Overflow: The Carpino Series

by Asher, Brynne

  I pull her in, crushing her to me. I put my lips to her hair and whisper into her ear, “I’m sorry, sugar. I am so sorry they won’t get that. I would love anyone you love, so I’m sorry I won’t know them, either. But I think they know you’re happy. And I hope and pray they know how much I love you.”

  At that, Gabby squeezes me tighter and burrows even deeper. “I hope so, too,” she mumbles in my neck.

  “Babe, you need to talk to me about this stuff in your head, I can see you’ve been holding it in. Are you sure we don’t need to find someone for you to talk to? A professional?”

  “I’ll let you know if it doesn’t get better, but I promise to talk to you,” she whispers. She pulls back and wraps her arms around my neck, her hands going into my hair. “I love you,” she whispers, then kisses me lightly.

  “I love you, too sugar. And thank you for talking to me. I need you to talk to me so I can take care of you,” I say. Changing the subject, trying to lighten the moment and get her mind on something else, I go on, “I’m hungry. Are you ready for dinner?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay. Go flip on the rest of your lights, I’ll pour you a glass of wine and try to find something for dinner.”

  She pulls back, her brow is furrowed and looking surprised, she asks, “You’re going to make dinner?”

  “I did eat before I met you, Gabby,” I return.

  “But it’s too cold to grill,” she says.

  “I’m not grilling, but I’m pretty sure I can figure something out,” I say sarcastically.

  “Ooookaaaay!” she drawls out, just as sarcastically.

  “Enough,” I need to end this, so I put her on her feet, point her toward the basement and smack her ass lightly. “I’m not promising anything fancy or homemade, I just said dinner. There is a difference.”

  “I can’t wait,” she mutters under her breath.

  I grab her hand again and pull her into me for a kiss. Barely pulling back, I say against her lips, “Go turn on your Christmas lights, sugar. I’ll get your wine, find something to feed you and then we’re goin to bed early. It’s been a long few days.”

  With her forearms up my back, she pulls up for one more kiss and whispers back, “Okay.”

  She heads to the basement. Shaking my head I turn and move to the huge ass walk in pantry in the kitchen that is usually stocked with everything under the sun while hoping like hell there’s a jar of store bought spaghetti sauce. But seeing as my girlfriend is half Italian, from an Italian family and since she does all the shopping, I’m thinking my chances at finding store bought jar sauce are slim to none. I smile to myself, not caring what we eat but just happy that we’ll eat it together. Whatever it is.

  Christmas Eve

  Jude, Mia and I walk through the house as I start flipping on Christmas lights. We just got home from Gino and Emma’s where we celebrated Christmas with my whole family. It’s late, but not that late. My cousins with little kids needed to get home to get their little ones in bed and asleep to prepare for Santa.

  It was a great night with my family. Tony is looking stronger, although I don’t think he’ll be playing basketball anytime soon. Even though he seems to be in a perpetually grumpy mood since he’s been released from the hospital, I’ve not pursued him as to why this is because I figure I’d be a bit grumpy, too, if I was shot. I’m just so thankful he’s okay and I try not to let my brain think about how our Christmas could be a lot different this year if things had not turned out like they did last week. I look over at Jude and smile at him as he’s carrying in boxes and bags of presents my aunts and uncles showered on us unnecessarily.

  Grinning back at me, he says, “Your family is something else, sugar. That was Christmas mayhem at its best.”

  He is not exaggerating. The Carpino’s are a crazy group any day of the year, but at Christmas, it’s raised to whole other level altogether. The kids are hyped on sugar and pure Santa adrenaline as the adults try to keep up while loving it all the same. Drinks flow freely and food is aplenty during this favorite holiday. “Yeah,” I agree. “We’re quite a clan, that’s for sure.”

