Chapter Nineteen

Claire - 1 week

Aurelio was a horrible patient.

I was actually surprised just how stubborn he was, how much he fought being instructed to stay on the couch and rest.

I figured maybe it was due to the fact that, in the past, there'd never been anyone around in the house to take care of everything if he was sick or hurt. So if he didn't rally to get up and get food, he didn't eat. If he didn't make himself go move the laundry along, he'd have nothing to wear.

I mean, I was sure his family dropped in on him when he was unwell, but that was different than having someone right there all the time, ready to grab anything you might need.

"Angel, I can get my own coffee," Aurelio insisted as I tried to steer him back toward the couch.

"Why strain yourself if I can do it, though?" I reasoned.

"Lettie said it was good for me to move around."

"Ah, if I recall correctly—and I do, by the way—," I said, watching his lips twitch, "Lettie said that you can take yourself to the bathroom and to shower every other day. She didn't actually say it was good for you to get up and get coffee."

"It was implied," he insisted.

"It absolutely wasn't," I shot back, watching the way his smile spread. "What?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I like this side of you," he said. And, damn him, he could always make me melt when I was trying to be stern.

"The nagging part of me, you mean?"

"Is it nagging?" he asked, head tipping to the side. "Or is it you trying to make me do what is best for me?"

"I think a lot of men think those two things are the same thing."

"Luckily, I'm not an asshole like that," he said, moving closer toward me, and I knew that look in his eyes too well.

"Oh, no, sir," I said, pressing a hand into his chest. "If you're not supposed to be getting coffee, you definitely aren't supposed to be trying that."

"Trying what?" he asked, smirking.

"Oh, you know what," I said, moving around the island because, despite my objections, I'd been aching for him for days.

Each night after I put Judah to bed, I found myself going back downstairs and curling up next to him on the couch, waking up both sexually frustrated and aching from the awkward, tight sleeping position.

Being close to him when he had that look in his eyes was not a good idea. Because I didn't trust myself to turn him down, even if I knew it was for his own good.

"Maybe I just—" he started, but was cut off by the sound of the doorbell.

Literally saved by the bell.

"That's your mom here to pick up Judah," I said.

To say that Adrian had been excited to have another baby to fawn over had been an understatement. She'd insisted on taking him for a few hours every other day to give me a break. Though, honestly, it seemed more like she did it because she genuinely just wanted to spend time with Judah.

One time, she'd taken him to her house to bake sugar cookies. Another time, they'd gone to Lucky's house for a playdate.

This time, she had her sights on introducing him to the grandchild oasis she'd built in her backyard, complete with a full playground area, a giant sandbox, water tables, and a dedicated kitchen station for the grandkids to make mud pies and such.

I probably should have been more upset about being parted from him. Especially since the only times I'd been away from him in the past were when I'd been forced to go with Warren somewhere.

But, honestly, I found it was something I looked forward to. Especially because Judah adored Adrian.

And, clearly, Adrian was a woman who could be trusted.

I mean… she'd raised Aurelio, hadn't she? And he turned out perfect.

When I walked past the living room, I found Judah shoving random toys into his little backpack.

"Nana is here," I said.

I hadn't had a single second thought about allowing him to call her that when she'd insisted upon it. Because, quite frankly, I had every intention on staying with Aurelio. Forever. I wanted Adrian to be his Nana. And she wanted that too. So there was no reason to object.

Judah's eyes went big and excited as he zipped up his bag, then stumbled toward the door, whacking into Aurelio as he went.

"Easy, bud," I reminded him. "Relo has a boo-boo," I said.

"Sorry, Relo," Judah said, leaning in to kiss his leg, then rushing with me toward the door. "Nana!" he cheered as the door opened.

And there was Adrian, already squatting down, arms open, ready to grab him as he threw himself into her arms.

Beside her on the front step was yet another tin full of some sort of delicious meal. The fridge and freezer were already full, but I was still excited to see what she'd cooked up for us. I might have to ask Milo to drop off a chest freezer for the basement if the meal train kept up.

I was half-tempted to insist she hold some sort of Italian mom cooking class, so I could learn to cook half as good as her.

"I will visit later," Adrian said, handing me the tin, then lifting Judah into her arms. "You two rest," she said, giving me a warm smile.

"Bye, buddy," I called, but Judah already forgot all about me until Adrian prompted him to blow me a kiss.

"I think my son likes your mom more than he likes me," I declared as I passed the living room where Aurelio had deposited himself back down on the couch.

I was probably being overprotective of him. Lettie did say he was getting better each time she dropped in.

I just didn't want him to make anything worse and put himself down for any longer than absolutely necessary.

And he'd already gone upstairs this morning to shower. He needed to take it easy.

"What'd she make?" he asked as I joined him on the couch, bringing a cup of coffee for each of us.

