Chapter 56

Millie

“You’re going to be an amazing mum…”

Charlie’s words came back to haunt me as soon as we started the course. I watched him attach the boys’ safety ropes, the carabiners humming as the boys were off, skipping over obstacles like they were nothing and running ahead.

“Boys!” Charlie shouted, but the kids were too caught up in the buzz of an unfamiliar adventure. “The little bastards…” he muttered to himself. “Mills, I’ve got to go after them.”

“I guess we aren’t getting takeaway for lunch today,” I said in an overly loud voice.

That was manipulative as shit, but hey, if it was good enough for my mother, it was good enough for me. The boys froze and then came back to us at a much slower pace.

“Sorry.”

They both looked honestly apologetic about going off without us, and while I wasn’t sure how sincere that was, I could work with faux contrition as well as genuine.

“We need to work together,” I told them, bending down slightly to get more on their level. “You boys are obviously very good at climbing.”

“The best!” Ben popped his biceps, dragging a chuckle out of me.

“Well, I’m not.” I looked down and instantly regretted it because the first stage was a series of swinging steps, each one like a wood and rope swing. “And if we’re going to do this, we need to stick together. Do you think you can help me get through the course?”

Two sets of eyes snapped up to focus on me, and I saw a healthy mix of compassion and self-interest there.

“Then we get takeaway for lunch?” they asked me.

“If we all get through the course together,” Charlie told them in a firm tone. Watching the kids’ eyes swivel his way, the way they paid attention when he spoke made me smile. “You run ahead, you’re getting your own food. Stick with us…”

A quick nod made clear they understood the assignment.

“Hold my hand,” Billy said so-very seriously. “I’ll help you, Auntie Millie.”

I wasn’t sure where the auntie bit had come from. The kids had put me into the family framework within seconds of our introductions. Astrid? Not so much. I saw those narrowed eyes, that questioning look, and knew Charlie would be in for a grilling later, but I couldn’t focus on that right now.

“The steps are moving all the time.” Billy’s foot shot out and he stopped the first one, holding it in place with a hand on the rope. “But if you grab it and hold it still?—”

“You can take the first step.”

I thought I had it, pushing off confidently only to find the way the step swung alarming. A little yelp had Charlie appearing beside me.

“This was your idea of a date?” I hissed under my breath.

“Something fun—” he replied.

“Fun? Just so you know, I prefer the ground to be stable under my feet at all times,” I ground out.

“You can do it, Auntie Millie!” the boys cried, and they were right. I had to, people starting to mill around, waiting for me to move on.

“Getting through obstacles together,” Charlie said, leaning on the rope almost negligently. “I figured it would be good practice.”

For parenthood, that went unspoken, and maybe he was right. I had felt like I’d lost my footing since the moment I met Charlie and his friends. My boring little life had exploded, but… I looked ahead, saw kids and adults alike scaling greater and greater heights. Maybe it could be replaced by something far better. I took the next step and the next, Charlie shadowing my every step, the boys coming behind us.

“You’re doing great!”

The boys were cute, I decided as I gripped the top rope. My feet were sliding across the bottom one, this obstacle feeling way too flimsy to be safe, but here I was, making my way across. Once they got the chance to burn off a bit of energy, they seemed to take our directive to heart. My ego was taking a bruising. Having two primary school kids cheer me on felt like a come down somehow, but I appreciated their efforts.

“You did it!”

Benny, the younger of the two boys, threw himself at my legs when I got onto the platform at the end of this obstacle.

“Whoa!”

I staggered back a little, knowing the safety rope would stop me from getting hurt, but still, my heart started to race from a standing start. A hand snapped out and grabbed my shoulder, stopping me from going further and that had me meeting Charlie’s eyes.

“Um… thanks.”

“Uncle Charlie will keep you safe,” Benny announced. “He’s a fireman. He’s big and strong and saves people.”

“He is, isn’t he?” It felt a little strange, sliding my arm around Charlie’s waist. For him too, I wondered, because I felt his muscles tense, right before he drew me closer. “OK, how are we going to get through this obstacle?”

That was a genuine question. A wooden board spanned the gap between the trees, those small resin hand holds rock climbers use the only means to get across.