  Jude and I set about putting things away, Leigh is working a double holiday shift at her new job, so we are here by ourselves. I tried to get her to come with us tonight, but she insisted on volunteering to work Christmas. She has no desire to see her mom or sister and informed me that if she worked, other nurses could be home with their families. She’s really throwing herself back into her job, enjoying it for the most part, but it’s plain to see she’s using it as a distraction so she doesn’t have to focus on her own life, messy divorce and thinking about the baby she lost at the hands of her soon to be asshole-ex-husband. She keeps telling me she’s saving money to set herself up so she can move into an apartment, but I’d rather her stay here. I hate the thought of her burrowed up in an apartment by herself, depressed and lonely with no one to keep an eye on her. She’s keeping herself tied up tight, not talking to me at all about what happened with Preston, the baby or anything for that matter. Getting to the bottom of all things with Leigh is my number one New Year’s Resolution.

  “Gabby, come here,” Jude bosses gently, pulling me from my thoughts of Leigh. He’s started the fire and is standing by the Christmas tree. He’s also looking hot in his cargo style khakis, a black V neck sweater that fits great across his chest with a white t-shirt peeking out of the V. His hair is messy like usual and even though it is Christmas Eve, he didn’t shave today, so he has two days of growth on his face, which is seriously my favorite of all of his looks. Without thinking twice, I go right to him. He pulls me into his arms tight and says, “Did you have a good night?”

  “Yes. It was perfect. Thank you for spending it with my crazy family.”

  Grinning down at me, he says, “It was fun, but you know I’d do anything for you.”

  Letting that seep through me, knowing that he would do absolutely anything for me, I hold on tighter and say, “Tomorrow it’s just you and me. But I have to warn you, it’s not unheard of for the Carpino’s to make late Christmas visits, pulling out left overs creating a whole new party. We should appreciate the quiet while we can and then brace for a possible second round. I am looking forward to spending time with your dad, brother and his family in a few days at your mountain home. That will be fun, too!”

  “Babe, quit calling it a mountain home. It’s a cabin.”

  “Whatever,” I shoot back. “Cabin’s don’t have granite, stainless steel appliances and newly made over kitchens!”

  Jude looks to the ceiling and shakes his head while sighing. I grin at him when he looks back down at me. I know it bugs him for me to call his so called cabin a mountain home. But it’s not a cabin, so I’m not calling it one!

  “Okay,” he says with a sigh. “Moving on. It’s time for your Christmas present.”

  “What? You weren’t supposed to get me anything! We agreed the appliances and granite were enough to cover presents for at least the next couple of years!” I argue, but at the same time think about the present I have for him that I wasn’t supposed to get, either. Although I didn’t spend any money on him, I want him to have my dad’s TAG Heuer watch. I would love for him to have something of my dad’s and even though it’s old, a TAG never goes out of style and they last forever.

  “Don’t forget about the backsplash,” he says, smiling down at me. Then adding, “And the grout.”

  “Exactly! You weren’t supposed to get me anything else! You wouldn’t even let me help pay for the kitchen remodel and it was my idea.”

  “Well, it’s just one more thing, but I would’ve gotten it for you anyway. You need it,” he says.

  I semi frown at him, thinking there is nothing more on this Earth that I need more than I already have. But he pulls his hand out of his pocket and produces a small rectangular black velvet box with a simple pink organdy bow tied around it. I pull in a breath because really nice expensive things come in velvet boxes. He pulls back a bit but do
esn’t hand it to me. He pulls the end of the simple pink bow himself unwrapping my present for me, dropping it to the floor. I look up to his eyes only to find his on me, his face looking intense and meaningful. I hear a snap and look back down to his hands where he has popped up the hinged box only to find the most beautiful solitaire diamond that looks like it’s almost two carats, in a delicate setting hanging on the most delicate white gold chain I’ve ever seen. “Jude,” I whisper, but he still says nothing as he pulls out the necklace, releasing the chain, letting it hang in his fingers and tossing the box with the bow. I decide to give him grief later for unwrapping my Christmas present because I’m too in awe of the necklace dangling from his fingers.

  “Turn around, sugar,” he rasps. I turn as he brings his arms in front of me, working the double locking clasp and then pulls it around my neck. It’s a shorter chain, so I hold my hair up for him as he works the clasp at the back of my neck. I feel the diamond settle at the indention of my collar bone and bring my fingers up to feel it since I can’t see it now.

  Jude’s left arm comes around me, yanking my back into his chest, his lips to my ear and says strangely, “Talked to Lizzie.”

