Page 104 of You Can Make Me
“Go, babe. We got this. Don’t we got this, little buddy?”
“We gots this,” Miles said. He took the bottle from me and, once I settled Miranda in between us in the bed, propped up on her wedge so her reflux wouldn’t get aggravated, Miles carefully held her bottle while she slurped it down. He sang the song his nickname came from, and she stared up at him with stormy gray eyes. They were polar opposites, but they were bonded more deeply than two unrelated siblings should be. We didn’t know a lot about Miles’s background, but he’d been given to us for a reason.
I took a sip of my coffee and heard Cooper yelp in the shower. I needed to adjust the water heater again. It took forever to come on, but once it did, it would scald you if you weren’t careful. We couldn’t have that with our precious bundles.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand, and I leaned over, keeping one hand on Miranda to keep her from rolling off the wedge.
“Oh shoot! We have a baby!”
“Duh, Daddy Denny. We have Mee-randa.”
I bent over and kissed her squirmy belly.
“I meant we haveanotherbaby. Auntie Stacia had a baby girl this morning!”
“What?! She had the baby?”
Cooper must have taken the quickest shower on record. He stood in the doorway with a towel around his waist, using another to dry the curls that now fell nearly to his waist.
“Her name is Stella.” I grinned at him and tried not to think about what we’d been up to just a short time ago.
“Stelllaaaaaa!You know I’m going to say that every time,” he said with a laugh before disappearing back into the bathroom.“We’ll have to put together a package. I can’t wait to see her next month.”
We were currently in our New Orleans place, close to the fairgrounds. We stayed here in the fall while Cooper taught journalism courses at Tulane University, then we’d take the RV up to Vegas for the winter and spring, to stay near Coop’s parents. Summers we spent up in Fortuna, California, with Ryan and his friends while he and Kal were off tour. We loved our roving life, but this would likely be the last year, as Miles would need to start school next fall. Cooper and I were still debating where we wanted to settle. Wherever we went, we’d be near our people, because our extended family was precious to us.
We’d been through hell, but we’d come out on the other side with bountiful blessings.
“Randa finished,” Miles said, as he took the bottle out of her mouth. He was such a little helper. “I go put it in the sink.”
“Good job, buddy. We’ll meet you in the kitchen and I’ll get breakfast going, ’kay?”
“Oooookeeeeeey doooookeeeeey arrrrrtiiichoookeeeeeyyyy,” he hollered as he ran down the hall.
I scooped up Miranda and burped her as I walked into the bathroom.
Cooper had braided his hair and twisted it into a bun. He stood at the sink shaving carefully around what was left of his scar, still in just a towel.
“God, you’re beautiful.”
He winked at me in the mirror and then pursed those perfect lips of his. He’d grown to accept his scars as evidence of his strength, just as I’d hoped he would, and he didn’t keep them covered anymore. He’d come so far. He hadn’t needed the cane in years. He and I kept up our workouts, and he eventually went back to Jiu Jitsu and earned his black belt. He could totally kick my ass. I loved to let him.
“Hey, you guys want to meet for an early dinner tonight? I’m craving that Cuban place we found. And the Ochoas will be here this weekend. I can’t wait for Miles and Eugene to get to play together.”
Nothing made my heart happier than watching Miles play with Gene and Sam’s son. They’d struggled for so long to have a family. We’d all struggled, and we all knew just how precious life truly was.
“Sounds perfect. We’ll pick you up.”
“Hmmm. And we can go to the park after and tire Miles out.”
I licked my lips, loving where his mind was at. “Definitely.”
Miles was sitting on the floor near his toys when I got to the kitchen. He was hunched over something and whispering to it. I strapped Miranda into her high chair and watched him for a minute.
“Whatcha got there, buddy?”
He stood up and trotted over to me.”Look what I found!”
He shoved his little hands up toward me, holding a familiar black ball.