"It looks like some kind of stuffed chicken with a side of pasta that is topped with bruschetta."

We drank our coffee in comfortable silence, both of us staring at the TV, but seemingly lost in our own thoughts.

It wasn't until Aurelio plucked my half-full coffee cup out of my hand and set it beside his on the end table, then reached for me that I knew where his thoughts had clearly been.

And then his hands were on me, chasing away the thoughts about objecting before they could really take root.

His lips were on mine, not soft and sweet like they'd been since he'd come home, but harder, hungrier. Needier.

My own need rose to match his as his hands slid under my top, covering my breasts, teasing my nipples until they were straining.

I didn't even think of stopping him as his hand slid down my belly, then into my pants and panties, fingers teasing up my slick cleft to find my clit and start working it.

It had only been two weeks, but it felt like a lifetime since I felt his touch, since I experienced the way his fingers knew exactly how to touch me, when to slide them down and thrust them inside of me, dragging a loud moan out of me.

"God, I fucking missed this," Aurelio murmured against my neck as he fucked me with his fingers, driving me up impossibly fast, my body teetering on the cliff within a few short moments before sending me flying over, and crashing down into the orgasm.

I'd barely recovered when I found myself leaning down over him, pulling his hard cock free, and taking him in my mouth, sucking him hard and fast, wanting to give him what he'd given me.

"Oh, fuck," he groaned, his hips rocking up into my mouth, making me take him deeper.

My ass was up in the air, and I felt his fingers grabbing impatiently at my pants and panties, dragging them down to my knees, waiting for me to lift each, so he could free my legs completely, then teasing me with his fingers again.

"I need to taste you too," he said, making my sex clench tight around his fingers as he thrust them into me.

Mouth full, I couldn't object, but I shook my head.

"Yes," he shot back.

And then he was moving, taking me with him, lowering himself flat on the couch, and pulling me so that my sex was hovering over his face, while he was still buried in my mouth.

When I didn't immediately lower down, his arms went around my hips, and dragged me down until I felt his tongue slide up my cleft, making a shiver rack my whole body.

There was no more thinking then.

Just working him with my mouth as he drove me up with his.

It had only been a few weeks, but my body seemed to think it had been much longer as I got driven to that edge impossibly fast, then sent crashing over and down.

I cried out my release around his cock as he thrust upward into my mouth until his body tensed as he came.

I crawled off of him afterward, turning, then carefully lowering down onto him, listening to the still-frantic beat of his heart.

"Need to heal up faster," he said as his fingers sifted through my hair.

"So no more trying to get up except to go to the bathroom or shower," I said, pushing up to look down at him.

"Yes, doctor," he agreed, giving me a soft look.

Aurelio - 3 weeks

"Get the fuck out of here," Luca said as I made my way into the conference room at the docks. Apparently, there was a meeting. And I wasn't invited.

"That's not gonna happen."

"Listen, Claire is a nice woman. But I'm pretty sure she'd have my head if she knew you were trying to get involved in work shit again."

Claire was definitely overprotective. The woman barely let me brush my own damn teeth. She considered every task that involved leaving the couch as ‘too taxing.'

I went ahead and let her fawn.

Partially, because it was unexpectedly nice to have someone around fussing over you, taking care of you, worrying about you.

The other part, though, was because I understood what she'd gone through when I'd been shot. How close to death I'd seemed. How long she had to sit in a waiting room, praying to hear a positive update about my condition.

The whole experience made her a little paranoid that something might happen that would send me into an early grave. It didn't matter how much Lettie pressed that the danger had long passed.

The only reason I was dressed in a suit and out of the house was because Claire had gone with Judah to my mother's house to see the little kid oasis she had in her backyard and then bake cookies again.

I'd gone ahead and not mentioned that I was planning on doing anything as they all left.

"I'm already here. Might as well get the meeting over with," I said, shrugging. If he was quick enough, Claire might not even know that I was gone. Not that I would lie to her about it. But she'd have no undue worry if I was already home and perfectly fine when she and Judah got in.

"Your funeral," Luca said, shaking his head. "So, somehow last night as guards were switching out, Denny and his crew fled. We have some people working on figuring out to where. If it's close, we will be keeping an eye, then making a move. But if they went clear across the country, we are just going to write that off as a win.

"Clearly, Denny has no interest in Claire or Judah with Warren gone. And, judging from what we've learned since looking into things, it seems as though Denny has been trying to swing a coup for a long while now. This just gave him a reason to come through with it."

"I'm sure you have concerns, Aurelio," Luca said. "But for the time being, trust that Dante is doing everything in his power to keep an eye on this situation, and will let us know if or when we need to spring into action."

"Okay," I agreed, nodding.

Dante had done a good job with this so far. There was no reason not to rest my faith to rest in him.

