Holly Madison (Sins of the Father, 2) (23 page)

Across from me is Jim.  He arrived at about the same time Tristan and I did, giving us a knowing smile with warmth and hope in his eyes.  Olivia is pacing the room while Curtis holds on to her with an arm on her shoulders.  Juice is leaning up against the window with his arms crossed, his eyes on Olivia. 
Wonder what that’s all about.
 

Charlena is on the other side of the room, painting her fingernails.  Earlier, she burst through the doors not thirty minutes after we did, booming, “Where’s the little crumb snatcher?”

Everyone has made all of the calls needed to make sure that Emma’s support system is here and waiting for her when she delivered our baby.  We got an update a little while back, letting us know that Emma was five centimeters dilated, which meant that things should start moving along quickly.  That was over an hour ago.

I am getting worried, but I never made it to this phase in my pregnancy, so I have no idea if this is normal. 

My gaze turn towards the sudden movement of the room.  Tristan places his arms around me and lifts me from my seat to meet Braden. 

He walks into the room in scrubs, his massive body filling the doorway, and says, “She has ten fingers, ten toes, and a strong holler.  Emma is fine.  Who wants to meet Alexia?”

There are six collective gasps, including my own.  I feel the tears stinging the backs of my eyes, but when I take in the others around me, there isn’t a dry eye in the room.

“Give me that baby.”

“No, it’s my turn.”

“Nuh uh!  I’ve been waiting a long time for her.”

“Girl, you better back the hell up.  Give me that little suga.”

“I’m her aunt!”

“So.  Am.  I.”

“Ladies, we can all share her.”

“I’m almost done feeding her.  Then you can fight over her.”

“Mommy, can I play with the sword?  I need a sword.  Every He-Man needs a sword.”

“Yeah, yeah.  That’s fine, Jett.  Just be careful.”

“Okay.”

I am standing in the doorway of the living room, watching my best friend feed her new baby and feeling a slight pang in my heart as I hope that, one day, that will be me with my baby.

We are all in Braden’s house, waiting our turn as patiently as possible to get our hands on little Lexi.  It is me, Tristan, Jake, Claire, Claire’s son Jett, Olivia, Juice, Jim, my mother, and of course Emma, Braden, and Lexi.  In my belly, there is a warmth I have been feeling a lot lately.  It is the feeling of contentment.  I’ve longed for this my entire life, and I finally think I’ve found it. 

Jett runs back into the room, singing, “My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and they’re like it’s better than yours,” into a thick, pink rod that he’s using as a makeshift microphone.  He comes to a screeching halt, looks up at Juice, and says, “What are you lookin’ at?”

“Umm, does he know what he’s singing?”  Juice asks the room.

“No.  He just likes the song,” Claire answers.

“Well, maybe someone should enlighten him.”

“What’s it to you, clucksucker?”

“Jett!” 

“’Clucksucker’?”  Juice eyeballs him.  Then he laughs.  “Boy, I’m gonna hang you upside down by your ankles!”

Jett stomps his foot, narrows his eyes, and says in a warning tone, which is quite comical for a five-year-old, “Just try it. Cluck. Sucker.”

Juice uses one hand to punch his other while glaring at the small child.  “Brat!”

Jett tucks the pink rod between his legs, clasps his hands together, and simulates cracking his knuckles.  “Juice box.”

Juice booms out another laugh, places his hand on the top of Jett’s little head, and ruffles his hair.

Jett shrugs, holds the pink rod up in the air, and roars, “I. Have. The. Powerrrrrrr!”

It finally dawns on me what he is holding.

“Oh my god.  Jett, give mommy that!” Claire squeals, completely mortified.

Olivia giggles.  He must have found the box we left over here from the baby shower. 

Jett points at the pink dildo at Juice.  “By the powers of gray skull!  I. Am. He-Man!”  Then he wields it at him as if he’s about to engage in a sword fight.  “Prepare to go down, fool!”

Claire smiles an apologetic smile as the rest of the room bursts out laughing.

“Here.  Jett honey.  Let Aunt Olivia have that,” Olivia orders on a giggle.

“So, anyhow, I got the little princess a couple of things,” Juice announces and shoves a pink gift bag at Braden. 

“Thanks, man.”  Braden opens the bag, rustles through the tissue paper, and displays onesie number one.  It is small, it is white, and it says, “Daddy’s little squirt.” 

“She is not wearing that!” Emma squeaks. 

“Come on, boss.”

Emma smiles, drops her chin, and says, “Maybe around the house.”

Braden holds the second onesie up.  “Bitches be trippin’.”

“Okay, she’s definitely wearing this, baby,” Braden confirms.  Then he leans over and places the most tender of kisses on both of his ladies’ heads before announcing, “My women need their rest.  Y’all don’t have to go home, but you need to get the hell out of my house.” 

I walk over to Braden, planting a big kiss to his cheek. “Take care of my girls, yeah?”

Braden winks at me.  “You got it, darlin’.”

Tristan claps his brother on the back and does some sort of rough, manly hug that looks like it’s about to turn into a wrestling match.

I bend down, kiss Lexi’s little head, and lift to give Emma one to hers.  I straighten up and tell Emma, “She’s absolutely perfect.”

