by D. Kelly
Johnny and Sophia head in to see everyone, but I take a minute and lean against the door. I wish Chad and Marc could have been here today but they have their own families to spend the holiday with. Other than that, this day really couldn’t get any better.
Or could it?
Jake stalks toward me with a determined look in his eyes. Without a word, he pulls me to him and kisses me breathless. There will never be a day this man won’t light my heart and soul on fire.
When he pulls away, he simply points up.
“Mistletoe,” I whisper.
“It’s just an excuse. My life’s goal is to kiss you breathless as often as I can.”
“I’m so in love with you, Jake Houston, now and forever.”
“Yeah, I know, and the feeling is mutual.”
Cocky bastard, but I wouldn’t have him any other way.
Jake
One year later, Christmas Eve
Mia, Hannah, and Jaxson are all upstairs with April, getting ready for our party. This past year has been eye-opening in a lot of ways. Mia and Hannah had a few ups and downs but overall, they’ve adjusted well to their new home. They get to visit with Mrs. Robinson every few months; they adore her and we’d never take that away from them.
Jaxson is thriving. Luvbug is like his best buddy; the two of them together are adorable. He’s walking and getting into everything but his sisters help keep an eye on him. Jaxson absolutely adores his sisters, all three of them.
Yes, that’s right, I said three. Mia, Hannah, and A.J. Her name is actually Anna Jade Houston, but we call her A.J. for short. We used the letters from April and Jake, instead of Jake and April like we used for Jaxson. A.J. was born the day after Thanksgiving and she looks just like her mommy. She’s beautiful.
The first time April and I had sex after Jaxson was fucking mind-blowing. It was unexpected and we didn’t take any precautions. In the spur of the moment, we decided it took so long to get pregnant with Jaxson it couldn’t possibly happen again anytime soon. We were in a sexual drought and justifying our desires any way we could.
Admittedly, it was more like five times that night, but who’s counting? We abstained and three weeks later, April went to the doctor to get back on the pill and she told her about our indiscretion. Dr. Harrison ran a blood test and the rest is history.
A month before A.J. came, I had a vasectomy. Connor ragged on me endlessly but April and I both decided it was much easier for me to get fixed than for her to do it and right now, four kids are enough. If we decide we want to be parents again, we’ll adopt, like we did with Mia and Hannah.
Oh, did I forget to mention that? Their adoption became official this morning, actually. Hence the reason for the party. You have to celebrate the milestones and this one is one of the best. They’re officially Mia and Hannah Houston now. It was one of the best moments of my life. We’ve always considered them our daughters; before we were ever able to bring them home they were ours. Having it made official is a relief. April and I both had this constant, underlying fear someone could come and take them away at any time.
No parent ever wants someone to be able to take their kids away.
When I look down at A.J. in my arms, she’s smiling in her sleep. I’ll admit, I was a bit worried I would have a soft spot for her which is different from how I feel about Mia and Hannah. I don’t and I was so relieved to realize that. They’re all my girls and I love them all the same.
“Daddy, look at my new dress!” Hannah exclaims as she twirls around in front of me. Hannah is a daddy’s girl through and through.
“You look beautiful, sweetheart. Are your mommy and Mia almost done yet?”
“I’m right here,” Mia calls out as she walks into the living room.
“You look as beautiful as your sister.” She smiles and they run off to play.
“What about me? How do I look?” April asks as she sets Jaxson down to play with his toys.
She looks fucking hot, but I’ve learned over this past year little ears can hear everything, even when you’re far away. So I swallow what I really want to say but still answer her honestly.
“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” That is the God’s honest truth. My wife is fucking hot and I’m dying to worship every fucking inch of her body once she’s given the all clear. I miss the sounds of her screaming my name while I bring her to orgasm with my tongue, or my cock, or…
Fuck, Jake, stop thinking about sex, you’re holding your baby
“You always know just how to flatter me.”
