Graham
It’s beenan entire day since Emery and the girls got here, and I’ve yet to get Emery alone. Much to my displeasure.
All I want is to be alone with my girl, and life seems to keep getting in the way.
“Graham, look at this,” Emery calls from the living room. I’m under the sink, covered in gunk from the pipe that I’ve just spent the last hour unclogging. To say Ma’s house needed some love and attention is an understatement.
I sit up, forgetting how low the sink is, and bang my head against the cabinet.
“Fuck,” I curse, rubbing the spot tenderly, “coming, babe.”
I set the wrench down on the dirty rag I laid out and walk into the living room, now with an aching head.
When I walk into the living room Allie, Ma, Emery and her mother are all crying, so I’m immediately on edge.
What the hell did I just walk into?
“What’s wrong?” My voice comes out panicked, but fuck, I’m just a tad bit stressed. Is it Ma? She’s been feeling bad this week, even more exhausted than usual, eating even less. I’m worried sick. Every fucking night, I toss and turn with nightmares of what’s to come. And then I walk into this. All of the women I love are crying, except my baby girls who are currently wearing bloomers, and…bonnets? Is that what they call those things? Hell, when’s the last time I even saw one of those?
“Your mom pulled out her hope chest, and found some of Allie’s old outfits, and we’re trying them on the girls.”
Ah, that explains the fashion throwback from thirty years ago.
“Isn’t it adorable?” Emery sniffles.
My gaze drops to the girls who are babbling and smiling with toothy grins, as they chew their fists. Of course they’re adorable; they’re mine after all. I see myself in them more and more every day, and as much as I love that they are Emery’s twins. The very same beautiful blue eyes, delicately sloped nose, and lips. The same identical high cheekbones. But they do both have the same shade of my hair, curly and thick, growing longer each day. Every time I look at them, my heart swells.
These aremybabies, and they’re the most beautiful girls in the world.
“Daddy's girls are the most perfect angels in the world,” I coo, walking over and picking up Charlotte carefully, since I’ve got grease and lord knows what else caked on me. After I kiss her chubby cheeks, I pick up Quinn and do the same.
“Michelle, this is so special. What a great thing for you to keep for Allie. Now Allie, when it’s your turn to have babies, you’ll have these memories.”
Allie shakes her head. “No way, I am totally fine being the cool aunt.”
“You know, that’s exactly what I used to say and now I’ve got twins.” Emery smirks, crossing her arms over her chest and shrugging. “Even the best ones fall sometimes.”
“As much as I would love to play dress up with you ladies today, I need to head into town and go to the hardware store and get some replacement fittings for the sink. I thought we had some in the barn, but there’s none there, and I want to get this fixed today. Em, wanna come with me?”
I’m hoping she says yes because I’m fucking desperate to get her alone; I’m going to fucking die if I don’t get my hands on her soon.
I seriously can’t help it, my baby mama is the sexiest woman on the damn planet, and even being in the same room as her makes my dick hard.
It’s not my fault, a man is only so strong.
She looks up at me through her thick, dark lashes, and pulls her lip between her teeth. She knows it drives me insane, out of my goddamn mind. Then she shakes her head. “No, I think I’ll stay here with the girls. You’ll be back soon?”
I almost groan out loud. Jesus.
“Yep.”
“Okay, I’ll see you when you get back.”
She’s so wrapped up in the girls, and our moms and Allie, she’s not picking up the hints I’m trying to drop, so I sigh, and then kiss both the girls and her on the head, and quickly change shirts.
I take the old truck into town with the windows down, soaking in the quiet of the country. That’s one of the perks living in a town this small, there’s a quiet that you won’t find anywhere else, and sure as shit, not in a big city like Chicago. It’s one of the things that took me the longest to get used to. The constant noise, and busyness. My apartment with Hudson and Asher was right in the heart of the city and you could constantly hear cars driving by on the interstate. It used to take me hours to fall asleep until I smartened up and got ear plugs.
Not here. Not in Strawberry Hollow.