Page 47 of Her Saviors

“She’s precious. The doctor is okay with her having regular food with you?” Mrs. Deville asks, making another note in our file.

“He is. She’s old enough for the food and to have her formula supplement it when she needs a drink and when she goes down for a nap or bed,” I answer her, setting the dishes in the sink to rinse off while everyone talks and the kids finish their meal.

“Good. Has she gained weight since you started her on regular food?”

“She has. Mia was just at the doctor yesterday for a check-up and she’s gained almost three full pounds. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but Dr. Crewes is happy that she’s finally gaining some pounds,” Gavin answers her as he looks over at Mia.

“Good. I’d rather have her gain three pounds than to lose even a pound. He’s happy with her progress since she’s been living with you?”

“He is. Her next appointment will be just after she turns a year old for her shots and another check-up. If we think she’s losing weight or not handling things the way she should, we can call him at any time and he’ll come right out to see her. We don’t have to take her into town if we’re unable to,” Brooklyn answers again as Kyler lets us know he’s done with his dinner.

As usual, our boy has eaten everything on his plate and finished his milk. Again, a note is made in our chart as Mia starts hitting the tray of her high chair. That’s her sign to tell us she’s done eating and wants to get down.

“Mama!” Mia yells out, holding her arms in the air. “Mama. Mama.”

“She’s certainly vocal when she wants to be. What do you do with Mia now?” Mrs. Deville asks us.

“Now, she’ll go up and have her bath before we put her in a fresh diaper and pajamas for the night. She’s got about a half hour and then we’ll put her down for bed. Usually she lays in her crib and watches the mobile until she can’t keep her little eyes open any longer,” Gavin answers this time as I clean up Kyler from his dinner before he grabs his paper and crayons to get back to work.

Mrs. Deville goes up with Gavin and Brooklyn as they get Mia ready for bed. I watch Kyler after dealing with the dinner dishes and loading them in the dishwasher to start once the baths are done for the night. It’s one of the last things we do every day. When she comes back down with Gavin, Brooklyn, and Mia, Mrs. Deville asks us to talk to her for a minute as we all make our way to the kitchen, leaving Mia and Kyler in the living room where we can watch them closely.

“I’m very impressed with everything I’ve seen here since you brought them to Odin’s Gap. You’ve managed to get them into a good routine, Mia is gaining weight and eating food with you daily, and Kyler is thriving. I did note the few times he’s had a breakdown and worried about things until you talked to him. That will happen. He’s still processing the changes in his life. I’ve talked to Theresa and she agrees with that assessment. If you feel you want to adopt Mia and Kyler, I will do whatever I can to help you,” Mrs. Deville tells us as Brooklyn smiles and her eyes fill with tears once again. “Plus, you have so many people to help you, which will come in handy when the baby arrives.”

I grin and say, “Actually, we’re having twins.”

“Oh my, four kids under one roof? That’s going to be fun,” Mrs. Deville teases. “Do you know what you’re having yet?”

“One of each,” I reply. “Since Mia’s still so little, we’ll have all three of them in the nursery until they’re a bit older, like Kyler, then they’ll get their own rooms.”

“Unless they want to share,” Gavin says. “Either way, we’ve got plenty of room, and can always add on if we want.”

“I’m just glad we do have the support system here at the compound,” Brooklyn says as a knock sounds on the door and Nanny lets herself in our home.

“Nanny, it’s good to see you again,” Mrs. Deville says, greeting her as she rushes in to Mia and Kyler.

“Hi,” she says, giving the kids her full attention as usual.

“I’m done here for the night. Thank you for giving these kids such a happy home filled with love and support. I’ll schedule my visits from now on and you can always call me if you need anything at all,” Mrs. Deville says, walking toward the door as I follow her to make sure she gets in her car okay.