Carefully, so I won’t wake A.J., I move her to the couch cushion slowly and lay her on her blanket. I stand and make my way over to my wife and pull her close.
“It’s the truth. If it flatters you, all the better.” She relaxes in my arms and I kiss my way to her ear and whisper so the girls can’t possibly overhear from the den.
“Feel this?” I say, guiding her hand briefly to my cock. “This is what you do to me. Every time I look at you I want to fuck you senseless. As soon as you get the okay, we’re taking a weekend away and leaving all four kids with their grandparents. Sound good?”
She looks at me with lust-filled eyes. “Nothing’s ever sounded better.”
“Good,” I say before claiming her lips with mine. She opens to me and seeks my tongue greedily and mine meets hers stroke for stroke. My hands roam her curves and I pull her closer by her hips so she feels my cock against her body. I feel her heartbeat racing against my chest but she pulls back too fucking quickly for my liking and leans her head against mine.
“A little too X-rated for little eyes, Jake.”
“When the fuck are they going to turn eighteen?”
She laughs as pushes me away. “Hopefully, not for a long time. This is our time to enjoy our family, Jake, and I’m going to relish every single day I have with all of you.”
When the doorbell rings, Hannah calls out, “I’ll get it!” and we let her because we’re expecting family.
“Uncle Jake! Auntie April! We’re here to celebrate family day!” Hailey calls out from the entryway. We decided to call it ‘family day’ instead of ‘adoption day’ because the girls have been family all along and the adoption was really just a formality.
“Hailey, come in here. We’ve got all the Barbies out and ready to play!” Mia calls out to her and she goes running. The three girls have really become close over the past year.
Grant toddles in and plops down next to Jaxson and picks up some blocks. Of course, Jaxson starts crying but Misty hands him Grant’s identical blocks and all is right with the world again.
Misty carefully lifts A.J. off of the couch and cradles her in her arms and sighs.
“She’s so angelic, and she smells so good.”
“I’ll happily give you another one anytime you want,” Mike replies with a smirk.
“No thanks, I’ll pass. I can come here and get a fix anytime I want. When Grant is in Kindergarten, we can revisit the discussion.”
Mike frowns but it’s fleeting. He wants more kids now but Misty is adamant about them being at least four years apart.
“Knock knock,” Daniel calls out as he lets himself in. Finally, someone who doesn’t make me go let them in. It’s not like we don’t practically live at each other’s houses; knocking on doors is completely overrated. Except for the time I walked in on Jess and Connor fucking in their living room—that time I wish I had knocked.
Lucas comes running in behind Daniel; they are the spitting image of each other. Vanessa’s genes are almost non-existent in this kid. Except for his smile, that smile is all her. It’s a good thing; Vanessa had a great smile.
“Uncle Jake, look what I got today!” He’s holding out two new Hot Wheels and waving them in my face.
Why do kids think they almost have to blind you to show you something?
“Those are cool, Luke. Did mommy give you an early Christmas present?” He nods excitedly.
“What? I couldn’t help
it.” Kate shrugs as she waddles in behind Haven. The first thing Haven does is sit down and give Grant and Jaxson kisses. We’re all really hoping this isn’t a love triangle in the making, but who knows? I plan on encouraging Jaxson to stay far away from that. Kate and Mike’s kids are sure to be fated to each other.
“Hey, preggo, how are you feeling today?” Mike kisses her on the cheek and waits for her answer.
“I’m good today. Just wishing the next three months would fly by so I can meet the little guy.”
Connor lost his bet because April got pregnant before Kate, but he wasn’t far off in his predictions.
“Guy?” Jess echoes from the doorway a millisecond before we all respond the same.
Daniel is beaming next to her and they make us all wait until Connor finally walks in holding one of each of the twins’ hands in one of his. They’re so cute and they play well with the other kids, but Hope and Zayden are each other’s best friend.