Did I have some concerns about Denny and the rest of Warren's old crew being alive?

Sure.

That said, clearly Warren and his closest disciples were dead. The biggest threat was gone.

I did wonder if Denny would come for Claire again simply because of what she knew, or what she may have seen, what dirt she could have on Denny and the organization as a whole.

From the sound of things, though, Claire knew very little about all that shit. And if Denny was always around when Claire was, he would know that.

Besides, if he was as logical as Dante seemed to think he was, he would know that coming after Claire or Judah again would mean coming at the whole Grassi Family.

If he was smart, he wouldn't do something that dumb.

Time would simply have to tell with this.

Somehow, I was okay with that.

We'd already been through so much. The last thing I wanted was more violence if it could be avoided.

Now that I was feeling fully up to it, I had other things I'd rather focus on.

Going out with Claire and Judah. Experiencing new things through their eyes.

And, yeah, not to fucking mention, taking my woman to bed again.

We'd been keeping each other mostly satisfied with hands and mouths, things that didn't require me to move my hips too much.

But now that I felt better, it was time to stop sleeping in the living room, and to have some closed-door adult activities with Claire.

The meeting went on from there, covering things like the internal audit that was going on, what was dug up, how concerned everyone was about various things, and of course, the usual update on big jobs that various capos were running.

By the time I walked back outside, it was the first time I felt productive in ages.

And the confidence from that had me driving home, cleaning up the living room, and getting the primary bedroom in order again.

"Aurelio?" Claire called while I was shoving the old sheets in the dryer. "What are you doing?" she asked, tone accusatory.

"Cleaning the sheets. I already made the bed. After cleaning up the living room. And going to a meeting. And before you get that little worry crease between our brows, angel, I'm perfectly fine."

She narrowed her eyes at me, but didn't object. She had to know that, eventually, I would be back to my usual self. Even if she did seem to enjoy taking care of me.

Done with the laundry, I made my way back into the kitchen, Claire on my heels.

"Listen, if you're fully well again, the pre-made dinners are going to stop coming," she said, making a laugh escape me.

"Well, we don't have to tell them yet just how well I am," I said, reaching for her hips, and pulling her in for a kiss. "Where's Judah?"

"Asleep in the back of your mom's car," she said. "So she decided to drop me off to check on you while she drives around. He was kind of a bear before he finally passed out. Neither of us wanted to risk waking him."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, my hands sliding down to her ass. "How long do you think we have?"

I watched the way her eyes heated, how her lips parted. She might be full of objections on the basis of her beliefs in my limitations, but she wanted it every bit as much as I did.

"Long enough," she decided as she moved in closer, her breasts crushing against my chest as she angled her head up, waiting for my lips to claim hers.

She didn't have to wait long.

The second our lips meant, all our restraint fled our bodies.

Her hands were yanking at my jacket, pulling it off my shoulders, then setting to work on my shirt buttons, letting out little frustrated grumbles against my lips as her fingers fumbled.

My hands slipped up, grabbing the waistbands of her pants and panties, and drawing them down her legs.

She stepped obediently out of them as she finally freed my last button, then pushed the material away before running her hands over my chest, down my stomach, then working my button and zipper down to free my cock.

She fisted me, stroking me as my fingers slipped between her thighs, finding her already soaking wet for me.

"Fuck," I growled, grabbing her, turning her to bend her over the kitchen island, then dropping down behind her, spreading her legs, then running my tongue up her pussy, toying with her clit until she was writhing and whimpering.

Unable to wait another moment, I stood, moved in behind her, and slammed deep inside of her.

"Oh, fuck, I missed this," I groaned as my cock settled deep, her pussy tightening around me, holding me tight.

Claire's response was a loud moan.

I didn't have the patience to take my time, to drag this out. It had been too long. We were both too desperate to explore.

I grabbed her hips and started to fuck her, spurred on by the way her sighs and whimpers became moans, then cries as she got closer, as her pussy got tighter.

"Come for me," I demanded, close to losing it myself. "Fuck… yeah," I groaned as her pussy pulsed around my cock as she cried out her release, taking me with her.

"So… am I well again now?" I asked, watching her turn to look at me, a smile toying with her lips.

"I think it might be a very vital part of your recovery to get lots of… exercise now," she said, making a laugh burst out of me. "I should probably get my pants back on before your mom gets back," she said, pushing up, then moving away from me as I tucked myself away.

She shot me a mischievous smile as she yanked her pants up her legs.

And I couldn't wait to spend a lifetime trying to find a few minutes to be adults together.

I had to get my sisters to try to figure out what kind of ring she would like.

Then get to work on this forever thing.