“This one takes a fair bit of upper body strength.” Charlie squinted, assessing the situation. “Maybe we should try a different route.”

“Uncle Charlie…”

The boys slouched, the despair obvious in their voice.

“Hey, boys have great upper body strength.”

“Yeah, boys rule, girls drool!” Billy said, then dropped his arms abruptly. “Except you, Auntie Millie.”

“Eye on the KFC prize, hey, bud?”

I ruffled his hair and then stepped up to the edge, watching a young girl climb across. Her little arms shook but her dad was right there with her, encouraging her the entire way.

That’s what this was. Whether Charlie was conscious of it or not, this was all part of the preparation for when our child would come. I thought of all the crap Mum had gone through for us, going to every sports match, every recital, no matter how she was feeling. She was this constant, loving, strong presence.

Strong.

I sucked in a breath, wishing I’d spent a lot more time on arm day at the gym before putting my hand in a hold, then my foot, and beginning to move.

“You’re doing great.” Charlie came climbing across after me, the boys moving like spiders across the surface, climbing up and down for the fun of it. I blew out a breath and then focussed on the board. “If you need me to, I’ll grab you and put you on my back, then all you’ll need to do is hold on as I get us across.”

He would too, and that had me shaking my head. All the men in my life tried to step in, smooth away the obstacles before me, and I loved them for it… Loved. That word felt a little too big for this moment, so I just grinned and reached for the next hold. Ignore the wrench in my shoulders and the muscles that would hurt tomorrow. Ignore the sure feeling that I was not where I was supposed to be. Just keep moving forward, always forward, that’s what I focussed on until I was hauling myself up onto the next platform, sucking in breaths noisily.

“That was so cool! What’s next?”

The boys were like Energizer bunnies, able to go and go and go, and I was a battery that was almost used up.

“Sorry.” Charlie offered me his bottle of water and I took it gratefully, swallowing down a long mouthful. “I didn’t really think this through.” He snorted as the boys started discussing the strategy for the next step. “People say that a lot about me.”

My hand went to his arm, stopping this stream of self-deprecation.

“The kids are having a great time. I’m learning I’m stronger than I thought I was and that I need to really work on my upper body routines.”

“I could help you with that.” His grin was back, brighter than the sun. “Arm day is my favourite.”

He had to go and pop those big biceps, and while I wasn’t one to rhapsodise over men having ten percent body fat, strength? Yeah, that was a turn on, something he seemed to sense. The smile faded as he moved closer, crowding into my space as my hand went to his shirt. I dimly felt the cotton against my fingertips, right before I used it to tug him closer.

His mouth on mine, that little intake of breath, it shut out everything else. Only the touch of him, his taste, his tongue, kissing him right back, that was all I could focus on. Of course, perfect moments were fleeting, that was their nature and the boys’ sounds of disgust broke through. Their theatrical gags had the two of us pulling apart and laughing, shaking our heads, right before Charlie swept me up into his arms.

“See if you can keep up!” he yelled as he ran forward, balancing on a single strand of rope, not needing the hand rails at all.

“Oh my god, oh my god, you’re gonna drop me!” I yelped, my eyes trained on the ground below. We were so very high up. How had I ignored that?

“Never.” He set me down on the next platform, grinning like an idiot. “Never, Millie. Not even if you want me to. I’ve got you, and at some point that will sink in and you’ll just know I’ll always be there to look after you.”

“Carry me!” the kids cried when they joined us, demanding piggy back rides through the next obstacle.

When we finally finished the course, the kids were tired, I was feeling wobbly legged, but my mind, it kept on replaying what he’d said over and over. Now was the time to accept it. I’d spent all of my adult years looking for a good guy who actually wanted something serious, and now I had three of them offering exactly that.

As we piled into McDonalds–Charlie had settled the argument with a coin toss, something the boys had observed with rabid attention, followed with a promise that next time the other would get their first choice–I should’ve been thinking about the implications of what that meant. How the hell did a girl raise a child with three dads? But I didn’t. I just floated over to the self-serve screen to put our order in as Charlie corralled the boys away from the playground.

“Boys.” The woman next to me shot me a knowing smile. “I’ve got two of my own. They’re running through life at full throttle the entire time.”

