by Mays, Nikki
“I thought you saying “I Do” was the best thing that I’ve ever heard you say, besides when you said you were fine after that Todd shit. But this, this was so much better than anything else you have ever said.” He whispers gruffly into my ear and brings tears to my eyes. Stupid hormones starting already.
Declan jumps up pumping his arm. “Fuck yes! I’m going to be an uncle. Think of all the cool shit we’ll get to teach your kid Dam.” He says as he comes up and slaps his twin on his back hard enough to make even my bones rattle. Fortunately, I get a sweet kiss on the cheek. “Congrats sis.”
“Thanks.” I beam at him. “But you and Damon will never be alone with our child.” I stare at identical frowns.
“Why not?” They ask in unison. Got to love that creepy twin bond.
“Are you two insane?” They just frown deeper at me. “Do you think that your mother hasn’t been telling about all the stuff you two got up into when you were younger? Absolutely not! The only way you both will be left alone with my baby, is if you have adult supervision.”
Declan sniffs at me. “We are adults.”
I snort out a laugh. “You two pretended to be each other while scaring men away from me. You two are nothing but overgrown man-children when you’re together. There is no way in hell that I’m taking any chances of you both corrupting my baby. Lord only knows what you two could come up with.”
They both look at each other and shrug. “I’m kind of offended that you think that I would ever do anything to harm my child. I would do anything for you and our children.” Damon says.
“I didn’t say harm, I said corrupt.” I correct him. “There’s a huge difference. And I know that you’ll be fine on your own. But whenever you add Dec into the equation, things tend to go askew.”
“Not always.” Declan defends to two. I just raise an eyebrow at him.
“Oh really?” I question. “Then how is that you two came home soaked last weekend from your fishing trip?” Both of them were completed soaked and neither one will admit to how it happened. I have my theories but knowing them, it could be even crazier than I could even imagine.
They both just look down and don’t say a word. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” I laugh.
“You can’t prove anything.” Declan sniffs as he goes back to sit down again.
Everyone else takes turns with their congratulations. We all decided to order some pizza and hang out for the rest of the night. Declan still tries to convince me that he and Damon will be amazing at watching the baby together to no avail. I will never leave those two in control by themselves. My poor kid will probably start cursing people while learning how to load a gun. No thank you.
“I love you Doll,” Damon whispers into my ear as we sit on the couch watching all of our friends who are more like family.
I look around at everyone and can’t believe how incredibly lucky I am. Not only do I have the man of my dreams. One who loves me at my best and worst. One who does everything in his power to show me each day how loved I am. I also have the best friends that anyone could ever ask for. And now I get to be a mom to the tiny life growing inside of me. My life couldn’t get any better than this. I look up at my husband and smile.
“I love you too grumpy bear.”
Epilogue
Michelle
Two Years Later:
Well, Mellie lied about the weight just melting off from breastfeeding. I gave birth to Jaxon “Jax” DeWitt almost fifteen months ago and I’m still trying to get all of the weight off. My little chunker was born at over nine pounds. He was the size of a damn toddler at birth. He takes after his daddy, that’s for sure. The kid could even hold up his head and look around. Everyone asks if I had gestational diabetes with him, but nope, that’s all him. He’s already wearing size 2T clothing and size 3c shoes.
I, unfortunately, took Mellie’s advice and indulged in everything that I could get my hands on. I still cringe every time I think about our Taco Tuesdays. I’m not even going to think about how many chocolate milkshakes I convinced Damon that I needed. Poor guy was such a trooper. He was so good after a while that he just started bringing home a milkshake automatically. He also figured out that a back massage would put me right to sleep. Though I think he used that more to his advantage than mine, but whatever, I still got a nightly massage out of the deal.
Me, Damon, Jax, Marc, his wife...yes wife, and her kids are all here at Mellie and Morris’ for family night. I know, I almost swallowed my tongue when Marc told us that he was seriously dating someone. I couldn’t believe it. Not that someone finally caught his attention because Mellie and I have been praying for years for someone to knock him on his ass. No, I couldn’t believe someone would want that big old slutbag. Let’s face it, saying he got around is putting it very nicely. But she fell for the annoying sasquatch and I haven’t ever seen him happier. Mel was ecstatic, well after she got over the fact that he tried to hide that he was dating someone from her. Once she got over her snit, she was overjoyed.
