Chapter 10

"Did you see me, Daddy?" Josh asked as he slid to a stop on his skates.

The kid was a natural. Soccer was on break with the weather, so I'd been working on his ice skating cause he liked hockey. My little man.

"I did," I told him, leaning against the wall with the other parents. "You should be out there though, listening to the instructor."

He grinned, and I swore it was Frankie's smile shining right back up at me. The "watch me do what I want smile" she wore when we were in second grade and she was more than willing to throw down.

"Go on," I said, sending him off. I checked my watch as he went, then focused on how he was moving.

"He looks good," a woman said as she drifted up to stand next to me at the rail. "He's young though, yes?"

"Five," I told her. "He'll be six soon. He enjoys it. That's the important part." I'd loved sports when I'd been younger. Loved the competition, the struggle, and the work. I never intended to force Josh into any of that.

At the same time, I'd played hockey in a recreational league for a while. I'd taken a break for now. But I could go back to it in a few years when the kids were older. Or maybe I could just coach the kids. Bubba and I were debating volunteering with the local Little League in a couple of years.

"He's good. That's mine over there…" She pointed to one of the boys hesitating at the edges. "He does fine when he's on his own, but in a group of kids…" Faint frustration rifled over the words.

"He's shy. Give him time, don't push. The kids will do that for you and once he makes a friend or two—it'll help." It was one perk for team sports, they did foster friendships. Of course, there were always exceptions.

The kids were moving again and I tracked Josh's practice. He was practically vibrating with excitement. Not all of which was for the game. Frankie and Bubba were coming home today. They'd be home from now until Christmas. They had a New Year's performance and five more stops, then the tour would end so she could be home as she edged into her third trimester.

She had a doctor's appointment in two days to also make sure she still had the sign off to go. Thankfully, they'd saved all the East Coast stops for this part. It meant we were all going to be closer.

"I hope so," the woman next to me said and I blinked. I'd half-forgotten she was there. "I'm sorry, I'm Jeanine Trox."

"Jake Benton-Standish." Still sounded weird sometimes and a hell of a lot more high brow than I felt, but the family name also fit.

"I know, Melodie told me." She motioned to where the other moms were standing in a cluster. Yeah, I didn't know which one was Melodie and I didn't ask.

I shook her hand then went back to tracking Josh. He was chatting again. The kid was so damn social. I liked that for him. It made adapting?—

"So, I don't know if you'd be interested, but Mack and I like to grab lunch after, maybe you and your son would like to join us?"

I thought I was reading too much into it until she stroked her finger down the back of my hand on the rail. Yeah. No.

"Appreciate the invite, but playdates are usually something we run past Mom before we do them and she likes to meet the other moms."

"Oh. I thought since you have him this weekend…"

Now she had my whole attention. "This weekend? I have him every weekend."

Dammit, this was what happened when I forgot to put the wedding band back on. I'd taken it off to finish some engine work on Coop's car this morning, then forgotten to shove it back on in my hurry to get Josh here on time.

Surprise marked her expression. "Oh."

"Happily married for well over a decade. Three kids. Two on the way." Planned to stay happily married. Period.

She didn't say anything for a long moment and I kind of hoped she'd excuse herself. Then, she said, "Well if that changes…"

"You'll be the last to know." Archie said from behind me. His voice was cold, precise, and ready to draw blood. "He gave you the polite answer. I'll give you the impolite one. Go the fuck away."

Flushing, she shot a wild look around then just left and retreated past the other moms. They were giving us speculative glances but immediately found elsewhere to look. Shaking my head, I caught Archie's smirk.

"You know how they say couples begin to take on each other's traits…"

"Shut up." Asshole. It was an effort to not smile though.

He chuckled. "You missed the flirting."

"I did not miss the flirting, I shut it down."

"No, you missed it at first." Archie folded his arms and leaned on the rail. Josh was racing with the other boys and keeping it clean.

"I was being polite."

His scoff at me earned a glare. "Shut up." Weak defense but it was what I had. No, I hadn't noticed the flirting. I was focusing on the kids. "The moms don't usually hit on me."

"Eh," Archie said with a shrug. "I've had a couple now and then, but my charming personality is such a turn off for them that they back off."

His charming personality.

I snorted. "Thanks, I appreciate the backup."

"It's all good. She wasn't getting subtle. So I took care of it." Like me, he tracked Josh on the ice. "Damn, is it me or is he moving even better than he was three weeks ago?"

"Not you. He's a natural. We should have seen it with how easily he picked up snowboarding. But I'd swear he'd been born on the ice for how he moves."

"As long as he's having fun." Yep, the cardinal rule for all activities. Some needed to be challenging and to push them. But the rest? No one was strong-arming them into anything they didn't want to do.

"What are you doing here? Not that I mind the company." He'd been working with Charlie asleep in his lap when I'd left.

"Bubba and Frankie are getting in early. Flight cancellation shifted them around. Figured I'd see if you two wanted to come with me to get her."