Claire - 10 months

"For the love of God, don't give Judah the ring until he gets up to the altar," Smush demanded to whoever was outside of the door of the venue, before closing it and shooting me a smile. "Men," she said, shaking her head. "You have to remind them of the most basic things. Okay. You're not dressed," she said, head tipping to the side as she looked at me. "And… you're… green."

"Ugh," I said, bending down to rest my head on the cool wood of the vanity.

"Are you sick?" she asked, jumping into what the family called ‘Smush-mode,' in which she was full of action and solutions. "Is it a nerves sick, or a ‘I ate something not right and things are… ugly' kind of sick?" she asked, rushing around the suite.

As it turned out, Matteo Grassi, brother to the boss, Luca, had a legitimate business of event venues.

Including the one I was supposed to be getting married in within the next few hours.

The venue came complete with private suites for the bride and groom, equipped with a full bathroom and a seating room, as well as separate rooms for the bridesmaids and groomsmen to get themselves ready.

I'd been in awe when I'd toured it a few weeks ago, when we'd been trying to decide which venue to choose.

It was a sun-soaked room, beautifully decorated in such a way that it would work for taking a bunch of lovely photographs.

Which I probably would need to do in under an hour. Even though I hadn't even done my hair or put on a stitch of makeup yet.

What would be the point? When I could barely peel myself off of the bathroom floor?

A noise escaped me, a mix of a groan and a cry as my stomach roiled, making me worry that I was about to need to rush to the bathroom again, despite there being nothing left in my stomach.

"Okay. Let's see. Ginger ale, saltines, and some nausea medicine," she said, reaching for her phone, likely messaging one of the many family members who would be making their way over to the venue soon, since the Grassis liked to be early and chat before the actual events.

"Crisis averted," Adrian said, making her way into the room. "I found the bird seed and brought it to the staff to fill the little flute things for everyone to throw after… what is this?" she asked, her gaze finally landing on me.

"I think she has food poisoning," Sofia said. "I'm ordering ginger ale, saltines…"

"Oh, God," I groaned, jumping up in my silk robe that had been provided by the venue, and rushing into the bathroom to dry heave over the toilet.

"Add some ginger drops to the order, Smush," Adrian said, running the tap, then coming over to me to press a cold cloth to the back of my neck.

"Ginger?" she asked. "For… oh. Oh," she added, eyes going wide as I climbed back onto my feet, feeling a cold sweat spreading across my skin.

"When did you know, hon?" Adrian asked, following me out to the seating room, but veering me toward the couch, pushing me until I lay back down.

"Today for sure," I admitted. "I was feeling off for a day or two. But this was the second my eyes opened. And then I did the math, and…" I said, waving a hand.

"Were you sick with Judah?" Adrian asked, sitting by my feet, and rubbing my legs.

"No. I wasn't sick at all. Mostly just tired and hungry."

"I wasn't sick with my boys, either," Adrian said. "But these girls," she said, waving toward Sofia. "They had me living on the bathroom floor. The only thing that helped was to keep saltines on my nightstand, and the second I woke up, I choked a few down. I tried not even to move my head before I had them in me."

"I will have to give that a try," I said, pressing a hand to my wobbly stomach.

"The ginger drops will help. And lots of small sips of water. I know one of the girls was so sick that her doctor actually prescribed some meds because she was losing so much weight, so keep in mind that might be an option too," Adrian said. "Does Aurelio know?"

"No. I haven't even taken a test yet. I wanted to be sure. I don't want to get his hopes up if this is just a stomach bug or something."

"Well, how late are you?" Sofia asked.

"Just shy of two weeks. We were so busy with the wedding plans that I didn't even notice…"

"Okay. Well. Let's get a test too," Sofia said, reaching for her phone again.

"Smush!"

"I'm texting Elisa. She'll probably think I'm the one knocked up. She won't tell anyone."

Less than half an hour later, I'd sipped some water, sucked on some ice chips, and chewed a few ginger drops.

The cold sweat had eased. As had the sloshing sensation in my stomach.

If it kept up, I was pretty sure I could summon the energy to get myself pretty and go through with the day I'd been dreaming about for months.

"Truth time," Elisa declared as the alarm on her phone sounded.

Taking a deep breath, I walked into the bathroom to check the status of the stick sitting on the box.

Elisa had opted for a digital test.

And right there in the window was the word we'd all suspected, but wanted confirmed.

Pregnant.

"Well, that is probably the best wedding gift you could give to Aurelio," Adrian said, all watery-eyed as she wrapped an arm around me. "Judah is going to be a great big brother."

Now that Judah had been around other children all the time, thanks mostly to the extended Grassi family, he'd been asking why he didn't have any siblings, since everyone else had several children.

He was over three now.

It was a good time to have a baby.

But I'll admit that having morning sickness during my honeymoon didn't exactly sound like a good time.

"Yeah," I agreed, sucking in a deep breath, and staring at myself in the mirror.

