Wait a minute!
“Chaz Bailey Hamilton,” I said loudly, mimicking Mere’s tone she used when he was in trouble. “What is that round, shiny metal thing on the ring finger of your left hand?” I marched forward with my hands on my hips. “Did you get engaged and not tell me.”
“Um…” Chaz rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Well…”
“It’s not a particularly hard question,” I told him.
“No, I didn’t keep my engagement from you,” Chaz said sheepishly. “I got married and didn’t tell you.”
“Married?” we all asked at the same time.
“Why in the world didn’t you tell us?” Meredith asked.
“I can’t believe you got married without us,” I said in shock.
“Wow! When did this happen?” Gabe asked them.
We peppered them with one question after the other, but they didn’t seem to hear us. Chaz and Kyle were too busy staring into one another’s eyes while wearing sappy smiles. All the fussing did, however, wake the babies and they cried to show how unhappy they were at having their slumber disturbed.
“Look what you two did,” I said jokingly to Kyle and Chaz. “You woke the babies.” Gabe and I moved in to sweep up our children, but Mere and Deanna elbowed us out of the way.
“Now now,” Meredith softly said as she held Destiny against her chest. “Auntie Mere has you now, beautiful girl.”
“Oh, such a sweet boy you are, Dylan,” Deanna said to our son as she rubbed gentle circles against his back. Dylan was always more vocal and harder to calm down, but Deanna had the magic touch.
The room got quiet once again except for all the baby talk from the two women, but the peacefulness didn’t last long.
“You woke the babies!” Savage screeched from his perch in his fancy solarium. “Fucknuggets!”
Sassy began mimicking a crying baby. I had to admit she sounded just like them.