Page 7 of Endless
"I love you too, sugar cube." Reaper took the spoon from her and kissed her forehead.
We tried not to swear in front of the kids at first, we really did. But even Mari slipped sometimes, despite being the biggest enforcer of it. The kids' teachers didn't approve, obviously, but in the end, we decided it wasn't all that harmful. If anything, a bigger vocabulary was a good thing, right? Especially if they learned to speak two languages.
"Alright, I'm putting you down." I placed Rori carefully on the floor, then turned the burners off. "Have a seat and I'll bring you a plate,mijita."
We got the kids seated with food, an endeavor that went smoothly this morning, before getting ourselves plated up.
"Thank you,guapito." Mari kissed me as she breezed past me in the kitchen.
I smacked her ass before she could dodge out of the way. "My pleasure." And it really was. Taking care of my family was all I'd ever wanted to do.
The kids were hungry, but they were eager to get back to their box of toys, so they inhaled their food and squirmed in their seats.
"Slow down, child. You'll get a tummy ache." Mari wiped pancake syrup and crumbled egg from Rori's mouth. "Drink some juice."
"Papi, papi. Can you help me..."
"Finish chewing your food, son," I reminded Daren. "Yes, what can I help you with?"
"Can you help me build a... a motorcycle with the Legos I got from Uncle Drew?"
My chest swelled up so much when he asked that question, I thought it would burst. I had secretly hoped that at least one of my kids would want to build and tinker with stuff. Of course, I wanted them to pursue their own interests and not force them into anything, but I fantasized about working on projects with my son or daughter. Being able to teach them hands-on about mechanics and how things worked was a dream. One that my son just brought to reality with his innocent question.
"You want me to help you build a motorcycle?" My five-year-old had no idea what this meant to me, but all the adults in attendance did. Mari beamed at me from across the table and the guys let out soft, approving chuckles.
"Yeah! There's wheels and a bunch of other little parts, but I don't know where they go."
"Don't worry." I ruffled his dark hair, which was in thick, soft waves like Mari's, and kissed the top of his head. "We'll build you a bitchin' ride. But finish your breakfast first."
Daren wolfed down the rest of his eggs and bacon before politely asking to be excused.
He bolted to the living room coffee table just as his sister was finishing up.
"Rori, do you want to build motorcycles with Daren?" Mari teased our daughter, clearing plates from the table.
"No. Daddy, can I have tattoos?" Rori peered up at Shadow, grabbing his forearm that depicted Mari as a sexy pin-up girl.
"Again?" He smiled at her, pinching her cheek playfully. "You washed off your tattoos in the bath the other day."
"I want flowers this time. Like Mommy's. Oh, and I want a cat! Like Freyja."
"What do you say?"
"Pleeease!"
Shadow slid a glance over to Mari before giving in. "Alright. But they’re getting washed off again before you go back to school."
"Her teacher just has a massive stick up her ass," Gunner declared, shoving the last big bite of pancake into her mouth.
"Gun." Mari smacked his arm but had giggled despite the chastisement.
"You know I'm right, baby girl. She said 'shit'onetime—"
"It was 'bullshit' actually," Reaper chuckled. "I picked her up that day, and yes, her teacher was very concerned about how she expressed that the coloring project was bullshit."
"That's our girl," I laughed, collecting the rest of the dishes.
"And then the teacher came at me whenIpicked her up," Shadow continued. "Because Rori was showing off her 'tattoos' to the rest of the class. I had to explain to this lady that it was washable marker."