"You're happy, right?" Sofia asked.

"Completely," I agreed. "Though I'm a little upset that I might not be able to keep all the food down tonight," I admitted.

"Small price to pay," Adrian said, hugging me long and hard.

Adrian was another thing I was thankful to Aurelio for.

After losing my own mom, I worried that I would never again know a motherly figure, that my son would never know a grandmotherly figure.

All those worries evaporated as soon as I got to know the matriarch of Aurelio's family, though. She was everything you imagined when you thought of the perfect mother-in-law and grandmother.

She was an amazing cook. She adored kids, and was always more than happy to take the kids to give their parents a break. She never butted her nose in your business, but she was happy to give advice if you asked for it. She didn't judge if the house was messy or you were giving the kids junk food. And while she adored her sons, she didn't have that creepy bond with them where she believed that no woman could be as worthy of her sons' love as she was.

And while it did break my heart at times that my own mother would never get to meet Judah, or any other children I had, it warmed my heart to know that my children would have such an amazing grandma to grow up with.

"Okay. We have to pull this together," Sofia said, clapping her hands. "Elisa, you're on makeup. I'll do the hair. Mom, her dress looks like it could use a bit of a steam. Let's get you married, lady," she said.

The next half an hour was a complete blur of my hair being pulled this way and that, and my face being fussed over as Adrian kept offering me sips of water or ice chips. Little by little, it did ease the nausea.

The photographer showed up, and I got to take some pictures in the room before it was time to head downstairs and marry the man I'd been in love with practically since I'd laid eyes on him.

I stood off in the wings, watching the flower girls twirl down the aisle in their little white dresses, tossing pink and red rose petals to the delight of everyone gathered.

"Okay, buddy, your turn," I said to Judah, who looked adorable, but somewhat uncomfortable, in his little suit with his white pillow.

He was all smiles as he did a little shimmy all the way down the aisle to stand next to the groomsmen, tossing his pillow up and down.

Thank God that Lucky had snatched the ring away from him as soon as he made it there.

I was walking myself down the aisle.

But, it seemed, as I pressed my bouquet to my belly, it seemed I wasn't actually alone as I heard the Bridal March start, and I moved into the center of the aisle.

My gaze slid to Aurelio, finding him beaming at me.

I knew down to my bones that I wanted to spend forever with him.

I wanted to make babies and raise wonderful human beings with him.

I wanted to sit in our rocking chairs on the back porch watching our grand babies play.

The ceremony passed in a bit of a blur.

Then Aurelio's lips were on mine.

I pressed my forehead to his as the crowd cheered.

And as he looked at me, I smiled.

"I'm pregnant."

Adrian was right.

It was the best possible gift I could have given him.

Aurelio - 7 years

"Mama!" our two-year-old son called, voice shrill.

"Shhh," our five-year-old daughter scolded.

"Mom's sleeping," Judah added.

From day one, Judah had taken his big brother role very seriously. He'd been anxious for siblings as soon as he knew what such things were. Sure, he'd been mildly disappointed to learn his first sibling was going to be a girl. Until he was assured that girls liked to play with blocks, trucks, and with mud as well.

He'd been soft and sweet with his little sister, if a bit disgusted by all the drooling, spit-up, and various other smells that came from babies.

But when he'd learned he'd have a little brother, he'd been over the moon. Though the difference between him, at nearly nine, and his younger brother, at only two, made a big difference in how he interacted with his brother, compared to how he had with his sister.

"No more sleeping," our toddler insisted, frowning, then trying to make a dash for the stairs.

"Mom's got a baby in her belly," Judah reminded his brother as he grabbed him around the belly, and carried him back to the living room. "It makes her sleepy."

As usual, the mention of a baby made our toddler pout all the more.

Unlike Judah, and our daughter, our youngest was not thrilled at the idea of having a younger sibling.

In his defense, we hadn't exactly planned on having another so soon.

What could we say?

One fateful night, Judah had a sleepover with one cousin, our daughter with the other, and my mom had taken the baby.

And, well, when the kids were away for the first time… ever, the prospect of being about to have shameless, as loud as we pleased sex was too tempting to resist.

Not much thought had gone into it.

And a few weeks later, there was a positive pregnancy test on the bathroom counter.

We had no regrets, other than our youngest's displeasure at being ousted as the baby so soon.

"Come here, bud," I said, reaching down for our toddler as he made his way to me. "Why do you need Mom?" I asked.

"He prolly wants a snack," our daughter declared.

"He needs a nap," Judah countered.

"No nap!" was the immediate response to that.

The other two shared a knowing look that said He totally needs a nap.

"How about we go play outside?" I asked, not sure I had it in me to try to fight him to take the nap he clearly needed, so I figured that it would be easiest to let him just run himself ragged until he passed out by himself.