"Hell, yes." Not even a question. I reached for my phone and when I patted my pockets, I frowned. Then Archie held it out to me.

"Other reason I showed up. You left it in the garage. I have a feeling you were using it for a light and then put it down."

I grimaced, even as he laughed. "Thanks."

"Yep. When your phone was vibrating on the work table, I figured I'd come on down and deliver it. Then grab you too. Leave the car here, we can pick it up on our way back."

"Works for me." I scanned the phone for messages. Yep, there was one from Frankie and Bubba saying they were getting on an earlier flight. Excitement amped through me. Having them home at Thanksgiving hadn't been long enough. "I'm ready for this tour to be over."

"Same, but she's doing a lot better. It took her a minute to adjust." Archie keeping his cool settled my nerves too. "They have just two, three weeks tops after Christmas. Then they're home until the babies arrive."

Grinning, I nodded. "Good. The kids will like that."

"So will we," he commented and I couldn't really argue.

"You still not sure about the babymoon?"

"Been thinking about it. She sees Doc Patterson in a few days. Then another visit after Christmas. If she gets the all clear when the tour is done, I'll see about taking her somewhere close. But I don't know that she's gonna want to be really far from the kids."

"Fair." I got that. Selfishly, I also didn't want her far but we would do whatever she and Archie needed. Sometimes, Frankie forgot she needed to look after herself too. "We've got backup coming though." Starting in January, the grandparents had all set up a rotating schedule.

"Dad's actually excited about that," Archie said with a faint smile. "He likes when the other grandparents visit. Apparently, they now have their own regular group chat so they can keep up on everything."

"And gossip about us." I harbored no doubts about it. My father had mentioned it the year before. The moms loved to talk and the dads enjoyed the information. Not all the parents were in the chat. Coop's dad and Archie's mom… "Have you talked to your mother?"

He cocked his head to the side like he needed to consider his answer. "No. But she sent a card for Christmas, one addressed to me only, as usual."

Damn. "She's still salty about the lack of wedding invite?"

Archie just shrugged. "I don't care what she's salty about. Not anymore. Dad and I—we've come a long way. I extended an olive branch to her after Izzy was born. Then she was such a bitch about wanting to know if Izzy was actually my child versus you know…'the pretend game' we're all playing."

The absolute hostility edging his voice was something we all shared. The kids were ours period. For medical reasons, we needed the DNA knowledge and Frankie loved picking names that went with our initials. Beyond that, Izzy was every bit as much my daughter as Josh was Archie's son and these twins would belong to us as well.

Our kids.

Our family.

"Well, fuck her." The last time I'd even seen Muriel Standish had been senior year when Maddy had Eddie convinced that Frankie was his daughter. We'd flown all the way to Manhattan, Archie and I, to confront her and see what she knew.

"Pretty much."

I bumped his shoulder and he just gave a shrug.

"Don't worry about me. I got a dad for real out of all this and Muriel is where she chose to be. She wants to be out, she can be out. My family and I will be just fine. Looks like we're done."

We were but I still hated this for him. Granted, I'd had my own issues with my father for years. Issues I'd really needed to grow up to understand. I didn't think all the years and the distance would ever help out Muriel.

Her loss.

"Papa!" Josh yelled as he spied Archie as he skated over.

"Little Big Man," Archie held up his hand for a high five, and Josh smacked it.

"Did you see, Daddy?" Josh practically glowed with his accomplishment. "Coach says I'm good."

"I'm with Coach," I told him and then helped him put on the covers to his blades before I just picked him up and moved him clear of the other kids.

Between me and Archie, we got his skates off and his shoes on. "I'm starving," Josh said. "Can we get pizza?"

"We can look at that later," Archie said. "I actually came to get you and Daddy to go get Mama and Dad."

Josh's expression transformed. "Mama's coming home?"

"Yep." Archie checked his watch. "Flight should be here in just under an hour. We have time to get food on the way."

"Yay!!"

Josh half-skipped out to the car, then screeched as we cleared the doors. "It's snowing!"

I caught his shoulder before he could tear off into the parking lot.

"Sorry, Daddy," he apologized then clasped my hand.

"I know, no taking off."

"I won't."

Archie had actually brought the minivan. The first one we'd ever owned, but we actually needed the space when all of us wanted to ride together. It amused us both to be the minivan dads but here we were. It also had entertainment in the back for the kids—and sometimes us when we wanted to keep playing a video game on the way somewhere.

We picked up a small order of burgers and fries. Including extras for Frankie and Bubba. They might not be piping hot when we got there, but no one wanted Frankie getting in a car that smelled like food if there was nothing to share with her.

Their flight landed before we even got to the exit for JFK. Bubba and Frankie both messaged that they were on the way to luggage claim.

"We want to park, or do you want to drop me off, circle and come back, and then we'll meet you?"

We could do it either way. Archie glanced at the dashboard clock then at the traffic in front of us. "Message Bubba and ask him to tell us when he has luggage. If it's before we get up there, I'll drop you off, if not…"

Well, if not, we'd just pick them up. I fired the message off and got a thumbs up back. Archie drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Impatience crept through his careful facade.

