Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Rhodes

I was tucked somewhere between asleep and awake when I registered Blythe’s body tensing beside me, but I was slammed right into consciousness when I heard a little voice whisper, “See, I told you Mommy was in here.” That sounded like Adeline.

Another voice chimed in, asking, “Why do you think Mom’s sleepin’ in Rhodes’s bed?” That question came from Avett.

“Why isn’t he wearin’ a shirt?” the tiniest voice of all asked.

Perfect . All three of them were here, standing beside the bed their mother and I were lying in.

“’Cause boys don’t sleep in shirts, duh,” Avett said like he knew all there was to know when it came to being a boy.

He was right, though. I didn’t sleep in shirts. Before they moved in, I didn’t sleep in anything at all. But thank Christ I’d broken that habit and at least started wearing underwear. It was for reasons like this right here.

“But Daddy slept in a shirt,” Adeline pointed out. “Do you think it was ’cause his tummy was soft and fluffy, and he wanted to hide it like Ms. Deloris at the city pool, who always swam in a T-shirt?”

Blythe’s body began to tremble with suppressed laughter as we both struggled to keep up the ruse that we were asleep.

“Rhodes’s tummy isn’t soft and fluffy,” Adeline continued to point out. “It’s really bumpy.”

“Those are muscles,” Avett pointed out. “I’m gonna have muscles like that too when I get big.”

“Look,” Ainsley squeaked. “He got a drawin’ on his booby.”

I almost lost it with that one and had to bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

“It’s not a booby. It’s a pec,” Avett said with the kind of disgust that could only come from a big brother. “And that’s a tattoo.”

“What’s a tattoo?”

“It’s where they stab ink into your skin with a bunch of needles.”

I felt a breath flutter against my skin as one of them came in closer. “It’s real pretty.” Ainsley .

“Don’t touch it!” Adeline hissed. I heard a shuffle that must have been her pulling her little sister back from the bed. “You’re gonna wake them up.”

“But... I’m hungry.” I could hear the pout in Ainsley’s voice. “I wanna wake up Mommy to make me waffles.”

“No, don’t wake her up,” Adeline scolded. “She looks really comfy. And see how Rhodes is huggin’ her? I don’t think she wants to wake up right now.”

My heart clenched, that sweet little girl tugging at its strings and making a place just for her inside of it. To most people she might come off as shy, her quietness mistaken for nerves or trepidation. But I knew the truth. She wasn’t shy, she was watchful. She was quiet because that made it easier to soak up everything happening around her. An intuition like hers was going to make her an unstoppable force when she grew up. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up as President one day.

“Rhodes gives good hugs. I bet that’s why she’s in here,” Ainsley stated with complete seriousness, carving out a space of her own in my heart.

“Yeah, and he’s super cool and smart. I’m gonna be just like him when I get bigger.” Avett declared, taking up his own space.

I felt Blythe’s fingers wrap around the forearm I had draped around her waist, squeezing as she listened to her kids give me some of the greatest gifts I’d received, without even realizing they were doing it.

As badly as I wanted to stay in bed all day with Blythe, with three kids under our roof, that wasn’t in the cards, and given what they walked in on this morning, I knew the talk we’d been planning was going to have to happen soon. So instead of staying curled around Blythe, I sprang into action.

I shot up to sitting with a roar that made all three of them scream bloody murder, but before they could act, my arms shot out and wrapped around all three of them, scooping them up and dragging them into the bed.

Their screams quickly turned to giggles as I got to work tickling them until they were squirming and flailing everywhere. Blythe quickly got into the game and joined me, acting as a second tickle monster while her kids filled the room with the most beautiful sounds of laughter—when they weren’t begging for mercy, of course.

We finally let up when Avett issued the warning that he was about to pee his pants. Their laughter eventually died down, and Adeline crawled over to snuggle up in her mom’s lap while Ainsley snuggled into mine. Avett sat in the middle of the bed smiling at the scene in front of him. I knew Blythe wished he was still little enough for snuggles, but he was too focused on growing up and becoming a man, and according to him, men didn’t snuggle. I’d been the same at his age. So had my brothers, Raylan and Raleigh. But there would still be days when he needed his momma’s arms around him.

Ainsley smiled up at me, her little baby teeth on full display as she said, “I like your toot-toot.”

My brows puckered together. “My what?”

She reached over to trace the angel wings on my chest with her tiny finger. “Your toot-toot.”

