Roderick
Page 21
"Okay, but you need to pack more than a bottle of water and a towel," she told me with a smirk, knowing how much I loathed the people who packed for the beach as though they were going to live there, not just visit for a few hours.
"Fine," I grumbled in a spot-on interpretation of, well, all our kids. "You're still not going to tell me where you're going?" I asked, having been trying to guess for two weeks since she'd first told me about it, and never coming up with anything.
"Nope. You can hear all about it later," she promised, pressing a kiss into my cheek. "I'd tell you to be good for Daddy," she said to the kids at large, "but we all know that isn't going to happen. So if you could just... not ruin any more of my makeup - or pillowcases," she added, giving me a pointed Yes, I know all about the pillowcases look, "I will be a happy camper."
Livianna -
"You ready, mija?" Grace asked when we parked our cars on the street out front of the shop.
See, we'd never forgotten our first conversation back in her kitchen on New Years Eve.
We'd always planned on making good on the idea that had come to us then.
Covering something ugly on us - scars - with something that made us happy.
It was just that life constantly got in the way. Especially after the kids. Someone was always sick or had playdates or needed to learn to tie their laces or use the potty.
Sometimes, being a person came second to being a mother, something Grace understood all to well. So we had made an agreement - when the three kids were all mobile, we would finally go.
But then we'd been surprised with our fourth, and just decided to do it already.
Little Vas.
The name had been Roderick's idea.
Just when I was sure I couldn't have loved him more, he came up with an idea like that.
My life had changed so drastically since meeting him, since learning to let him into my life. And not just my life either. Cam's life. And Astrid's life. He came around and made everything better.
He made me better, pulled me out of my shell, showed me how to open up, to trust him, to let go of the reins a bit.
He gave me more love than I knew existed, he showed me how much I had to give.
He gave me sisters and a mom.
He gave me the girls club and the men I never could have anticipated bonding so hard with.
He gave me everything.
I'd given up things, sure.
In order to keep the peace, I had needed to give up a profession I had worked so hard for. But that being said, I understood that it wasn't something I could do forever, not at the capacity I had once done it. I wouldn't be able to keep getting beatings, keep having narrow misses. It only would have worked had I gotten a bigger team. Which was not something I wanted.
So, I got a fair cut of money to do nothing.
I had felt useless for a while, unsure of my identity with no job, not knowing what to do with my time without having to work.
But all that had changed when I'd become a mom.
If I thought I had worked hard before, I had no idea. Especially with the twins. There were no more issues with sleep since it was so rare that I could get any that when the opportunity presented itself, I passed out. Right where I was. Not moving so much as an inch until crying woke me up.
And I'd been lucky. There were so many hands to help. If not for them, we likely never would have continued on Roderick's mission to have a litter because those first few months would have been enough to prevent us from even discussing it.
We were pretty set with four, though.
We'd never say never, but three little boys sounded like handful enough. And our little girl was no less troublesome either. She'd be lucky, though. She'd grow up knowing she had three brothers who would always have her back, always protect her. And that, yeah, that thought was enough to make my eyes well up a bit.
"Are you nervous?" Grace asked as she reached for the door.
"Of the gun? Eh," I said as we moved into the shop to fine Paine and his protege waiting for us. "If I could stay conscious while Cam dug a bullet out of my shoulder, I think I can handle an itty bitty baby needle."
"I'd like to say that's not something you hear everyday," Paine said with a smile as I dropped down into his chair. "But this is Navesink Bank."
"Are you nervous?" I asked as she raised her sleeve to have her upper arm cleaned and shaved just like what was happening to my thigh where I had a small stab wound.
"If I could tolerate getting the scars, mija, I can handle getting them covered."
"Most people find it more irritating than painful," Paine informed us, shrugging as he loaded up the inks to use.
A few hours later, we had plastic wrap on our bodies, covering up our new tattoos. Grace was beaming, loving her flowers - five in all, each the favorite of each of her daughters, and then one sun for Roderick - the light that all of them leaned toward.
Sweet.
So sweet.
She'd have to go back for more details eventually, but she had done all she could for the day.
"I understand why all those boys in the MC are covered in tattoos. That could be addictive. Text me after you show Roderick, mija," she demanded, giving me a big hug before moving off to her car, practically floating.