  “What?” I breathe out, wondering what he’s going on about, not having time to process my beautiful necklace.

  Then his right hand grabs my left one as his left arm snakes around me to hold me tight. I look down to see what he’s doing and gasp when I see my mom’s engagement ring sliding on to my left ring finger. It’s been in my safety deposit box and I haven’t seen it since I put it there after she died. Seeing it now, I realize how much I’ve missed looking at it. It’s a princess cut diamond set high in a platinum delicate band with a string of diamonds down all three sides of the band on either side. Everything becomes blurry as tears fill my eyes and I hear Jude rasp on, “She said you’d want to wear your mom’s ring. I can’t imagine she’s wrong, so I had to put my diamond on you another way to show that you’re mine forever.”

  My sob hitches and I look down at my left hand and feel the diamond at my throat with my right. All I can do is nod in agreement against Jude’s face that is still at the side of my head, because nothing would be more perfect than wearing my mom’s ring and having Jude put it there.

  “You’ve got three months, babe,” Jude goes on. “We can have whatever kind of wedding you want, you plan the whole shebang. But I get to plan the honeymoon. Do we have a deal?”

  “Deal,” I barely get out my one word acceptance to his bossy non-proposal slash demand. Although three months is not near enough time to plan a wedding, but we’ll talk about that later.

  Jude turns me around and I look up to him as he frames my face with his big hands and rasps, “I love you, Gabby. Thank you for making me happy.”

  “I love you, too, Jude,” I whisper and realize my happy that I never thought would happen is going to happen. And having Jude fill me up with that happy it is the most wonderful feeling I’ve ever felt.

  Epilogue

  Five Years Later……

  “Baby, you’re gonna wake up the kids,” I say, buried deep in my wife. I give her as much of my weight as she can handle, bury my face in her hair and breathe her in. She wraps me up tight in her arms and legs and we lay here connected. Heaven. A heaven that I never thought I’d have and a heaven that gets better every day.

  A squeak from the monitor breaks through my heaven and I feel Gabby’s arms and legs tense around me and she says, “If you don’t want me to wake up the kids, you shouldn’t torture me like that. You know I can’t help it.”

  I pull my head back, but staying close, I grin and say, “Sugar, you love the torture. Plus it’s feeding time, I can feel it in your tits. I don’t need a baby to tell me that.”

  She pretends to glare at me and says, “Okay, know it all. I’ve got to clean up so you get to go fetch the baby.”

  She says this like she has to get up regularly to get the baby, which she never does. I always get up to bring our babies to bed for her to nurse and always have. We’re practiced hands at it by now. I love it, Gabby close to me, feeding my children. It makes my world feel right.

  “Okay, babe. Clean up. I’ll be right back,” I hear the squeaks turn into whimpers over the monitor. But I don’t get up, instead I press into her one more time, making her face go soft again and say, “Love you, sugar.”

  Her soft face gives me a soft smile as she whispers, “Love you, too.”

  I kiss her soft, finally get up so I can throw on some shorts and walk through our cabin to go fetch a baby.

  The Next Day

  “Daddy! Look, it’s a family!” Merri whispers to me in her excited little girl voice.

  “Yeah, sugar,” I whisper back, looking way down at her, standing on the ridge holding her hand tight. Her long wavy hair, the color of mine, blows in the mountain breeze, but it’s her mother’s bright blue eyes that she shares with her sister that gaze up at me.

  “Wookie! Wookie! Wookie!” Olivia squeals very loudly, not whispering at all because squealing seems to be the only volume she knows, while bouncing as much as she can hanging over my shoulder where she’s sitting on my back in the carrier. The buck, doe and fawn immediately scurry into the pines at the sounds of our middle child’s excited shrieks.

  “Liv! You scared them off!” Merri admonishes, glaring up at her little sister. Meredith, who is four but going on twenty four, is smart, mature for her age, full of attitude and mothers her little sister constantly. This is opposed to her younger sister, Olivia, who at twenty months is already showing the tendencies of an outgoing, carefree little girl that pushes every boundary given to her. Mac, an expert father of three daughters, has already lectured me given their little girl beauty, that I had better keep a gun close when the boys start lurking. But even worse, he’s pegged Olivia, who has a thick head of dark blond hair just like her mothers, as the one that will turn me grey and age me beyond my years. Daughters. Yeah, seeing as they’re perfect, I’m gonna have to keep my gun close.