Behind us, Transformers played to keep Josh entertained. We'd seen the movie so many times at this point, I could quote it.

And once upon a time, I'd actually liked the movie.

It was also why we were working on making him a remote control transformer for Christmas. It wasn't quite working yet. Still had a few bugs to work out. Traffic crawled but we made it to the arrivals lane and started to circle up as my phone buzzed.

"They have the luggage."

"Yes," Archie said and made a fist.

"Yes!" Josh yelled enthusiastically from the back seat and we were both laughing by the time I caught sight of her red coat and gorgeous blonde hair.

"You want me to drive back?" Cause otherwise, I was tossing Bubba up here and climbing in back with her myself.

"I got it." He flashed me a grin.

Then we were there and I was out. The bump was looking fantastic, though nowhere near as fantastic as she did. Her smile was equal parts relieved and elated. I picked her right up when she wrapped her arms around me.

Bubba chuckled as I cradled her, but he went ahead and got their luggage and guitars stowed away. Frankie dug her fingers in so tight I rubbed her back gently.

"What is it?" I murmured.

"Just happy to be home," she admitted.

"That's all?" Worry crested right through me as I set her down carefully. The chaos of passengers arriving and getting into cars and rushing around faded as I studied her. The lack of tears in her eyes was a good sign, but her grip was firm as hell.

"Talk later?"

"Mama!!" Josh was waving wildly and she glanced at him before looking up at me.

"Promise me it's not bad and we can wait. But I need to know you're okay, Baby Girl."

"I promise," she offered it so easily and without hesitation. "Just, it was a very long eighteen days. I'm ready to be home with the trees and the fire and the kids and you guys."

"Well, we're definitely ready to have you home." With that, I opened up the back sliding door and helped her inside. Josh cheered as she slid into the seat next to him and then he was trying to get out of his car seat.

"Nope," Frankie told him when he would have unbuckled himself. Then she started dropping kisses all over him and he squirmed, but laughed.

"Hey, Babe," Archie said over his shoulder. Then Bubba was in the passenger seat and I moved to the other side to get in on Josh's left.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him. "Kiss you when we're home."

"I'm holding you to that," he told her and I wasn't the only one chuckling. Still, I kept a firm eye on her all the way home. Josh populated the car with conversation as he told her all about ice skating and his new coach.

The tired radiating off of her utterly softened for our son. She listened, she played, she commented and once she glanced up at me and made a comical face. I was pretty sure that by the time we got back to the house, Josh had her briefed on every single second from when she left to when we picked her up.

At the house, Coop and Izzy came out to greet her and the volume increased as the kids vied for her attention. We got the luggage inside along with the guitars. Bubba went on child distraction while Coop got her upstairs so she could shower and change.

By the time we reconvened downstairs, Charlie was awake and crawling all over her. Some of the trouble and distraction in her expression had eased and she looked happier.

When I leaned down to brush a kiss to her lips, I stroked my knuckles down her cheek. "You sure you're okay?" Something seemed off and I didn't want to ignore my instincts.

"I'm much better now," she said and I caught Charlie before he could land on her.

"Little man," I scolded. "We do not jump on the furniture or Mama."

"Want Mama." He gave me an imperious look and I tucked him onto my hip.

"Ask nicely and no more jumping," I told him, then focused on Frankie again. Her lips were twitching like mad as she watched Charlie without quite looking at him. It was a skill we all mastered over the years. Largely because we enjoyed the kids antics even when we couldn't reward them.

"Otay. No jumping." Then Charlie tried to just fall forward and it required restraint to not laugh at him. Not that I let him land on Frankie.

"Be nice, Charlie or Santa won't bring you anything." Izzy sounded like the absolute authority and Josh froze in mid-motion climbing onto the sofa with Frankie.

I wasn't the only one clamping my teeth to keep from laughing.

"Want Mama no Sanna." Charlie's declaration got all of us and Frankie laughed as she held up her arms. I settled him into her arms and then nuzzled a kiss to her forehead.

The fire burned, the pair of trees on either side of the fire place glittered, and the snow fell outside the window, turning the landscape into a postcard. Jeremy carried out cups of cocoa for all of us. We were all home and the family was whole.

Frankie's laughter filled the room and eased one of the last concerns off my heart. Course, I wasn't the only one keeping an eye on her. While she hated when we hovered, I didn't want to take an eye off her until I was one hundred percent certain she was okay.

It could be just as simple as needing to be home and I got that. Didn't mean I couldn't keep watching out for her, until she got her equilibrium back.

"Jake…"

"Yes, Baby Girl?"

"Come sit down and stop glaring at the air." The amusement in her voice looped around me like a siren's call and I almost broke our own rule and hopped over the sofa.

Bad Daddy.

Still chuckling, I slid onto Frankie's other side, lifting her and Charlie both so I could settle her in my lap. Her eyes glittered and there was more happiness glowing there.

Better.

Much. Better.