Luvbug comes running out of the den wearing a pink tutu and the girls follow, giggling like crazy. Poor dog. That’s what he gets for picking a pussy-ass name, though. He could be wearing a fucking awesome leather, studded collar right now if he’d picked the right name.
“Oh my God, poor dog.” Connor laughs hysterically and for a moment, the attention has been lifted from Daniel and Kate.
“Alright, spill,” Jess demands impatiently.
“Well, you know we had decided not to know the sex but at this morning’s ultrasound, we couldn’t hold out any longer. We had to know.”
“So what’s his name? You two have been hoarding the names you picked out for a boy and a girl for months.” Jess is relentless, but she wouldn’t be her if she wasn’t.
Kate looks to Daniel and he nods, giving her permission to share.
“His name is Kamden Michael McCormick.” The look of pride on their faces is evident. All eyes in the room focus on Mike. He simply shrugs.
“Michael is a common name, guys. I’m sure it has nothing to do with me.”
This time Kate looks at Daniel and nods. “It has everything to do with you. Kate and I decided it only seemed fitting to share his name with the man who is both of his parents’ best friends.”
Holy fuck.
Kudos to them for rising above and putting Kate and Mike’s relationship in the past. Both of them have said over and over they wouldn’t be who they are or where they are without Mike.
Jess and Kate are crying and Daniel and Mike share a quick hug before Mike pulls Kate from Jess and hugs her tight.
“Thank you,” he whispers in her ear, but it’s loud enough for us all to hear.
“Daddy, can we have cake now?” Mia asks sweetly as she climbs into my lap.
Everyone is here, so I don’t see why not. All the rest of the family is coming over tomorrow. We wanted to do something intimate tonight with our friends, who also happen to be family. We all agreed to make this quick; Santa has presents to leave and cookies to eat tonight.
Marc is out of town and Chad is stuck at the hospital, so it’s just us. We’ve been seeing them a lot less lately, which is a bummer; they’re cool dudes to hang out with. Marc and I have a meeting after the first of the year to talk about business. Originally, I was joking when I mentioned buying into his clubs to April, but when he mentioned a few weeks ago they’re expanding and looking for investors, I figured why the hell not? Over the past year, I still haven’t come any closer to figuring out what I want to do… I’ve been enjoying my family too much.
“Yes, baby, we can have cake. Come on,” I answer, pulling myself from my thoughts
When the cake is cut, I decide to make an impromptu speech before we all dig in.
“Today, Mia and Hannah legally became Houstons and although it’s a big relief knowing they are now legally ours, they’ve been family since we brought them home. Your mom and I have thought of you as our daughters before we ever got to bring you home for good. It’s important you guys know that.”
“We do, Daddy. We love you guys so much.”
April’s wiping away a few tears and even I’m a little choked up.
“We love you, too, and that’s why even though it’s Christmas Eve, we had to celebrate this milestone. Today is the day you officially became Houstons on paper, and though it doesn’t change how we feel about you one single bit, my heart is filled with joy now that my daughters share my name.”
“They also share the name of their favorite uncle now, too. How awesome is that?”
“Don’t let Uncle Johnny hear that, Uncle Connor. He’ll be mad at you. We’re not supposed to pick favorites, remember?” Mia states her point very diplomatically and puts Connor in his place at the same time.
“Well said, Mia. You tell Uncle Connor what’s up,” Jess tells her and she kisses her on the top of her head.
“Good speech, Uncle Jake, can we eat cake now?” Leave it to Hailey to cut to the chase.
“Absolutely! Everyone be merry and eat cake!”
Cheers are yelled all around as everyone digs in. April wipes a stray tear from her eye, looks around and spots A.J. in her bassinette, and leaves the room. I follow behind her to make sure she’s okay.
She’s leaning against the doorframe of the den.
“Hey, are you okay?” I ask, pulling her into my arms.
“I’m perfect, Jake, absolutely perfect. Thank you for making us a family. I know I was resistant to kids, but I couldn’t imagine my life any other way.”