Emma’s eyes soften.  “I know.”

Tristan places one hand on the small of my back as the other caresses the side of his niece’s head.  He looks meaningfully at his sister-in-law and says quietly, “You did real good, Em.”

“Thank you.”  Her eyes drift to me before she smiles and says back, “You did real good too, T.”

He kisses her and directs me out of the door, at the same time telling her, “I know.”

Seeing how naturally the love flows between Braden, Emma, and Lexi is one of life’s many blessings.  And I feel blessed to have witnessed that.  I look at Tristan, wondering if that will ever happen for us.  Will we ever experience such an amazing miracle in this lifetime?  Together?

Something has definitely changed in Tristan over the months when he was off finding himself and working through his issues.  I feel a glimmer of hope rising in my chest.

Maybe I will get the happily ever after I have always hoped for.

Tristan lay on his back, his head resting on his hand, his other trailing up and down his girl’s side while she was tucked into his.  His mind was on Holly sitting in the chair of Emma’s hospital room holding his niece Lexi.  She’d  been cradling the baby in her arms while whispering adoring words into her perfect little ear.  Then his thoughts drifted to Braden’s house, where again she’d gotten her hands on his niece and rocked her to sleep when she had been deemed inconsolable by everyone else.   His cupcake was a natural.

When Tristan was younger, he’d always thought that, one day, he would have kids.  He just wasn’t sure if he deserved them.  After all, he’d grown up in a good-sized family.  After seeing Holly with his niece today, he knew he wanted a lot more than one, and if he could help it, they would all be with her.   He hoped that, even though she’d had the miscarriage, she would feel the same way.

Holly lifted her head, looked into his eyes, and smiled brightly.  She had a gorgeous smile, but when she gave it to him that big, it was the most brilliant sight he’d ever seen. 

“I know it’s soon, but I gotta know, babe.  Do you want kids?” Tristan asked, deciding that it was now or never.  He had to know and this was no time for holding shit back.

Her body jerked.  Then she whispered, “What?”

“Do.  You.  Want.  Kids?”

Her eyes slid to his chest as she watched her fingers draw circles around his tattoo.

“Look at me, cupcake,” he whispered. 

Her gaze drifted slowly back to his. “I do,” she answered on a shaky voice while her body tensed, seeming completely terrified. 

He flashed a grin at her and whispered, “Good.  Me too.”  He leaned down and kissed her nose.  “I’d like at least two.  A boy and a girl, but if one doesn’t happen to be a girl, then three would do me just fine.  How many do you want?”

She stared in his eyes, her body still tense and her lip quivering. 

Shit.  He hadn’t wanted her to cry.  He’d known that this was going to be a tough conversation for her, but he had to know.  Of course, they were just getting back together and things were rocky as it was to begin with, but things were going to be different.  This was forever.

“Tristan Holt, are you saying you want kids with me?”

He nodded and felt his grin grow the length of his face.  “We’re growin’ an army of little ninjas.”

“You’re very own little fight club?  I refuse to have children for sport.  The first one who comes home and says, “The first rule of fight club is—“

Tristan laughed, rolled her on her back, and dipped his face into her neck.  “How many babies do you want?”

She took a deep breath, exhaled, and sputtered, “I want four.  Two boys, two girls.  The two boys have to come first so that they can keep all of the other boys away from the girls.  Tristan, I refuse to be a grandmother too soon.  I also don’t want to deal with the headaches that come along with having girls when they turn into teenagers.”

“No girls of mine will be dating.  Period,” Tristan growled, lifting his head to look into her eyes.  “Nonnegotiable.”

“You can’t stop them from dating, Tristan.”

“The hell I can’t.”

“Unless you plan on scaring them off with a shotgun at the front door, tailing them in your car, beating their daddies up in front of them, or all of the above, you have to have two boys first to keep them protected from all of the assholes who just want to get in their pants, because let’s face it, if we have girls, they are going to be knockouts,” Holly replied all in one breath.

He completely forgot about their argument on not allowing his daughters to date and realized exactly what she had said.  He grinned.  “You want girls with me?” 

Her face fell and he watched as emotion took slid through her gorgeous features.

“Hey,” he whispered.  “It’s ok if you want girls with me.  I’ll have a whole squad of cheerleaders with you, cupcake.  Of course, that means that I would need an arsenal, not just a gun cabinet, but if you want that, it’s yours.”

Her hand came to his jaw, her thumb swept his cheek then trailed to his lips, and her eyes watched the path.  Then they slid to his before she lifted up and touched her lips to his.  She gave him another brilliant smile and laid her hand to his chest.  She trailed kisses down his chest and to his abs.  In one quick movement, she was between his legs, making him moan.  Tristan gave her a minute to enjoy herself, but he needed a taste.

Once he was done letting her take control, he flipped her, knelt over her, returned his cock to her mouth, and put his mouth between her legs.  They ate at each other for a couple of minutes before Holly finally lost her concentration on the task at hand and he took over.  He climbed over her, rounded her body, and knelt between her open legs.  He heard her whimper as he moved his mouth on her.  Then he traveled from between her legs to her belly.