by Isabelle Rae
“I’m still tired,” I grumbled, yawning. I closed my eyes again; wanting just another hour of sleep, maybe even just ten more minutes would suffice. I felt his lips press against mine; I smiled against his lips and kissed him back tiredly. I wasn’t, however, too tired to notice the little shiver that ran down the length of my spine, or the tingling in my stomach, or how the hair on the back of my neck seemed to prickle. His kisses never ceased to amaze me, though I should have been used to them by now.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me, making him fall down beside me onto the bed. He laughed and pulled back a little as I slipped my hand up the back of his T-shirt, digging my fingers into his skin. “Not too tired for that, huh?” he teased, kissing me again lightly.
I giggled and shook my head. “Never too tired for that, you know that.” I winked at him suggestively, and he smirked at me. I’d never get used to this happiness, this elation that I felt in his presence. Will was, and would always be, the best thing that ever happened to me. Well, actually, maybe he was the second best thing…
“I was dreaming about you,” I mumbled, pressing my face into the side of his neck as I snuggled closer to him.
He laughed. “Oh really and what were we doing? Something dirty?” he asked, ticking me lightly.
I grinned and pulled back to look at him. “No actually, I was just dreaming about the day that we told my parents about us,” I replied.
He winced and hissed through his teeth. “You had a nightmare then,” he said, cupping the side of my face.
I laughed and gripped his T-shirt, rolling onto my back, pulling him on top of me but he immediately lifted his weight and hovered above me. “Yeah I had a nightmare, want to make me feel better?” I purred suggestively.
He groaned. “Cutie, we have visitors. I’ll have to take a rain check,” he replied, bending and kissing across the side of my face. I tangled my hand into the back of his hair as his lips travelled across my skin, making me moan quietly. His hand slipped down my body, making me bite my lip and arch into him.
Suddenly the bedroom door opened and I heard little footsteps running across the room, the mattress dipped, and I heard a giggling sound. I smiled as Will sighed and moved off of me, looking somewhat reluctant; my guess was that he’d forgotten we had visitors.
I smiled and sat up; grinning at the little four year old boy that was jumping on the foot of my bed like it was a trampoline. He was so handsome, just like his dad, brown hair, and brown eyes. “Logan Morris, you stop jumping on my bed and come and give me a hug,” I ordered, pointing to myself, pouting.
He squealed and dropped down onto his bum, making the bedsprings groan in protest. He smiled and crawled over to me, wrapping his little arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. “Auntie Foxy, I missed you!” he chirped.
I rolled my eyes. That damn boy still hadn’t told his son to stop calling me that! “You too, Logan. Where’s your dad?” I asked, kissing his forehead, making him squirm and wipe it roughly. He didn’t like being kissed by girls. Not like his dad…
“Daddy’s in the kitchen eating the cake already,” he replied.
I gasped and looked at Will who immediately jumped off of the bed and ran for the door, shouting for Sam to leave the birthday cake until everyone else got here. I smiled back down at my nephew; he looked really cute today in his Generator Rex T-shirt that I’d bought for him last week. “Shirt fits then?” I teased, fingering the sleeve of it.
He grinned and nodded. “Did you see yesterday’s show? It was so good, Rex was…” I smiled and nodded as he proceeded to tell me everything that happened yesterday in his favourite show. The kid talked so much that it was almost unreal, but I loved him dearly.
I pushed myself up from the bed and groaned. I hadn’t slept very well last night again. I’d only just gone for a lie down an hour ago before everyone got here. I could actually do with sleeping all day today just to make up for it. I changed my shirt with Logan bouncing on my bed, telling me about this new toy he’d seen that he desperately wanted for Christmas. Logan and I were close, probably because for the last year, I’d looked after him while Sam was at work. He kind of felt like my kid in a way too, I certainly loved him like my own.
“Come on then, chicken, let’s go to see everyone,” I suggested, holding out my hand for him to take when I was dressed and had brushed my hair. He took my hand and skipped along at my side as I walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs to where I could hear voices. A lot of voices. Sounds like everyone’s here already.
As soon as I stepped into the kitchen I was engulfed into a hug by Angela. “Chloe! Are you feeling all right? Will said you had a bad night?” she asked, looking at me worriedly.
I waved my hand dismissively. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”
I turned to see my parents laughing and talking to William and Sam. They all got on great; the Hendersons and the Morris’ were like one big extended family. Everything settled down between Will and my parents pretty quickly. They saw how good he was for me, and what he was doing for me by moving to New York and letting me go to my dream school. They actually treated him like the son they never had now. It was incredibly sweet to watch how they fussed over him and joked around with him. My dad and Will even played racquetball together every Saturday. It was nice.
When my four years of college had finished, we’d moved back here to be closer to our families. That had worked out pretty well too considering that Sam had gotten a girl pregnant on a one night stand. The girl had told him that she was going to get an abortion because she didn’t want to be tied down with a kid, but he’d managed to convince her not to. As soon as she gave birth, she signed over full custody to Sam, she hadn’t even been back to see him in four years. It was so sad because Logan was incredible; she was missing out on an awesome kid.
Sam was so totally opposite to what I thought he would be. I would have never pictured him as a single dad, but he totally pulled it off. Hopefully one day he’d meet a nice girl. Logan had told me last week that his daddy liked another kid’s mom at pre-school. Sam refused to comment, but I was pretty sure Logan was right, he definitely liked her. If she was a single parent too then they’d probably be well suited. Sam deserved a happy ending too, so I really hoped he’d get one. Any girl would be lucky to nab a Morris brother so she’d be crazy not to give him a shot.
