“How much you love me back.”
“You are g-o-o-d good!”
“We’re good. And speaking of we…”
I hear the pitter patter of the feet of our ten year old against the hardwood floor and suddenly see Hugo’s head as it wraps around the door jam.
“Mom. Dad.”
“Hey sport,” I say. “Get in here.”
Hugo takes a couple of steps inside the room which puts him close enough for me to rub the top of his head while I use my other hand to work on my wife’s calves.
“Grandma wants to ask what kind of meatballs you want for dinner.”
“Do you like grandma’s meatballs?” I ask turning the tables on him.
He nods.
“Which are your favorites?”
“All of them.”
“Good answer. Me too. So you know what that means?”
“What?”
“Grandma can make any kind of meatballs she wants and we’ll love them all the same, just like we love her.”
“Okay,” Hugo says.
“How many are you gonna eat, buddy?”
“Three.”
“Three meatballs? You’re gonna be bigger than me soon.”
Hugo smiles.
“You know I’m practically made from grandma’s Swedish meatballs.”
“Yeah. I want to eat as many as you can so I can be your size and play hockey like you did.”
“Well, you’re getting closer by the day, buddy. But I’ve got news for you.”
“What’s that dad?”
“You’re going to be even better than me.”
“No.”
“Yes. And you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because of this beautiful lady right here,” I say motioning towards my beautiful wife. “Grandpa and grandma are big and strong and they made me, but there’s just something a little more special when you spend nine months inside this lady’s belly.”
“Was I really in there for nine months?”
“Remember the video we showed you of the last game when I was carrying your mom around the rink, even though I probably shouldn’t have been?”
“Yes.”
“Well you were inside there! That was you! I put that ring on her finger and nine months before I put you in her stomach.”
“How did you put me in her stomach?”
“We’ll talk about that later,” I say turning to look at Hazel and see she’s half trying not to burst out laughing and half looking at me like ‘what in the heck are you telling our boy?’
“Can you go tell grandma we’re happy to have any of her meatballs and we’re even happier that she came to visit for the winter?”
“Yes, dad.”
“Thanks, buddy,” I say and we give each other a high five and he takes off running in the other direction, the pitter patter of his feet against the floor is one of my favorite sounds in the world.
But not five seconds later Hilda is right where Hugo was, sticking her neck around the corner of the doorjamb.
“Uh oh! Are we in trouble?”
She giggles. “No daddy. Grandma wants to know how many meatballs to make.”
“Well, there’s me and mom…and mom is eating for two people so that’s three. Then there’s Hugo, Harry, Henry, Hanna, Hedda, and you so that’s six more. And of course grandma and grandpa so that’s two more. So how many is that.”
She sticks her fingers out and stops for a second when she realizes she doesn’t have enough fingers. “Eleven.”
“Great job!” I say and give her a high five and she takes off just as Hugo did and I get to hear her little feet pitter-patter against the wooden floor.
But the sounds of her steps are different. I can recognize the sound of all six of our kids just from their walk.
And after lucky number seven is born it will only take me a few years to recognize his or her steps too.
The joys of being a dad…they never end and there are new ones to be discovered each and every day.
But the most important discovery I ever made was her. And she immediately helped me discover what life was all about.
Love. Family. Laughter. Togetherness.
And with my parents in town today, and hers coming in tomorrow, I think we’ve got all of those covered.
And I take the opportunity to cover her lips with mine.
“Do we need to…shut the door?” she asks.
“I’m just gonna go ahead and lock it right now.”
“The kids might hear,” she says.
“I got that covered too.”
“Really?”
“Remember the song we heard in the lobby at the Hôtel Le St-James ten years ago?”
“Are you kidding me? How could I ever forget? Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s ‘Ballade de Melody Nelson’.”
I pull out the record player I’ve been storing in the oversized bottom cabinet drawer and set it on the table.
“You have the record?”
“Amazing what you can find in the record shops of Montreal.”
“Remember what we found in Montreal?” she asks.
I put the record on and lift my shirt up over my head.
“I know what I found in Montreal,” I say.
“What’s that?”
“The same thing I found that day in New York when you walked into that room. The most beautiful and incredible woman in the world…and the woman who’s been my everything every second of every day and night since.”
She stops and stares at me with a look in her eye that shows just how much she’s blown away by my love, just as I am by hers.
“I love you,” she says.
“I love you.”
“Mom! Dad! Grandma says meatballs will be ready in twenty minutes,” comes through the door as I hear about six pairs of tiny little hands banging on it.
