Page 112 of Without Bound
Then you have Nix and Viv’s girls. There’s Cassiopeia, —known lovingly as Cassie— Genevieve, —little Genie— and Sutton. Her daddy calls her Tink because she is the tiniest of the bunch, just like her mom.
Cat and Hayes have the twins, Burton and Maverick, and our two round out the group. Well, almost three.
Our newest little man, Jackson Bishop Michaels, will be here in a few short weeks. Jackie, as Bishop calls him, is named after is favorite baseball player. That was the deal. We both agreed on Farrah, decided to name Alfie after his grandfathers, and any that came after had to be named after Jackie Robinson. Girl or boy, the name was going to be Jackie.
“Do you want to go play with Genie and Tink and AJ?” Bishop asks Farrah and she nods emphatically.
He puts her down and gives her a little pat on the bum as she runs off.
“Let’s go sit,” he tells me, grabbing my hand and leading me to the couch.
I’m seated in the big leather sofa with a pillow for my lower back, and Cami rushes over with a glass of water for me.
“Hi Ana.” She leans in and kisses my cheek.
Like Bishop, Cami has become more like a sister over the last decade. She’s helped me get through a lot, especially when Farrah came along.
Just like Bishop said, he knocked me up the second I finished my masters. We got married shortly after I graduated with my Bachelor’s and got pregnant almost immediately after grad school. Thankfully for me, my wonderful husband works hard to allow me to write from home and be there for the kids.
I say hard, but the guy sneaks away every chance he gets to see his littles.
“Hi. Where’s Day?” I ask, not seeing her around.
“They had to drop off a custom bike, but they should be here soon,” Vaughan answers as he approaches us. “Hi darlin’.”
I get another kiss and then another and another as everyone makes their way over to greet me.
We all start talking when the chatter is broken by a wail. We turn to see Naveen walking through the back door carrying a sobbing Cassie in his arms.
“Zio,” she wails. “Naveen tripped me.”
“It was an accident, papá. I turned around when I heard my name and we bumped right into each other,” Naveen explains.
“My knee, Zio Luca.” She continues to cry and points to the very small cut on her knee.
“Oh Piccolo Fiore. Let me see.” Luca walks over to where they stand and pulls Cassie from Naveen’s arms.
“Papá, I swear it was an accident. Mi dispiace.” Naveen’s face is crestfallen.
“Non preoccuparti, figlio mio.” Luca reassures him with a kiss on his head, and carries Cassie off to bandage her cut.
“She’s a drama queen, Luca. Tell her to suck it up,” Viv shouts.
“Hm. I wonder where she gets that from?” Nix muses as he walks back in.
Viv takes a quick look around then flips him off when she sees no little eyes around.
“Okay okay. Enough. Are we going to open gifts or what?” Cat bounces in her seat, as anxious as a kid.
“Yeah. Let’s do this. My stomach has been bothering me for the last day and I may need to lay down if it gets worse.” Bishop sits next to me and takes my hand in his, kissing the back then holding it tight between his.
“Are you okay? Was it something you ate, or are you coming down with a cold?” Nix rushes over to me and begins feeling my forehead.
“Will you stop? I’m not a child. You don’t need to check my temperature,” I say and bat his hand away. “It’s probably just some indigestion. I’ll be fine.”
We all settle in and Ibegin opening far too many gifts than one child could possibly need. Every now and then I feel a cramp in my side and rub it out.
“Babe, are you sure you’re okay?” Bishop whispers in my ear.