“Oh.” My chest shook on a deep chuckle. “My tattoo.”

“Dat’s what I said.” I hugged her tightly, praying she never started saying her Rs and THs correctly.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” I glanced over at Blythe to see her watching us with a tender look on her face, those turquoise eyes filled with happiness. “They’re actually for your momma.”

I could see realization dawning in Avett’s eyes. “’Cause you call her Angel.”

“That’s right, bud. See, your mom and I were really close a long, long time ago, and I never forgot her.” I gave the woman who held my heart a soft smile. “She never stopped bein’ special to me.”

“ I love you ,” she mouthed just for me before Adeline chimed in. “That was fun.”

“It was, but from here on out, you guys need to knock before you come in Rhodes’s room,” Blythe said, adopting her mom voice so her kids knew she was serious.

Adeline nodded. “Yes, ma’am. But we only came in ’cause you weren’t in your room and we couldn’t find you.”

Ainsley nodded with a look of seriousness on her face that no four-year-old should have been able to pull off. “Yeah, and that monster in my belly is back, and he’s growlin’ that he needs waffles.”

I adopted her same solemness and said, “You know what? I have a monster in my belly too, and he was demandin’ the same thing.”

She sucked in a gasp and looked up at me with those wide Caribbean eyes that matched her mother’s. “Really?”

I lifted my hand in the air. “Swear. So we better get downstairs and make those waffles.”

The three of them bolted off the bed and out of the room, running down the stairs like a herd of elephants.

I slid on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt while Blythe gathered her hair up in a messy bun on the top of her head. “So... I guess the cat’s out of the bag on our relationship,” I hedged. “But if you aren’t ready, we can make an excuse or somethin’. Maybe tell them you had a bad dream?—?”

She came over to me and caressed my cheek. “We don’t need to make excuses. We’re going to tell them the truth.”

My heart started racing, the desire for her that was always coursing through my veins pumping even faster. “You sure, baby? I don’t want you to feel rushed.”

“I love you,” she said sincerely. “This isn’t rushed. It’s time. Now, we better get downstairs fast. If we don’t get those waffles cooking, Ainsley’s likely to set the kitchen on fire.”

We got the waffles made without any risk of devastation, and gathered around the island, the kids tucked up on stools while Blythe and I stood across from them as they stuffed their faces.

My heart lodged in my throat as soon as Blythe started talking. “So, guys, there’s something Rhodes and I would like to talk to you about.”

“Are you guys boyfriend and girlfriend?” Avett asked around a mouthful of waffle, his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk storing up food for the winter. “Is that why you were huggin’ Momma in your bed?”

I looked to her for guidance, returning the small, almost secretive grin. “Yeah, buddy,” she answered, turning back to face the kids that had come to mean everything to me. “Actually, if you ever wake up and need to find me, you can find me in there. Rhodes and I share that room now.”

“’Cause he makes you happy?” I felt Avett’s question like a blow to the chest, and I felt Blythe’s answer the same.

“Exactly. Because he makes me happy. Just like you guys make me happy.”

I couldn’t keep quiet any longer, I needed them to know what they meant to me. All of them. “Your mom makes me happy too,” I told them. “But I really lucked out, because she comes with you, and you guys make me just as happy as your mom does.”

Adeline’s eyes glistened. Avett’s chest swelled up and his throat worked. And Ainsley grinned like I just told her she was actually born a princess.

“I love your mom very much. And I want you to know that I love all of you too. Just as much. And I want you guys to stay here with me forever. I want this to be your home.”

“We can stay here forever?” Ainsley bounced on her stool excitedly and squeaked, “Does that mean we can get horses?”

“Ains. You can’t just ask someone?—”

I cut Blythe off. “You want a horse, baby girl, I’ll get you a horse.” Blythe whipped her head in my direction, bugging her eyes out in shock. But I wasn’t taking it back. I was actually excited at the prospect of spoiling those kids rotten. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do or give to make them happy.

She’d simply have to learn to accept that. Because I had every intention of spoiling her rotten too.

We finished breakfast and were in the middle of rinsing dishes when Avett spoke. “Just so you know, we love you too,” he informed me. His words froze me in place.

Adeline came up beside him and nodded sagely. “We do. Even if you don’t buy us a horse.”

Hell, I’d get them ten fucking horses each.

Blythe let out a giggle and shook her head, grinning so brightly it lit up the whole house. “You are so screwed.”

I was. And I didn’t give a single damn.