As usual, our toddler and our five-year-old took off running, while Judah hung back with me, suddenly feeling too old for tag and all those other ‘kid' games.

"What's on your mind, bud?" I asked, looking over to where Judah was rocking in the chair Claire usually occupied.

"I'm worried about Mom."

"About Mom? Why?" I asked.

"She throws up all day."

"She's gonna have a baby, bud," I reminded him.

"She didn't throw up with him," he said, pointing to his brother.

"No," I agreed. "You were probably too little to remember this, but when she was pregnant with your sister, she threw up all day and night for about three months straight."

Judah considered that for a moment. "So, she's going to have another girl?"

"We can't say for sure yet. It's not scientific to judge it by how sick the mom is. But we both suspect it's a girl."

We had an ultrasound coming up soon that would let us know for sure.

"She's going to be okay," I assured him. "But I know how you feel. The last time, I was worried about her all the time. But there are things I could do to help make her better, so that made me feel better."

"Like what?"

"Like bring her water to sip or ice chips to chew on," I told him. "Or bring her ginger drops. Make sure she has saltines to munch on."

I could see Judah filing all that information away. I knew that his mother would never be without fresh water, ice chips, and ginger drops from that moment on.

I wondered, at times, if there were things Judah remembered, conscious or not, about his early childhood. He was overprotective of his mother, always conscious of her, worried if she was sick, and wanting to do sweet things for her.

Not having a frame of reference for a child his age, I had no idea if this was just normal for kids or not. And the reactions amongst my family were mixed as well. Some of them said that some kids were just randomly more empathetic or attached to their moms by nature, not because of some trauma.

Judah, of course, wasn't privy to all the details about his biological father.

We'd consulted with experts, who'd told us that children should be aware of their parentage almost from day one. So we'd been open with Judah, when it was appropriate, about how I wasn't his biological dad, but I was absolutely his father. I had the adoption papers to prove it.

We'd also been honest about the fact that Warren was dead.

What we hadn't covered yet was that there had been abuse in the household. After consulting with a child psychiatrist, we'd all agreed that since the abuse did not currently factor into Judah's life, that it was best left as a conversation to have with him as he matured.

Still, Claire and I worried sometimes that those first two years had left some subconscious worries or wounds in Judah that manifested in his overprotectiveness of his mom.

It was one of those things that only time would tell, though.

"Mom is going to be alright," I assured him. "In a few weeks, she is going to be eating everything under the sun. Those spicy chips you like? You might want to start hiding them," I warned him. "And I don't mean in your closet or a dresser drawer. She'll find them there. I once hid the chocolates I bought her for Valentine's Day in an old shoebox in the closet. I came home one night to her sitting on the closet floor, shoveling the chocolates in her mouth," I told him, getting a laugh out of him.

"She can have my chips," he said with a nod.

God, he was a good kid.

He was always proving how kind of an individual he'd turned out to be.

When we had a crazy snowstorm, and I got up early to shovel out the driveway and front walk, he was coming out a couple minutes later, grabbing a shovel, and getting to work as well.

If his mom cooked a meal, he insisted he load the dishwasher.

When one of his siblings needed or wanted something and Claire and I were busy, he would often get it for them.

He was getting big, too.

Tall for his age.

His face losing that fat that had kept his cheeks round up until a few months ago.

And much to his mother's absolute heartache, he now insisted on keeping his hair short, cutting off those curls she loved so much.

He looked a lot like Claire. And I think we were both somewhat relieved that he took more after her than Warren. He had her eyes, her hair color, her chin and nose. If he inherited anything from his father, it was his stature. Tall and naturally thin, no matter how much he ate. And I swear I had to take on extra jobs just to feed the kid.

"Hey, guys," Claire said, coming out of the back door, running her fingers over Judah's head as she came to drop down onto my lap. "I thought I heard laughing out here," she said, watching our toddler chase our five-year-old, squealing with glee.

"I'm gonna get some water," Judah said, making my lips curve up as he popped up to do just that.

"What's that look for?"

"We did a good job with that kid," I told her, running my hand up and down her arm as she snuggled into me.

"He's like a little carbon copy of you," she said, smiling up at me. "He might look like me, but he's amazing like you."

"Hey, you're pretty amazing too," I told her.

"I feel like crap," she admitted, sighing hard.

"If the pattern proves true," I said, watching our daughter grab her brother and spin him. "You'll be sick, but will have an angel of a baby."

"That's true," she agreed. We'd noticed that with our sons, she'd had easy pregnancies, but really awful newborn phases. Then with our daughter, she was godawful sick, but she had a sweet, easy baby who slept through the night within a few weeks.

"Here, Mom," Judah said, passing a cup of ice chips to her.

