Page 23 of Light My Fire Three Times
ItoldIvy it was going to be hard being a parent with that little wrecking ball in tow.
“Pickle, seriously?” Ivy calls out from the other room, followed by more frantic baby cries. “What did I tell you about the toys?”
Pickle takes this as an invitation to jump up on the table, his tail wagging furiously. I barely manage to catch him by the collar before he knocks over the pitcher of water.
The little guy looks at me with irritation in his eyes, growling in protest.
“Come on, Pickle. Not now,” I mutter, trying to tug him off the table without causing more chaos.
Meanwhile, across the room, I can hear the unmistakable sound of one of the triplets really starting to wail. Max, I think.Then a second cry follows. And a third. The sound of them all crying in unison is enough to make my head spin.
Mitchell’s face falls. “Oh, hell. They really are all awake now.”
“Oh boy,” Timothy says, rubbing his eyes.
I watch as Ivy, Timothy, and Freddie spring into action, a well-oiled machine. I can see that they've done this a thousand times, probably every day.
Ivy’s already juggling the babies, her arms a blur as she calms Max, Mia, and Lily one by one, all while keeping one eye on Pickle, who’s now zooming around the living room on a caffeine high.
Timothy moves to intercept Pickle, grabbing the dog mid-sprint. “Pickle, you little menace. How the heck do you have this much energy?”
Pickle wriggles harder, somehow managing to squirm free and dart back toward the table, knocking over a stack of plates in the process.
“Not the plates!” Mitchell exclaims, laughing, but there's an edge of frustration.
Meanwhile, Freddie grabs a bottle of milk from the fridge and starts making funny faces at one of the triplets to distract him.
Yeah, I’m not gonna lie. Ivy and her harem? They’re practically superheroes.
I chuckle, unable to stop myself, even though I'm secretly amazed by the calm under pressure. Ivy's a whirlwind, gracefully moving from one task to the next without breaking a sweat.
Timothy is her anchor, focused and steady, even if he’s slightly dead inside from lack of sleep. And Freddie? Well, he's the one trying to make the kids laugh without a care in the world.
Livvy, standing beside me, watches it all unfold with a smile, her hands tucked into her pockets, trying to stay out of the way. But I can tell she’s not just observing; she’s taking it all in.
There’s a look on her face… she seems reflective. Maybe she’s seeing a future she never thought possible.
I can’t help but feel the pang in my chest.
I’ve never really thought about having a family before, at least not in any serious way. But watching this, watching Ivy and her husbands work together, effortlessly handling the chaos with love and patience… It stirs something in me. A yearning I didn’t know existed.
Livvy catches my eye in a moment of shared understanding, of silent recognition, and for just a beat, everything else falls away. The noise, the mess, the chaos, it doesn’t matter. It’s just her and me, looking at each other, both of us caught in the exact moment.
She blinks first, her lips curving into that smile that drives me crazy.
“They’re a good team, aren’t they?” she comments softly.
I nod, unable to tear my gaze away from her. “Yeah… they really are.”
CHAPTER NINE
Olivia
NOVEMBER 2ND
Dinner was a circus.
Acharming, noisy, baby-filled circus, but a circus, nonetheless.