“They certainly are,” I replied.

“They’re gorgeous, though. Look a lot like their dad.” She nodded to Charlie.

“Uncle,” I corrected gently.

“Oh, that’s even worse then. At least you can give them back to their mother,” the woman said with a rueful smile.

“Yeah, though I think I’ll miss the little monkeys when we take them home.”

“Getting clucky?” She patted her arm. “Better have some babies with that man. With parents like you two, they’d be gorgeous.”

I hoped so. It wasn’t having pretty kids that interested me, but happy, healthy ones that felt secure in being a little rambunctious but also had enough manners to behave properly around others.

“So what do you say?” Charlie asked later as he carried our tray of food over to an empty table.

“Thank you, Auntie Millie, Uncle Charlie,” the boys said dutifully as they reached for their shakes. “This was the best day ever!”

“Yeah.” Charlie ignored his food, watching me closely as I replied to his nephews. “It was pretty good, wasn’t it?”

“So did you want to lie down after taking a couple of paracetamol?” Charlie asked me after we dropped the boys off. “Maybe a hot Epsom salt bath?”

“I’m actually feeling pretty good.” I looked over at him. “Thanks. I had fun today.”

“Soo… how would you feel about more fun?” he asked.

“Does more fun involve heights, because if so, I’m all funned out.”

“Nope.” He was a picture of calm all damn day, but now he was getting squirrelly? My eyes narrowed as I stared at him more closely. “You’ll have your feet on the ground the entire time.”

“OK, so what were you thinking?”

Yep, absolutely squirrelly. He shifted in his seat, then grasped the steering wheel tighter.

“It’s a surprise.”

I wanted to ask for more details, but I could tell that would ruin whatever he had planned.

“I hate surprises, just putting that out there,” I told him.

“Noted.”

“Like really, really hate them. When I found out I was pregnant, I sat on my couch for days and didn’t move. My phone battery went flat because I couldn’t bring myself to charge it.”

His eyes went wide.

“OK.”

“So you have to be really, really sure you want to surprise me, because it’ll probably end badly.”

He turned in his seat, his arm resting on the back of it as he smiled down at me.

“You can’t scare me, Millie. Now…?” Yes or no, that’s what he was waiting for, and I found myself nodding despite myself. “OK, can I trust you to close your eyes on the drive?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Blindfold it is.”

An old t-shirt was produced and tied around my head. God knows what other motorists thought as we drove past. I’d never know because I couldn’t see them. Instead, every other sense got exquisitely sensitive. His hands felt warm, dry, and strong when he reached across and squeezed mine. The scent of fresh sweat, sun, and his deodorant filled the car and when we pulled up at our final destination. I was turning towards him before he opened the car door, the sound of his feet easy to track. Hands reached in and dragged me out of the car, then led me here.

To someone’s house, I was willing to bet by the sound of the door opening. Whose house became clear fairly quickly.

“Buster…!” Knox hissed that and I pulled the blindfold off to see him and Noah standing in the hallway of Knox’s place. “You ruined the big reveal, you mutt.”

“What big reveal?”

I searched their faces, looking for answers, but they didn’t say a thing, ushering me forward. The smell of fresh paint stung my nose, but that barely registered as I saw what they had done. A pale sage green now covered the walls, the colour making me let out a long sigh of relief, but that wasn’t all. There were a few tools still littering the floor, but they were picked up and shoved out of sight as I stepped into the nursery.

“You said it’d take a few days for the furniture to arrive,” I said.

“I paid extra to get it express delivered,” Knox replied.

They all moved closer then, a warm, solid presence at my back.

“So…” Noah asked, “what do you think?” Oh my god, this hormonal bullshit was getting old, because my eyes filled with tears as I turned around. “You hate it?” He looked at the others. “I told you we needed to talk to her before we went ahead and did everything.”

“No.” I reached out and gripped his hands, and he squeezed mine right back. “It’s perfect.” I blinked furiously, but that just sent tears rolling down my face. “You’re perfect.”

They all looked so damn pleased right then, trading looks of self-congratulation between themselves, but then Knox turned back to me.

“About that.” His hand went to my shoulder, rubbing small circles there. “We’ve got a proposal we want you to think about.”