Page 90 of Forever Wild
“Thanks.” I take it in one hand.
Her stare moves to Jack. “You better get in there before it’s all gone.”
He nods and his mouth pulls into a smile. He casts me one last look before leaving.
Piper glances between us but says nothing as she leaves me with her daughter and a plate of food. I go sit on the couch and set the plate on the coffee table. Charlotte stands in front of me, using my legs for balance. She isn’t walking yet, but she’s getting close.
With a chubby hand, she grabs a strawberry from my plate, then holds it up proudly before sticking it in her mouth.
“It’s a good thing you’re so cute,” I tell her. People trickle back in with their own plates. Jack stays on the other side of the room, but I can feel his gaze on me often.
After food, we all watch Charlotte open her presents. It requires a lot of help because she’s almost more interested in the wrapping paper and ribbons than the gifts inside. Callum, Scarlett and Leo’s son, is happy to tear open anything she’s not interested in.
“Easy,” Leo says, picking him up so he doesn’t ravage through them all. He kicks his feet and whines but then Leo puts him up on his shoulders and that seems to make him magically forget about the presents.
When she opens my gift of paints and markers, Tyler quirks a brow at me. “Really?”
“They’re waterproof,” I say as I fight a smile.
“I’ll put those somewhere up high.” Piper takes them and then sets another box in front of her. It’s the biggest of all, long and skinny and wrapped immaculately in pink and white paper with pink ribbons and bows.
Tyler bends down to help Charlotte and when they finally get it open, the guys all laugh. I lean to get a better view. Charlotte pulls out a hockey stick with a wide grin. It’s kid size but still looks far too big for her.
“Da-da!”
There’s a chorus of “aww” as Tyler takes it from her. “That’s right. It’s just like mine.”
Tyler flips the stick around. He pauses, staring at the blade, and then looks over at Jack. “Really, Wyld? You got my daughter a signed hockey stick?”
His lips curve up and a faint blush creeps into his cheeks. “It’s never too early to get a hockey stick in her hands.” He juts his chin toward the box. “There’s something else in there.”
I watch, perhaps more captivated than Charlotte, as Tyler looks inside the box. This time he pulls out a big, pink stuffed rabbit. It’s floppy and looks so soft and perfect.
Tyler hands it to Charlotte and she immediately hugs it to her chest.
When presents are over, we sing happy birthday and then watch Charlotte bite into a small cake just for her. Laughter sounds around the room as she avoids using her hands and just face dives into the pink frosting.
Another cake is cut for the guests, but by the time it’s passed around, Charlotte has had a bath and is passed out in Tyler’s arms.
He looks as content as her. The way he looks down at her with so much love and the way he holds her so protectively. She has no idea how lucky she is, but I’m so glad.
A twinge of sadness works its way in. I feel like I’m already missing so much by not being around. I can’t imagine not being here to watch her grow up. I know that people take jobs, move away, and leave their families every day, but I loved my life here. I miss it.
Scarlett and Leo take a sleepy-looking Callum home, and Nick and Aidan say their goodbyes as well. Hazel, Maverick and Dakota’s little girl, is entertaining us all by dancing in the middle of the livingroom. She’s got her mom’s red hair but her dad’s personality it seems.
“Center of attention,” Dakota says. “Just like her dad.”
Maverick grins and drapes an arm around his wife’s shoulders.
“I love her hair. You think you can braid mine like that?” I ask Dakota. Hazel’s strawberry-blonde hair is in two braids on either side and the ends are twisted somehow to look like little bows. It’s adorable.
“That’s not me. That’s all Johnny. He’s mastered like twenty different hairstyles, and I can barely find time to brush mine these days.”
“You’re smoking hot.” He kisses her cheek. “Even with unbrushed hair.”
My stomach swoops with the cute scene. So many couples here, all madly in love.
I’m sitting on the couch next to Tyler. Jack leans against the wall across the room. There are places to sit, but I’m glad he keeps his distance.
