Chapter 62

Eight years later

Kendall

I used a specially designated dustpan and brush to collect up the worst of the flour left on my stainless steel table when I heard the jingle at the back door of the shop. I smiled as I swept up the rest of it, then quickly tossed the contents into the bin as tiny feet came stampeding towards me.

“Mummy!”

My daughter, Emma, and my son, Cayden, came rushing towards me, almost rugby tackling me around the legs as they burst into the shop.

“Easy!” Gage’s deep voice echoed around the room, but I got that secret smile he only shared with me. “Mum’s still cleaning up and—”

“Flour!” Cayden plunged his hands in the flour left on the table, and then once he had them coated, he advanced on Emma. He made a growling sound as Emma let out a little shriek. She wrapped herself around my legs right as Gage stepped in.

“No can do, little man. What did we say about doing mean things to your sister?”

“Don’t,” he replied. My heart strings tugged as I watched Cayden’s head fall to his chest, but Gage knew exactly what to do, picking him up and carrying him bodily over to the sink.

“Now that you got all dirty, we need to stick you in the sink!” Gage’s threat was delivered with a kind of theatricality only dads seemed to achieve.

“No, daddy, no!” Cayden squirmed wildly, right until he was plonked down beside it. The water was turned on, and my son thrust his hands under the water, flexing them in an attempt to get them clean.

“Remember soap and to sing happy birthday,” I said, the song often used as an indicator as to how long hospitality staff should wash their hands.

“Happy birthday…” Emma started to sing, bouncing over to the sink to supervise her brother. She was such a little mother, pumping out the soap for both of them, then making sure he scrubbed all of the flour off his hands.

“So, how have they been?”

I knew Gage had sidled up by the warm presence at my back. Strong arms wrapped around me, holding me close.

“Bickering non-stop, of course, but we sorted it out,” he replied, stroking my arms. “How was your day?”

We watched the kids as we chatted, the inconsequential challenges of running my own bakery nothing compared to them. And him. Leaning into Gage’s chest always made all my problems melt away, right up until the phone rang.

“Van.” His video call flashed up on the screen, and he shot me a crooked grin as soon as he caught sight of me, but I was focussed on the state of him. “The house is not coming along as you thought it would.”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “There’s termites and a burst pipe…” I heard Finn swearing up a storm in the background. “It’s a shit show, literally. We’re gonna finish up here, grab a shower before we get in the vans, and then we should be home in an hour or so.”

“Dinner’s already in the slow cooker,” I told him. “Yours will be warm when you get home. And Connor?”

“Connor!”

More swearing, this time from one of my husbands, let me know how well things were going. While he might’ve been filthy, wild eyed and stressed, that seemed to settle when Connor got on the phone.

“Babe, we’re gonna be late for dinner. It can’t be avoided. This fucking place…”

“Daddy said a rude word,” Emma piped up.

“Sorry, baby.” That soft look. Connor couldn’t see his daughter, but he looked off screen as if he could. “Daddy will be home soon. He’s just really really frustrated right now.”

“Maybe you should take a deep breath,” Cayden suggested, probably because his other dads suggested that all the time.

“I will, champ. I promise I will.” When Connor turned to me, he looked a lot more centred. “We’ll work out what we have to do to so we can down tools for the day and hopefully be home in an hour tops.”

That was being optimistic, but I had long accepted we all had weird hours.

“I’ll be waiting.”

“For me too?” Van pushed his way back in front of the screen.

“For all of you.” I glanced up at Gage. “Nothing feels right until everyone is under the same roof.”

We signed off then, leaving the two of them to sort out the mess while we had our own to deal with. The kids had devolved into a splashing contest now, forcing us to swoop in.

“Alright you little monkeys,” Gage said, swooping in to turn off the tap. “Time to get you in the car. We’re going home.”

“Awww…”

“If we move quick smart and with no fuss, I have some leftover cakes from the display case that we can have for dessert.”

“Cakes!”

The kids burst out the door, forcing Gage to chase after them, and I looked back at the shop, turning one set of lights off, then the next before staring at my workbench. I’d need to get up a little earlier to clean it properly before my day started again, but it would be worth it. Any time I spent doing the things I loved with the people I loved was worth it. I flicked off the last light, plunging the shop into darkness and then hurried outside to join my family.