“Okay. Thanks. I need to take a quick nap before dinner guys, so you can have one cookie each before dinner. And you can eat them downstairs in front of the TV.”
“Whoa!” I hear through the door. “Thanks!” And then in a lower tone I hear, “Hurry, before he changes his mind.”
My wife gives me a look of complete shock.
“What?”
“You’re going to ruin their appetites.”
“Impossible. I think they take after their father when it comes to that.”
“That’s true. They are growing like weeds.”
“And grandma and grandpa are here. They can be the good cops and we can be the bad cops,” I say as I playfully tap her on the nose with my index finger.
“Just how bad are we talking here?” she purrs.
“Well, you know the dinner table isn’t even the place where I have the biggest appetite,” I say.
“Rawr!” she says as she raises a hand up and clenches her fingers like a tiger's paw.
“Double rawr!” I say as I do the same with both hands and then my hands dart to her hips pulling her into me, showing her just how much she turns me on.
“I think you’re as ready as the first time we met” she says.
“I’m always ready for you. I can’t ever get enough.”
“That’s your insatiable appetite right?”
“Only when it comes to you,” I say as I lean in and kiss her on the lips and I get that same tingling sensation through my body like it’s our very first kiss.
“So twenty minutes, huh?” she says.
“Two cookies, kids!” I pretend yell, but I’m drowned out by the smooth silky vocals and instrumentals of the French music coming from our record player.
“I was thinking three,” she says.
We both laugh and hug as I kiss her again.
“I have to admit I’m a bit surprised you’ve always found me so irresistible through each of my pregnancies,” she says as we undress.
“Our pregnancies, and that’s exactly why I find you even more irresistible when you’re pregnant, not that that’s technically possible because you are
always irresistible.”
“More irresistible when I’m pregnant? Come on.”
“I’m serious. Knowing that you’re carrying a life inside you that we created together…that’s what life’s all about.”
“When you put it that way…”
“You know what I want to put right now?”
“What’s that?”
“My lips all over the body of the most beautiful woman in the world. And you know I’m going to spend a little extra time on that belly.”
“Four cookies kids!” she pretends to shout.
“Save some for us,” I joke.
“What do we need cookies for?”
“You’re right, because I’ve got the sweetest thing in the world right here in my arms. My love. My life. My wife.”
With our clothes completely removed we hug and kiss again, with my need for her already on full display.
I drop to my knees and kiss her big ol’ belly…the one that’s got our next child inside.
“I love you,” I say. “I love us.”
“I love you. And I love us so, so, so much too.”
A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Book 18: Gardener
Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin
Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 21: Cocky CFO
Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th
Book 23: Mechanic
Book 24: SEAL’s Secret
Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch
Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée
Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina
Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy
Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol
Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess
Book 32: Statham
Book 33: Bodyguard
Book 34: Greek God
Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter
Book 36: Mountain Man
Book 37: SEAL’s Justice
Book 38: Royal Romance
Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery
Book 40: Crocodile Dan D
Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby
Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby
Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter
Book 44: Nanny for the Cop Next Door
Book 45: Small Town SEAL’s Saving Grace
Book 46: Cop’s Fake Fiancée
Book 47: Billionaire’s Nanny
Book 48: Cowboy’s Babysitter
Book 49: Steamy
Book 50: Brother’s Best Friend
Book 51: Possessive Professor
Book 52: Firefighter’s Babysitter
Book 53: Soldier’s Secret Baby
Book 54: Ward’s Independence Day
Book 55: Doctor Next Door
Book 56: Possessive Policeman
Book 57: Coached by the MMA Fighter
Book 58: Boss’s Babysitter
Book 59: Virgin in New York
Book 60: Rock Star’s Baby
Book 61: Possessive Protector
Book 62: Possessive Australian
Book 63: Best Friend’s Brother
Book 64: Possessive Cowboy
Book 65: Summer Romanced
Book 66: Possessive Prince
Book 67: Lovers’s Enemy
Book 68: Cop’s Best Friend
Book 69: Possessive Firefighter
Book 70: Football Next Door
Book 71: Doctor December
Book 72: Possessive Canadian
Book 73: Blue Collar Billionaire
Book 74: Possessive K-9 Cop
Book 75: Possessive Brazilian
Book 76: Hockey Obsession
Book 77: Possessive Irish
Book 78: Halloween Next Door
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Hockey Obsession: An Older Man Younger Woman Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 76) Page 10
