Sadly, since I’d been teaching a class that Madden had conveniently stuck me with, I hadn’t joined them.
Which I normally did since they were two of the best athletes in the gym. But, since Soren had had his child, Tessa, I hadn’t been able to join them much at all due to the weird hours they had to keep.
Which got me to thinking about kids… and how many that I wanted to have with Fran.
I winced at the thought almost immediately.
“What was that look for?” Madden asked after a few seconds.
I grinned.
“I was thinking about kids,” I told him.
Madden’s face soured.
Some movement behind me caught my eye, and I turned slightly to see Mavis making her way toward us, a huge grin on her face that was aimed down at the little boy in her arms.
“I don’t want any more kids,” Madden said, unaware of the woman that was creeping up behind him until the words had already leaked from his mouth.
Shit.
The dumbass.
I hadn’t had a chance to tell him about Mavis and Vlad. Or ‘Imp’ as in ‘Vladimir the Impaler’ for short like Fran called him.
Then again, I’d heard her call him Lad, too.
I swear, she called him whatever happened to come up in her head at the time.
Mavis, crestfallen at his words, seemed to stiffen her spine almost resolutely, then cleared her throat.
Madden whipped around. He opened his mouth, but then it snapped shut at seeing Mavis and Vlad.
It then fell open again.
“Mavis…” Madden started.
Mavis smiled at Madden, but her eyes turned to me.
“You’re the first person that she’s ever told that story to,” she whispered. “I wanted you to know how big that was for her. And that, though she left yesterday, she tried to call you about eight hundred times.”
I saw Madden frown out of the corner of my eye.
My gaze was all for Mavis, though.
“I’m glad she did,” I said. “I’d always wondered about her. Now that I know…”
“Now that you know she’s a survivor. Now that you know that she didn’t die. Now that you know that she is stronger than ever… because of you,” Mavis whispered.
The boy in her arms started to scream, drawing both Madden’s and my gaze.
I walked over and held out my hands for him. “May I?”
Mavis smiled and handed her son over. He came willingly, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the drool that came out of his mouth as he smiled at me.
“This is one cute kid,” I told Mavis. “I would never think a butterball like this would’ve come from someone like you. You’re so in shape. I never even knew you were pregnant.”
“That was why I went missing for half a year last year.” She snickered. “Vlad benched me for a bit. But I’m doing better than ever. His dad… well, let’s just say, things didn’t go as planned. But the guy was definitely a butterball just like him. Big, too. Vlad was nearly nine pounds at birth.”
Madden stood silently behind me. I could practically hear his silent questions.
Before either Madden or I could say another word, my favorite person in the world ran up.
“Hey!” Fran panted as she ran up to us. She spotted the baby in my arms, and her face whirled into a devastating smile that took my breath away.
Then she was close, her face only inches from mine, as she gave Vlad a sweaty kiss on the lips.
The baby squealed and dove for her.
Fran, obviously used to it, caught him up and swung him up on her hip, and I was assaulted with a devastating vision of my own child on her hip as she smiled down at him.
I wanted that.
I didn’t realize how badly until just now.
I just had to make her mine first.
Then marry her.
She wouldn’t look at me, though.
Not even a damn glance.
It made me pissy.
“I came to pay my bill.” Mavis cleared her throat. “Madden, can we do that real quick while I have a babysitter?”
“I’m not done!” Fran laughed as she gave me back her nephew.
Mavis opened her mouth to say something but I waved her off. “Go take care of what you need to take care of. I have him.”
And I did.
He helped me cheer everyone on while they finished the last ten minutes of their workout.
It was when we were in the last two minutes of it that I heard my phone ring from across the gym.
Normally, I would ignore it.
But this one was my grandmother.
And I hadn’t seen her since she’d gotten on a plane to head to Alaska for a two-month-long cruise.
I hurried toward it, a smile already on my face.
When I got there, I place the phone to my ear and said, “Gran!”
“I’m home!” Gran cried. “And I can’t wait to meet this girl that I keep hearing about.”
I rolled my eyes. “How did you know?”