"You're the best, kid," she said, shooting him a warm smile.

He wandered off down toward his siblings, deciding to play even though he was a little old for their games.

"Are you ready for another one?" I asked.

"Ready or not, one is coming. I was kind of missing the newborn stage," she admitted, pressing a kiss under my jaw. "Your mom is going to be so excited. Several babies in one year."

"She's getting everything she ever dreamed of."

"So are we," she said.

And, fuck, yes we were.

Claire - 17 years

"Why did we have five of these kids?" I asked Aurelio as I hauled an armload of bags in from the car, stacking them with the rest of them, spread across the island. "And why did no one tell us that they never stop eating?"

"They asked me to bring home chips last night," Aurelio said. "Brought home six bags. They're all gone already."

"I think their legs are hollow," I said. "There's nowhere else they could be stuffing all of it."

"Did you get string cheese?" our youngest asked, ten going on eleven, our third son we hadn't planned on. We'd meant to keep it at four, but, well, things happened.

"I'm afraid to say yes," I said, fishing the bulk pack out of a bag, knowing that all thirty-something sticks would likely be gone in two days.

Then I stood and watched as he tore open the bag, pulled out four sticks, then left the rest on the counter.

"I brought home subs less than two hours ago," Aurelio said, shaking his head. "I feel like I owe my mother an apology. And about fifty grand."

"Can you imagine how much of a nightmare it's going to be in the summer?" I asked, grimacing.

"Is it too late to sign them up for summer camp?" Aurelio asked as there was a slamming noise in the garage before the door opened, and in came Judah, dragging two black bags in with him.

"You know we usually take trash out of the house," Aurelio said, brow raised.

"It's laundry," Judah informed us.

It was almost startling how much more grown up he looked each time he came home. Or maybe that was just because of how much I missed him.

Because he'd stopped growing a few months before he finished high school, topping off at six-three. And he'd been into sports for years before that, making him wide and fit.

"I missed you," I said, holding my arms open to him.

He looked bashful for a second, but made his way right toward me. "Miss you too, Ma," he said, letting me squeeze the heck out of him.

"How's school?"

"It's good," he said, releasing me to rummage through the bags for some snacks.

"And by ‘good' do you mean you're doing well with your classes, or you've hit up every party for the past few months?"

"A little bit of both," he admitted.

He'd never been a kid to lie to us. When he'd gone to his first house party, he'd texted us at one in the morning to come pick him up because he was drunk.

When he'd skipped class to go to the beach with friends, he'd fessed up because the guilt had eaten at him. Even though he would have gotten away with it if he'd kept his mouth shut.

"So long as you're being safe," I said.

"Ugh, Mom," he grumbled, face twisting up.

"Not what I meant," I said, laughing at his discomfort. "But while we're on the topic—"

"Oh, God…"

"Do we need to go over the safe sex talk again?" I asked, pressing my lips together to keep from smiling as Aurelio chuckled a few feet behind our oldest kid. "Next time I go to Costco, I can pick you up one of those jumbo variety packs of cond—"

"For the love of God, please don't finish that sentence," he cut me off, flushed.

"I'll just get a subscription sent to your dorm," I said, getting a pained grumble out of him as he dragged his bags out of the kitchen to get away from my teasing.

"He looks good," Aurelio said, helping me put the groceries away.

He knew how much I'd been worrying since we'd left him in his dorm room and driven home without him.

College had been a demand Aurelio and I had made of him.

I knew that, given the choice, he would have gone straight from high school into the Family business. But we'd followed suit with the rest of the family members in insisting the kids get an education, go see the world, have some adventures, get some experiences that would allow for them to make decisions based on experience.

Did I believe that Judah was going to become an accountant? No. But I was happy to see him being a young adult for a while. Before he slapped on a suit, and followed in the footsteps of Aurelio.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Dad, can I take the car?" our daughter asked, coming into the kitchen wearing an outfit that was a little tight and just a tad shorter than I would have liked that I knew had to be making Aurelio wish he was the kind of dad who could do the whole ‘Not until you put some pants on' speech.

It was hard for me to watch our boys grow up into little men. But it was harder for Aurelio to accept his little girls becoming women.

"Where are you going?" I asked, okay with being the annoying parent, so Aurelio didn't have to be the bad guy. "And with who?"

At that, I got a pretty epic eye roll.

"I'm going to the recording studio with Ella and Becca," she said.

"Sure," Aurelio said, going to give his keys to her.

"Thanks, Daddy," she said, going up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek before rushing out.

"What?" Aurelio asked as I folded our reusable bags. "What's that look for?"

"Oh, my sweet, naive husband," I said, shaking my head at him.

"Fuck. What'd I miss?"

"A recording studio?" I asked. "In an outfit like that? Seems like our girl has a crush on a musician."