The last thing I tell her is that we’re getting the kids a puppy because Kyler’s responded so well to our friend’s dog. She tells me that’s a great idea as long as we don’t feel we’ll be overwhelmed with the kids and a puppy. I assure her we’ll have more help than we could ever need on a daily basis as she gets in her car and leaves the compound. I spend a few minutes outside breathing in the crisp, fresh air before heading back in the house. Brooklyn is just disappearing upstairs with Mia to lay her down for bed as Kyler finishes the last block on his paper. He’ll have to get in the bath now and get ready for bed so we can read him a story or two. The next few days we’ll keep a close eye on him to ensure he knows we’re serious about him and Mia staying with us forever and that he doesn’t have to think of ways to get her to Nanny’s house because of the twins. We’ll also talk to Theresa about it so she can get a better read on him in their next session. Our days are filled with chaos, love, support, wonder, and everything in between. I wouldn’t change a single thing about it.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Soul

Six months later

OVER THE LAST six months, our life has settled even more into a routine. Kind of. Our days are still chaotic with everything going on, but we get through each one by depending on one another and by ensuring the kids know we’re there for them no matter what. Even when Brooklyn went into labor, the kids were in our home with Nanny, Cricket, Goliath, and their kids. In fact, they didn’t even know until they woke up that we weren’t in the house because our twins decided they wanted to come in the middle of the night. They made their grand entrance into the world approximately four hours after Brooklyn’s water broke at home. Jayce and I were at her side and the kids were brought up first thing in the morning to meet the newest additions to our family.

Dax Landon and Adoline Della were born just before four in the morning the first day it snowed. Talk about a crazy as hell trip to the hospital. We spent more time sliding around in the truck than actually driving a straight line. Anguish had to drive us because Jayce and I lost our shit. We actually left the compound without Brooklyn and had all of her bags in the bed of the truck. One of them almost flew out as Hulk caught up to us in his truck and made us go back to the house. Brooklyn was loaded up in Anguish’s truck by the time we got there and we grabbed everything from the bed of our truck and put it in the backseat with us. Brooklyn was laughing so hard at us, I was honestly scared she’d have the twins in the truck as Anguish raced through the snow and managed to keep his truck on the road.

Bear is also a new addition to our family. He’s a Golden Retriever that we got from the breeder Gavin found and he’s absolutely amazing. We’ve had him with us for almost two months now. His people are definitely Brooklyn and Kyler. When Kyler’s at school during the day, Bear is right next to our wife and follows her around the house so she doesn’t get lost. When Kyler’s home, Bear follows him around and stays right at his side. He even sleeps with Kyler every single night. Mia still isn’t too sure what to think of him and that’s okay. We’re letting her warm up to him in her own time.

The older Mia gets, the more cautious she becomes. She sits back and observes everything before making a decision as to join in the fun or not. Mia loves Nanny and spends as much time as possible with her. She loves going into the coop and chasing the chickens all over which makes Nanny cackle until she almost falls over. Those two are trouble when they’re together but we can’t keep them apart. If we ever can’t find our little girl, all we have to do is walk over to Nanny’s cabin and that’s where we find Mia. Brooklyn is the only one who ever knows where she is because the first time Nanny took her, she didn’t tell Brooklyn and it scared the hell out of her. Brooklyn raced all over the compound at seven months pregnant and almost fell on her face so many times. Nanny felt horrible and promised she’d tell our wife when she was kidnapping her little buddy.

Goliath has been roped into getting his wife even more farm animals over the last six months. They now own a miniature Highland cow. I’m not sure if it’s cute or something that fills my nightmares. I tend not to go to their place too much because there are animals everywhere you look and most of them wander free like Nanny’s chickens. Especially the goats. Those are about the only things I can stand because they’re so funny when they faint out of nowhere and just lay there like a lump on the ground. Kyler was scared the first time he saw it happen and we had to explain that’s what they do when they get scared. After that he started laughing every time one of the goats fainted in front of him. Our boy has a sick sense of humor some days.

He’s now taking martial arts and has expressed an interest in playing football as soon as he’s old enough to join one of the teams in town. We’ve asked him about T-ball, but Kyler has no interest in it. He did see someone playing lacrosse and was kind of interested in that. I have a feeling our boy is gonna want to play full contact sports where he gets to hit people. Brooklyn is gonna lose her damn mind watching him play those two sports. But, I also predict she’ll be cheering him on louder than anyone else as she does now when he learns a new move in martial arts. I’m just glad he hasn’t witnessed anyone playing hockey yet. I have a feeling that’s another sport he’d express interest in. Of course, he’s still riding his bike all over the place and has informed us he wants to learn how to do wheelies. He seems to be trying to become the next Evel Knievel.

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