Page 21 of Coyotes Ever After

“Let’s go in the kitchen and get you something better than those donuts to eat.” He stands up and reaches for my hand.

I put my hand in his, excited about our new,veryunplanned adventure.

Some of the best things happen when you least expect them.

CHAPTER NINE

ONE YEAR LATER

Cam

“Oh, Tess.”I look up from my four-month-old nephew Ryland’s face to meet my sister’s eyes. “He’s an angel. Are you sure he’s Dom’s?”

She rolls her eyes and takes a cloth from Ryland’s diaper bag, leaning over to wipe a little drool from the corner of his mouth. “You’ve seen the side-by-side photos. There’s no doubt this is Dom’s son.”

“Well, keep trying. Maybe the next one won’t be.”

I love my brother-in-law. No one else better make fun of him in front of me, but Tess and I get a free pass. He feels the same way about me.

Tess cackles at that. “Dom’s getting snipped next month. They couldn’t get him in any sooner. So I’ve only been allowing oral until then because I would literally lose my mind if I got pregnant again.”

“He must be thrilled.”

“You should hear him whine about it. It’s like having two babies.”

“Did I hear something about whining?” My husband Rowan walks into the room. “You must be talking about Dominic J. Locke.”

Tess stands up to hug Rowan. She and Dom flew into Chicago, our home since Rowan got traded to the Chicago Blaze four years ago. My youngest two sons, Max and Oliver, come racing in behind Rowan. They’re just getting home from youth hockey practice.

“You look great,” Rowan tells Tess.

“Hey now,” I tease.

Tess laughs and waves. “He means great for a woman who had a baby four months ago. I’d die for your Orange Theory body.”

“I mean, there’s a day care. Working out is actually a lot easier than taking care of five kids.”

Rowan comes over and kisses me, then steals our new nephew.

“Hey, big guy.” He cradles him and I swear my ovaries start quivering.

We’re done having kids, but there’s something about seeing my husband holding a baby and remembering him holding our kids as newborns that gives me major baby fever.

“Aunt Tess!” Max, who is five, hugs Tess and gives her a sweet smile. “Do you have any candy?”

I answer for her. “No candy. Uncle Dom and Mae went to pick up pizza.”

“Yeah, kids,” Rowan quips. “Eat your nutritious pizza before the candy.”

I shrug. “I mean...there’s tomato sauce?”

Somewhere around kid number four, I stopped worrying about getting a balanced meal on the table every night. Now Ijust make sure there’s a meal, and it’s carryout a couple times a week.

Our youngest son, Ollie, has developmental delays and he goes to therapy three times a week. He doesn’t talk a lot, but he absolutely loves ice skating with Rowan. He’s one of the peewee players who’s just learning to skate, and it’s been incredible to find something he loves.

Mae is six and she’s Ollie’s biggest champion. She reads to him and often lies next to him at night to help him fall asleep.

Sam and Tate are somehow almost seventeen. Rowan and I take turns taking them on college visits so one of us can be home with the other kids, and it makes me teary-eyed every time. In my eyes, they’re still little boys with sticky hands, shoving toys down the toilet and drawing me pictures of our family with hearts on them. In reality, though, they can both drive, they work part-time jobs and they can grow facial hair.

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