Someone grabbed my shoulders and span me around so fast that I actually felt a little dizzy. I looked up to see Nick and his wife, Julia. I smiled and hugged him tightly. “Hey guys, thanks for coming!” I chirped.
Nick smiled and looked at me like I was crazy. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, it’s tradition,” he replied. I laughed and hugged Julia too. She was great. They had met at college, and were very happy together. They’d gotten married about three months ago; it was so nice to see Nick so happy.
Amy couldn’t come today; she was off travelling the world at the moment. Her and Ryan hadn’t made it. The long distance of college kind of ruined their relationship, but it all worked out for the best because she’d met this incredible guy who was a travel writer. He was actually paid to travel the world and write reviews of hotels, places, tourist attractions and things like that. Of course he wouldn’t go without her, so she was usually gone for months at a time with him. I got emails all the time keeping me up to date on where she was, and all the fun she was having.
A cheer erupted around me, so I turned in the direction of the door to see Will walk in. I smiled happily, my heart aching with love for him and the little thing he had in his arms.
“Mom-mom-mom-mom-mom!” she chirped, holding out her chubby arms for me.
I smiled and took her into my arms, grinning. My baby. She was so beautiful. She had Will’s grey eyes, but her hair was a dark blonde like mine. She was incredible and was the very centre of my world. I would do anything for my little girl, absolutely anything. I would even stay up with her practically all night because she had a cough,
and I didn’t even feel the need to complain.
“Hey there, beautiful,” I cooed, stroking her hair down. She’d been to sleep too, that was why I went for a quick nap, because we’d both been up all night and when I put her down to sleep, I went too before everyone arrived.
Elise wasn’t planned; she was a total accident, but that was the best freaking accident that had ever happened to me. She was one year old today, and as per the Henderson tradition, we were having lunch here at our house. Sure, we weren’t exactly Henderson’s anymore, Will and I had gotten married a long time before Elise was born, but the tradition still carried on.
Will saddled up beside me, wrapping his arms around me and kissing the side of my head as Elise buried her face into my hair, her little chubby arms wrapped around my neck as people started singing happy birthday to her.
I smiled and kissed the top of her head. She didn’t really understand what was going on today, she was too young, but that wouldn’t stop the adults - and Logan - from eating as much dessert as possible in her honour.
I settled her into her highchair as my mom and Angela started taking off the coverings of all of the desserts on the countertop, passing out bowls and spoons to everyone. Everyone had brought something with them so that Will and I didn’t have to make it all. I spotted a slightly burnt cake that was lopsided and decorated with Generator Rex edible stickers; the icing had a couple of finger prints in it where they’d started eating it already.
I smiled at Logan as Will lifted him onto a stool at the counter and passed him a bowl. “Did you make Elise a birthday cake?” I asked, smiling at him gratefully. He was such a sweet kid.
Sam laughed sheepishly. “Yeah we did, but we didn’t have enough sugar like the recipe said, so I don’t know what it’ll taste like. The icing’s good though,” he stated, tracing his finger across the top getting another blob on his finger and eating it.
Logan gasped, pushing Sam’s hand away from the cake as he went to get another blob. “Daddy, stop touching my cake, you maked prints!” he scolded, shaking his head. Sam just laughed harder and got another blob, wiping it on the tip of his son’s nose, sticking his tongue at him. They were always like this, they were well suited.
“Right then, I’m going for three years in a row!” Will stated, grinning proudly as he smirked in my dad’s direction. This competition got fiercer every year. Will had taken over as leader. Him and Nick were the only ones that really stood a chance. Will would suffer for it all afternoon though, he’d be lying on the couch groaning and whining about it, but that didn’t stop him from eating more on the following Henderson’s birthday.
Nick snorted distastefully. “In your dreams, nerd-boy.”
Sam laughed and high fived Logan. “We’re working as a team this year,” Sam stated, grinning confidently.
My dad decided to chime in at the same time as William did. “No chance, age wins it this year,” William chirped, patting his stomach, at the same time as my dad said, “You boys got nothing, I haven’t eaten for two days!”
I held up my hands to silence everyone. “Guys, guys, just cut out the trash talk. You all seem to have forgotten something,” I said. They all looked at me curiously. I smirked and slipped my hands down to my swollen tummy. “I’m six months pregnant, I’m eating for two. I’m so kicking ass this year!”
Table of Contents
Chapter One. 5
Chapter Two. 12
Chapter Three. 19
Chapter Four 26
Chapter Five. 32
Chapter Six. 35
Chapter Seven. 39
Chapter Eight 43
Chapter Nine. 49
Chapter Ten. 53
Chapter Eleven. 58
Chapter Twelve. 63
Chapter Thirteen. 67
Chapter Fourteen. 73
Chapter Fifteen. 78
Chapter Sixteen. 82
Chapter Seventeen. 85
Chapter Eighteen. 91
Chapter Nineteen. 97
Chapter Twenty. 99
Chapter Twenty-One. 105
Chapter Twenty-Two. 111
Chapter Twenty-Three. 116
Chapter Twenty-Four 123
Chapter Twenty-Five. 129
Chapter Twenty-Six. 132
Chapter Twenty-Seven. 137
Chapter Twenty-Eight 141
Chapter Twenty-Nine. 144
Chapter Thirty. 151
Chapter Thirty-One. 158
Chapter Thirty-Two. 163
Chapter Thirty-Three. 168
Chapter Thirty-Four 176
Chapter Thirty-Five. 183
Chapter Thirty-Six. 189
Chapter Thirty-Seven. 195
Chapter Thirty-Eight 200
Chapter Thirty-Nine. 205
Chapter Forty. 214
Chapter Forty-One. 221
Epilogue. 226
