Page 53 of Pumpkin
Dosia nodded, biting the inside of her lip. “I know.”
JJ held her arms out. “I want him! I want to hold my brother.”
Dosia indicated to the couch. “Go sit.” As JJ scurried over to the couch, Dosia whispered to Pumpkin, “Is this okay?”
“Of course,” he answered. “Not like we’re leaving her to babysit.”
Dosia snorted and then walked on her knees over to the couch. Pumpkin was slow to follow as his knees, thighs, and back protested. Fuck him, he might actually have to crawl after all. She placed SJ on the couch beside JJ. SJ immediately started to climb on her and JJ let out a high-pitched laugh as she hugged him to her.
“I love my brother!” she announced.
By the time Pumpkin made it to the couch, Dosia already had her camera out and was taking pictures of the siblings.
“I’ve changed my mind,” JJ declared. “I don’t want to bring my hairy daddy to show and tell. I want to bring my baby brother!”
Pumpkin grabbed his heart like she’d shot him. Dosia just pushed his shoulder, knowing he was joking. Smiling, Pumpkin winked at Dosia before turning to JJ. “I would still need to be there, but we can make that happen if you’d rather.”
JJ nodded emphatically. “His name is just like mine!”
Pumpkin and Dosia shared a look. He still wasn’t entirely sure how that had happened, but he had a feeling he was going to be calling out the wrong kid’s name a lot in his future.
“Okay,” Dosia said, breaking the tension. “I need one picture with all of us.” She handed Pumpkin her phone. “You have longer arms than I do,” she explained.
Pumpkin shrugged. He turned, settling his back against the couch. He pulled Dosia closer to him but angled in such a way that the kids were still visible behind them. “On the count of three, say ‘cheese’,” he told JJ. He adjusted the settings on the phone and held it up over them. “Ready? One… Two… Three!”
“Cheese!” they all said together. Even SJ seemed to make a sound that could have resembled an ‘eeezzzz’.
They ended up taking several pictures. SJ climbed off of JJ and flung himself onto his father’s shoulder, which prompted JJ to do the same with Dosia. Then they moved the kids onto their laps. Then JJ insisted on taking one of “just Mommy and Daddy”, which turned into a video of JJ trying to take a picture and hitting the wrong buttons.
Pumpkin couldn’t remember ever being so fucking happy in his life.
Finally, though, stomachs started making their distress known and they decided to move their little family to the kitchen. Only Pumpkin’s ass did not seem to want to get off the floor, and his back seized when he tried.
“Are you okay?” Dosia’s eyes were wide with concern.
Pumpkin waved her off, trying to breathe through the pain. “There’s a good possibility I overexerted myself this afternoon.” Dosia’s cheeks reddened, which only made him smile. Or he tried to anyway. It turned into a half-grimace. “I’m fine,” he insisted when Dosia’s concern only grew. “I just might be moving into your living room permanently.” He rubbed his hand on the carpet. “Good thing you have this nice, comfy rug.”
Dosia shook her head, smacking his shoulder lightly. “Do I need to call someone?”
“No!” Pumpkin was not ready to share Dosia with the club yet, and he didn’t need the sympathy he knew would accompany whichever of his brothers came over to help him stand. He honestly would have preferred them razzing him to the pity-party they continued to throw him. “I’m fine. Just… Give me a minute. I’ll join you in the kitchen in a bit.”
Though Dosia didn’t look convinced, she gathered up the kids and headed into the kitchen. He heard cabinets opening and closing, the clattering of the fridge, and the clank of plates. He was still trying to figure out how to get up onto the couch. Normally, he’d put his hands behind him and do a reverse push-up to lift himself onto the edgebefore sliding his ass back. But the couch cushions were extremely fluffy and provided no support like a firmer couch would have.
His head turned at the sound of footsteps approaching. Dosia was coming back with two water glasses and a sippy cup in one hand and the pizza box with plates resting on top of it in the other. JJ trailed behind her holding a cup with a lid and some sort of folded cloth. SJ followed at an excited crawl.
“What’s this?” Pumpkin asked. He held his arms out automatically as SJ made his way over to him.
“We brought the kitchen to you,” Dosia explained, putting her items down on the coffee table. “We’re going to have a family picnic.”
Pumpkin’s smile was so wide his cheeks hurt. “Sounds like a fantastic plan to me.”
Pumpkin and SJended up staying that first night. Not because Pumpkin was stuck. Thank the Goddess they were finally able to get him off the living room floor. Dosia had never felt so guilty for having sex in her life, and that included the time when she thought she’d had unprotected sex with a stranger that resulted in a pregnancy.
SJ and JJ played so much following their picnic that both fell asleep in the living room. Pumpkin made it very clear that he absolutely hated that Dosia had to do the heavy lifting, first bringing JJ upstairs and then coming back down for SJ. Dosia didn’t mind, but she could empathize with his frustrations, which was why she didn’t argue when he insisted on coming up the stairs to help get the kids ready.
Apparently everything he had Darrin bring inside was meant to stay at Dosia’s house. While a bit presumptuous, Dosia could understand that it would have been more of a pain to lug all that baby stuff over whenever he came for a visit. Which he planned on doing daily.
After their ‘Mommy and Daddy’ talk, Dosia offered Pumpkin her bedroom and said she’d sleep in Calliope’s room. Her aunt still hadn’t returned to the house, and Dosia had already sent her grandparents a text that Pumpkin and SJ were going to be sleeping over. ButPumpkin insisted they were adults and could sleep next to each other without their clothes spontaneously combusting.