About a year ago we decided to start family nights. We all get to together at one of our houses and have dinner. The kids really love being all together, especially Jax and Belle, much to Morris’ dismay. Those two were born a few weeks apart and have been inseparable since birth. Mellie and I have been planning their wedding, while Morris is determined that once they hit the age of ten, they are no longer allowed near each other. Damon enjoys telling Morris that they’ll be in-laws a little too much. He’s having way too much fun tormenting Morris.
Right now Belle and Jax are both cuddled up on a blanket while Morris glares at them. Honestly, he’s absolutely ridiculous about it. Everyone has had a lot of fun getting a rise out him about it. The only one who keeps his mouth shut about it is JJ, whose daughter is already at the liking boys stage. At least Morris has someone to commiserate with.
“Will you stop giving my baby dirty looks,” I tell the ridiculous man.
He turns his glare to me. “Tell your boy to get away from my sweet baby girl. I don’t need him corrupting her.” He’s off his damn rocker.
Damon snorts next to me. “They’re babies, you jackass. How’s he gonna corrupt her? Is he gonna teach her how to steal someone’s bottle? You need to get your shit together man and stop side-eyeing my boy. You’ll be lucky to have a son-in-law like him.” Damon adds with a shit eating grin.
I miss the days that he was quiet and didn’t like talking to people. Well, he’s nothing exactly a chatty cathy now, but he does interact with all of us. Especially if he can piss someone off. He’s also still pretty moody and broody to most people, Jax and I excluded, obviously. A tiger doesn’t change its stripes after all. But he’s definitely come a long way from his caveman-like grunts.
“Of course he’ll corrupt her! She’s perfect and he’s your son.” Morris tells him. Here we go.
“What’s that supposed to mean...” he’s your son”?” Damon growls out. Well, most caveman tendencies are gone.
Morris scoffs at him. “You stalked your woman and had your brother help you. Do you think he’ll be any better.” It’s been years and the stalking thing is still brought up. Good, Lord, you would think that they would find something better to talk about.
“Yeah, I do. It’ll probably be your little princess that ends up stalking him.” Damon replies.
“I am never letting her near him when they’re older.” Says the man looking to get the world’s most delusional father award.
“Fine with me.” Damon shrugs.
“Now, now, let's not get in the way of true love,” Marc says with a mischievous gleam in his eye. Wife or no wife, he’s still an asshole who likes to stir up trouble.
“Shut up Marc.” Damon and Morris reply together much to Marc's delight.
I just sit back and observe my crazy family. I thank God every day for all of them, yes, even Marc. I came so close to not being able to have this, that I never take a moment of it for granted. If Todd hadn’t been such a crappy shot, I might n
ot be here right now. That thought is a sobering one.
Todd tried to plea temporary insanity but thankfully the judge wouldn’t allow it. On his laptop, he had years of my life, in scary detail. It had everything from my relationship with Gerry to my engagement to Damon, which is what truly enraged him. The judge deemed him sane enough to stand trial since he had been plotting for a long time.
Todd ended up getting thirty-five years in prison for stalking, burglary, kidnapping of Mel and I, and for attempted murder. He won’t even be eligible for parole for twenty years luckily. Hopefully, he can get some serious mental help while in prison.
Apparently, he has always had obsessive tendencies but they became worse over the years. He also may have had some sort of a breakdown due to the stress that he was under as my father’s assistant. Combined with his crush on me and it all just came to a head. Once he completely fixated on me, he wasn’t able to stop. He’s been seen by the psychologist inside the prison and has been given medication. I hope that it helps him get better.
I understand that he can’t fully help certain mental issues that he has. I just wish that he had sought help before things got so bad for him. Damon keeps telling me that I shouldn’t feel bad about anything that has happened to him because he brought it upon himself. I somewhat agree but I also disagree. People with mental illnesses can’t always control themselves as well as other people can. It’s like balancing on a tightrope. One wrong move and you plummet.