"Would I look insane if I chased her down the street?" he asked, glancing out the window as she backed out of the driveway, stereo blasting enough to shake the windows in their frames.

"A bit," I said. "Oh, it's okay. She has to learn the hard way," I assured him.

"Did you have a crush on a musician at her age?"

"It was a footballer," I said. "I used to show up to every practice and game. God, it was all so pathetic looking back. But each girl has to do it."

"Why'd she have to grow up to look just like you?" he asked, exhaling hard.

"Oh, don't be silly," I said. "She's much prettier," I said.

"Not helping," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "I thought you were doing laundry," he said as Judah came out with his three younger siblings.

"They want to go get some ice cream," Judah said, shrugging.

They might not be willing to admit it, save for our youngest, but everyone missed having Judah around.

Aurelio reached into his pocket, grabbing a stack of cash, and handing it to our oldest. "Get them some pizza or something after too."

Then we watched as the last four of our kids headed out the door.

As soon as the doors slammed, and the car backed out of the drive, there was something I don't think I'd heard in nineteen years.

Silence.

"I have a feeling we're going to be doing all of Judah's laundry, if we ever want to walk into the—" he was saying as I walked across the kitchen, grabbing him by the tie, and pulling him with me.

"When's the last time we had a house with no kids in it?" I asked as I pulled him up the stairs with me.

"Years," he said, reaching for me at the top landing, spinning me, pinning me to the wall, and sealing his lips over mine.

"We have a lot of time to make up for then," I said, my hands already yanking at his suit jacket, tossing it to the floor right there in the hallway. Then getting to work on his buttons as he walked me backward into the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind him.

You'd think, when we were given the house to ourselves, we would slow it down, take our time.

But our hands were clawing at clothing, desperate to feel each other.

Aurelio's fingers teased down my spine to sink into my ass, using it to push me against his hardness.

He walked me back toward the bed, but couldn't quite make it, slamming me against the wall instead, yanking up my leg, and surging inside me.

My moan mingled with his curse as he settled deep.

He fucked me hard and fast, my moans filling the room as he drove me up through one orgasm, then another, before grabbing me, turning, and dropping me onto the bed, yanking up my legs, and thrusting harder.

He had me coming two more times before he slammed deep, cursing as he came on the tail end of my orgasm.

"That was worth the wait," I declared as he dropped down beside me.

Aurelio made a rumbling sound I took for agreement as he rolled me over to his side.

We were silent for a while, just enjoying the closeness, before he was looking at me.

"You know what I'm thinking?" he asked.

"String cheese?" I asked, getting a laugh out of him.

"And wine," he agreed.

We both climbed out of bed, him yanking his pants up, me shrugging into his shirt, then the both of us making our way downstairs to raid the kids' snacks.

I only had a sip of wine in me, and Aurelio had taken a bite out of his string cheese when the door from the garage flew open.

And in walked our kids.

Carrying several boxes of pizza.

Their smiles freezing, then falling, as they looked at us.

"Where's Mom's pants?" our youngest asked. "And Dad's shirt?"

"Gross," one of them said.

It was only Judah who didn't seem completely disgusted with the fact that his parents clearly still loved each other.

"We decided to bring it back to share," Judah said, lifting the pizza boxes. "But maybe we should go have a picnic outside."

"Don't be silly," I said, waving toward the table. "What's… oh, hey, honey," I said as our eldest daughter came rushing into the kitchen, slamming the door hard enough to make it rattle, her face full of anger and hurt.

Oh, I knew that type of disappointment too well.

The cute musician guy had shown his ass sooner than I expected. But, I guess, that was probably for the best.

"What are…" she started, then looked from me to her father, her eyes going round, cheeks going red.

"We're having pizza," Judah declared, smirking at his sister's embarrassment. "But I think everyone is going to go get a little… more comfortable," he said with a pointed look to his sister's outfit.

Which, of course, got narrowed eyes and an arm cross from her before she stormed out of the room.

"We did a good job with them," Aurelio said, wrapping an arm around me as the kids started to argue over the best pizza toppings.

"They all seem suitably traumatized by realizing we still have sex," I said, leaning into him. "So, yeah we did."

Right then, our oldest daughter came back into the kitchen in some roomy sweats instead of the tight, short outfit, getting a nod from Judah, like the overprotective brother he was.

"You guys maybe want to go put some clothes on?" Judah asked as he came toward us to get plates. "The little one is starting to think pants are optional at dinner," he said with a smirk.

"You had that coming with the whole condom thing earlier," Aurelio said as he followed me out of the kitchen, unable to resist grabbing my bare ass under the shirt as he followed me up the stairs to the sound of the house full of our kids' laughter below us.

It was everything we ever dreamed of.

A full house of happy kids.

And a love that only grew deeper with each passing year.

XX