“Me, either, April. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Jake, forever.” Her lips meet mine softly, and she opens to me immediately. Passion flows between us like a magical force binding us together. I like to think this is destiny’s way of proving we belong together. When she pulls away from me, she’s breathless and I point up above her head.
“Mistletoe.” She shakes her head and laughs. “I should have guessed.”
“It’s my favorite Christmas tradition.”
“Mine, too,” she says as she kisses me again.
My family is everything to me. The love, respect, and acceptance we all have for each other continuously amazes me. I can’t wait to see what the future brings for our families and for our children. If they’re anything like their parents, it’s going to be a bumpy ride and I’m in it for the long haul. I can’t wait to see how their stories unfold.
I’m honestly at a loss for words. I’m thankful for each and every one of you reading this book. This book was the most difficult one for me to write for many reasons—the biggest being this is goodbye to this series. You may have noticed through my stories that my friends are the pinnacle of my life. We all have them—we lean on them, we rely on them—but how often do we thank them? I know I could probably do it more often.
I want you all to know, especially in this holiday season, how much you mean to me. We may not talk as often as I’d like, I forget important things I wish I wouldn’t, and some of us are separated by many miles, but that doesn’t change my love for you.
This holiday season, as I count my blessings, I’m reminded how blessed I am to have all of you. Two years ago, I had no readers, no blogger friends, no author friends, no street team, no designer, no editor, no formatter, and no photographer friends. When I look back and realize all I’ve gained in the past two years, I know I’m beyond blessed to have found my family within you all.
Thank you for bringing even more purpose into my life. Thank you for blessing me with your friendship and your creative genius. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for picking your teams. Thank you for your reviews—good or bad; we don’t grow as authors without them. Our words touch you, but your words inspire us. Good reviews make us feel we’re doing something right and bad reviews make us strive to be better.
I hope you all have the happiest of holidays and are surrounded by people you love, doing whatever makes your heart happy.
Thank you all for taking this journey with me. I look forward to spending many more years as
your friend.
Xoxo,
Dee
Keep reading for a sneak peek of Chasing Cassidy, by D. Kelly, and Waiting for Us, by Dawn Stanton.
*Trigger Warning*
Chasing Cassidy contains mild to moderate themes of child abuse. If this is a trigger for you please consider that before continuing to read.
Mommy and Daddy are fighting again. I’m being a big girl like my Mommy told me and trying not to cry but it makes me so sad when they fight. I wish my grandma would have never died. She loved us so much and ever since we moved into her house last month, all my daddy does is yell and drink stuff that makes his breath yucky.
“John, please stop yelling! Maybe if you’d sober up every once in a while you’d get your mood under control and stop taking everything out on me!”
“Woman, don’t back talk me! I’m the head of this family and now that I have Cassidy’s trust fund at my disposal, I can drink whenever the hell I want to since I don’t have to work anymore.”
Mommy blinks her eyes fast and her lips crunch together like they do when I accidentally spill on something I shouldn’t.
“That money is for her, John. It’s supposed to guarantee her future,” she whispers softly.
“Yeah? Well, where’s my money? Where’s my future? If mama didn’t want me to have access to the money, she would have made it a condition of her will.” Spit flies out of Daddy’s mouth; that usually happens when he’s really mad.
“If you wouldn’t have married me you’d still have your money. I was never good enough for her precious baby. Thank God she loved Cassidy anyway.”
“Nobody would have been good enough. She thought she was the only one good enough for me,” he tells her sadly and she gasps.
“John, what are you saying? Did she…” Mommy covers her mouth quickly and sobs.
“I’m not saying anything! Let it go, Deidre, and don’t bring it up again!” I don’t like it when Daddy yells so loud, and I’m glad we’re almost home so I can go play until the yelling stops.
“We should move, John. Let’s move back home. That’s why you’re drinking so much. This house, those memories…We’ll take the house off the market and go back.”
