Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“This looks amazing. Thank you so much for making dinner,” Brogan tells my mom.
“It’s not much, just spaghetti and meatballs, but a little birdie might have told me that you love Italian.”
“I do,” Brogan tells her.
The doorbell chimes, and voices ring out right after. Voices that I know she recognizes by the look on her face. I don’t get time to tell her what’s going on before Forrest, Briar, and the girls step into the kitchen.
“Aunt Brogan!” River cheers.
“Uncle Maddox!” Rayne says excitedly.
“We missed you,” they say at the same time.
“I missed you too.” I bend down to wrap them both in a hug.
“What are you doing here?”
“We’re celebrating your birthday,” my mom tells her. “We couldn’t do that without your sister.”
I look up at Brogan and there are tears in her eyes. “Really?” She can see for herself that they’re here, but she’s so overcome with emotion, she asks just to make sure.
“Really,” Mom says, coming to stand next to her and pulling her into a hug. Her voice is quiet, but we all hear her when she says, “I know your parents aren’t here to celebrate with you, and well, I know that we can never fill their shoes, but we’d like to be placeholders for them if you’ll have us.” She glances over at Briar and holds out her hand. My sister-in-law doesn’t hesitate to take it. The three of them are in a small huddle, now whispering words I can’t make out, but they’re all smiling with tears in their eyes.
Happy tears.
“Who are you?” River asks, always the inquisitive one.
“My name is Cassie. I’m Maddox’s mommy.”
“Oh,” she and Rayne reply at the same time.
“But you can call me Grandma.”
“Really? We don’t have one of those here. Our grandma is in heaven,” Rayne explains.
There are very few things in life that get me in my feels, but this right here, I’m feeling it. I know I’ve been telling Brogan this from the very beginning, but it’s finally setting in for me. We are their only family. Instead of holding my wife, I wrap my arm around my mom and kiss her cheek. No words are said, but none are needed. She knows what she’s offering and how much it means to me. She knows how much it means to them.
“I’m Hank,” my dad speaks up. “But I was kind of hoping you’d call me Grandpa.”
“We don’t gots one of those either,” River says, with excitement in her eyes.
“Ours is with our grandma in heaven,” Rayne explains, sounding far older than her five years of age.
“That’s our mommy and daddy.” River points to Forrest and Briar.
“Our mommy has a baby in her belly,” Rayne says cheerily.
“I’ve known your daddy since he was your age,” my dad tells them.
“You did?” they ask at the same time.
“We sure did. Now, I need some help. I made a big ol’ pot of spaghetti and meatballs. Do you girls think you could help me eat it?”
“Oh, we love sketti.” Rayne smiles up at my mom, and I can see her heart melt for my nieces.
“Perfect. And guess what?” Mom’s pretending to be whispering, but we can all hear her.
“What?” the girls ask, whisper shouting and leaning in toward my mom.
“After dinner, we get to have cake and ice cream.”
“Is it a birthday cake?” River asks.
“Yes. Homemade.”
“What’s that mean?” Rayne asks.
“It means that I made it right here in my kitchen instead of buying it from the store or bakery.”
“Oh, we like to bake too. Uncle Maddox and Aunt Brogan let us bake cookies when we had a sleepover.”
“They did?” Mom sounds shocked, playing into their responses. “Well, I wonder if sometime you could have a sleepover here and we can bake all the goodies.”
“Mommy, can we?” River asks.
“Please, can we?” Rayne adds.
“I’m sure we can make that happen,” Briar tells them.
“Dinner is ready. Let’s eat,” Hank calls out.
Forrest and I help make plates for the girls and set them at the table between us. Brogan and Briar sit together on the opposite side of the table, and my parents are at either end.
The day is filled with laughter, love, and family. When my eyes meet my wife’s across the table, she mouths, “I love you,” and I give her words right back to her. This is our life now, and what our future will look like for many years to come.
I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Tonight feels like old times, only better. It’s better because instead of sitting in Forrest’s backyard around the fire holding my beer, I’m holding my wife and my beer. I’m pretty damn sure it doesn’t get better than that. Oh wait, it does because my wife is in love with me. The night couldn’t be more perfect.
Somehow, after dinner last night at my parents’ place for Briar and Brogan’s birthdays, we ended up with my parents offering to watch the girls, which led to Monroe calling her parents to watch Kane, and Roman calling his to watch Lilly, and here we are, having an adult night.