I went home, relieving Ana of her duties, pulling off the plastic, changing into something that would cover my leg without rubbing too much at the healing tattoo.
And then I waited for my husband to come home, smiling a little at the sound of the chickens clucking as they walked around the yard eating all the bugs.
It was nearly dark when I heard everyone shuffling in, my slightly sandy kids all passed out in the arms of their father and aunts.
There was the part of me that wanted to bathe them, get the sand and salt off them. The other part of me, the wiser, experienced mother part, knew that you did not wake a sleeping child. It didn't matter if they fell asleep in a way you thought might cause a crick or with their jeans on or with elastic bands in their hair. You left them the hell alone. Or you would be up all night with them.
So I resigned myself to a morning of baths and washing sheets as the kids were each dropped into their beds, beat from a long day in the sun and water.
I thanked Mia and Zoe as they made their way out, feet dragging a bit, clearly beat themselves. Kids would do that to you.
Roderick, however, was beaming.
He always was when he came back from the beach, especially with the kids, wanting to give them the childhood he should have had.
"So," he said after his shower, coming out in low slung pajama pants that were as distracting now as they had been many years before in that hotel room. "Where did you go today?"
"Your mom and I had a mission we had cooked up when I first met her that we needed to complete."
Roderick's head cocked to the side as he sat down on the foot of the bed. "Really? What kind of mission?"
"To turn something ugly, a bad memory, into a good memory."
"You got a tattoo, didn't you?" he asked, knowing me too well, his smile warm. He'd gotten one when we'd been married. Then one for each of the children's births. He understood the impulse to put good times on your skin.
My smile was warm as I slowly started inching up my maxi skirt inch by inch, loving the way his eyes still got heated as he watched my skin get exposed.
When I was done, I bunched the skirt up at my hip then turned slightly to the side to show him the side of my thigh.
His gaze found the tattoo, then slowly rose, smile beaming.
"A Frank Wesson Double-Trigger," he said, shaking his head.
"The pain in the ass gun that brought us together," I agreed, moving over to him, lowering myself down onto his lap, sealing my lips over his.
"One day, these kids of ours," he said, pressing a hand to my belly before moving it around my back, "are going to hear one hell of a story."
"About how mommy and daddy fell in love," I agreed, pressing my f
orehead to his.
"And lived happily ever..."
"Mom!" Croft's voice called, loud, annoyed.
Roderick and I shared a smile.
Crazy?
Hectic?
Overwhelming at times?
Exhausting?
Yes to all of those.
But happy?
Absolutely.
XX
DON'T FORGET
Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking time out of your life to read this book. If you loved this book, I would really appreciate it if you could hop onto Goodreads or Amazon and tell me your favorite parts. You can also spread the word by recommending the book to friends or sending digital copies that can be received via kindle or kindle app on any device.
ALSO BY JESSICA GADZIALA
If you liked this book, check out these other series and titles in the NAVESINK BANK UNIVERSE:
The Henchmen MC
Reign
Cash
Wolf
Repo
Duke
Renny
Lazarus
Pagan
Cyrus
Edison
Reeve
Sugar
The Fall of V
Adler
The Savages
Monster
Killer
Savior
Mallick Brothers
For A Good Time, Call
Shane
Ryan
Mark
Eli
Charlie & Helen: Back to the Beginning
Investigators
367 Days
14 Weeks
Dark
Dark Mysteries
Dark Secrets
Dark Horse
Professionals
The Fixer
The Ghost
The Messenger
STANDALONES WITHIN NAVESINK BANK:
Vigilante
Grudge Match
OTHER SERIES AND STANDALONES:
Stars Landing
What The Heart Needs
What The Heart Wants
What The Heart Finds
What The Heart Knows
The Stars Landing Deviant
Surrogate
The Sex Surrogate
Dr. Chase Hudson
The Green Series
Into the Green
Escape from the Green
DEBT
Dissent
Stuffed: A Thanksgiving Romance
Unwrapped
Peace, Love, & Macarons
A Navesink Bank Christmas
Don't Come
Fix It Up
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jessica Gadziala is a full-time writer, parrot enthusiast, and coffee drinker from New Jersey. She enjoys short rides to the book store, sad songs, and cold weather.
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