My father felt awful about not realizing what was going on with Todd. He apologized profusely for the role he had in introducing Todd into my life. I’ve tried to explain to him many, many times that I don’t blame him at all. Todd was an excellent assistant to him. How was he supposed to know what he was doing after work? I mean all of his obsessive behavior made him extremely efficient. There was just no way my father could’ve known. That doesn’t seem to stop him from blaming himself, unfortunately.
I, honestly, just want to forget all about it and move on with my life. Damon barely let me out of his sight for a while after that. He became even worse after we found out that I was pregnant. I love him with all my heart but I was about to kill him myself to get some time alone. Declan has been a godsend over the years. He knows his brother inside and out and is able to reach him on a different level.
Anytime I’m about to make myself a widow, I shoot Dec a text. He comes and gets his brother from up my butt long enough for me to breathe. I love Damon but sometimes he’s just too intense and needs to lighten up. He comes back a lot easier going, well for him anyway, after spending time with his twin. I love that they have that bond. And that I can use it to my advantage.
I never expected my life to be like this the first time that I saw the grumpy man who would become my husband. If someone would have told me fours years ago that Damon and I would be married and blissfully happy I would’ve asked them if they were drunk. Looking at him now, talking some nonsense to our son about getting a woman to stalk you, I can’t believe my luck. I smile to myself. Who knew that you could tame a bear?
Damon
I look over at my reason for breathing as she sighs in bliss as she lays down in our bed after putting Jax to sleep. I don’t think that I have ever seen anyone as beautiful inside and out as my wife. Even dead on her feet she has a beauty that shines through. I wake up every day so happy that I had finally gotten my shit together when it came to her. I shudder every time I think about what my life would be like still watching her from afar.
“Did he go down okay?” I ask her as I climb into bed next to her and turn off the light. She lets out another little sigh and cuddles up to my side. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her head while breathing in her scent.
“Yup. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow. Playing with everyone really tires him out.” She finishes on a yawn. He’s not the only one apparently.
“Yeah, Belle made him chase her all around the living room tonight. I tried to tell him that he should get her to come him but he just wouldn’t listen.” I say.
Shell snorts. “Right. Because that’s exactly what you did.” She passes.
“That’s why I’m trying to give him some advice now. That way he can make things easier on himself.”
“Are you saying that you don’t like how we ended up?” She questions and I smell a trap. Luckily, I know her better than she knows herself.
“I absolutely love how we ended up,” I tell the sneaky woman just looking for an excuse. “But I could’ve done without having to dress like a damn princess just to get my chance,” I reply as she busts out laughing.
“Oh my god.” She wheezes out. “I forgot about that.” That makes one of us. ”Come on. You totally rocked that look, honey. You were so pretty.” She giggles.
I still can’t believe that I actually did that for her. The shit that I will do for this woman knows no bounds.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” I say. “Just remember, payback’s a bitch Doll.”
She sweetly yawns in my face. “Psh, you don’t scare me. You’ve turned into a big teddy bear these days. We both know that you’ll never do anything to me.”
I smile into the darkness. “You better hope you’re right,” I say in a grave voice.
“I’m always right.” She says as she rolls and pushes her ass into my groin. “Good night honey. Love you.”
“Love you more, Doll.” I press a kiss into her neck.
I lay here for a bit after my wonderful wife is snoring away. Not that she’ll ever admit that she sounds like a damn chainsaw. According to her, I’m making it up, because she doesn’t snore. I really do need to record her one night.
I like just laying here, holding her while sleep. It gives me a chance to reflect on everything in my life. I still can’t believe that I got lucky enough for this woman to choose me. She is still everything in this world to me, her and our son. I can’t imagine what life would be like without these two beings.
Michelle has given me more than I could’ve ever dreamed was possible. I was living in darkness until she came along with her blinding light. She wrecked everything that I thought I wanted and rebuilt it a thousand times stronger. She was my addiction. The one thing that I wanted more than anything. I just didn’t realize that she would also be my cure.
The End
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