  I give Merri’s hand a squeeze while giving her a shake of my head. Then I reach around to tickle Liv’s dangling leg on the back her chubby thigh and say, “That’s okay, Liv. We’ll look for more on our way back.”

  “Okie-dokie!” Liv squeals again, completely oblivious to her sister’s mothering.

  I turn, pulling Merri with me so we can make the half mile trek back to the trailhead. “We’ve gotta get back and check on your momma. Plus you all need to get to bed early tonight, Tony and his family will be here tomorrow,” I add, thinking that isn’t the only reason they need to get to bed early.

  “No night night!” Liv yells.

  “I think someone needs a nap,” Merri mutters.

  I chuckle, reach down to grab Merri under her arms and swing her up and she lands on my hip giggling loudly, sounding more like a four year old. Thus, making her sister laugh hysterically and they start to play over my shoulder. Any wildlife in the vicinity is surely scared away now with two little girl cackles ringing through the mountains. I grin and double time it down the trail to get my girls home in a fraction of the time it took us to hike to the top.

  *****

  I blink open my eyes, coming out of my rare afternoon nap. I see the beauty that I can’t seem to get used to after all these years, and gaze at the mountains ranges that are in prefect view off the deck of our mountain home. But I don’t hear the peaceful sound of the Colorado breeze rustling through the aspen leaves, what I do hear is the loud banter of my girls barging through the house to make their way to me. Lying in one of the thick cushioned lounges on the deck outside our bedroom door, I feel my little man start to squirm on my chest where he’s napping in the shade. Bringing my hand up to his bottom over his light baby blanket with his knees tucked in tight, I pat him until he settles. At two and a half months, he’s used to sleeping through the chaos and high pitched sounds that can only be produced by two little girls. Mia, who was asleep by my feet, jumps down to greet her kids.

>   Skipping down the deck to me, Merri starts to describe their afternoon in full detail, “We saw three deer, Momma! A whole family! The daddy had huge antlers and the baby was so small! We were close enough to see its spots! But then Liv screamed like usual and scared them off. I hiked all the way there by myself, but daddy carried me back, even though I didn’t ask him to. He just picked me up without me asking, but I know I could have made it the whole way if he would have let me.”

  I smile big at my oldest daughter, thinking I know how she feels. Even after all these years, her father is still known to pick me up and put me where he wants me.

  “Deers!” Liv screams, as she runs slash toddles up behind her sister.

  “Sound like you all had a good hike!” I say and snuggle them one at a time, kissing their soft hair.

  “Okay you two, time to clean up the loft and bunk room before dinner,” Jude rasps, as he stalks toward us through the slew of outdoor furniture that now adorns the deck.

  Meredith starts bossing orders, “Come on, Livie. You need to help this time. I’ll tell you what to do.” With that, she grabs her sister’s hand and starts to pull her through the house to climb the stairs to the loft and bunk room upstairs with Mia trailing behind.

  I started decorating our mountain home right away after the kitchen was finished, but as soon as I found out I was pregnant with Meredith, I made the decision that we needed to sleep as many kids as possible and an upstairs bunk room was the prefect solution. Most of the furniture we have here are pieces I’ve refinished or painted, but I splurged and ordered two sets of bunks for one of the bedrooms upstairs. They’re huge and made of pine logs with a twin on the top and full on the bottom, allowing us to sleep six kids in there if needed. It’s decorated with denim bedding, plaid flannel sheets and black bear throw pillows. Perfect for kids of all ages and with my big family, they’ve been put to good use. The other bedroom upstairs now has a queen bed and the sectional in the loft is a sleeper sofa. Two years ago, we had the basement finished, adding a family room, another queen sized bedroom and a full bath. Now we can host tons of people and do this on a regular basis. Jude thinks the home is now finished, but I still manage to squeeze in another piece of furniture and more accessories into the Suburban every time we make a trip to the mountains. He just shakes his head at me and uses his newly found packing-the-car-for-road-trip-skills he’s acquired through our marriage and growing family.