Page 45 of Six of Hearts
This strange, beautiful family we'd built.
I'd never been more grateful for anything in my life.
Fourteen
Aria
Two Months In
I felt like one of those silly, head-over-heels businesswomen from a holiday Hallmark movie.
The streets of Dallas were starting to light up in anticipation of Christmas, and I was walking down the road, a gaggle of cute children about me, shopping for presents for their fathers.
Anything that played music was joyously playing holiday songs, and Dallas had even been lucky enough to get a light blanket of snow. I was on cloud nine.
I had six wonderful, beautiful men who all adored me, and the kids, though a handful at times, made my life feel fulfilled and full of wonder.
Confirmed: I was a walking Christmas movie.
The kids would be taking holiday breaks from school soon, and their fathers had all bent over backwards getting the time off to spend with them, so I was a little uncertain about what role I would play during family holidays, but for the moment I was just enjoying being with them.
They were having a blast getting to shop for their parents, and I even took them to visit Santa too.
“Aria,” one of the twins, Oliver, started while we were in line to meet the big guy.
“Do you know what happened to my mum?” My heart thudded. He and Theo were old enough to remember their mum, and I could see Oliver’s eyes were trained on a mum singing to her child a few families in front of us.
I knelt down in front of Oliver, noticing that Theo was watching me intently as well.
“No, honey, I don’t know what happened to her, but I do know that she loved you very much, and your dad loves you even more.” I reached out and pulled them both into a tight hug, tickling their sides as I did. “And I love you the most!” My Child Development degree kicked in and reminded me that, above anything else, children just want to be loved. All of the kids started laughing as I tickled the twins.
They seemed to accept my explanation for the time being, but the entire time we were in line, Oliver stayed focused on the woman in that family. I wondered if she bore a resemblance to the mother he remembered. When that family had finally seen Santa and left, his mood lightened significantly, and we were able to get through the rest of our shopping trip without many other hiccups.
I took the kids back to my apartment for a hysterical, albeit messy, workshop on how to wrap presents, and then it was time to take them back home. I switched around the order I decided to drop the kids off in so that I could chat with Noah about what had happened with Oliver.“He asked you about their mother?” he said in complete shock.
“Neither of them has ever mentioned her to me, not even once.”
“They’re probably afraid of what you’d say,” I told him.
“Or that it would make you sad to remember.” I hugged him once I realised I’d bummed him out thinking he hadn’t done well for the boys.
“You’re a wonderful dad, but you should talk to them about her, and make sure they know just how much you love them. Ican only comfort them so much; the true assurance has to come from you.”
Noah hugged me back.
“Thank you.” I winced a little as Noah squeezed the part of my back he’d most caused pleasurable pain to the night before. He looked down at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Are you sure I wasn’t too rough with you last night?”
I shook my head. He hadn’t been. If anything, my back was sore because I kept him going like the Energizer Bunny. When it came to Noah, I couldn’t get enough.
“No, not at all, in fact…” I looked around to make sure the boys within eye or ear shot and then I leaned up to whisper into Noah’s ear. “I’m going over to Ethan’s tonight. Leo is going to Ronan’s for a sleepover with Finn. I’d love to have you there for a threesome.”
Noah smiled devilishly at me. “Just try and keep me away.”
I gave him a kiss, trying not to get too feisty because we’d have all the time we’d need that night at Ethan’s, and I grabbed my things and prepared to leave. I was just barely out the door when I heard Noah’s voice from the bedroom upstairs.
“Boys, come here, I want to talk to you about something.” I quietly tiptoed my way upstairs and stood in the frame of Oliver’s door, where Noah had gathered both of the kids and was sitting on the bed with them on his lap.
